Fire On The Mountain! (and no, you don't have to run from it)

Let me introduce you to my new best friend, Fire on the Mountain, or, in some circles of acquaintance, Mountain Fire. Before this morning, I'd never seen this beauty. How is it then that I now have one achin' to take root in my flower bed? Welp, today I went to teach my summer school hooligans as I have been for the past week. When I walked into the office to make some copies, I noticed this little plant's brother sitting in a plastic bag on the floor. I was instantly enamored. I sought out the plant's owner and asked where I could find my own Mountain Fire.

I drove out to the nursery and knocked on the garage door of the store. From the outside, you couldn't even be sure anybody was working. There were no lights on, and no other vehicles in the parking lot. I timidly walked through the door and found an older couple sitting at a table. I explain that I had been sent by a friend to find a certain plant. He told me they had lots of them and then he graciously offered me a ride on his golf cart. The nursery had hundreds of beautiful plants, and I'm not sure if I liked the plants as much as I liked the sweet owner, but one thing is for sure:I will buy from them again in the future.

I picked out my specimen from about a dozen others and made my long commute home while periodically glancing over my shoulder to make sure my plant was still upright. If you know me, you know I hate a bloomin' bush. Most of them look cruel. They have scratchy briars and are no friend if you have to weed around them. This bush, however, is stunning. Let me show you a close up.

What I love is the variety of color. The new lengths are such a lovely red color, the old parts are a light green (almost lime) color, and the oldest parts are a rich green. The bush will be my last addition to this year's flower bed. Next year, I am planning on expanding the bed in a circle like shape to distract from the hard line of my house. Here are some pictures of my completed flower bed.

I think the shepherd's hooks are just darlin', and I plan to switch out the plants in the fall and winter (I'm thinking about hanging ghosts for Halloween and wreaths for Christmas). I bought these little plants at Walmart because they were on clearance for $3 a piece. I may move them inside and hang ferns on the hooks next summer.

Completed One of my Original 101 Goals

When I bought my house, the builder had landscaped with bushes and mulched with white decorative rocks. I am not a bush person nor a rock person, so a few months ago my mother in law came over and helped me thin out the rocks and pull out the bushes. All that remained in my front flower garden were three azalea bushes and, of course, a flower bed full of red clay.

Fast forward to this weekend when I decided enough was enough! I was tired of looking at my bare flower beds (and I'm sure my neighbors were tired of looking at them as well), so I weeded them and then took a trip to Lowe's where I finally managed to buy some perennials. Those of you that know me know that I'm pretty indecisive. I've been to Lowe's forty times in the past two months to "browse" the flower selections. I've never planted anything before in my life, and I didn't want to make a mistake. This time, after reading a Southern Living article on choosing plants for you garden, I decided I was going to buy whatever looked pretty to me. I ended up with four Zagreb Coreopsis and two Prairie Splendor Coneflowers. (I will show you a picture of one of my Zagrebs, but the Coneflowers haven't bloomed yet and still kinda look like a weed, so I won't show you a picture of that one just yet!)

This is a picture of my front flower bed. As you can see, I planted the four Zagrebs directly under my front porch because they are supposed to be mounding perennials. Once they fill out, they should curve just under the bottom part of the railing. There is a space of about two feet between the last Zagreb and the first Coneflower. My plan is to put a trellis in that space and get a climbing plant. Next summer, I'm going to curve the flower garden out in front of the three windows to diminish the hard line of the house. I'm also going to put window boxes on the railing to make the porch pop out. (Don't worry, I'll post pictures again when I finish my landscaping project!)

Here is a closeup of my Zagreb. Currently, each plant is about 8 inches tall (I took this picture from the top so you could see all the pretty little yellow flowers).

All in all, I've spent less than $50 so far. The two coneflowers were a little more expensive, but the Zagrebs were about $4 a piece. I also bought a bag of soil and a hand spade. I am going to buy mulch pretty soon because I don't want to be weeding every weekend, so my cost will go up when I make that purchase this weekend.

I didn't think I'd get to this 101 goal before next year, but I'm glad that I did! I enjoy the calming effects of gardening. I just hope my plants live!