Out and About

Hello, dear blog readers, and Happy Saturday! We are still managing to settle into the apartment at a glacial pace. The kids remain sick, so we've been spending a lot of time at home in order to help them get more sleep and to keep from spreading "the love" (or germs) to other people.

Today, however, the weather was SO nice that we decided to explore the neighborhood and see some of the cherry blossoms. We drove by a local nursery and I just had to stop. I haven't done any container gardening for a while, but with the weather warming, I figured it was time to put a few plants out on the balcony. 

Let me just tell you: sticking within the limits of the cash I had on hand made my decisions a little tricky. I could have dropped a small fortune there on plants, but after much hemming and hawing, I came away with kitchen herbs (functional and look good) and two Martha Washington geraniums. I haven't actually looked into whether or not these deter the ravenous insect population, but I'm hoping they will.

I don't often wax philosophical about where to buy plants, but I DO have to say that my experience in this particular nursery was vastly superior to that of a large chain store. The plant selection was amazing, the service was excellent, and it was worth every penny above and beyond what I might have spent elsewhere. I plan on budgeting more next month just so that I can go back and get a couple more items.

 Getting the kids out and about. Blossom wasn't convinced this was going to be a great experience.

 Philosophically pondering the bedding plants

 I haven't seen Japanese maples grown on a trellis before, but they had rows of them and it was a very cool effect.

It took a little bit of rigging the strollers around, but they kept the plants safe for the ride home!