Pinkfusion

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Somehow this year my garden got the pinks. As I worked in the garden this week, I noticed there is a heck of a lot of pink out there.

The coleus cuttings turned out to be many shades of pink and pink accents. A neighbor gave me a left-over flat of pink impatiens so I paired them with the pink coleus.

In pots

and in the ground.

Other annuals - pink cosmos and cleome .

Even the pot of zinnias Giant Flowered Mix and California Giant is predominately pink.

The perennials I’ve planted over the years are many shades of pink. A lot of them were gifts from friendly gardeners.

Saucer sized hardy hibiscus (from a neighbor)

Cone flowers (from a neighborhood school plant sale)

Garden phlox (from a friend)

Mum Clara Curtis (actually bought this one myself).

Crepe Myrtle (from another neighbor).

Pink everywhere. A happy accident.

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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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Hot Summer Garden

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. . . and other garden ramblings.

I have a new meaning for the words shade garden -- gardening in the shade.

I’ve been following the shade around the garden. The little time I’ve spent in the garden is planned to take advantage of the shade. Last week 90 to 100 degree heat and high humidity put this new meaning on shade gardening. Fortunately I have a lot of mature trees.

Morning Glories in Round Rock (Texas) reported a heat index 117 in her blog on June 30. I thought of her as the sweat dripped off my nose with the gnats and mosquitoes buzzed in my ears. I can’t even imagine what a heat index of 117 feels like.

We’ve also had some wild storms. The wind and rain turned the crepe myrtle into weeping crepe myrtle.

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The cosmos leans against the pussy willow. I’ve cut some of the broken stems and propped up some others.

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I picked some great sweet peppers (‘Early Sensation). The seeds were planted on March 11. On my May 13th post, “Seed Challenge”, the plants were ready for the garden. I cooked up a pot of old-fashioned stuffed peppers last week – five months from seed to stomach.

I got some exciting news from Carol at May Dreams Garden this week. I won a CobraHead Weeder. The good folks at CobraHead LLC gave one to everyone who entered. Very generous indeed and just in time for fall weeding.

I’ve been having trouble with the link to Doug Green’s Garden (blog). Does the link at the right work for anyone? Please leave a comment. I’ll change the link if anyone else is having trouble. I can’t seem to get it working. Here’s the link to Doug’s Simple Gift Farm website - http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/. You may be able access his blog there. Doug will also release a new propagation ebook this week. It’s a winner.

Fortunately, we’re having some better weather this week with temperatures in the 80’s and lower humidity. I’ll be a happier gardener this week.

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Weeding and Deadheading

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I’ve been trying to catch up in the garden.

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Mature gardeners running willy-nilly around the garden attacking plants is not a pretty sight. Then it also seems like nothing is ever complete. So this time I’ve made a list. I’m trying to be logical and sane – the cool, organized gardener.

After the vegetables were picked, I started weeding and deadheading.

With 3 inches of rain while we were gone, the weeds are as happy as the plants. I plan to weed one garden area at a time.

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Purslane, creeping woodsorrel, crabgrass need to be pulled before they go to seed. Some of the paths are overgrown. The plants are so pretty I’ll leave them. Cosmos and sweet alyssum took over the path above.

Lilies, calendula, hostas, petunias need to be deadheaded.

I’ll cut about 1/3 off the top of the lily stalk.

I’ll cut the hosta flower stems as low as I can.

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I plan to cut the calendula flowers off with a hedge clipper. There are so many of them I don’t want all those seeds to fall.

I also need to pinch off the seed heads on the petunias. They look a little sad after a week of neglect. I always pinch the flower and seed head. I know some people just pull the spent flower. I think if they’re making seeds, they have less energy to make flowers. What do you do? Does it matter?

That's my immediate list. I wonder how long it will take to go from the cool, organized gardener to a garden maniac?

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(See Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide for pictures of purslane, creeping woodsorrel and crabgrass. Weeding gives me a lot of time to think. I wonder what weeds are in your garden? What weeds give you fits in the middle of summer?)

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Flowers Speak

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When words escape, flowers speak.- Bruce W. Currie

Fuschia

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Stock

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Maximilian Sunflower

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Cosmos

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Tuberose

July Garden

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I’ll be at Musikfest most of this week doing garden maintenance and just having fun. Since I won’t have much time in my garden, I thought I would it would be fun to compare a section of my garden over the last 3 years.

