leene_chan | Finally, the Window Box.

Window Box, 2011., a photo by Leenechan on Flickr.

I slapped this together out of annuals I found at Vinny's Home and Garden Showplace in Wallingford, CT. Typically I don't care for their plant selection, but they have a lot of good supplies! I figured it was about time we put something in that windowbox. I think the brace is leaning slightly on one side, but I'm not sure how to fix it. I'll ignore it for now.

We went to find some daylilies for our front border, of which they had next to none. So I picked up a little thyme plant and ::gasp:: another Oriental Poppy, "Eye Catcher."

Why do I keep doing this to myself? I've never been able to successfully grow poppies for more than one season. Sure, "Lauren's Grape" and "Imperial Pink" have grown large and healthy-looking but our Oriental Poppies will probably go dormant without blooming this year. This poppy I bought today has a flower bud on it. I am such a sucker. I'll put it in the side garden with the other poppies and try to protect it from the sun. This rainy, cool weather we've been having lately has been doing them a world of good. "Lauren's Grape" looks like it's giving me a thumbs up. XD

So give me some flowers already!

Kristen came up the bright idea to buy a soil-testing kit while we were out. She tested the soil in our front, side and back gardens, and the results were illuminating. We always assumed we had clay a.k.a alkaline soil. It turns out that our front and back yard have a soil pH of 6.5, and the sides are 6.0. So we're actually acid! No wonder our hydrangea is so blue!