Today was a beautiful, warm spring day. A little windy, but that was good, because the temp got up above 80, so that breeze kept things bearable.

After hammering away at nothing on the computer all morning, I threw on some clothes and went to The Plant Shed. I was hoping to score some nandina for the side yard, but everything they had at 50% off was sad and spindly. I did find some Texas Lantana that looked healthy, and some big yellow gazanias that were expensive, but worth it. They were so big that when I planted one later in the day, I split it into two plants.

The lantana was to replace the yellow one I had in the front planter last year. I planted it late, and it burst into yellow blooms immediately. Over the winter, it turned to dry twigs, like most lantana does here. I’ve been waiting for some sign that it’s coming back, but hadn’t seen any, so I decided to replace it.

When I pullled it up, I found two tiny green patches around the base. Maybe it’s not so dead after all. I’ll put it in some dirt tomorrow, and water it for a while, and see what happens. I can always throw it into the new bed I’m working on.

Speaking of the new bed, here’s why I’m one big ache this evening. I tilled like a mad woman this afternoon, killing off all the grass in this strip, and breaking up some of the rock-hard soil with a spade. If I can walk tomorrow, I’ll beat on this a little more. I’d like to get some of the rosemary babies that wintered in the house into a permanent home soon, and I also managed to liberate two more yellow Kock Out roses from Lowe’s today, for 50% off. The low price means it’s time to get these things into the ground, and quickly.

One shot purely for eye-candy. This is one of three cherry sage bushes I threw in last summer, pretty late. Robin told me she had some in her yard, and they bloomed like crazy from the moment the weather warmed in early spring until the first hard freeze in December. Sure enough, my three spindly plants burst into coral flowers last summer, and bloomed until it was just too cold for them. Now, they’re at it again. I just snipped the tops off this one about a week ago, and all of a sudden, it’s covered with flowers. The other two are not far behind.