07/09/2025
We've been growing a lot of plants and flowers at home this year, in hopes of finding some we can plant around the restaurant. The longest side of the building is South-facing, so it gets a lot of hot sun from noon until sundown. So far, we've found Butterfly Bush, Canna Lily, Moss Rose, grasses, etc. that can handle that afternoon sun. Then there are a few spots of mostly shade. We'll be planting shade-tolerant plants in thos spots, like Hosta, Ferns, Heuchera, Elephant Ears, Astilbe, etc.
We'll definitely be using a few of the Lilies like the big white one in the photo. We have 3 and 2 of them just bloomed yesterday. It's called Pretty Lady. It's an Orienpet Lily (hybrid Oriental/Trumpet). They took so long to open because the flowers are huge, probably 7" across. They give off a great scent you can smell from 15' away. These Lilies love a lot of sun and they come back every year, so winner-winner-steak-dinner. We'll have a few different plants in pots that'll be brought inside the restaurant during winter; Bird of Paradise, Shrimp plant, etc. A few months ago we learned about Mycorrhizal Fungi and all the magic it does with plants, so we're trialing that stuff too. With all of the research we've done, we've become shade-tree horticulturist.
If you're still here, I'm sure you're thinking "what about the restaurant?!?!" Right now, we're painting ceilings, installing crown molding and baseboard. We're looking for a contractor that can repair a spot in the kitchen ceiling, the wall under it, and the floor under the wall. When all of that is repaired, we'll have new flooring laid in the kitchen. Currently, it has the classic black/white checkered tile, which would be fine, but it's so old (30+ years) that we can't get the white back to white, so it's a dingy yellow / dingy black checkerboard, yikes.
