Containers for Smells and Tastes

I went in a new direction for my deck containers this year. Usually, I plant them up with colorful annuals for a bright show at the front of the house. This year, I planted mainly herbs, tomatoes, strawberries, and scented geraniums.

This pot contains a tasty collection of dwarf globe basil and Red Robin cherry tomatoes. I planted another larger pot with indeterminate (very tall) golden cherry tomatoes, purple basil, lemon basil, and thyme.

I am partial to these Vietnamese blue glazed pots. I recall that resident lawnmower man spotted this one at the Ten Thousand Villages store. I planted "Nutmeg" and "Apples and Cinnamon" scented geraniums (technically they are Pelargoniums) in this pot, hoping to get a sniff when walking up the front sidewalk. I can't honestly say that the nutmeg geranium smells too much like nutmeg, but the apples and cinnamon is not too far off.


The sloped flower bed is looking nice with creeping phlox (pink) in bloom. Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) is a great evergreen mat-forming perennial that is easily divided. I started with one plant in the yard 4 years ago and divided it into at least 12 plants. I don't find it invasive and it's not unattractive when not in bloom.


Did you catch that pile of sod stacked up in the left side of the previous picture? RLM has been working on the most recent yard projects. We're removing more lawn, which is a pleasing thing in itself. About 5 feet of lawn next to the house will be replaced by stones and gravel, since that lawn gets cooked by heat reflecting from the house and it looks terrible most of the time. In the middle of the lawn, I want a rocky outcrop to make an alpine/rock garden. It will start as soon as we haul in some blast rock and maybe get some machinery to move around some huge stones. Isn't that so exciting?

A rope outlines the perimeter of my rock/alpine garden:


Here we have a Mentha "Julia's Sweet Citrus" and a lemon scented geranium. I bought the mint and geraniums as a mail order from Richter's Herbs. I'm quite excited about these plants and plan to add mint to fresh summer dishes and drinks. The Victorians were fanatical about collecting scented geraniums, so we'll see if this summer of smelly plants gets me hooked. I'll definitely take cuttings of my favourites and keep them for next year.


Aside from the containers, here's my very small raised bed vegetable and herb garden. I am growing all of four broccoli plants, which were started indoors and are now planted out. I've never grown broccoli before in my life, so it's just another novelty in my little garden, just like the purple carrots that are sprouting so nicely now.

I know the rest of the North American gardeners are probably harvesting their first peas and greens, but with our long bright days, we'll catch up soon. At least our dandelions are thriving!

Phlox and New Spirea

Because I'm excited about this new purchase, you get to see one of my new shrubs. I bought four of these Spirea "Mini Sunglo" shrubs. They have tinier leaves than the regular spirea, and have bright yellow-green foliage. Resident-lawnmower-man laughed and asked what it is about my predilection for things miniature. (That never crossed my mind when I bought these, but I did get into bonsai a few years ago). The foliage color looks good next to the blue grape hyacinths and I'm hoping the tiny shrub will help disguise the fading glory of the bulbs.
The rock gardens are replendent in carpets of the pinky-purple flowers of creeping phlox (Phlox subulata), one of my favourite hardy evergreen perennials. I have been dividing a couple plants that already existed in the yard when we moved here in 2004, and these plants are all products of that cheap propagation method. They are quite showy and I get lots of comments about them.
Another view of the "rock garden". I grew about 50 new dianthus "rock garden mix" from seed this year and planted them in the spaces. I am hoping that it will finally fill in next year.This is one of the stacked stone wall raised beds with pink "Menton" single late tulips. The wall of green in the background is sedum that will flower yellow in July. It is very hardy and spreads, so I beat it back where it creeps over and under edging into the perennial border. I also walk on it to get at the occasional dandelion or to take photos. As you can see, the mountain ash tree (top right corner) is not yet blooming.