Matched Sets in the Sun

Happy Saturday!!  While hoping for good weather to take action and carpe diem... here's a little update


You remember Carl Sr. and Carls Jr., the planters inspired from the Better Homes and Gardens issue a month or so ago?  Carl Sr. is blowing up!  I'd been so worried about this little baby because I've wanted the ranuculus to do well.  I love them!  They're so beautiful!  Last week there was one tiny cosmo sprout and this week guess what?  Ranunculus!



Ranunculus Sprout

See the red arrow.  Pretty cute, eh?  But not just the one, there's more...

Sprouts here, here, and here

There's three more.  There's coming up between the ground cover all over!  I did have to trim back the viney stuff to make sure that enough light is getting to the guys just now growing up from the micro-understory

Ok, just one more picture

*Side note: at a recent trip to Home Depot, Bill got to see a grown ranuculus and check out how beautiful the flowers are.  I secrely think he is excited for The Carls to grow up

Matched Sets - In Progress

Do you remember the little planters from a few weeks ago, trying to make the same pretty pots as in Better Homes & Gardens, only with ranunculus instead of tulips?  I named them.  The big one is Carl, and the little one is Carl's Jr. 

Carl from above

There's not much to see from above is there?  Except the viney thing and the Creeping Thyme are doing awesome!  I dug in and took a closer look...

Carl's new sprout!

Ta-Da!  Look at that little guy!  one cute, tiny perfect little sprout! The only hiccup I see is that the sprout's leaves suspiciously resemble those of the viney thing.  I didn't want to tug at it in case I unsprouted the little guy.  Time will tell on that one.  

Carl's Jr. Winning Sprout

Meanwhile back in Bellevue, check out this amazing guy sprouting up in Carl's Jr!  Now that's what I'm talking about!  Definitely not the same creature as the Creeping Thyme.  I hope all the rain it got doesn't drown the new little guy.

Matched Sets

I LOVE Better Homes & Gardens, and got the March issue on a flight home from Minnesota a couple weeks ago. This being the first time I've had access to a yard in my adult life (B's yard, not mine) I was tickled thinking about potted plants on the front porch. BH&G had these cute ones in the Matched Sets article potting bulbs with groundwater and annuals for porch pizzaz.  After the gym we ran to Home Depot to grab soil and plants.  Here's where I started:

It was so cold, and I didn't want to work outside.  Luckily my sweet boyfriend had the drop cloth out for a little handy work of his own and let me cultivate in the middle of his hardwoods.  And we'll see how it goes when the plants are growing in the pot. There's ranunculus in there!!!  Along with a bunch of other things that may or may not be too crowded for that pot.  Only time will tell!

Just for funsies I put some of the extra seeds, soil, and plants in this little guy.  It sits on the island that I acquired from Courtney's move from Lexington back home to Montana.