Zinnias, Hummingbirds and Petunias

Zinnias, Hummingbirds, and Petunias

For the past few years, I have been a lazy gardener, relying on perennials to do all the work.  While this might work for some gardens, it didn’t for mine.  My perennials were soon overtaken by weeds because they simply weren’t thick enough to fill in all the empty spaces – and being lazy, I didn’t mulch.  I’m not sure what was different this spring, maybe all the wonderful rain that we got, but I managed to get my act together and plant some annuals.  What a difference it has made.  One of the easiest annuals is zinnias.  As soon as we were past our last frost, I simply tossed some seeds into the flower bed by the mailbox.  Barely even worked them into the soil.  I have been rewarded with a riot of color.

I think I bought 3 packets of seeds, a mixed color, a pink and a white.  Less than $10 and they make smile every day.  I love being able to bring in cut flowers for my dining room table and to leave in little vases all around the house.

Also making me smile this year are the hummingbirds.  We have a couple that are visiting our feeder.  What is odd, is that they seem to be sharing it nicely.  Usually there is much fussing and fighting, but this year, they seem to have called a truce.  Excuse the bad photos, I’m shooting through my screened in porch, but I think you can see his pretty ruby throat.

And last, my petunias on my porch continue to bring my joy.  Such a cheerful tumble of purple blossoms.