Took a day off work today to take care of some personal business, and thankfully that was wrapped up relatively early. The weather was unbelievable so I stopped at Lowe’s to pick up some plants. I was sorely disappointed for several reasons, the only relevant one being that their selection was pretty depleted, and I was told that more was arriving tomorrow. Great. Tomorrow I’ll be at work.

So I got what I could and went on to Whole Foods, where they happened to be unloading a truckful of the wave petunias, which is one thing I was determined to get this year. I always seemed to buy the wrong thing and never understood why everyone else seemed to be able to grow these lovely flowers and I couldn’t find them anywhere. (The one time I did, they dried up in the sunny back deck I had at the time. Great for geraniums; everything else was parched).

Whole Foods also had great herbs, so I got a huge basil plant and an absolutely beautiful oregano. I also bought lettuce seeds to plant when the soil arrives. I buy the special “self-watering container” soil from Gardeners Supply. It occurs to me now that I should have looked into growing something the birds might enjoy eating, but then again, I really enjoy my lettuce.

Anyway I stopped at Wild Birds Unlimited and asked for the striped sunflower seed and shelled peanuts. My luck from Lowe’s continued; the striped sunflower was due in on Thursday. The guy told me not to bother with that and just stick with the peanuts, but I still think I should get the striped sunflower. I really like having the cardinal around, and I’m not sure he’ll eat the peanuts. But the striped sunflower is a little hard to find, so for now, I’m trying the peanuts alone.

The mourning doves aren’t too pleased, but if they think that not visiting is going to offend me, they’re quite mistaken.

The chickadee was the first to discover the peanuts, he came over while I was sitting outside, and actually got a peanut before I even noticed him. Sly little things.

So the balcony garden is coming along. I repotted the Dwarf Alberta Spruce, aka “Albert,” cleverly named, I know. It looks much bigger not sunk into the new pot as it was while still sitting within it in the old pot. The petunias will have to wait to be planted until my new self-watering window box arrives from Gardeners Supply. And I still have to find brackets. Why so hard?

I am hoping the white-breasted nuthatches, cardinals, and tufted titmice return soon.