Weather Man Be Nice, Planting Season is Approaching

It's pretty sad when the biggest topic of the day is the weather.  We have almost made it!  It's April 3rd, right after Easter!  This past Winter was one out of my wish list for Winter weather.  We had just a few snowfalls that needed to be shoveled.

The rest of the season was handled by salt pellets of some sort or another to melt the little bits of snowfall.  Because of the cold weather and the snow being so light, I was able to clear a path on my sidewalk with my leaf blower for some of the storms.  There were hardly any ice days of which to speak.  I had to buy an extra supply of calcium chloride.  What I had left over from last year came with tiny pellets of black substances such as ash.  Not only did I need to clear off the snow, when it was all over I had to clear the black pellets off my sidewalk.

I'm am attempting to move on to Spring and Spring subjects, but again the forecasters came in with their scare tactics.  Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter and he was so right. True, the counties East of Pittsburgh are expected to get early snow but we here in the Burgh should dodge the ball and get more rain rain with snowflakes in the air.  The snow is daunting in that the chill factor comes into play but it isn't anything that we seasoned people from Pittsburgh are not used to.

So, once more I'm in the planning mode for what will be my subjects for the coming weeks.  We just gave and the Easter Lilies, tulips and daisies for Easter.  Coming up In May will be Mother's Day, which by my friend's, the horticulturist, advice is the time that it is pretty safe to plant outside.  I brought last year's hanging planters and the front porch planters inside this year.  It's time to plan what is going to go into them.  Some survived like the lantas and others don't looks promising like the hibiscus.

A frew years ago I had Ivy Geraniums hanging planters and it was a profusion of wonderful red and whites.  I over populated the front porch planters with them that year so I have to be choosy if I plan to do the geraniums again and only put one plant per container.  Then I can put some other smaller blue flowers around them to keep up my Red, White and Blue Theme that I try to achieve each year.

I love Bougainvillea but they are too hard to keep and I've only been able to keep them one season.  I first found this plant at a local volunteer fire department flower sale and I got so many compliments on my hanging planter that year that I continued to try to grow them in hanging baskets.  Reading the article I linked I see that they are a climbing annual and can be grown in our area if gardened properly.

I've been searching the internet for a Butterfly Bush.  I would love to see butterflies and humming birds in my yard.  The ugly garage on the far side of my property was torn down yesterday so I need something to break up the edge of my property line now.

This what I want to see from my porch
Source:  www.network54.com

After reading an article though, I've decided on Fuschia instead of the Butterfly Bush.  Those are more controllable.

That's my thoughts for today.  I guess I'll have to work on my plans for summer a little further before I purchase anything for this year.

I'm not one to start my gardening from seeds so I will be haunting my favorite places to find plants soon.  I have mostly bought from Home Depot and KMart but I recently saw an ad from Lowe's.  I also shop for hanging plants at a local florist, Burke and Haas, Always in Bloom.

Last year, I found a hanging honeysuckle for hummingbirds at Winschel's Hardware Store on  Butler Street in Etna.  I plan to look there again this year because I planted the remaining planter in my yard and it did not make it to bloom this spring.  I was so happy with this hanging planters because it attracted hummingbirds within a half hour of my hanging it on the porch.