Time for planting!

Abutilon "Chinese lantern" flowers, a hummingbird favorite, along the driveway

Well, you have to admit that when you see plants that were kind of dormant through the winter months start to produce beautiful flowers in the Spring, that it's inspiring. And for me that means checking the rest of the plants in the garden to see if they all are surviving, especially since they haven't been watered in months, except for the occasional rain showers we've had. And if there is absolutely no sign of life in a plant that should show some tiny bit of green, the plant will be dug out of the ground or container pot and tossed into the green debris compost bin.

Which means I get to buy more plants!

But wait a minute - it looks like some of our plants have re-seeded in places where their new seedlings can't remain. Because they are either growing between bricks and will get stepped on constantly or they are future huge shrubs growing right next to the driveway.

For example, I started to pull weeds from between bricks in the backyard this weekend and discovered many little Blue Moon lobelia seedlings growing there. Well that was a very pleasant surprise because I usually buy blue lobelia seedlings every year from the plant nursery. These seedlings are from seeds from the Blue Moon lobelia plants I bought last year that must have been blown around the bricks nearby. Blue lobelias, especially the midnight blue color, are very beautiful when planted in large planters. Bees are always attracted to these flowers. And what's great is that these plants are obviously drought tolerant, because our soil is hard clay and the seedlings I discovered this weekend were growing in that clay soil.

Blue Moon lobelia seedling growing in HARD clay soil

Above is a photo of one of the tiny Blue Moon lobelia seedlings I dug out of the hardened clay soil between bricks. Definite proof that it is a drought tolerant plant, because it hasn't gotten any water aside from morning dew since the last rain showers several weeks ago.

I transplanted all of the lobelia seedlings into several large ceramic pots. Hopefully they all survive the trauma of the move!

Transplanted Blue Moon lobelia seedlings in a large ceramic pot. They are each about 1 inch tall.

To be continued...