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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Adventures in Flowers

Last night I finally planted my flowers. The sky was dark and I knew I was going to have to hurry, but I really wanted those lilies in the ground. I was getting worried that it was too late already--they'd been sitting on my kitchen counter for a month. Yikes!

My dad came over to help me since he has all the gardening tools and I have nada, but before we could so much as put down the first bag of black dirt, it started raining. We valiantly continued since it was only a light sprinkle.

I had three boxes of lilies--two different types that were bulbs and one that was roots with a little sprig at the end of it. Box 1 had 4 Sumatra Lilies. All four had a 1/2 inch sprout as I pulled them out. That was better than the box of 12 Starfighter Lilies--some of them had sprouts that were at least three inches long. Sigh. I guess just sitting on the counter was enough to encourage them to grow.

The problem was box 2, the toad lilies. None of them looked good, but one of them was particularly dried out and sad looking. I don't know if it's going to make it. :-(

It was sprinkling on and off the entire time we were working, but we managed to get everything in the ground and watered. My dad put little white sticks behind every plant and I joked that it looked like a little plant graveyard with little plant headstones. The sad thing is that it might not be too far from the truth. I'm terrible with growing things and that one toad lily...

It started raining in earnest after we had everything put away and about an hour later it started hailing! (Exactly seven minutes after the weather guy said that the storms weren't severe and that there would be no damaging winds or hail!) All I could do is watch from the window as my newly planted flowers took hits from pea-size hail. I'm hopeful that the tree protected them from the worst of it, but I'll have to take a look when I get home this afternoon.

This was a big item on the To Do List and it was nice to be able to accomplish it. Now, on to the next million items.