Making good on a promise

A few weeks ago, Pooka and I had a girls weekend. The boys were gone, so we decided to start work on her birthday pollinator bed. Daddy and I had already marked out where we wanted it to go, but we needed to pull the grass off the new area first. We even had bought our first plants for the bed, so it was time to get started.

Before

Now, I had hoped this would be a quick little project. However, I could only find a shovel that was pretty well bent after trying to remove the bushes that were originally in the herb garden. Those bushes would not die.

With the bent shovel

As you can see, it was really only good for cutting the grass. But I could not seem to just shovel off the grass like Daddy does. It was getting rather late, so Pooka and I called it for the evening and decided to regroup and rethink it for the following day. 

After

The next day, Pooka and I sat down and decided this was getting done today, one way or another. And since I still couldn't find the good shovel (Daddy had hidden it), Pooka and I used what was on hand, my little gardening trowel. It is not the best tool for the job, and took quite a bit of work, but we sat there for awhile and got it done. I would use the trowel to pull up the grass and Pooka put it in her wheelbarrow to go to the street. In the end, it looks pretty good. I know there are a few random pieces of grass in there, but it is started.

The first plant in her bed

This allowed Pooka to finally start planting in it. She started with her butterfly bush that she bought with her own money. She has planted more, but that was the limit for that day. Even Pooka was tired of staring at the bed and wanted to go get some other stuff done. 

Having a Girls shopping trip

The nursery that Pooka loves was having an open house, so Pooka asked if she could take her money from Santa and from her piggy bank to buy some plants. Plus she was planning out what she wants for her new pollinator bed.

Pooka had a wonderful time. Not only did the regular employees welcome her with open arms, a few of the more seasonal help found out not all small kids need talked down to. One such employee was trying to tell Pooka the difference between "plants that live one year vs. plants that live multiple years." I love Pooka, but she came back with "I know what a perennial is, I was wondering which ones were good for humming birds." Now to teach my daughter tact.

Stargazer and Hardy lily bulbs

Pooka eventually found her humming bird and butterfly plants. She even walked away with some money, but I held her back from going full out. I also bought her a few things for her new bed since we did promise to buy some flowers. I can't say I didn't make a face or two. I bought her two types of lilies. A purple lily and a stargazer. Pooka wanted a stargazer for me since mine had died. I told her it was her bed and she could have what she wanted. She came back with "I want you to have a stargazer."

Salvia plant

Pooka also got me to buy her this salvia. It should come back year after year. Hopefully Pooka will still like it next year.

Main haul

This is a picture of the main haul that Pooka paid for. It includes a new lavender (since ours are looking pretty sad), another 4 pack of strawberries, a lilac pepper and the new butterfly bush. The butterfly bush I am wishing I had looked at a bit closer. It was so small and unassuming. Had I read the tag, I would of seen its going to get 4 ft by like 4 ft. Yikes. I knew it was a perennial since Pooka only wanted to look at those (granted that doesn't count the purple pepper). Chalk this up to another learning moment for mom. I guess it goes to show, you can't judge a plant based on the pot they sell it in.