Friday, May 21, 2010

Seedlings


Each spring I'm excited to watch the re-seeding garden come to life. It’s fun to see the garden rearrange itself.

BUT, this year seedlings are everywhere. I’ve been pulling, hoeing, potting and moving seedlings all week. I certainly have a bumper crop.

The snapdragons are the most prolific. (Top photo with Johnny-jump-up.)

The cleome has been productive too. The cosmos and annual poppy join them in their reproductive party. I’ve left most of the poppies because they don’t transplant well. They bloom early so I’ll get them out of the way once they’ve finished blooming. I may be hopping over poppies for a month.
No one needs this many cleomes!


I love the white/green summer look of snow-on-the-mountain (with more snaps, cleome and a few sweet alyssum) – again too many. One nasturtium returned (lower left of center of picture below).


Some of the snapdragons from last year survived the winter and are ready to set buds (upper left of picture below). Under all the snapdragon seedlings are portulaca. I’ll try to pull the snaps and save the portulaca. That may take a bit of finesse.

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I should have a riot of color this summer. And it’s all free! (Note: Labor doesn't count.)
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6 comments:

Morning Glories in Round Rock said...

It may take finesse and tweezers to pull the snaps and save the portulaca! Love the thought of the riot of color you will see AND the free plants!

Marie said...

MG - tweezers - good idea LOL. It's hard to get the snaps out without also pulling the portulaca. Of course I could buy more portulacas but where's the challange in that!

Joyce said...

Love the idea of having a re-seeding garden. Is this a seperate area in your garden? Do you direct seed or is this stuff that comes back freely(I did see the word free) from last years crop of plants :)
Thanks for helping the wheels turning.....

donna said...

I never thought of gardens rearranging themselves, but that's exactly what they do.

You've got me thinking now. I need a flower bed where I can do this because my flower beds are too stiff. They are in serious need of a riot.

donna

Marie said...

Peeoknee,
The re-seeding garden is separate and has a few perennials in it. All the seedlings come up from last year's plants. So it's a different arrangement every year. Sometimes I put in a new packet of seeds.

Marie said...

Donna,
I have to make myself hard-hearted to pull all the seedlings that are in or too near the paths. Sometimes I move them and help mother nature's arrangement.