Summer Plant Season

Another summer plant season is upon us, so I have, once again, went in search of some outdoor greenery to display on our front porch and rear patio. My first choice in hanging basket plants will always be a fuschia,

and I had great luck with the one I bought last year. I think it lasted about 6 months, which is the most you can ask of something that only cost $15 (and typically doesn’t winter well in Ohio).

Last year I also lucked out and found a fern at a garden center somewhere that is still very much alive and kicking and is now hanging in the same place it was last summer. Unlike Boston ferns that just shed their leaves like my cat does with fur, this fern is pretty tidy and low maintenance.  I noticed it has started sending out tendrils or whatever those brown things are. If anyone knows how to propagate it so I can start a new fern, feel free to send me any advice.

I recently bought two exotic angel plants. One is a Bird’s Nest Fern (the one on the left), but the other one didn’t come with a specific type (it just says Houseplant and Beautiful Home Décor). Since our house and property is somewhat shaded, I try to only buy plants that I know will thrive with very little sunlight. The instructions for the BN fern say that “…providing some direct sunlight is great for the Bird’s Nest Fern to grow well, but you need to only provide some morning or a small amount of pre-sunset.” I think the instructions for the generic one I paired it with has similar needs, so hopefully they should be okay together. If not, neither of these was a particularly expensive purchase (about $6 each).

Though I never cared much for tomatoes while growing up, I have come to appreciate them as an adult, and can definitely tell a major difference between store-bought (small) tomatoes and ones grown at home. Thus, I like to try to growing them myself, but never have much luck. It’s pretty shady in the back corner of our garden. Plus, we also have a lot of rabbits and deer who like them as well, so it tends to be a losing combination. The best luck I’ve ever had is with the hanging tomato basket I bought as a fundraiser a couple years ago. It took awhile for it to start producing, but once it did, it was quite fruitful and I definitely had enough to satisfy me. Since the nearest nursery that you can purchase one of those is a bit of a drive, I have decided this year to just elevate the two plants I bought (to at least challenge the deer a little) and see how they do.

Making up the rest of my patio assortment is a couple herbs – rosemary (nearly impossible to kill, and yet I hardly ever use it)

and thyme (a new one for me, but it smells nice and is hopefully low maintenance).

I also bought strawberry to put in the mosaic pot.

Last year it had the rosemary plant, and I had hoped to put in some catnip for our kitty, but could not locate that at our two local DIY stores. Don’t worry Tamsin, if I find some at one our garden centers or pet stores I’ll be sure to pick some up for you.

We used to a have a ton of it in our back garden, but my husband had our gardener remove most of it, so not sure if there’s any left now.

I also have a couple basil plants since that tends to be our favorite spice since we love Italian food more than just about anything else.

The other little sapling on our windowsill is Hops which comes from a ‘Grow Your Own Beer’ kit that was a Christmas gag gift. Apparently you can plant the Hops outside in which case it grows like a vine apparently. If it continues at its normal growth spurt, we might just transplant it and see what happens.

What plants do you all have? Do you have a green thumb? Feel free to share your experiences with plants and gardening.