Friday, April 27, 2012

Name That Flower

There are loads of blossoms in the garden...especially since we had a brush with triple digit temperatures last weekend.  Mind you, there was snow on the passes just one week earlier.  This week, has been pleasant with some nice rain.  The flowers have responded... 
Sweet Peas - The wall of vines just keeps on giving.
 Sweet Peas have been attracting bumble bees and that's okay.  Bouquets are clipped regularly.  That must stimulate the vines to continue to produce blossoms.  As the season comes to an end, the stems are shorter. There are some seed pods forming so this won't last much longer.  I keep the seeds for the fall planting.
Nasturtiums
Volunteer Nasturtiums are thriving.  They have been all winter long.  I thought they were summer plants but it seems these are fairly sturdy.  Did you know that nasturtiums are related to cabbage and that the flowers and leaves are edible if no pesticides are used?  I didn't know that. Have you tasted Nasturtiums?
Iceberg Rose
One bare root rose was planted this winter to accent the boysenberries.  It was moved a few times before I settled on  the current location.  As the temperatures have warmed this week, the buds have opened and have a light scent.  As marigold blossoms fade, I scatter those seeds under the rose and berries to help deter aphids and nematodes.  If this grows well this summer, a companion Iceberg Rose will be planted at the opposite end of the boysenberry row.  I'm also looking for a purple tree rose that grows well in zone 8-9.  Any suggestions?
Aloe Vera
 The potted garden Aloe Vera is quite large and needed to be repotted.  I thought that it was getting sunburned and pot bound so it was repotted in a shadier location and seems to be thriving with less sun and water.  The reason for the sunburned looking plant may have been due to over watering.  It was drenched when we repotted this beast.  The gel of this succulent is great to have handy in the garden to soothe scrapes, bites, and burns.  Has anyone ever seperated the pups of Aloe Vera?
Name this flower
Can you name this flower?  If you garden in the Central San Joaquin Valley, your garden may currently have quite a bit of this flower.  Mine did but they're now in the green waste.

4 comments:

dorothy said...

I am trying to think of a purple rose, and all I can come up with is Burgundy Iceberg which is sort of purple. And the mystery "flower" is a mystery to me!

HelenB said...

I think your mystery "flower" (you've only showed us buds) is most likely lettuce.

And Sow My Garden Grows said...

Beautiful! Hope you're staying cool!

MAYBELLINE said...

Helen B, you are correct. The mystery flower if that of a bolted Romaine lettuce that found it's way to the compost heap.