Johntheplantman's stories, musings, and gardening.

Yesterday—Saturday, May 31– was a good day to go check on a few of my regular clients. It was a good day in that, other than a couple of frost-damaged sprinkler heads, all was well and as it should be. I started the day checking out Dot Fletcher’s window boxes that we had planted in April. They were amazing:

Window box with begonias and petunias planted in coconut fiber basket and grown in for one month

I plan to prune them this week so they won’t get all straggly. Here’s another one.

begonias and bacopa in a window box

I really like the way the window box on the corner looks with its base of manicured loropetalum. These planters are made with coconut fiber. I wrote an article about the planting process a couple of years ago,

How to plant a mixed color window box for summer color

Window box with begonias and petunias. Loropetalum at base

The next thing I got to do was check out the coconut fiber hanging baskets at Betty’s house. They are doing well.

Mixed flower hanging basket in coconut fiber container–grown in one month

The plants really like the fiber containers. They take a lot of water but are well worth the effort. We used lots of time-release fertilizer when we planted. I wrote an article about these baskets about a month ago:

Click here. Make a beautiful flower creation with a wire basket and coconut fiber.

Mixed flower hanging basket in coconut fiber container–grown in one month

In the afternoon I went downtown to check out the irrigation system for D’Ann. I love her name. There were some problems with the sprinklers, but not bad. I enjoyed seeing the progress she had made on planting her front yard perennial garden. I like it that she doesn’t get in a hurry.

front yard perennial with brick raised beds in May

I wrote an article last October about the installation of D’Ann’s garden. Click Here to see it

 There’s one other garden that I never wrote an article about. It’s on a hillside at the base of a retaining wall. Cathy Reese is a most accomplished gardener and I installed this for her

Raised perennial bed with landscape timbers at the base of a retaining wall

When I went back to check on it a few days ago she had put lots and lots of plants in it.

Cathy’s raised perennial bed.

Thanks for visiting Johntheplantman. Tell your friends about it. One other good thing to do in June is to build a really neat sprinkler. Click Here for Directions

As usual, I would just love for you click here to go to Amazon and purchase the ebook edition of my wonderful book, Requiem for a Redneck to go on your Kindle. I have also noticed that Amazon now has a free Kindle app for iphones and tablets. Is that cool or what?