Green with Envy
I’ve declared my love for all flowers green here before. There’s just something about them that attracts me, perhaps it’s because they’re different. Someday I dream of having an all green garden filled with all flowers green and maybe a few white ones thrown in for good measure.
This year I bought some seeds for ‘Green Envy’ zinnias. I planted a few at my mom’s at the edge of my 3 sisters garden and I planted some out on our front hillside. I love how they glow in the shadows! The zinnias growing on my front hillside are mostly colorful ones: pink, orange, and yellow. I have a few green ones but they’re not as pretty as the ones growing at my mom’s. Must be the soil.
I do love zinnias, they’re wonderful flowers. Mine start to get pretty tall and a little tired looking this time of year. I always think about cutting them back, but I leave them for the bees & butterflies.
Have you ever thought about having a garden in all one color?
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Blanket Flower ‘Oranges & Lemons’
A month or so ago, Mr Chiots and I were at a butterfly garden in Cleveland and he spotted a Blanket Flower ‘Oranges & Lemons’. While shopping at a greenhouse a week or two later he spotted some and had to buy them for the garden here at Chiot’s Run.
They really are beautiful flowers and the bees love them. I can’t wait until next year to see how lovely they’ll look in full bloom. Now all I have to do is decide where to plant them.
Anything new in your gardens this summer?
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Hanging Baskets
I love hanging baskets! Particularly ones overflowing with petunias. I love it when little towns have baskets of petunias from every light pole.
These people must like petunias as much as I do, if I had railings they’d probably look like this as well.
We have a long porch, it goes across the entire front of our house, which is 44 feet long. We have space for 4 hanging baskets, in between the porch posts. Each year I buy grow or buy some petunias and plant them in my baskets and wait a few months for them to spill over and become lush. It seems like about the time they get really pretty, frost is just around the corner.
This year I had planned on growing tumbling tom tomatoes in my hanging baskets, I’ve seen photos of them overflowing the basket will lovely tiny red tomatoes. My tumbling toms look nothing like the photos I’ve seen, they’re kind of leggy and not pretty at all, perhaps they’re not really tumbling toms since I got them from a seed swap.
Luckily when I was at the farmer’s market last week there was an older Amish gentleman selling these lovely hanging baskets. I asked him how much and he said, “$15 each, or if you buy 3 or more I’ll give them to you for $10, how many do you want?”. I said I’d like 4, he said “Well, I’ll give them all to you for $35 then”.
What a deal for these lovely baskets! I brought them home and transplanted them to my baskets and they’re instantly lush and beautiful on my front porch. Aren’t they lovely?
I ended up with 2 that are the same, they’re big petunias, purple and purple and white ones. I got one basket of purple and white superbells and a basket of petunias and trailing blue bacopa.
What about you, what’s your favorite hanging basket flower?
Do you love hanging baskets?
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Conifers in the Garden
If you remember a few weeks ago I talked about wanting to add more coniferous plants to the gardens here at Chiot’s Run. Ironically, while I was out working the other day I noticed a small volunteer pine tree that sprouted up in the side yard.
I’m not sure what kind it is, but it sure is cute. It’s only about 4 inches tall. I’m going to dig it up and put it in a pot to help it establish. Later this summer I’m going to plant it in the gardens somewhere. I have all kinds of volunteers in my gardens, usually they’re petunias and butterfly bushes, but I’ve never had a pine tree. You sure can’t beat a free tree!
Have you ever had this happen? What kind of volunteers spring up in your gardens?
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Adding Asparagus
I’m hoping to add a few new things to the edible gardens this summer here at Chiot’s Run. The one I am most excited about is the asparagus patch. I know asparagus takes up a lot of space, which is at a premium here, but I really love it so it’s worth the space. Asparagus is a long lived plant, so once you put in a patch it will produce for many many years. I have slightly acidic soil which isn’t the best for an asparagus patch, but since I’m planning on giving them a raised bed of their own I shouldn’t have any trouble.
I’ve been leafing through a few catalogs trying to decide which kind to purchase and where to install the dedicated asparagus bed. I’m considering Nourse Farms, I ordered my blueberry and strawberry plants from them last year and was very impressed with the quality of plants and the shipping. They don’t have heirloom asparagus, I can get those here if I decide to go that route.
Anyone have any great suggestions for types or where to order from? or tips & tricks for growing great asparagus?
