There’s nothing more satisfying than dianthus crowned in blooms during spring. My Stargazer plants burst into bloom early April, and unlike the chinensis varieties, this perennial hybrid has reliably returned despite some harsh summers.
I’ve had Coconut Punch on my plant wishlist for sometime, but I’m thinking of adding more such as striped Pinball Wizard and green eyed Mojito.
If a longer-lived Super Parfait-type dianthus ever came on to market, I’d be a happy gardener.
Happens every year, every growing season, every time the plant shopping bug bites.
My Etsy starter plants arrived several weeks ago, and now I can’t figure out where to plant them.
Pictured: Golden pineapple sage, Nepeta Chartreuse on the Loose, and Buddleia Butterfly Gold hanging out in the backyard.
At this point, I’m seriously considering removing a couple of Walker’s Low catmints in the backyard so that I can juggle the plantings I want to keep.
A variegated blue-flowered hydrangea is also waiting for a pot to open up.
I discovered that plucky pink primrose growing and blooming in between the flagstone in my front yard flower bed. The species version is blooming out in the wild fields surrounding the neighborhood, but in my flowerbed it is getting bullied by Gregg’s Mistflower. I would love to see more of these Oenothera berlandieri ‘Siskiyou’ blooming in my beds, but I realize I may need to have something blooming that lasts all season, rather than the spring show.
Admittedly it’s not planted in a very sunny spot but I admire it’s determination.
I finally got around to repairing my Eley Hose Reel. I purchased the Eley Portable Garden Hose Reel Cart back in 2020 after I got weary of storing my garden hoses and needed a better way to keep them stashed. The previous cheap “plastic” storage reel kept leaking and proved hard to roll up with each passing year.
Apparently a common point of failure on the original Eley hose reels was the brass swivel. Extreme cold temperatures would cause the fittings to expand and contract, which basically caused leaks starting in 2022. The fitting finally broke off in 2023, which rendered the reel rather useless. I was able to troubleshoot my swivel issues and determined that it had been subjected to that expansion, whereby the swivel fittings had broken loose.
The new brass swivel took about 15 minutes to install; instructions on how to replace the part were clearly printed on the box. A YouTube video also helped clarify the replacement process. Once I swapped out the parts, the swivel worked perfectly with no leaks and I was back in business again.
