This weekends plantings

Cathy and I spent a good share of the day on Saturday looking for some Utah Native Plants. For years we have had a flower bed, that has been very high maintenance. It is a big bed in the front of our yard. Traditionally, we have planted marigolds and petunias in this bed. The last couple of years, we have not done well.

The bed also houses a burgundy cherry tree, some columbine, and some daisies. We made the decision to plant almost all of the bed in perennial plants this year. I have been pushing hard for Cathy to consider some of the Utah native plant varieties.

On Saturday, we went to a little nursery in Salt Lake called Grow Wild. It is a small little place that only sells native plants. We ended up getting a Yarrow, a geranium, Postemon, and a couple of other plants whose names escape me.

On our way home we stopped at Millcreek Gardens in South Salt Lake. They have a great selection of plants and trees. They actually have all of the native plants as well as many of the varieties that are not necessarily native. While there we purchased some Irish Moss to plant in a flagstone patio in our back yard. We learned that we can plant this in even small cracks by breaking up the moss plant into little pieces, putting it in a blender with some buttermilk, and making a liquid the consistency of a milk shake. This can then be poured directly in the cracks between the flagstone, and it will seed and grow and fill in quickly. I'm going to try that this week in between storms and get the patio taken care of.

It's only two weeks until I need to get the rest of my garden planted. My strawberries are in bloom, and it looks like I'll have a bumper crop. I am looking forward to having a great garden summer.