Oooohhhh.... aaaahhhhh....special

Good mornin' y'all. Today started off alright in my book. Nothing like a game of soccer (or football for you Europeans or anyone else that's not American) at 0700 (remember...military time) to get the blood pumping. I even scored the game winning goal. Too bad I was on the losing team. But, it is only a game...although some might want to knee me in the Solar Plexus because of my goal (you know who you are Mr. Medic)... This morning also reaffirmed my distrust of auto mechanics and my irritation with them. We bought Cait's car two news tires and when she got there the shop kept trying to sell her an alignment. I can understand trying once. But to continue after she said "no" the first time, that's just greedy. I don't think we will be going back to that shop for anything else. It finally came down to her calling me and me stating that it wasn't required for replacing the tires and rotating them. GRRR! But I digress. On to what I said I was going to post. Below are pictures of the plants that have been planted and some info on them.

Here is the beautiful Snapdragon. We got these for a bargain! Only $0.50 each at Home Depot. We have this pink and a hot pink color. Here's the details:
Name: Snapdragon
Size: 12-15"
Spacing: 4-6"
Sun: Full Sun (6+ hours / day)
Blooms: Spring - Fall
Water: Every other day
Habitat: Upright
Fertilize: Once a month
Care: Prune after bloom
Cold Hardiness: Unknown
Note: These add a nice splash of color to the blues and purples that we have going.
This flower is the one that I wanted and Cait agreed would look good in the front! They sell a couple of different types at Wal-Mart, but here's the info on the ones we got:
Name: Salvia
Size: 15-18"
Spacing: Unknown
Sun: Full Sun (8+ hours / day)
Blooms: Spring to Summer
Water: 2-3 per week
Habitat: Unknown
Fertilize: Regularly
Care: Unknown
Cold Hardiness: Hardy to -30°F
Note: The purple color works really well against the red mulch and the future color of the house. It really draws your eyes to the front of the house.

These are flowers that my mom picked up.
Name: Speedwell
Size: 6-8"
Spacing: 12"
Sun: Full Sun
Blooms: Summer
Water: Moderate
Care: Remove old foliage before new leaves begin to emerge. Divide clumps every 2-3 years in early spring
Cold Hardiness: Hardy to -40°F
Note: It's a fairly small plant with small bluish (I think) flowers. You'll have to ask Cait about the actual color.

This is the "run around all day" bush. A pain in the butt to find, but it was worth it.

Name: Sky Pencil Japanese Holly
Sun: Full Sun (8+ hours / day)
Water: Keep moist
Size: 8' tall x 2' wide
Growth rate: Slow
Cold Hardiness: Hardy to -10°F
Fertilize: Regularly in order to reach optimum growth and flowering.
Notes: Evergreen lustrous foliage. It prefers light, moist, acidic soils with good drainage. Densely branched shrub. Black fruits follow blooms.

This is another nice shrub that Cait and my mom picked out. It looks pretty good in the garden. Sorry that I don't have a picture of it surrounded by mulch. Oh well.

Name: Wintergreen Korean Boxwood
Sun: Full Sun (6+ hours / day)
Water: Semi-Moist
Bloom: Inconspicuous Flowers
Spacing: 3-4'
Growth rate: Medium
Size: 4' x 4'
Cold Hardiness: -20 to -30°F
Pruning: Prune to maintain shape
Fertilization: Spring and summer
Notes: Deer resistant but not deer-proof depending on scarcity of food.

Those are the plants in the front of the house. There are more around the house, but I'm not going to get into those. That's it for this morning. If anything exciting happens today, I'll probably post it tomorrow as well.

- Brent