Why I Oughta...

A few days ago, I posted some photos showing the big peony arrangement that I successfully stored in the fridge for about a month and talked about how peony blooming season is so short.  In addition to cutting and storing some peonies for later this Summer, I also cut and put out on the counter a couple of vases full of peonies when they were blooming.   I've been working on the Disneyland Roses a bit more this early Summer, too.  Paying attention to them water-wise.  And, spraying them with both an insecticide and fungicide as often as I remember to do out there.  That's produced Floribunda rose stems that are *knock wood* holding more leaves and having less pests than last year.   One of my 2025 goals was to continue to have countertop arrangements with cut flowers .  Here's a round-up of a number of cut flowers we've had on our counter the past six weeks or so. We have white double 'Duchesse de Nemours' peonies in the back .  And some...

We have tree kinds of astilbes in our garden.  The original were Fanal with their red flowers .  I added a couple of bareroot Maggie Daley Astilbes a few years back .  And, most-recently, I've bought (in two different years) some dark-foliage Astilbes named Dark Side of the Moon .  I moved/transplanted them (6 total plants) to the 'nook garden' as part of an edit last year .   They sort-of just *were* last year.  With the transplant stress coupled with a little bit of neglect and some weed pressure, I wasn't sure what to expect this Spring.  Would they come back?  Were they going to put on size?   Turns out, all six came back.  Just like the Sun Kings .  And, for the first time a couple of them (not all six) have put up flower blooms.  Straight, rigid, dark purple stalks with tiny clusters of dots on top.  Below is a photo showing one of them: One of the big items on my 2025 to-do list was to finish up the edits ...

Pops of chartreuse have been showing up in our backyard shade garden in various ways over the years.  One of the most successful was born out of a whim:  this Lemony Lace Elderberry shrub that I planted in the Fall of 2022 as part of a [Fall Planting] sprint .   The Lemony Lace Elderberry provides late Winter/Early Spring interest with wild-looking purple buds and some deep-red foliage .   This week, it started to bloom.  Below are a couple photos showing how it has filled out this Spring: I have a pair of Eiffel Tower Elderberries on the other side of the backyard that are a little behind this one.  

I haven't planted tulip bulbs in years, but I still have clusters of them in a few spots around the garden.  I've learned over time that tulips need to be interplanted with other things - to sort-of camouflage the foliage as it sticks around and (eventually) dies back.  Once the blooms are gone, bulb foliage NEEDS to stick around to collect energy for the bulb, but it usually looks ratty.   Because of that, I've held off on bulbs for a few Falls, but this year I should put it back my list.  Why am I thinking that?  Because the Spring 'hello' this little cluster of tulips are giving right at the edge of our driveway.  These, below, are IB2DWs, down by the sidewalk.     With all the Springs where we've had tulips, I've never gone out and cut them for a countertop arrangement.  Until this year.  Here, below, is my first Spring-time arrangement featuring tulips and daffodils.    The daffodils are the 'inherited' ones in o...

The annual return of these red, sharp-pointed tips are a welcome sing of Spring.  These are (below) a couple of clumps of peonies that are emerging in the beds (kitchen curved) in our backyard.  They're emerging later than last year - here's same peonies about a month earlier in 2024 .   Note the Milorganite in the photo below.  I hand-spread a full 40-pound bag of Milroganite recently on all the beds ahead of the application of mulch.  I've had mixed results with peonies in our current garden.  First, starting them in the way back - too much shade.  And, subsequently moving them over the years.   They are Nat's favorite flower and her first love.  (She wrote a blog called 'i heart peonies'.) So, growing them is important.  But, finding the right home to make that happen has taken years.  These two peonies are younger than the one out front - IB2DWs.  That one produced the MOST flowers and really popped-off last year ...

I have planted zero Crocus bulbs.  Yet, I have a couple of Crocus flowers that have shot up this Spring.  See below for one of them.  I've begun to think about a 'bulb lawn' - vs....where I used to be:  a perfect lawn.  This naturalized Crocus might have pushed me over the edge in that direction.

This is the third in a series of [garden diary] posts showing off some mid-November 2024 blooms.  One of them (the Disneyland Rose) is expected .  It has bloomed this late each of the past few years.  The Dahlias are a nice surprise.  Since I haven't grown them (in the ground) before, this set of late-blooms on the dahlias is a learning lesson for me .   But....this third one....this is the strange one.   See below for one of our Vanilla Strawberry Panicle Hydrangea that sits in front of our front porch that is FULL of brown, past-their-prime blooms.  And...one, random, out-of-season, small pink bloom.   The shrub is a mix of contrasts:  seemingly over with blooming and showing those dead flower heads while dropping leaves.  Along with this one, shooting-tall limb that has a green top and this pink flower. What does this mean for these shrubs?  Healthy?  Just out of sync?  A weird seasonal anomaly?  Who...

