Even with the weird summer we’ve had, the three elephant ear bulbs I bought are doing pretty well. The one above is the smallest. It’s in the shade much of the day, but protected from a lot of the wind we get up here. It’s had several rough starts, but it seems to be holding its own now.
This planter is on one side of our front porch. This elephant ear is starting to do what I wanted, which was take over the whole planter and fill out as much as it wanted to.
And this is the planter that is in front of our garage. It’s obvious doing the best. This one bulb looks like it will fill the whole planter. I just love it.
The stick shows where I planted the first of three elephant ear bulbs. The ones I received are SO large (the size of small bowling balls) that I decided to plant one in each of three different planters, trying to end up with beautiful ears all around the front yard. I may end up with nothing, but I’ve screwed up before and will again. This planter is where I had the three plants last year. This time I relocated the plants here, trying to make room so all could co-exist.
Here’s a picture of last year’s crop before we had the truly horrible winter that killed off the bulbs –
Again, the stick shows where the bulb is. I cleared stuff out of the planter and spent a bunch of time lopping off big branches that were hanging down over and around the planter to give the plant room to spread its wings. (The plant on one end is a gardenia plant.)
This is a planter on one side of our front porch. I had planted some iris in it. They bloomed, but the planter looked ‘unfinished’ or ‘unplanned,’ to me, so I decided to dig up the iris and relocate it. There is room for growth on either side of this planter. (Besides no one comes in our front door anyway. Everyone comes in through the garage.) I’m hoping the third bulb is happy here, growing its heart out.
Here’s where I relocated the iris. (As you can see, Amber – including her feet – was helping me.) There is a Rio Samba rose plant in the center, which has bloomed once this spring. I pruned it so I hope it will bloom again soon. My SIL told me about two phone apps that may help me identify what the perennial is with the little spikes of purple flowers. It’s on my list to see how the apps work and see if one of them will help me. Fingers crossed.
I spent a total of 2 hours working in the yard yesterday. I re-weeded the trio of planters that run between the top of the driveway and our front yard, and pruned things more harshly –
If the rain holds off, I plan to spend quite a bit of time outside today, too. I want to weed whack where my husband couldn’t get with the mower, spray KillsAll to help me have to weed whack less and make it easier for my husband to mow, and then tackle another planter –
I hope your weather is such that you can enjoy being outside, too.
Happy May Day! I just dated myself because I had a bad time trying to find the image above. To ME, May Day means children around a May pole winding long, colorful ribbons around it. I never actually DID that, or even WATCHED others do it. I guess it was just conveyed in pictures, coloring books, and more. Anyhow, it’s an image that is fading away.
depositphotos.com
So we’ll just wish each other well and hope it’s a nice day. It was rainy here when I first got up, but the sun seems to be coming out. I was planning to work in the yard, weed whacking to neaten up after my husband mowed the yard a couple of days ago. Hopefully, things will continue to improve so I can get outside.
The cheerful mail lady just drove up to deliver the three elephant ear bulbs I ordered recently. They’re HUGE and beautiful balls of promise. I’ll get them planted as soon as the weather permits.
Quotesgram
Since it’s the first of another month, it’s time for accountability check on my efforts to lose the lard.
WEIGHT: down 23 pounds since my heaviest. (I gained 2 from eating at the Mexican restaurant locally, enjoying every bite as I gained the weight. I’ll get it off again ASAP and then go for more.)
GIRTH: I’m down a total of 3 inches overall this month, with bits down a bit here and there. The biggest good difference was on my abdomen – down an inch from a month ago.
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers
I’m hoping that ‘slow and steady’ ultimately wins the race.
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