Home sweet home

Well, I'm back.  A little sad that my super awesome vacation of a lifetime is over, but also recognizing that there's no place like home.  I also think that given that Evan and I have both grown little guts from the huge amounts of pasta we ate, it's a good thing we are back.  Before moving on though, despite being completely unrelated to gardening, I feel compelled to post these photos of the two best pastas we had in Italy, just so I can look at them again...

 

...Mmmm

Okay, two shout-outs! Happy Mother's Day, Mama!  I have the best mom in the world (I know everyone thinks that, but I really actually do, as well as the best mom-in-law).  And secondly, thank you Brooke, Taylor, and Mark for watering my beloved garden while I was gone!

I will be honest, I actually worried a bit about my garden while I was gone.  The husband attributes this to me being a little "obsessive," but hey, this garden was kind of a lot of work to get started.  Obsessed or not, after setting my luggage down, I walked outside and was greeted by this first bloom of my Figaro dahlia (it was a mixed pack, so I have been eagerly awaiting the blooms to see what colors I end up with -- yellow is great!):

And these blooms of my chrysanthemum which wins the award for hardiest plant (I did not water it all winter because I thought it was dead):

My parsley is miraculously now aphid-free (hooray for the spray!) and my tomato plant has also grown to ridiculous, scary heights (It is a few inches away from being as tall as I am -- I wish it would stop growing because the pot is too small to support it!).

A few plants in the vertical planter have moved on, unfortunately, including the previously-thought-to-be-unkillable Santa Barbara daisy.  But I somewhat expected that may happen.  Evan says, "Give up on that thing, it sucks."  The essential problem with it is that the small felt pockets is that they dry out very quickly (I am going to find a solution for this).  When I am home, I check on them every day or so to make sure they are not too dry.  I can't exactly ask my lovely friends to come over every day when I am out of town.  Oh well... a chance to plant new flowers :)

Lastly, I would like to say this about my trip:  So many flowers!  More on this in posts to come.  In the meantime, here is a preview:

Tulips at the Keukenhof!