Those Yellow Pansies HAVE to Go!

When we last left our heroine she had just written a cheque to the neighbour down the street in exchange for his help with the garden.

The next morning she went out, and with some assistance from next door neighbour Art, turned a couple of bushels of compost into the 4 x 4 raised bed in back. Then, between downpours, she planted the following; red onion sets, red Holland onion seeds, early wonder beets, bok choi and rainbow chard.

Afterwards of course she realized that used her valuable sunny garden space for plants which would happily grow in part shade. Nothing like being organized.

Well, nothing will perk up a disgruntled gardener faster than a plant-buying expedition. I had a list. I wanted: foamflower, cranesbill "Blue Buxton", lamb's ears and perennial forget-me-nots. Three nurseries later I had ONE plant on my list. I managed to find and buy two nice oakleaf foamflowers (see photo), which are shade-tolerant and have been planted about 1/3rd of the way down the black tunnel that is the middle section of my garden.

The only cranesbills I found were a lurid pinky-purple. There were no forget-me-nots, and no lamb's ears. I comforted myself with perennial violas in both white and deep velvety purple, and some fabulous hen and chicks (I have a weakness there) and with a half dozen miniature rose bushes. I love the dainty flowers of the mini rose. I got two with white blossoms blushed with pink. These grow about on 12" tall. I got two peachy pink ones which get about 24" tall and two climbers, one deep pink and the other a spectacular red stripe on a pale pink background. Roses didn't thrive in Calgary. Here (or so I'm told) they grow like weeds. I've always wanted climbing roses.

I managed three or four dozen annuals, deep blue lobelias, a couple of dark (but not black) leaved begonias with gorgeous white camellia-like blossoms, alyssums and the usual suspects one covers the garden floor with early in the season while you are waiting for the more serious growth to begin.

Sadly it's turned even colder and wetter than before. Our high today was a grey, damp and very windy 11 C (51 F). The tomatoes, peppers and other teenies in the greenhouse are shivering, even with a lightbulb to keep them warm. They would very much like a sunny day or two, but we are promised nothing of the sort. When it should have been cold and raining it wasn't and now we are crossing our fingers that frost doesn't get the annuals we've already planted out.

Speaking of things planted out. I put pansies in the new flower bed as soon as I had soil in it. I sincerely regret it now. Every time I look out the window, that yellow pansy, with its 10 huge blossoms is like a needle in the eye. I had to go to town for groceries and to run errands today, but hopefully tomorrow it will be dry enough for me to go dig out that yellow pansy and a couple of its more lurid neigbours and move them somewhere else. The colour balance is all wrong. I even had nightmares about it last night. But such are the nightmares of spring. Yellow pansies in a bed of blue-green.