potting mania

Last Saturday I showed up to work 2 hours late because I went to a "potting clinic" at Windmill Nursery. Andrew did a terrific job of showing us how to make lovely filled ceramic pots as well as hanging baskets. We all loved the hint of using a plastic bag (with holes punched in the bottom) to hold the potting soil in a fiber-filled hangy-pot...you don't see the plastic bag once its done. The plants appear to be growing out of the moss or fiber liner and don't require quite as much watering. Another good "hint" is to use LOTS of water soaked moss in hanging baskets. He used a whole big bale of it to do the basket he's working on in this photo. He also used almost all of a large bag of Monrovia potting soil. (Or was it E.B. Stone?)

Since I had to dash off to work, I didn't get to hang around to visit with the other crazy pot-headed people in attendance nor did I get to buy more plants from Windmill until the following Monday. Hopefully Andrew and his cohorts will put on more fun events. We may all just become The Windmill Gang. (Not that we aren't already, but we don't all know each other yet.) ;>)





Not to take anything away from Windmill but to take less away from my checkbook, I mosied into Target last week too. Found this wonderful "Ruby Penstemon" for $3.99, gallon can, and the pretty coleus for $1.98, sixpack.

The Cordyline in the goldish pot was from that "bad place", Walmart, for cheap. The "profusion apricot Zinnias, the Ipomoea "sweet Caroline", the "Terra Cotta" Calibrachoa and the "Caribbean Sunset" Cuphea varia are all from Windmill Nursery. The little corkscrewy thingies I think came from Jo-Ann Fabrics last summer. I just knew I'd find a use for them someday!

The tall terra cotta pot has more fun stuff from Target in it. The tall greenish one is Cape Fuschia (Phygelius x rectus) and the other is a hybrid Dahlia.