Instant garden with pots

Saturday was a productive day for me in the garden. Instead of being 90ºF (32ºC) or higher which it has been for weeks, it only got into the low 80's and was overcast for most of the day. I took the opportunity and spent the entire day outside planting, and I've made a really good dent in the number of pots on the driveway.

One way I did this was by converting the pots on the driveway in to a garden of pots next to the driveway!

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This wasn't just a case of moving the pots from the back into the front. Many of these plants were in small nursery containers, and I finally stopped wondering where exactly in my yard I'd put them all and just made up some large planters. I then arranged the pots along my driveway, in the narrow strip of grass that is mainly brown from drought and mole activity:

There are a wide variety of plants here. In the photo above from left to right there is a tall pot of bamboo, a short pot of bamboo, Agastache 'Pink Pop', Agastache foeniculum, Mexican petunia, Japanese blood grass, Rudbeckia triloba, butterfly bush, Salvia and Angelina, Plectranthus 'Cerveza n Lime', Castor bean, Ninebark, and little bluestem grass -- and a few other fillers in there too.

Since it's a mixture of lots of smaller plants, it's a bit of a mess when seen from some angles:

But it definitely has variety, texture, and color:

The wildlife has already found this new garden, just a couple of days after I created it.

The bees actually found the Agastache almost immediately. I was worried about moving those Agastache pots  to another part of the yard since they were so heavily bee-visited. I didn't need to worry, except maybe about being stung while carrying the pots (I wasn't stung).

Although my goal was to use plants that I already had, I did end up buying a couple of new plants to fill out one of the pots. They were on sale for only $2.50 each, including this wonderful Salvia:

I love Salvias -- at least the ones that produce nectar -- and hopefully this will get the attention of the hummingbirds. I've already seen bees on it, so fingers crossed!

One of my goals with this garden is to show my neighbors (and myself) that front yard gardens can really enhance the neighborhood. The interest and color and texture they provide should be obvious but having bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds congregating out here can only help in that regard.

I've been contemplating creating a planting bed in this exact spot, and these pots will help me decide if I like the idea (I do already) and what sorts of things to plant. The pots also give the plants a bit more height, which will make enjoying the plants easier -- I'm hoping those walking past will stop for a moment to look.

There are about 8 more weeks in the growing season -- maybe a little more -- and I expect these pots to really fill out in that time. They look nice now, but they will look even better... as long as I can keep them watered!

I guess I'm glad that I never found spots in the ground for all of these "extra" plants. I already love this new garden of pots!

I hope my neighbors do too.

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