Planting weird plants

The weather today was perfect. Samuel loved the 66 degrees this morning and we went on the longest walk we've been on for ages AND he played with a beautiful whipper snapper. I saw this on the walk which is nice for Silly Saturday.

In the extras is another gardening photo. I am planting weird plants. I don't think I'll plant this one again though. 

The squirrel came to the kitchen window to look in. 

I went to the nursery to buy more trellises but they were out of the ones that match the one I already have and they aren't getting more until Autumn. Curses. In the meantime, I bought a Sky Pencil Holly to try to block a view, two versions of the balloon flower, and more cilantro. Now I have my own grandifloris, which still sounds to me like a word a kid would make up. I would never have guessed that one day I would go to nurseries and fondle plants. 

I've gone from 18 Alpine Columbines to 6, with three given away, a survival rate of half. I've killed the ajuga reptens. I know, I know, who knew you could kill ajuga? 

When our handymen were here they installed one of my new window boxes but couldn't install the second one because some hardware was missing. They aren't coming back until August, I have the missing hardware, and I don't want to wait until the maximum heat of summer to have my other window box up so I hired someone I met back when Kate was designing the garden. By the end of this glorious weekend my deck will be fully planted and I will be .... I will have nothing to do but sit back and enjoy it. How will I manage? 

Some of the deck planting is legacy. Some is intentional. Some is accidental. Everything can be changed next year if I come up with something better. For example. I have a hanging garden. This is something a company came up with eons ago and if it is weird/new/different/supposedly better then of course I want to try it. You plant tomatoes upside down underneath a square planter and you plant herbs on top. This year I gave up on trying and failing for vegetables yet again and planted peppers in the tomato spots and more herbs than I can apparently eat in the top. I haven't seen more than insects on the peppers so I think next year I'll give it away and replace it with a third window box and a more conventional pot. 

I have cilantro, basil, chives, oregano, and chocolate mint. There is a chocolate mint. I love it. 

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko is getting the Arthur Ashe Award for courage. He's a former heavyweight boxing champion. The award is given to a "deserving member of the sporting world who makes a difference beyond the field of play, impacting the world in indelible ways." It was previously given to Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, Pat Summitt, and Billie Jean King. Klitschko and his brother have been leaders in resisting the invasion. 

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the head of the UK's armed forces, said Russia has already "strategically lost." Russia is paying massively for tiny gains 

Ukraine used the US Harpoon system to sink a Russian tugboat. The tugboat was transporting ammunition and weapons. They used the Javelin missile system to take out two tanks. 

Hackers are going after Belarus. Russians moved military into Belarus. A ransomware attac on the railway demanded, not money, but that Russian troops leave Belarus. This was done by the Cyber Partisans. 

One technology executive worked with mobile phone network specialists to attack the phones of Russian military officials so they couldn't make or receive calls. 

The US is planning to build silos on Ukraine's border to help export grain. This will help bypass a Russian blockade and bring down food prices.