It’s the first week of June and I just made my first trip to a garden shop today. That’s at least two weeks later than usual and it’s because it’s been so cold and rainy here in the suburbs of Chicago! But boy did I have fun! I drove to a fantastic garden/ home center in Racine, Wisconsin which is 43 miles from my home. But the seventy minute drive was sooo worth my time!
Milaeger’s is a great place to start my flower shopping because their selection is very extensive. Over the next few weeks I’ll tell you of my other haunts but truly it never feels like flower season until I go on my Wisconsin trek. They have many perennials and their annuals are displayed alphabetically. This makes it so easy to find all the plants I need. They have gorgeous pots, many specialty plants, house plants and beautiful seasonal home decor items and friendly, helpful staff.
I purchased flowers for my deck flower boxes. I bought red, yellow, and orange begonias, big pots of ivy to trail, pink and yellow calibroa to fill in spots in the boxes as well as deep blue angelonia to add pop. I purchased nine different herbs to place in the planters. This allows me to snip fresh herbs easily without having to go out in the yard. Lastly I bought several flats of flowers to put in my flower beds.
Last spring I found these wonderful bronze plastic rectangular flower boxes that are great because they have a self-watering feature. There’s a reservoir on the bottom of the planter and a gauge inside the box that alerts me of the need to refill. But I can easily go two to three days in the hottest of weather without dragging out the hose which as any gardener knows is a HUGE benefit!
So after cleaning the boxes of last year’s soil I then filled the planters with potting mix that had already been amended with delayed-release fertilizer. Then I popped in the begonias followed by the herbs. I then added the ivy. Lastly I filled in any bare spots with the calibroa and angelonia.
The boxes turned out beautifully. Stay tuned as they’ll be evolving over the next few months…
For my adventure I wore a casual black v-neck tee by Allison Joy (old), J. Jill dark wash blue denim leggings, J.Jill’s (this spring) black and white scarf (with cute pompon trim!), black and silver Mary Janes by Aravon, and a black with brown leather trim cross body bag by Michael Kors (old). When I head to garden stores I try to wear items that don’t show the occasional smudge that inevitably comes from transporting so many plants.
