Wow. It got up to mid-80s today and the forecast is for 86 tomorrow. No April Fool's Joke - this is a good 20 degrees above normal for us. Unfortunately, halcyon years like this stick in my husband's memory, and each spring he grumbles about getting the tomatoes out in the garden by the end of March. He conveniently forgets that just as frequently, our daily highs are in the 40s and 50s until after we get the all-clear in mid-April. And even in years like this, the weather can be capricious: just a few years ago we experienced 3 nights of freezing temps after the magical 4/15 date, stunting and killing a lot of shrubs and trees.
But given the extended forecast, it does look like I can get the containers planted sooner than later. So I just *had* to slip over to Martin's and pick up some plants - orangey geraniums, plum-colored Dracaena spikes, surrounded by golden Lysimachia 'Goldilocks' and a new gorgeous-smelling baby blue Lobelia. I was literally snatching them off the carts before the could put them on the sale benches.
Next up is a foray over to Valley Growers (especially since they opened VG Too over at the Co-op) and see what they're putting out this year. And I'm sure we'll be buying azaleas on Saturday.
So much for getting the car washed and vacuumed today. But the front porch looks great, and thanks to middle child wielding the mattock, the small bed where the sidewalk intersects the driveway is now cleared of weeds and tree roots, and planted with dark-leaved 'Blackbird' spurge surrounded by golden 'Angelina' sedum groundcover. I'll probably plant some blue daze evolvulus and something orange - vinca or celosia, or something else that can take the heat and sun, just to make it pop a little more.
