Eye Candy, Sod Progress and Giant Gourds...

Good day to you! It's 1:00 in the morning and I just started blogging because I'm having an unusually severe allergy attack. Bear with me as I work on this Tuesday's post until the Benadryl kicks in and sends me to a special place...

John and I took a trip to the big town today to purchase a few plants we needed to fill some empty pots. Here are some photos of the final result on our front porch...



Let's take a look at some detail...

The following is one of my favorite combos...


Unfortunately, I won't be able to tell you what all the plant names are. When we shop in Mexico, either the plants aren't labeled with their names or they are in spanish, which means nothing to me. In order to determine how to care for them, I say to the man working there, "Sol o sombra?", which, being translated, means, "Sun or shade?" He answers, then, if I love the plant, I determine where I will put it and, if I'm doing a container combo, will proceed to select plants with similar sun or shade needs. To get to my point, I can't tell you what the name of the tall plant is, only that it likes shade. Thus, I placed it up high in a corner on my porch along with a geranium plant, petunias and a hanging vine of unknown name as well.

In front of the afore-mentioned container, we have a similar combination, consisting of climbing mandevilla, geramiums and the same hanging vine as above...


On the steps we have pots with purple fountain grass, lantana (in yellow), geraniums, and miniature dahlias...



Here's a closer look at one the dahlia/petunia combos I get to see as I look out my kitchen window...


At the top of the steps, John planted two Costco-special hibiscus plants. Aren't the blooms lovely?...


Along the wrought-iron fence that runs along the front of the house, he also planted climbing sweet pea. Here is the first bloom...


I can't wait to see how it will look once it's climbing up onto the fence!

On the bottom steps leading up to the porch, we've planted vinca, an easy-to-grow, sun-loving plant...


...and in a planter area directly below the top porch, John planted what may be African daisies...


In my last garden post, I posted a photo of the gladiola garden planted in a raised bed surrounded by a rock wall. Along the rock wall, John planted various vegetables, including cucumbers...



If you look at the middle of the following photo, you'll see the first signs of a baby cucumber...


Isn't he cute?

He also planted lots of fun plants for the kids, like sunflowers, giant pumpkins and, together with the 9-year-old boy, these giant gourds...


As you can see, they grow so large, you can paint them and make them into a bird house. That is going to be fun!

Here's what the seeds look like...


(Can I just tell you how much I love that hand?)

...and here is John and the 9-year-old boy planting the gourds around a new tree...



Here is a baby trying to learn that just because mud looks like chocolate, it is not...


The other baby did try the mud, but learned a little quicker than his brother that it, indeed, was not chocolate...


Incidentally, as we were working outside, take a look at what the sky looked like...


It felt and smelled so, so good and I felt like I never wanted the afternoon to end.

And lastly, in case any of you were concerned, I wanted to show you how our sod experiment is going. (If you're confused about what I'm referring to, click HERE.) Remember that we buried each stolon under a half inch of dirt. Now look what we have...




I am pleasantly amazed! They say it's supposed to become a full lawn in two more weeks, so I'll keep you posted.

And here is what the sky looked like right before we went inside. It had barely started to sprinkle...


Thank you so much for taking this garden tour with me. What are you growing in your garden?

I am pleased to list this post @ Ms. Jean's...


Check out her blog to see what everyone else has coming up this spring!

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