Flower Garden Flourishing

pansies and petunias

3/20/11
     Things are booming in the flower garden.  The strawflowers and gallardia that suddenly reappeared in the last few weeks are covered with blossoms.  The pansies and petunias I planted last fall are blooming away.  I have annual flower seeds which I planted this week:  dwarf zinnias, marigolds, blue dianthus, white zinnias, red zinnias, and cosmos.  I have never planted dianthus from seed.  Egads, the seeds are microscopic!  It took such finesse to handle them.  I held them tight in my palm and plucked a few at a time to plant because there was a slight breeze.  They are difficult to plant because they are hard to handle and disappear into the soil.  You don't know where you left off when you take your eyes off the furrow you are planting in to pick a few more from your palm.  You have to guess at the place you stopped when you drop more seeds.  We'll see how they grow.  There is now a rapid pace to spring.  Everyday another plant seems to burst into bloom.  What will I find tomorrow?

Backyard landscape

unlandscaped back yard

3/7/11    

     After moving here last spring, our backyard was nothing but bare dirt for months.  In June we had the back yard landscaped, and I put in a flower garden.  This was mid-June, mind you, and it was 108 to 110 degrees daily.  My husband put up a tent for me to work under, so I wouldn't be burnt to a crisp, and so that I would be able to stay out there planting for more than five minutes.  I planted what was being sold at that time:  Mexican heather, vinca, celosia, gallardia, strawflower.  Most either died back or stopped flowering after a month or two, except the vinca and celosia.  The frosts of fall and winter put a stop to those.  When I examined my

putting in the flower garden

garden a week ago, the Mexican heather is green-

ing up, and all the vinca plants that I thought died

have green leaves growing on the brown stems. 

The gallardia and strawflowers have suddenly re-

appeared and are budding.  Last spring I bought flowering bulbs (daffodils, hyacinth, and tulips) that are sold in pots at the grocery store.  When they died back, I stored them in the garage all summer in the 110 degree heat and planted them this fall.  Almost all are coming up!