Tag: yarrow

Behold the blue

Is it a Mum? An Aster? I found the blooms hiding underneath the faded Oertel’s Rose yarrow. They looked nearly identical to the scabiosa blooms just barely a foot away, but smaller–about the size of quarters.

6/21/2011 A blue aster in bloom 6/21/2011 Actually this is more like the true color, a lavender blue

We had quite a thunderstorm last night, with strong winds that broke tree limbs and scattered debris across our yards. Of course the storm dumped quite a bit of rain as well, which probably gave rise to some new blooms in the morning.

6/21/2011 Crape Myrtle lavender purple 6/21/2011 White Nymph Salvia coccinea in bloom again

I sowed a new flat of peppers (Jupiter bells, Thai chilis, and banana), chives, parsley, and Red Rubin basil. This time, I’m using 3″ pots with MiracleGro garden soil for flowers and vegetables. I’ll be growing them under lights and clear cover in order to promote faster germination. By the time they are ready for transplanting, it should coincide with the proper planting time for peppers. Fingers crossed.

May herbs and flowers

More photos of the herb and flower garden. Felicias, verbena, and potted yarrows! And take a gander at the variegated oregano in its new home next to the lemon thyme. My Coconut thyme still looks terribly scraggly.

I’m thinking about branching out into vegetable gardening after we spotted a reasonably priced cedar garden kit at Home Depot this weekend. I would love to pick up some bok choy, gai lan and giant green onions, along with traditional vegetables, like asparagus, lettuces, garlic, onions and broccoli. So starts my oriental veggie wishlist.

Some veggie and herb seed resources on the net:

 

Sunday flower run, don’t bake in the sun

Note to self: don’t cover tender young seedlings in microwaveable plastics under the hot May sun. So it was that I lost 3 batches of plants: Seabreeze salvia, Lime and Genovese basil, and all of my Stardust ice plants. Back to square one.

5/10/2011 Sunday Herb and Veggie HaulSunday’s flower run included a 50% off all plants sale at the Lowes in Carrollton of Trinity Mills and Old Denton. The man decided to invest in 2 2.5 quart Stella d’Oro daylilies to add to the front flower bed. We also picked up a hot banana pepper (more than a foot tall), a habanero, a variegated oregano and a Chinese eggplant (Ping Tung cultivar). All of the herbs and vegetables by the way were Bonnie plant branded; they retailed for $3.70 but at 50% off they were a good deal. We also ran by Calloway’s in Lewisville to pick up our Spider Lily bulbs at 3 for $3. The bulbs were disappointingly tiny (what’s with all the tiny bulbs coming out of Calloway’s lately), and the man and I are still debating where to plant them. Somewhere where they’ll get summer shade but fall sun, says the checkstand lady.

I divided and moved the picoteed dianthus in the purple bed, planted the Confetti lantanas (x2) and dahlberg daisies (x4) in the front flower bed, and all the impatiens in the shade bed. A leftover from the purple bed, Super Parfait Raspberry dianthus, has been transplanted to the shade bed near the gate.

A pleasant surprise that I uncovered while weeding out the front flower bed: dozens of vinca and at least 3 impatiens seedlings. The impatiens seedlings, amusingly enough, are tucked under a layered branch of the Emerald Snow loropetalum. Like the numerous calla bulblets I uncovered and transplanted this week, the garden presents continue to appear as the weather continues to warm up. For example, one of the mums is displaying bulbs…of course, I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t lifted the sprawling Oertel’s Rose yarrow–which, incidentally, threatens to fill the entire bed!

Next lilies to bloom: Red Alert asiatic lilies! Interesting to note that they all appear to be opening at the same time!