May I See Your ID?

Quite a few blossoms are thriving in the back garden now. 
Are you feeling smart?  I have photos of a dozen different blooms for you to identify.  Today, I’m offering 6 for your identification.  I’ll post the answers with as much name information that I know at the end of this post for you to grade your knowledge.  No prizes---just the crown that you’re a garden smarty.
Ready?  Set?  Go!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Here come the answers…

1. Moonflower (Ipomoea alba)
2. Lantana (Verbenaceae)
3. Hawaiian Blue Eyes (Evolvulus glomeratas)
4. Bacopa (Jamesbrittenia Party Orange)
5. Chrysanthemum
6. Strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa)

How many did you get right?

What to Plant. Your Help is Welcome.

The packets of zinnia seeds from the drug store have really grown well this summer.  The native soil in the garden is pure junk.  Even though it’s been amended over the years to help grow stuff; some plants simply can’t take the heat.

These seeds seem to thrive.  They’ve been fed a few times and get adequate water but no special pruning or primping.  They’re out in the front yard so they’re exposed to cats, dogs, and miscellaneous children.

There was a problem with snails when the seeds were sprouting.  It only took a few early mornings of garden clogs stomping their ambitions and the snail problem was eliminated.  The crows seemed to enjoy the escargot that was pitched out in the street too.

The lawn  weeds on the sideyard were removed by Farmer MacGregor to make way for a temporary flowerbed.  He even trimmed back the surrounding hedges to give me a little elbow room to maneuver.  This spot will, most likely, be paved over when a new driveway is installed.  Now here’s the problem: 

What should be planted in this space?The space is about 15’ X 5’.  It’s in full sun for the most part of the day.  As the picture shows, garbage traffic is heavy (The bins are stored on the other side of the gate.) so fragrance would be nice.  I’m looking for low growing plants along the driveway moving up to taller plants in the back.  The tallest should be no taller than 4’.  I don’t want to see the neighbor’s weed bed but I don’t want to be overwhelmed.  The soil will be amended to insure sturdy growth starting now.  I’m open to annuals or perennials for this temporary bed.  Here’s a checklist:

• Hardy plants in Sunset zone 8 – 9.
• Full sun - up to 10 hours a day.
• Fragrance is desired.
• Drought tolerant is important.
• All colors will be considered but lavender compliments Farmer MacGregor’s house paint work.
• Nothing edible.  Remember – cats, dogs, and miscellaneous children?

Any suggestions are welcome.

Best in Show

Lavender & Sweet Peas

If you follow gardening blogs it seems they are broken down into a few groups:  Edible, Flowers, Homestead.  I think the edible part of gardening I’m getting the hang of.  Homesteading isn’t going to happen.  I have pioneer blood but it enjoys air conditioning along with me.  I’m simply too much of a whiner to be a homesteader.  That leaves the flowers group.  This evening as I cut some flowers to use as bouquets, I determined that I need more flowers in the garden.  So in addition to this being the Year of Corn in the garden, I will now try to incorporate more flowers into the landscape.  I mean try to pack spaces with blooming plants.  Nothing too difficult or fussy will do.  I’m going to stick with varieties that are hardy in the hell hole of summer in the south San Joaquin Valley.  Marigolds, zinnias and the like will be the things I’ll try to grow from seed. 

Now the research begins to determine what to try.  Any suggestions for flowers that do well in zone 8-9 are appreciated.  Thanks

Pioneer Woman Flowers

There’s a photo competition going on over at Pioneer Woman – like she needs any advertising.  Oh, I enter them every once in a while with no expectation of winning even a notice.  She seems to prefer photos with a bunch of processing via PhotoShop.

My photos have little to no processing.  That severely reduces my chances of winning a prize.  She awards some pretty sweet prizes for a gajillionaire.  She only hints that the prizes for this assignment will be “shiny and fun”. 

That can only mean diamonds to me.

The subject matter for the newest photo assignment is:  Flowers.  Dig through all the images of flowers you have to try to come up with something to enter.  Who knows.  You may win something “shiny and fun”.  If you do, please let me know.  I would love to have come that much closer to winning even if it is just someone that scraped against this post in the outer blogosphere.

I wonder if she and her staff would consider my image of a cauliflower.

Good luck.

Flower Power

The Spring flowers will be winding down as the temperatures wind up.  Stock, pansies, and lobelia will have to make room for the summer bouquets.  I need some suggestions for low growing summer flowers that can take the heat.  No sissy flowers will endure the zone 9 heat.  The hottest hot could be around 115.

Any flower to be considered needs to be drought tolerant.  Rain doesn’t happen around here between May and October.  Irrigation will hit once each morning then they will be on their own.

Petunia or maybe dwarf zinnias are being considered. Lemon thyme and lavender may work really well though. 

The search is on.

Garden Flowers

Here’s some flowers that are popping in the garden now that the weather have moved into bearable temperatures.  I’ll label the images as best I can.  Note: the images are straight out the camera.

Pansy – Mammoth Red Pansy – Yellow Pansy – Butter Yellow Lobelia – Crystal Palace LantanaEnglish Lavender – Munstead Marigolds Nastersium Texas Ranger – Green Cloud Rose – John Paul II Rose – Pink (unknown) Impatiens Oxalis Rose – Bakersfield Centennial Rose – Lucille Ball Duranta- Repens Geranium Stock – Vintage White Butterfly Bush – Pink Perfection (I think the label was wrong.) Gardenia Rose – Jaune Desprez

And here’s the more edible varieties.

Basil  Eggplant – Black Beauty Serrano Peppers Strawberries – Fern Bell Peppers Lemon – Variegated Pink Lemon (blossom) Lemon – Variegated Pink Lemon (fruit) Plum – Santa Rosa (This tree is crazy.)

That’s it for today.  I just wanted to chronicle how much better we (plants, animals, and people) behave when the weather is nice.

Suggestions, please.

The summer flowers are doing great.  Lavender, marigolds, sweet alyssum, petunias, etc.  Now, I need to find something for the fall/winter in Zone 9.  Chrysanthemums are fine if I could find something more unusual and fall-like.  The varieties sold in the nurseries around here resemble daisies.   The plants will be in full sun.  They need to be hardy.  Nothing gets babied here.

Any suggestions are appreciated.  Thanks.

Flower Power

Summertime is on its way in the garden. Here’s how things are progressing:
The hydrangea is beginning to change color. Remember the pest problem I had earlier? The ladybugs must have taken care of the offenders.

Marigolds from seed fill the blocks that make up the raised bed for the tomatoes and peppers. This is a sure sign that summer is almost here.

A couple of “almost dead” lavenders were transplanted into the blocks. They were cut back and now they are all blooming.

The bare root wisteria didn’t look like it was going to grow very well earlier this spring. An older wisteria was transplanted on another post of the pergola. Surely the older plant would reach the top long before Junior. Now Junior is up to the top of the pergola. It beat the old wisteria in the race. Show off!