Anyway, I'm back, big ol' boot and all. And I want to explain today why I'm really glad that nothing with fruit seems to want to grow in my garden.
Meet Mr. and Mrs. Pigeon. They drop by daily. Actually, they swoop in like my back yard is a landing strip, and start poking around at the far end.
Then they wander the whole garden, paying no attention whatsoever to the blogger on the chaise longue snapping photos of them. Once they determine that there's nothing good to eat, they fly away. I'm just as happy that my serviceberry bush is not going to provide them with a nice fruit snack.
I'm not being entirely accurate when I say there is no fruit in my garden. Because little Red Sprite Holly has four berries!
(Only three are visible in the photo, but there is a fourth.) Eventually, they will turn red. I've transplanted her into a bigger pot, and I hope the shock to her roots doesn't do any harm to the little berries.
The rest of my garden is in pretty good shape. Remember the window boxes that I planted with purple heucheras and Stained Glass hostas?
I'm happy to say they're thriving, though the heucheras have taken on a sort of frosted, greenish-purple hue (they resemble the Palace Purple heuchera, which I don't love). They were definitely redder/purpler when they arrived!
Anyway, I'm pronouncing the window box a success and planning to get more boxes for next year.
The Fire Chief heuchera has also changed his hue a bit. He arrived looking like this.
And now he looks like this:
The outer leaves have gone much greener than they were - but the new leaves are really, really red. Heucheras are supposed to be great shade plants, but it's becoming clear that the vivid colors need sun to sustain them. Still, those little red leaves are gorgeous when they appear, so I don't think I'm going to give up heuchera gardening just yet!
Lastly, I wanted to mention that some things have bloomed. Hostas are generally grown for their foliage, not their flowers, but they do bloom. Two of my four Mouse Ears hostas did (though I failed to get a photo) and my Key West hosta did too:
OK, that's a really lousy camera angle, but you try photographing plants when you can't crouch down because you're in a stupid boot after foot surgery.
