Tag: zinnia

A week’s worth of gardening in one post

Yikes, gone a week without posting but not without gardening. A brief summary of what transpired in the garden in the past several days:

  • Various succulents cuttings including the Lemon Coral sedum planted in the rosemary bed
  • Added dahlberg daisies to the petunia planter
  • Cuban Gold duranta planted in front yard shade bed
  • Transplanted Victoria Blue salvias to the ends of the front yard flower bed
  • Hard pruned the Hot Lips Salvias in the front yard bed down to 1/3 height
  • Installed Magic Carpet spirea in front yard bed
  • Removed catmint from herb bed, replanted in 3″ pots
  • Transplanted golden sage, tricolor sage and dwarf mini curry plant into the herb bed
  • Removed yarrow from lily bed, installed red lantana in its place
  • Installed Tasmanian Tiger euphorbia  and Nuevo Leon salvia in blue bed
  • Sowed Summer Jewel Red salvia and Cosmic Red cosmos in the tree ring
  • Transplanted rooted cuttings of variegated lemon thyme in the tree ring
  • Returned coleus and snapdragon seedlings to the greenhouse
  • Moved some seedlings and cuttings outdoors, including the zinnia starts (which aren’t doing very well)
  • Purchased another Magic Carpet spirea from Grow It nursery

Did I mention something ate my onion chives and decapitated my Genovese basil? Pictures forthcoming!

New Plants and Blooms of March

My High Country Gardens order arrived. I’m somewhat disappointed by the tiny specimens I was sent. Given that they appear so delicate, I’m placing them under grow lights for the time being.

3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (1) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (2)

Check out the new blooms on the ornamental pepper Purple Flash and the “perennial” Easy Wave Petunias. The red petunias have opened, while white buds threaten on the other.

3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (3) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (4) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (5)

Lavender stoechas Bella Purple is in bloom. The buds appeared about a month ago, and I’ve been reluctant to shear it back since it started to sprawl. As soon as the blooms have faded, I’m trimming it back by at least a  foot so that the neighboring chives, garlic and sage get more light. Notice the lavender bud with the crane fly perched on it? Crane fly populations have exploded in Texas since the temperatures have warmed up (i.e. early February). There’s not a day that I get in a collision with a cloud of these crane flies while puttering in the yard. A friend indicated that these prey on mosquitoes; however, I researched this and discovered that they do NOT feed on mosquitoes at all. They love nectar and their larvae will feast on vegetation, and may cause considerable damage to turf and plants. I would like to find a natural way to get rid of these flies; maybe by enticing more birds to visit.

3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (6) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (7) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (8) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (14)

I finally caught some good pictures of my yellow salvia greggii in bloom. The camera is still having difficulty capturing the pale yellow colors, but at least I now have a record of it.

3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (10) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (11) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (12) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (13)

The potted oriental artemisias look like they are enjoying the cooler, moist weather. I do recall that these are part shade plants and they experienced a difficult time last year in the full sun. The yarrow I uprooted from the blue bed is adjusting to its temporary home. I also snapped another picture of the growing leeks in the herb garden bed.

3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (9) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (15) 3/8//2012 New Plants and Blooms (16)

I also spent some time this morning sowing more seeds to the bathroom greenhouse. Stardust Ice Plant, Blue Fescue, Dreams Patriot Mix petunias, Zinnia Profusion mix and Zinnia Starlight Rose are now planted. Thankfully I had easy seeds to deal with this recent go-round, pellets and chaff-like seed aren’t as difficult to stick in Jiffy pellets.

Seeds! 2012 Purchases

From Parks I ordered the following:

1. ZINNIA ZAHARA STARLIGHT ROSE (51991) Qty : 1
2. SWEET ALYSSUM PASTEL CARPET (0063) Qty : 4
3. ZINNIA RED SPIDER (2233) Qty : 1
4. ANGELONIA SERENA BLUE PELLETED SEED (51031) Qty : 1
5. COREOPSIS ROULETTE (51117) Qty : 1
6. SNAPDRAGON BRONZE DRAGON (51714) Qty : 1
7. ZINNIA PROFUSION SUNRISE MIX HYBRID (51986) Qty : 2

From Stokes:

  1. Cosmic Red Cosmos
  2. Wizard Mix Coleus
  3. Woodcreek White Gomphrena
  4. Woodcreek Red Gomphrena
  5. Banana Cream Sorbet Viola
  6. Sorbet Delft Blue XP Viola
  7. Sorbet Blue Blotch XP Viola
  8. Summer Jewel Red Salvia
  9. Dreams Patriot Mix Petunia
  10. Montego Sunset Snapdragon
  11. Bride Eggplant
  12. Guy Lon Chinese Broccoli

I also picked up a set of 50 Jiffy 7 pellets.

Well, I also had hoped to throw in some onions in there, but it doesn’t look like we’ll have much success digging out those tree stumps any time soon.

The community garden in early summer

Despite searing temps hot enough to cook an egg, the man and I braved the heat to check out the community garden next to Coppell city hall. The garden was awash in summer colors of yellow and orange. The cosmos were in full, rampant bloom, along with zinnias, lantanas, loosestrife, sunflowers and roses. It gave us an opportunity to observe how the vegetable plants fared in this heat. We saw several pepper plants fruiting, in addition to tomatoes, blackberries, squash and melons.

6/18/2011 Community Garden Early Summer (1) 6/18/2011 Community Garden Early Summer (2) 6/18/2011 Community Garden Early Summer (3) 6/18/2011 Community Garden Early Summer (4) 6/18/2011 Community Garden Early Summer (5) 6/18/2011 Community Garden Early Summer (6) 6/18/2011 Community Garden Early Summer (7) 6/18/2011 Community Garden Early Summer (8) 6/18/2011 Community Garden Early Summer (9)

Flower wishlist

What happens when you window-shop garden catalogs in winter? Your wishlist and shopping carts grow longer by the time spring arrives. Here is my current wishlist of flowers, which covers the gamut of annuals and perennials, seeds and tubers/bulbs. I’m going for some early flashy color this season, which is why annuals made it into my list.

Zinnia elegans Candy Stripe
Zinnia elegans Swizzle Cherry & Ivory
Dianthus chinensis Corona Cherry Magic
Dianthus chinensis Velvet ‘n Lace
Cosmos sulphureus Cosmic Mix
Anemone blanda Blue Star or Blue Shades
Stokesia laevis Blue Danube, Bluestone or Peachies Pick
Caryopteris x clandonensis Dark Knight
Salvia x jamensis Sierra San Antonio

…and a large white-flowered reblooming evergreen daylily, perhaps a spider form.

I am still researching the white daylily as there are many cultivars available. Many online stores have huge selections of white/near-whites…now it’s just a matter of time trying to discover a particular Hemerocallis that will fit all my criteria.

I’m also expanding my blue-and-white garden, as evidenced by the number of blue flowered plants on my wishlist.