Replanting and Transplanting

 Rain, rain, and more rain. All night long thunderclaps and lightning lit my bedroom. Rain would come down hard enough to be heard, despite the mighty wind of the ever present fan sounding and the air purifier next to HeWho can sleep through just about anything. This has been for the past few days. Wake up to a bright sunny morning, only to watch it dissolve into overcast skies promsing more wet days.

I managed to get the narrow side of the driveway planted with fern and hosta, then ground cover to discourage weeds and grass, then mulch on top of that. You would think all that physical labor would slow my mind down ..... not so. I can set out to fulfil one goal and my mind autimatically turns to the next project, and the next after that.

You remember my surprise sunflower garden.

The one the bees love to visit. Sorry for the blur.

This is better, caught my little friend in mid-flight.

Then after the high winds and pounding raindrops. the sunflowers were no longer standing. I went out in a misty drizzle and staked them and used twine to pull them back into a more or less standing position, no pictures of that. I was quite proud of my efforts, only to have them dashed wih next storm. The stakes and twine merely allowed the stalks to break and I ended up cutting them all down. Some I pulled up easily, but the bigger stalks proved to be a challenge.

I took some inside and put them in a vase. This is just a few here, but I filled that vase to capacity and then another. The spent flowers were left outside for the birds to have the seed. My phone reminded me that I had prescriptions to pick up and we left in the dark skies to run errands in the rain. 

Our normal routine upon entering Walmart's parking lot is for me to be deposited at the garden entrance. I walk through to the CLEARNCE section to see what perrenials might be in need of rescue. None awaited me, but most of the plant racks are empty this time of year. What I did find was zinnia! Eight pots, each with three plants for only $2. That is 24 plants for less than $1 each. At first I convinced myself to only 5 pots for $10. After all, they won't be coming back to life after winter ..... but the other 3 pots looked so lonely. I bought them all.

Then I saw the cobalt blue giant flower pots for only $8! They beckoned to me, being just the pop of color I needed to brighten up the dreary day. I bought 2. I sort of filled this one with this and that until I find the perfect plant.

The zinnia? Half went into the garden previously filled with sunflowers. This is what I thought I was planting before. You see a few sunflowers left standing and I still need to untie that twine from the maple tree. I need to remulch that area, but all the red mulch is gone. The other half will be going to my She Shed garden today. 

I spent awhile gathering cosmos seed before coming inside for the evening. My shoulder and neck muscles aching form mulching and shoveling rock displaced by all the water rushing down my driveway. No rain in the forecast today, so I will leave you now to mow the upper lawn in front of the She Shed. Then I will plant the remaining zinnia and relocate some gladiola to a better spot with support for the long stems.