Time for the Annuals

 I went shopping for annuals this morning.  It's always so pleasant to pick out the flowers.  Lots of other people were getting their garden stuff and it's fun to see what people choose.  Some people just want simple hanging baskets, perhaps 3 or 4 all the same; other people are buying with a colour scheme in mind; some are just taking a couple of small plants, and others have a cart full of shrubs, perennials and annuals.  But everybody looks happy and anxious to get their treasures into the ground or  around their house.  I bought 2 flats of mixed impatiens (  I always buy impatiens - dependable and good for shade), 2 flats of fibrous begonias (I like them as edging plants - also very tough), 2 flats of petunias to divide up into large pots (I always get some purple ones because they have a lovely spicy scent), a flat of cosmos to tuck in around a couple of rosebushes, and a flat of small yellow zinnias to brighten up the garden by the road.  All grouped together, it doesn't look like much flower power, but once they are divided up they will fill out and produce plenty of blooms.  I got all but 2 flats planted today, and tomorrow I'll fertilize them with a 10-52-10 liquid plant food that will help them root in.

 This unremarkable white blossom is cause for celebration as it's on a hardy cherry bush I planted three years ago.  The bush is in partial shade - not ideal- but this year it had 4 blossoms.  Yeah!  Now to wait and see if any cherries will develop (it's self-fertile).  It's a sour cherry that was developed by the University of Saskatchewan so it should be able to handle any kind of weather.

The lamium is starting to bloom - I like this yellow-leafed one - very flash with the pinky-purple flowers.