I actually did some physical work yesterday!  I dug out several Liriope and divided them into quarters.  That was actually pretty easy and went quickly.  Then I dug out all of my neighbor's Day Lilies.  That was a lot harder.  Some super genius planted them right up against the sidewalk, so you can't get a shovel in there, and the roots are all up in the concrete.  So that was tough.

I planted 8 of the divisions in the place of the Day Lilies.  I spaced them decently far apart but close enough that when they grow they will more or less reach each other.  She was actually  fine with just the 4, but I was like, Let's do 4 more!  Partly that is because it was so much easier to plant them in the soil I had just torn up than to dig a new hole in the sidewalk bed.

I still have not planted the other like, 8 or so divisions I dug up.  I left them sitting out there overnight, actually for about 12 hours, and it was 12 hours of insane wind, so it probably dried them out a lot.  I just put them in containers because I don't want them to totally dry out forever.

I have a lot of Day Lilies still to plant as well.  Those I did put in containers so they won't dry out or die or anything.

I can't  quite decide if I want to go outside now and try to finish planting these poor things.  In theory, yes.  I should plant all the Day Lilies first, because they are near the center, then do the Liriope around the edges.  I also want to dig out the little Stella d'Oro Day Lilies.  I don't think it makes any sense to have them in there when it's mostly roadside Tiger Lily types.  And I really want more little yellow Day Lilies in the front bed.  I think I have about 6 of those in the sidewalk bed.  I just don't think I can do it all today.  I probably should have kept going when I had the momentum yesterday.  Now my back and arms and legs and butt hurt.

So I don't know, should I push myself out there, in the "feels like 31" weather and dig some more holes?  Of course I should... but I should also get my shit together inside.  Next Saturday is not looking a whole lot better, but next Sunday looks ok.  And next Sunday I want to plant these Rudbeckia. Or I could wait another week.  That puts me beyond the last frost date.  But at that point I would be in pretty good shape- I'll have gotten all the Day Lilies in the sidewalk bed, close to the middle.  I will put the Liriope divisions around the border.  (I have 9 of them.  I don't know how I ended up with an odd number, but there we are.  I do have one more I want to divide.)  Once those things are in, I'll have the kind of solid, perennial things set up and I can fit in these annuals around.  It looks like I'm putting the Day Lilies near the front, so I'll group them in there, and maybe group the Rudbeckia down at the other end.

And I will have 12 Zinnias, the Zahara Bonfire mix, which are red, orange and yellow, and they will get up to 18 inches tall.  I think those need to go right up in front, probably on my side of the bed.  They will work well in front of the Yarrow, I think, and the red will work well there and the orange will tie in with the big Day Lilies.

Also, more seeds!

I planted the 12 pack with a variety of Sunflower that I bought from Home Depot or something which gets 5 feet tall.  All the ones I ordered specifically are more like 3 feet tall, but now that I am laying out the sidewalk bed, some 5 foot Sunflowers would be really nice.  I know you are not supposed to start them in containers and transplant because they get deep tap roots, so I am thinking these super deep cells will be better for them. Then I did 2 packs of the State Fair Zinnias.  I've got two more packs that are filled with soil that I can still plant... I could do Zinnias, or I could do more Sunflowers...I guess I should do Zinnias.  Maybe I will try to grow the green ones that I bought a few years ago.

Where would I plant them?  Actually, I haven't figured out where I am going to plant these other big Zinnias.  A couple options:

• Plant them in the long containers, on the ground inside the patio.  They would cover up the Gutter Garden, which is probably fine in the summer.  And I could tie them to the wall when they get big.  They would get pretty good sun there.  But being in containers, I would need to be more diligent about watering. 
• Put them behind the roses along the sidewalk.  That could be a little problematic because they would be spilling over into the sidewalk, where I need to walk frequently.  
• Plant them in the front bed, kind of in and around the other perennials in there.  That gets pretty good sun.  It would be a little problematic to get back there to stake them and cut them for vases and everything.  

I'm leaning towards the container option.  If that's the case, I can't even have that many.  I already have 12 pretty big ones, and 6 per container is probably already pushing it.  Of course, I can do all of the above.