Yesterday, I posted a photo of our Disneyland Roses showing off their last round of bloom s for the year and talked about how nice it is to have some of these colorful flowers this late in the season.  I suppose...it sort-of makes up for the fact that Spring seems to last FOREVER around here and the flowers don't begin to pop-off until August.  2024 has been the season of the dahlia in our garden and it seems that I 've called for 'a lid' on the dahlia season for weeks now .  The plants have been producing fewer blooms each week - starting in October and I assumed they were drawing to a close.   I wanted to extend the season as best I could, so in mid-October, when we were facing a hard frost on a couple of nights, I protected the dahlias with some frost covers .  It appeared to work - and they kept on blooming.   But, starting in November (when the weather turned cooler), I stopped watering the dahlias and began to think about my plan for trying ...

In terms of flowers, I'd like to say that this growing season has been a fantastic, rewarding one.  But...if I'm honest....I've seen a lot of new things with the dahlias.  But....This season has *really* been a mixed bag when I include our Disneyland Roses.   I had six Disneyland Roses at the end of 2023.  This year, I had just three - as the three bareroot ones that I planted in front didn't come back .  And the three that I DID have did NOT do well .  Between pests (sawfly larvae), fungus (rust) and drought, these things barely hung on in 2024.   The watering problem is something I attempted to fix later this season - as these kept dropping their leaves.  Starting in late August/Early September, when I was focused on the dahlias, I watered these three in every morning and they seemed to rebound just a little bit.  They still look sparse.   But....the good news - I'm seeing a couple of November blooms.  See below for...

You just brought home that awesome pot of Mums from Costco (or the pumpkin patch that you went to this past weekend) and put them up by the front door along with some of your pumpkins and gourds.   You're worried about killing them by forgetting to water them - that's very valid.  But, there's another problem you're about to face:  flopping, open-crowned mums.    Some call this 'falling over' and unless you have a number of your mums tucked-in tightly together in a cluster, your mums are going to 'fall over' or flop.   How do you avoid it?  By using a piece of string or twin or wire to tie them up and keep them held together at the top.  I wrote about this pro-tip back in 2017 - when I encouraged everyone to take a piece of string around the foliage and stems of their mums and tie them together .  I've been doing it ever since. This year, we went with a monochromatic nursery container of maroon or dark red mums.  I used a piec...

Our dahlias keep blooming, but this week, we'll see overnight temperatures down into the 40's.  I'm thinking that means that these things will SLOW WAY DOWN and the blooms will be coming to an end.  Here, below are a couple of photos showing some of the dahlias that I cut this morning - Melina Fleur, Cornell Bronze, Orange Nugget.  

My first year of *really* growing dahlias in my beds has been a learning experience.  From pests to watering to starting them indoors, I've learned a bunch this growing season that I can apply next year.  I'm also learning about their bloom-time.  I last posted a photo of the Melina Fleur dahlias in our front porch bed two weeks ago - mid-September - when the plants were full of blooms .  Fast forward to today, the first of October, and they're (surprisingly...) EVEN MORE FULL TODAY.  Below are a few photos showing some of the dahlias (Melina Fleur, Orange Nugget, and something that was billed as Cornell Bronze, but is a purple pompon one) in our front porch bed and sideyard.   Before we go to the photos, I have to say...it is pretty fun to have something like these to enjoy on October First.   First up is Melina Fleur in front of our porch: Around the southside of our house are more Melina Fleur Dahlias.  This plant is NOT staked: Furth...

 Earlier this Spring, I bought a package of three Orange Nugget Dahlia tubers at big box retail .  They were billed as being compact - less than 30" - and were...well...orange.  So, it was a no-brainer.  I started the tubers inside, but moved them out after the threat of frost had passed.  I planted them in the new 'cut flower' bed on the southside of the house .   From the beginning, these Orange Nuggets were behind my other dahlias - specifically the Melina Fleur and Cornell Bronze varieties.   But, over the past month or so, the plant grew up and out.  And...now - in Late September - is full of blooms and buds.  Below is a look at what these Orange Nugget Dahlia plants look like in the morning: I count seven-or-eight blooms in that photo and a dozen-or-more buds that will open soon.  They're not huge, but nice-sized flowers.  I'd describe them as 'delicate'.    The stems, however...are also 'delicate'.  O...

