Blooming Saturday

Yesterday was Spring Cleaning Day...which totally wiped me out, not only because I hate loath detest abhor don't like domestic chores, but it's hard work with the lugging of the ten-ton vacuum, hands-and-knees mopping of floors, crawling under furniture to dust, etc., etc.  When I was younger I had pretty much decided that when I got older, I would have a housekeeper.  Hmmm.  Whatever happened to that plan..??

In any case, by the time the SCD was over, so was I.  I could barely lift my arms last night.  And that would explain how I smashed my thumb between the underside of the dining room table and the arm of my chair when I sat down to eat dinner.  Holy Crap, did that hurt.  I thought the thumb was a goner for a minute there.  It's now totally black & blue, swollen and won't quite bend properly, but hey, at least it happened after all the work was done, right..??  Yeah.  Right.  Lucky me.

Here's one really cool thing:  Amidst the cleaning and sweating on a glorious, beautiful Friday, we decided to stop in a Kruse's Farms after the dogs' walk.  The market has been closed for the winter, but they've just reopened and we wanted to see what they had as surely it was too soon for veggies, or their usual produce.

OMG..!!  

What they do before the vegetable and produce season begins is supply the most amazing potted plants, hanging baskets, and container flowers you can imagine.  They have four greenhouses, all full of just stunning plants.  There were several enormous baskets reserved for the city to hang along the main street, and we saw more than one winery with huge, gorgeous potted plants set aside for them, no doubt for their front entries or wine-tasting patios.  It was mind-boggling and beautiful to just wander from greenhouse to greenhouse, and around the front parking area--all filled with blooms and color and fragrance.

We bought two hanging baskets, originally to hang off the front deck, but they are so big, only one will fit.  The other we plopped into an  oak barrel just to keep it safe while we decided what to do with it.  It looks so great there, we're leaving it.  We also bought some other plants, including three different varieties of Coleus that are just too cool, and some geraniums--one of my favorite plants.

The oak barrel at the top of the back garden, just off the deck...now filled with the hanging basket flowers.  Is that the most epic bunch of blooms ever..??!!

Next are the three varieties of Coleus.  These were so interesting, we couldn't decide which ones to get.  This first one is my favorite.  The red is so deeply red, with a lime-yellow edging.

This is Alan's favorite, and again, so cool and colorful...

Alan didn't particularly care for this one, but because it was so unique--looking like someone had just splattered it with paint--I couldn't resist.

A couple close-up shots of geraniums.  The bottom one, with the white-rimmed ruffles, is one of my most favorite.  They bloom like a weed and look brilliant all summer long.  Course, the red one is just as beautiful.

Here is the other hanging basket, which will go on the front deck...or, hang under the front deck to be more accurate, though how we're exactly going to accomplish that is still up in the air.  These are monumentally heavy containers--we could barely lift them in and out of the car, let alone lift them over our heads whilst standing on a ladder and trying to slide them into a hook.  Once this Herculean feat is done, I will definitely take some photos.  I may need them to console me while recovering In the hospital from back surgery.

So, though I labored for the better part of yesterday on the Spring Cleaning, I did have some time to stop and smell the flowers.