Happy Mother's Day!

This Mother's Day weekend, as has become tradition in the Manasco household, we hit up several area plant sales and subjugated the children to forced slave labor in the flower beds. It was a surprisingly chilly day (we actually moved several of our tender plants into the garage Friday and Saturday nights), so we donned some warm apparel and set off in search of unique plants at bargain prices. We went to the Port Byron library, the Silvis greenhouse, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the RI County Fairgrounds, Black Hawk Park, and the RI Botanical Center. We procured:

• Several huge potted grasses for the front yard
• A couple of coleus for Anna's bed
• Three sweet potato vines for the retaining wall
• Two dwarf blue kale for the retaining wall
• Three short cosmos for the vegetable garden
• A couple of tall cosmos for the raised beds

Our last stop of the day was at True Value in Moline, where they were having their annual Mother's Day bedding plant sale. We got four full flats of annuals -- lots of impatiens, vincas, marigolds, and some random flowers for hanging baskets.

Anna and Alex were of huge help: they planted almost 100 vinca and impatiens around the back patio garden. We also planted our new grasses and about 20 caladium around the front of the house and got the (slicing) cucumbers in the ground, along with the zucchini, butternut squash, and pumpkins.  Oh, and on Sunday, we attended an Arts Festival in Davenport, where Nicole picked out a couple of cute copper animal garden ornaments.

Then on Monday, I took the day off of work and spent the entire day preparing for or working in the garden. It was glorious. First thing, I went into town and purchased a couple of straw bales and some final seeds, then planted some kale and chard in the greenhouse, waiting for the weather to warm up. Around lunchtime, I got outside and planted thyme along our back patio walkway, some alyssum around the cherry bushes, and put in all of our tomato plants in the vegetable garden. I also turned over the area for the black beans and peppers, although I didn't quite have enough time to finish them. This week looks to be pretty busy, and then things get wet again for a while, but the next time we have some time and its not raining, I'd like to finish the peppers, black beans, green beans, and plant the last of our herbs (dill, basil, and savory). We are also going to need to get some pea sticks set up, along with another trellis for the black-eyed peas.