Accidental tomatoes and other adventures

Select Seeds was selling plants for $5 each so inevitably I bought some.

Three primroses, which are inexplicably blooming now.

Looking at the dark soil spot to the back, there are three new anemones, and then on this side of the lavender (which is not new) is a delphinium.

My beloved foxgloves are looking glorious.

This four-lined plant bug was on Emma's zinnias. I don't want to make the picture too large because yuck.

Remember the dianthus that was mixed in with some sort of super-enthusiastic grass? Well I ripped out the grass, and now it looks *great.* Ha ha,

Here's the other one, looking all alive and whatnot!

For weeks, amidst the zinnias, I have been eyeing some mystery plants. They look like tomatoes, I told myself, but naw, how could they be tomatoes? Must be a look-alike weed. They got bigger, and they still looked like tomatoes. I considered and rejected the idea that tomato seeds might have been mixed in with the zinnia seeds. They got bigger still, and it finally hit me: THESE ARE TOMATOES. And then I came belatedly to the realization that my compost must have had some tomatoes with seeds just waiting for a spot in a garden.

Even if they grow fruit, I fully expect the accursed squirrels to make off with them, but still, it's a little exciting. Since they are amidst the zinnias, they probably feel staked, but I am wondering whether I should truly stake them. But that would be admitting I care, and then I'm just asking for my heart to be broken when tragedy befalls them.

See, this is why I don't grow vegetables.

See also the grassy-looking gypsophila, and the tall cornflower appear poised to bloom.

This is the general scene of Emma's plants (plus tomatoes!). Note the anti-deer spray in the foreground, which has clogged up every spray bottle I've had it in, so I've taken to painting it on the plants, which is a total pain. But darned if I'm going to lose the zinnias, cornflower, and balloon flowers to the wicked deer.

Finally, last year I cut back the Shasta daisy stems, and when they grew back this year, it was to the side of the dead stem stumps. I just pulled those stumps out, and look how beautiful they are!

Spring Planting - Front Yard

Bought flowers today at Metropolitan Plant and Flower Exchange, in West Orange, close by. The staff was very friendly, and the place has a decent - though not huge - selection.

Our tulips remain alive and kicking in the back. Bottom left is phlox, then the vertical row to the right of it is stock, and next row is begonia, then a pink geranium.

Phlox (one of my two perennial selections)

Stock ("midget mix" - there are pink and white in addition to purple

Snapdragon, but alas! They don't appear to snap. Has that quality been bred out of all of them?

Begonia

Gazania. I'm not sure yet whether I like this plant.

Lantana

Wormwood, my second of two perennials. I was attracted by its smell. The varietal is called "Powis Castle," a place we loved in Wales.

Brachyscome. I don't know anything about it, but it is pretty.

This is one of the plants that was already there, but I noticed a tag on it - now we know what it is!

Note the azalea starting to bloom in the foreground, and in the background - white lilacs! Two of them! Already there, not new. UPDATE: they are not lilacs; they are some variety of viburnum.

Gazania and portulaca next to our spontaneous primrose.

Garden Happenings

This week I trimmed the bushes in front. They haven't been pruned well over the years - very leggy on the bottom, so I didn't have much to work with. They may need replacement. 

Well hello, adorable little primrose that appeared from nowhere!

These are my "greenhouses." The basil has sprouted! Still waiting for the others. The yogurt containers, with clear tops, seem to provide the best environment - the others dry out a little more.

There is a lot of forsythia in the back yard.