Today I planted most of the fruits of last weekend's Swanson's and Bark & Garden trips:

• 2 dianthus
• 2 coreopsis
• 1 penstemon
• 1 Japanese anemone (September Charm)

...leaving one crocrosmia, the spiny acanthus, and another penstemon to get in, but I was exhausted, because:

I FINALLY put the poor sad pitiful hollies in the ground!  Only like five years overdue.  We'll see if they make it. 

Also fertilized the roses, daphne, and the hollies.

Patio is done! plus, rebooting

So, just as a memento mori, the old hideous cracked weedy slab:

And now:

I love it, and

• holy CRAP it is huge
• I need to figure out how to subdivide it.

Currently on order and to arrive soon:

a gazebo, from JC Penney of all places, but which looks really nice and has good reviews:

and a fire pit:




What I really need to be doing instead of footling around on shopping sites buying patio stuff is to plan out the approx. 200 square feet of virgin new garden bed that I have just sitting there.  So far I bought a bunch of random stuff (mostly sages) at Bark&Garden and stuck it in the far corner, and then also stuck in the lily and acidanthera bulbs I'd bought and then left sitting on the dining tables for a month or two.  No idea if they'll actually survive, but I figured I'd give them a chance.

I am tempted to plant the poor old hollies against the fence next to Generous Gardener (which by the way has shown no inclination whatsoever to rebloom).  (Crocus Rose is reblooming beautifully after being decimated with black spot and almost dug out by me in a fit of annoyance.)

I have a list of desired plants, I have big-scale graph paper, now I just need to make some decisions.  And find out what David Austins will be in Swansons in the spring, and also if they get more nursery stock in for fall planting.  Could order stuff from Bluestone when it goes on sale.  Or Heirloom Roses.  Ho hum.