In the Garden (and remembering who butters your bread)

Spring has arrived! My favorite time of year. I celebrated the glorious weather yesterday by visiting Pike's Family Nursery- a small Home Gardening chain in Atlanta (and also Charlotte, I believe). I was delighted to see they were celebrating their 50th anniversary with sale items and food catered from the Varsity! (though I did manage to pass on the chili hotdog...darn that diet). I spent a good hour there meandering among the plant aisles, listening to the lovely relaxing music piped through their speakers. Ahh, pure heaven.


My intention was simply to replace five of our Encore Azaleas that didn't survive last summer's drought. I managed to replace those and then got inspired to finally fix an eroding bank by planting some double Knockout Roses (in biodegradable containers!) and Thrift, which I believe to be a staple in any Southern garden. Two trips in and $150 later, I was on my way home.

Sadly, Mr. Southern Aspirations did not share my enthusiasm over my purchases. Unfortunately, my gardening inspirations often require his manpower. (I admit, I have on more than on occasion been tempted to pick up a day laborer on the way home to be able to knock out a project on my own! But scary scenes of the Hitchhiker have prevented me from doing so.) And alas, Mr. SA does not quite have the same adoration for Pike's, either. He believes that, as both of us work for major retailers, we should support our own companies. I totally agree (in theory), but the lovely Big Orange Box does not always have the selection that Pike's has (though in this case, they did. Whoops. So, if Mr. SA does not have a job later this year, it will be completely my fault.)

Onto the gardening.

OK, so I was trying to beat the rain, so didn't take many (ok, any) pictures of the process. As I mentioned, my goal was to help stop the erosion of our bank- which divides the "upper yard" and the "lower yard." Complicating matters, some animal has created a home in our drainage pipe and developed a fascinating set of tunnels underground (I am picturing a Disney film in action). His activity has driven our furkids crazy and they, in turn, have dug several holes of their own to try to get to the little critter. Mr. SA fixed the hole/backdoor the little guy made in the drainage pipe and I went to work replanting daylillies, adding double knockout roses, and phlox/thrift.

Here's the final result.

Note: I still need to add a few more thrift plants in the front.

In celebration of my floral aquisitions, here are a few inspiration photos of phlox/thrift.