Planting Some New Bushes

Last year Bridget and I decided to spruce up the back of the house with some flowers. We chose impatiens since we were told that they'll grow pretty much anywhere. And they did. They grew. And grew. And grew. By the time fall came around the impatiens were about 18 inches tall and had stems that looked like small tree trunks. They looked more like bushes than flowers.

We went back to the Apenberry's Nursery and talked to them about our options. They said that we could cut the impatiens back and that they would start to grow again. We tried that, but it was an utter failure. A couple of the plants died and the ones that did survive never looked right again.

Two weekends ago I removed the impatiens and decided to go with a longer lasting, lower maintenance approach. I went back to Apenberry's and David came up with some great options for bushes that would provide a bit of color, would be low maintenance, and again, would grow pretty much anywhere. I just got done planting the 14 new plants and putting down new mulch and wanted to share some pictures. I'm not great with plant names and I usually forget them. I do know that the nine little plants are annual varities called Coleus.




And, yes, if it seems like I used a two-tone mulch it's not my fault. I purchased five bags of Scotts Nature Scapes mulch, the same mulch I used all last year. Two of the bags ended up having a much lighter shade of red than the other three accounting for the difference. I think as the mulch starts to see sun and rain the colors should even out.