Planting an Outer Banks Flower Garden
I will be the first to admit that I'm no green thumb. Flowers, herbs, bushes... just about anything I plant has about a 50/50 chance of survival. When I first bought a home on the Outer Banks in 2002, I wanted to go wild with planting flowers and making my yard lush and green. I was about to learn a hard lesson. The soil here is very different than my parent's yard in Virginia. In fact, the word "soil" probably isn't even the correct word to use when describing the ground. Sand is more like it. That first home and yard were my experiments in Outer Banks horticulture. The lesson I learned: Only buy plants that can tolerate direct sunlight, sandy earth and windy conditions. Oh sure, I dreamt of rose bushes and hydrangeas, but those flowers were not meant to grow in my garden... at least not with the tough conditions and minimal amount of care I was willing to give. Instead, I decided to focus on plants that were true Outer Banks survivors. Lantana, Oleander, Geraniums... now these are flowers that can take the extreme conditions that my yard faces during the summer months.
On Monday, I took my son Sam to a local garden center to pick out a few hearty blooms and take advanatge of the beautiful weather. He obliged me as long as we could pick out "blue flowers". Luckily, we actually found a plant I'd never heard of with blue blossoms. The tag read "Full Sun", but I'm pretty wary. Still, I put it in the cart and brought it home with the other tried-and-true beauties. We spent the afternoon elbow-deep in potting soil, and it was time well spent. Sam loves his blue blooms, and I love my colorful Outer Banks flower garden!
On Monday, I took my son Sam to a local garden center to pick out a few hearty blooms and take advanatge of the beautiful weather. He obliged me as long as we could pick out "blue flowers". Luckily, we actually found a plant I'd never heard of with blue blossoms. The tag read "Full Sun", but I'm pretty wary. Still, I put it in the cart and brought it home with the other tried-and-true beauties. We spent the afternoon elbow-deep in potting soil, and it was time well spent. Sam loves his blue blooms, and I love my colorful Outer Banks flower garden!
We would love to see some photos of Sam's garden. Azelas in our yard are bursting open and we found that day lilies are very hearty. Oh, which reminds me that the Dogwood is offical flower of the State of North Carolina! I tried to grow on ebut it never produced blooms. Good Luck!
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Those pictures are cool.. I wanted to see more of that ..
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