First, let me explain. I have a new camera this year. The 2008 pictures are not as good as 2006 or 2007. But I’ll keep practicing. The biggest problem with this camera – there is no view finder. Taking pictures outdoors with only a LCD screen is difficult (like aiming a gun when you can't see the target.) All I can see on the screen is a reflection of myself. Great for putting on lipstick but not taking pictures. OK, enough excuses.

This is the way the cottage garden looked in 2006 before our tall pussy willow fell in a storm on Memorial Day weekend 2007. That dramatically changed the garden from shade to sun. Actually, much better for a cottage garden.

In the second set of photos, you can see the pussy willow in the center of the picture (left photo 2007). The right photo (2008) shows the pussy willow has about doubled in size this year. The new growth is coming out of the near side of the stump.

The pink mum (Chrysanthemum ‘Clara Curtis’) blooms almost all summer front and center on both pictures. Yellow Cosmos in the left 2007 photo will be replaced with pink tones (Burpee Sensation Mix) in 2008. I planted the seeds in May and they are now forming buds.

Snapdragons, cleome, snow on the mountain, coleus, sweet alyssum all have returned this year.

As the pussy willow continues to grow, it will again change the light in this garden. I’ll have all winter to decide if I want to do something differently next year.

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Annuals

Many years ago I started digging up the yard for gardens. Each year I bought spring blooming bulbs to plant in fall – tulips, hyacinths, daffodils. Since I couldn’t afford a ton of perennials, I bought annuals to mask the bulbs fading foliage. I continue to use annuals even though I have added many perennials.
If I had to pick my three favorite annuals -

The top of the list of would be coleus. Bright, cheerful and a Joseph’s coat of colors, they brighten shady spots. Some can take sun. They are all almost care free. They are also easy to propagate so I save a lot of money raising cuttings.






Second on the list is impatiens. The colors pop in the shade garden. The New Guinea impatiens is great for the sunnier areas.




There are some annuals that have a special meaning for me. Cosmos is planted for a special young lady whose birthday is in October. Cleome reminds me of my Grandmother’s garden. The tall, spectacular, ever-blooming habit looks great in large groups at the back of the garden.





Whoops, that’s four. I wouldn’t want to be without any of them as well as dusty miller, sweet alyssum, marigold, zinnia, petunia, wax begonia, snapdragon, sweet pea . . .

Garden Success and Failure. I'm sure every gardener has her/his share of success and failure in the garden. We learn from our mistakes, right? mmmmm

I'm posting a few of my successes and a few of my failures. Any comments would be welcomed. Misery and joy love company!


Failure:

Tuberose -Double Flowering Tuberose Polianthea Tuberosa. I bought a few bulbs early in 2004. I potted them and put them outside in May. They never flowered. I brought them in in fall and put them out again in May. No flowers. Last fall, I brought them in and let them dry back - treating them like the amaryllis. I re-potted them and put them out in spring. 2006 again no flowers. This year I put them in the garage to dry and overwinter. In spring, I'll plant a few in the ground and some in a pot. 2007 may be my last year for the Tuberose!

Sweet Pea - Ferry & Morse seeds. This may be partially a success story. I don't have a lot of full sun garden areas. I planted seeds in May in a spot next to our fence where they would get the most sun. But, I let them climb on the cleome for support which gave them more shade . I had only a few flowers. Next year I'll try some sort of trellis or plant them in the middle of the yard.

Seedbalz - Cosmos & Bachelor Button. There were no Bachelor Buttons. I think the few Cosmos that came up were seeded from last year's plants.

Impatiens cuttings. Each year I lose a few cuttings. This year I lost all of them. They start out fine, bloom & look great. Then they get tiny white spots and eventually the leaves curl up and the plant dies.

There were a few more failures - but let's not dwell on that. On to better things -


Success:

Coleus Cuttings. I had 8 flats to plant out in May (including some impatiens & begonias). Coleus have become my favorite annual. I used them in pots, in dry/part shade and to accent perennial color or form.

Canna (pictures posted October 16) - The original tubers were a gift. They grow easily and have a tropical impact on a long blank garage wall - and they multiply like rabbits!

Euonymus - Variegated Emerald Surprise (I think) - upright shrub. I conquered the dreaded scale. A few years ago the bushes were sparce and one of them bit the dust. I've been spraying regularly with water/baking soda soap solution and this summer they were full and healthy.

General Garden Design - I really like the way the garden looked this summer. But - the best garden is always next year's.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! AND HAPPY GARDENING!