Spoon Garden

Day 228: You can't have too much of a good thing, not when you're talking about Spoon Flowers. I managed to score all three colours this year, and have planted them together in a 10-gallon pot set at the end of the raspberry row beside the birdbath. I can enjoy them from the living room window there, an advantage over having them in the flower bed closer to the house. I bought them as soon as Watson's set them out, a tricky proposition because I'm in the next Plant Hardiness Zone due to the difference in altitude. They had to be coaxed along indoors for a month before I could start hardening them off on the back porch. Once danger of killing frost had passed, I moved them to the pot. They're thriving in the "Spoon Bowl," gently fertilized by the Evening Grosbeaks and Spotted Towhees as they stand in line for a drink at the birdbath. Now there's a bit of gardening advice you won't find in any book!