To this: 
Flash forward 3 months, ts now looking like........
August 7th:
August 7th:
The polka dot plants that I originally planted had to go, they were getting attacked by the grasshoppers and the area got far too much sunlight. Every day they were stressed to the max and looked completely wilted and dead. I replaced them with white impatiens
I didn't know what I wanted to do with the concrete round stone in the middle, so I spray painted a "fake" terracotta planter the prior owner left behind with plastic black spray paint. Filled it with a Sago palm, while impatiens and gingerland caladium bulbs. I like the look of the impatiens, however, I can't stand how messy they are and every day I have to pick up the white flowers. The grasshoppers also eat the leaves and make the plants look pretty sad.
Here is another picture to to show the progress of the containers about 2 weeks from when I planted it, August 23rd:
The Caldium bulbs came out of the ground and the small black planters filled out completely. I chose Gingerland Caladiums for the yard.Hoe & Shovel, turned me on to Caldiums, so I set out my search for some of my own & bought 100 bulbs back in April or May. Next spring I think I am going to buy about 300 to plant in the planters for the front and back yard. I haven't decided if I want to do all Gingerland Caldiums or find some other variety.
We still haven't tackled the rest of the yard planters, summer came too quick for us since we started the house painting so late in the spring. We're waiting til it cools off some to plant all the plants & we'll just hope another freeze doesn't happen this winter like it did this past year.
