Procrastination & Finishing Touches

It's well after midnight, and I have ads to submit to a couple of different publications first thing tomorrow.  I should be working feverishly on ad design, or maybe going to sleep with a plan (admittedly, an unrealistic one--I'm not a morning person) to get up and finish them bright and early.  So instead, I'm going to post a few photos of my brugmansia urn.

The brugmansia overwintered pretty well in the basement, and is just starting to really leaf out again, now that it's warm and sunny outside:

The iresine and the bronze sweet potato vine overwintered in the container along with the brugmansia, but the 'Vancouver Centennial' geranium--and, of course, the petunia--from last year's urn combo did not.  The iresine can be seen at the back left sprouting new leaf buds, and the SPV looks better than most of the pots I see in local garden centers.  I finished off this year's urn with a variety of coleus, eucalyptus, and 'Walkabout Sunset' lysimachia congestiflora:

I love these colors against the deep purple-green of the bronze fennel behind.  When the brugmansia fully leafs out, there should be enough shade for most of the shade lovers, and hopefully enough sun for the eucalyptus--although I'm considering moving that plant already.

One "finishing touch" tip for those who are fairly frugal gardeners, like me:  Instead of adding enough plants to this urn to make it look full right away, I took some of the groundcover sedum that I have in a few different places and used it in the urn.  It creates a sort of living mulch that also adds a bit of green to the ensemble and makes the reds and yellows really pop.  It's easy, cheap, and gives it a little bit more of a "finished" look... I'm going to have to remember this, myself, for future container plantings.

Okay, I've procrastinated enough for one evening--er, morning.  Time to get back to the graphic design work... but please feel free to leave some inspiring frugal gardening tips of your own here for me to check out tomorrow.  I'm going to need something to look forward to after my long night tonight!