Garden Changes



Blue Cup Plant

 4/18/11
     Over the last two weeks there have been many changes in my flower garden.  Probably because we have thirteen hours of daylight now, and the soil has finally warmed up.  My five blue cup flower plants are in full bloom.  Every inch of each plant is covered with violet blue flowers.   The strawflower and gazania plants are blanketed with blooms also.  I have never grown gazania before.  They seem to be self-sowing quite freely all over my garden.  As a matter of fact, they seem somewhat invasive. I thought I would try them as a cut flower.  They were not that good as a cut flower.  I had trouble getting the thick, white sticky sap off my hands.  You need just the right vase to accommodate them:  short with a wide opening at the neck.  They were finicky about opening in the house.   


Gazania

                                                        
 

Failing pansy

  There is decline in the garden also.  The 102 degree heat we had two weeks ago has taken a toll that has finally shown up.  The pansies are failing (one plant dead already).  The petunias are looking ragged especially in my patio pots.  It was 95 degrees the past two days, and that probably did not help either.  It is going to be in the upper 80's to 90 degrees most of the week, so I think the heat is here to stay.




Declining Petunia