I planted a full packet of Nicotiana Jasmine seeds - direct sown - in a new bed on the southside of my house this Summer.  The seeds came from Nat's Mom; who grows Nicotiana in a couple of varieties each year.  The seeds are tiny specs and they don't need to be buried very deep.  So...I sprinkled them, put a little bit of soil on top and walked away.  What happened next was, well, surprising.  After planting the seeds, I quickly saw a huge number of seedlings pop up .  "Great!", I thought.   Weeks went on and the seedlings kept getting taller.  But...something was off.  The foliage was NOT matching the other Nicotiana that I had in the garden.   After looking at it for a couple of days, I realized I didn't have Nicotiana Jasmine.  I had a HUGE MESS OF POKEWEED .  I chopped, yanked and pulled every bit of it.  And discovered that I had - after all - a couple of Nicotiana Jasmine seedlings buried in the mess....

The dahlias keep producing blooms.  I can cut an arrangement almost EVERYDAY if I'd like to do that.  I've been giving them away - to neighbors, to my mom, to my sister, to Nat's sister.  2024 is certainly the year of cut flowers - here, here to hitting my 2024 to-do goal for #2 on my list .  Below are a number of blooms that I cut and put in to-go cups for my Mom.

2024 continues to be (for me) the Summer of the Dahlia.  Specifically....the Milena Fleur Decorative Dahlia.  Last Fall/Winter, I ordered six Milena Fleur Dahlia tubers - my first mail order dahlia tubers.  I also bought a couple Cornell Bronze Dahlia tubers at the same time , but based on what I was seeing/reading from Erin the Impatient Gardener on her Instagram, I bought MORE Milena Fleur dahlias than anything else.   There was A LOT to like about these:  they're 'compact' - meaning they stay short and don't require staking.  As a beginning Dahlia grower, that was important.  But, also...the color.   These are billed by White Flower Farm as "blossoms that blend tropical shades of coral pink, papaya, and gold." My journey started earlier this Spring when I potted up the six Melina Fleurs in one-gallon nursery pots - indoors .   At the very beginning of May this year.   After they sprouted, I started to bring them u...

2024 is the year of flowers.  Despite these still be VERY outside my foliage gardening 'comfort zone'.  This started last Fall and continued with my 2024 to-do list with #2 - push thru with flowers . I've done A LOT of dahlias - arranged for the kitchen counter .  And, even a small set of pompon, dark maroon ones .    Now, I have a small Zinnia arrangement.  Mostly composed of the direct-sown Cut and Come Again seeds in the sideyard .  And a couple Yellow Flame Zowie Zinnias from IB2DWs .   Below is what I cut on a recent morning: I will certainly plant these Cut and Come Again Zinnia seeds - in the sideyard.  I'll also put some down IB2DWs, too.  Mark it down for Spring 2025.  

Last week, I showed a couple of countertop arrangements featuring some Zinnias and Dahlias.  Well...we're in the THICK of dahlia bloom season.  Looking back at my 2024 to-do list , #2 on the list was to 'add more flowers' and get past my discomfort with blooms.  And #17 was to 'do more/different arrangements'.  While, these monoculture dahlia arrangements aren't *different*, they're certainly checking the box on MORE.  See below for two more vases 1 of Melina Fleur Decorative Dahlias and Cornell Bronze Dahlia blooms .   1. [I used the word vases, but these are pickle and pasta sauce jars.] ↩

Three weeks ago, I noted that the Anemone 'Lucky Charm' flower show was just getting started with the emergence of those purple, sphere-shaped buds that stand at the top of thin, upright stems .  Today, that show is happening in full-force.  If history is any guide, these will bloom all Fall.  But right now, they're showing-off with a light-purple petal show in the 'kitchen curved' bed in our backyard.   See below of the current state of this little colony of Fall color.  Something to think about is using these in other spots in the garden.  They get 'part sun', but are really the ONLY blooms left to pop-off in our foliage-heavy garden.  I could use these elsewhere to provide some late-season action.  NOTE to future Jake:  Divide these in Fall. 

Up front, in the IBDWs section, I planted a Cornell Bronze Dahlia tuber that I started indoors in a small nursery pot .  I put the sprouted tuber in the ground in mid-June and now, two-months-later it is showing its very first blooms.   This dahlia suffered some rabbit damage early, so I put a chicken wire cage around it in hopes that it would grow up/out and have a big bloom season.   That season of blooms is NOW upon us.  Below, you can see the first Cornell Bronze ball bloom tucked in below the top foliage.  There are more on the way. But, something *else* is happening on this very same Dahlia plant.  For SOME REASON, I'm seeing a purple bloom about to open up - at the very top of the stalk.  Yes...purple dahlia.  On the same plant that is blooming those orange ball flowers.  See below - for a most-certainly purple bloom about to open up: What the what?  Is this a mutation?  A pollinator-caused result?  I have no i...