Cut flower garden

[Phaedra]

Lost in counting, loads and loads of MUMs recently - their vase life is very long, and their colors will gradually change. Ideally, they should shine in different corners in the garden; however, we have endless rain, rain, and rain....

MUMs are such wonderful flowers - they 'effectively' extend the seasonal interest for the garden.

I shared these two with our neighbors at both sides, together with some cup cakes.

And we have those lovely 'flower balls' on our dining table. The pink one in the middle is my favorite - when the flowers aged, the center parts will turn from pink into cream white, soooo lovely!

This year, I will keep propagate some of them and some new colors. For the current plants, I will leave them where they are, but cover them with a very thick layer of compost for protection. Hopefully, they can come back like their relative, Aster, who are already sending a lot of basal shoots for the next growing season.

 

[Phaedra]

#23054
Dahlia, MUMs

 

[digitS']

I believe that it was @heirloomgal who was singing the praises of Mountain Bluet earlier this year. The plant really took advantage of its protected location near the house and a single bud showed up after a week of the above freezing weather .

Steve - the house where it was growing? Of course!

 

[heirloomgal]

View attachment 61988
I believe that it was @heirloomgal who was singing the praises of Mountain Bluet earlier this year. The plant really took advantage of its protected location near the house and a single bud showed up after a week of the above freezing weather .

Steve - the house where it was growing? Of course!

So cute! I much prefer the term you use for those flowers, it's lovely. It evokes thoughts of blueberries for me since in Quebec, once my home, the berries are called 'bleuets', very close. I am shocked that it produced a flower this late.

 

[digitS']

After the three were in full bloom, I had hoped for a picture of the chrysanthemums right against the south wall of the house.

It was not to be. They were destroyed by the hard frosts.

Off in more shady locations but less exposed, the bluets can take advantage better. It's now 28°f (-2°C) at 3AM, just a frost and probably the trend until we are slammed by something. Until then, we should be content to be out & about in, sometimes, pleasant outdoor conditions.

Steve

 

[Phaedra]

#23055

MUMs, and more MUMs - they look like a flower ball in small glass jars.

 

[Phaedra]

The new season starts, and I just sow the first batch of seeds for 2024 cut flowers. My attention shifts a bit, and I want to try growing some simple Dahlias from seeds, too.

I divided seeds in two to three portions and would sow them with a 6-8 weeks interval. The first batch sowing includes four different varieties of sweet peas, painted daisy (Robinson's Giant Mix / Perennial, it should be a good contrast to my already established Shasta daisies), zinnia (Blueberry Cheesecake mix, the name is funny though), three different varieties of Lisianthus.

This first batch will stay in the greenhouse for a longer time compared with the 2nd and 3rd batches, so they will get some pruning for encouraging side shoots.

For the perennials I planted last year, I wish I can harvest some Peonies and Bearded Irises this summer.

 

[Phaedra]

Seeds collected from last year's harvest - Zinnia, Calendula, Dahlia, Poppy, Nasturtium, Cosmos

I am so curious about what my "surprise-me-if-you-can" patch will present!

 

[Phaedra]

Plants are the best teachers, in many aspects. It's 100% my fault, but the Dahlia tubers show me what is resilience.

It was 2022 autumn, after a few frost killed most of the annual plants. I dug out the Dahlia tubers, cleaned them properly, wrapped them with newspapers, and stored them in such a box.

Then, I forgot this box, completely, as there are several of them.

This means hundreds of days without light, water, and food.

When I opened the newspapers with overwhelming guilty, those sprouts almost made me cry.

There are some black, dead sprouts from last spring, when they didn't get a chance to leave this box. But they didn't give it up, they kept waiting, with hopes.

I kept unwrapping the newspaper, just at the moment I told myself, ah, that's why the bigger tubers help...and this small guy appeared.

He is a small, single tuber, and he is alive, waiting for the day to embrace the sunlight again. This brought tears to my eyes, I am so sorry.

I gave them an emergent soak first, and will burry them in the soil this evening.

I'm blessed to be a gardener.

 

[Phaedra]

Shopping day! Friday is our routine grocery day, however, Lidl just released a lot of summer flowering perennials. Each bag contains 1-2 bare roots, so I brought 14 back. The choices are limited compared with endless online shops, but you can always get some for your taste.

The weather is nice, so I started pre-sprouting them.

So far so good, all bare roots I got already have some initial growth.

They will sit in the edge of the flower bed unless some extremely bad weather comes again. Eventually in late May, I will transplant them to the next proper locations.

Besides calla lilies and Dahlias, I also put the gladiolus bulbs in the 9cm nursery pots and stored them in a sheltered place.

Calla lilies are hiding under the small hoop tunnel and the plastic planters.