Just Lauren

Gene and I are driving to Moab tomorrow for a quick getaway. We’ll do some hiking, a river raft excursion, and just relax, it should be lovely. But since I’ll be gone for a few days, that meant today was the day I made sure my plants were all in order. I planted the Siberian bugloss and Lamb’s ear I had picked up at Lowe’s last Friday. I had gone to Lowe’s for drip irrigation and more edging but had to check out the discount section and was thrilled when I found $5 Siberian bugloss. I wanted 7 of these for around the front and back trees but Nick’s Garden Center sold them for $20+ so I figured I’d buy those next spring. What a lovely find to discover them for $5, they are smaller than Nick’s but I think they’re worth it. I ended up getting only three because I’m trying to manage my dreamscape and not go overboard. All three are now in the front yard looking snazzy. I got the Lamb’s ear for $3 and was also ecstatic because in the bee class Sidney and I took a month ago, we learned there’s a species of bee that loves the plant. So I’m hoping to start attracting that bee to my yard too. I might go back to Lowe’s after my trip and see if they have any more, the plant is quite large and it appears really healthy, it was a real score.

I also watered my houseplants and cleaned them up a bit. Most of them are doing just fine but I’m starting to get a bit nervous about some of the succulents, leaves are falling off. I’ll have to research what that could mean but in the meantime I’m hoping water will do the trick. The hydrangea I got from a coworker is suffering the most, however, and I’m struggling to figure out why. I moved it and I’m going to try watering it more often to see if that helps, but all of the flowers have died, sadly. I haven’t given up yet, though!

This morning I also went to my community garden to pull weeds for a couple of hours. Part of my commitment to the garden is two hours a month of community time to the common areas. So I pulled weeds all around my raised bed and the other five raised beds. I chatted with the two other gardeners that were there and soaked up some sun. It was awesome because I biked to the garden with Gene as he was going to work. I haven’t been able to do that yet so this was a wonderful treat and I got to show him my garden in person versus telling him to look for it as he bikes by each day.

I finally wandered over to the corner of the community garden too to enjoy the wildflowers that had been planted in the spring. I believe one of the gardeners used a wildflower seed mix and wow was it successful. So much color and variety that I am slightly jealous my yard doesn’t quite look that dense and gorgeous…yet. I still need to water the vegetables in my yard and then I’ll be 100% ready to leave. Now to eat dinner outside if the housemates and I can stand the heat and enjoy the rest of the evening.