Why I Oughta...

I let the various Zinnias that are in the vertical garden (Greenstalk) go for a bit longer than I likely should have in terms of cutting and ended up with dozens of them all at the same time.  The mass of stems is as thick as a Big Gulp from 7-11, so I ended up using a large, wide-base ceramic vase to hold them all and keep it from tipping over.  Besides bringing in some hydrangeas, I'd say that this is the largest arrangement of the 2025 growing season. 

The bulk of my flower arrangements have been focused on the flowers + some additional foliage plants.  Zinnias + ferns + artemeisa.  Dahlias + artemesia + polka dot plants.  For the most part, I was dealing with shorter-length stems on the 'stars' (Zinnias and Dahlias) and that meant that I was stripping just a few leaves from the stems and filling out the arrangement with those other foliage elements. But, thanks to my FYP, I've been getting served "here's how to get longer stem" videos and the secret isn't...well...it isn't a secret.  It is just doing something that is hard:  Cutting deep.   Why is cutting deep hard?  Because you're sacrificing some flower blooms.  To get the longer stems, you often take out up-to-three flowers.  Typically that means one full-formed and open that has shot up through the middle of the stem.  Then, two smaller, further-behind ones on either side.   I've always hesitated to sacrifice those ...

The flats of Zinnias that I planted from seed have been hanging around on our patio for weeks.  Ready to pot-up into their final destination.   I grew three varieties this year - Envy, State Fair and Cut-and-Come-Again in eight-cell recycled containers that I scavenged from some annuals.  I was waiting for the Zinnias to put on multiple sets of 'real leaves' before transplanting them, but then I got busy and probably waited to long.  Here are some photos of the process - from cells to Greenstalk vertical garden.  This is a tiny example of "Flower Farming" in a small space with vertical gardening beds. Last year, I grew a number of Zinnias in this Greenstalk successfully .  This year, I'm leaning into it way more.  They started to bloom in late August last year - after being direct sown.   This post is going up in July, but this process happened at the end of June.  This is about two weeks ago.    I added in some new potti...

Last year, I direct-sowed zinnia seeds into the cut flower bed in our sideyard and into the vertical tower on our patio.  And...it...well...worked.  We grew Zinnias.  But, this year I wanted to get them started a little bit earlier (not as early as I should have, though...) and decided to start some seeds indoors.   I showed the three varieties of seeds we bought this year - earlier this winter/spring;  Envy , State Fair and Cut and Come Again.    I had some eight-cell packs on-hand from annuals that I put out front, so I filled those with a potting mix and tucked seeds into each cell.   Pretty quickly, most of them germinated.   I kept the seedlings in the screened porch and they started to grow up and get taller.   In an attempt to keep them from getting too-leggy, I moved them outdoors as often as I could - weather-permitting.  Below is a photo showing the two trays out on the patio - where they live all day...

Here's a top-down look at the top few tiers of our Greenstalk vertical garden showing off some of the Zinnias (Cut-and-Come Again and another variety that I grew from last season's seeds) popping off.  I direct sow'd both of these and they're doing fairly well as they *just* enter their blooming season.   Also, peeking through (on the left) is a Rosemary plant that is growing in between some of the cut flowers.   #2 on my 2024 to-do list was to 'push thru on flowers' - including cut flowers .  These Zinnias in the Greenstalk help check that box.  Of course, all the Dahlias lead the way on #2 as well.   See below for the current state of the top-tiers of our Greenstalk: Next year, one tweak I'll make is to think about starting some Zinnias indoors from seed instead of direct sowing them to get them starting blooming a bit earlier than mid/late August.  

#17 on my 2024 to-do list was to keep going with countertop arrangements .  Last year, I started to bring in some cut flowers and arrange them on our counter.  This year, I've grown more flowers (ahem...comfort zone and all that) and have been bringing them in for the past few weeks. The latest is a two-fer.  A container of dahlia blooms and a smaller one full of Zinnias and some Disneyland Roses.   You can see those two below:  Right now - late Summer/early Fall - is when I'm seeing the most blooms, so it is arrangement go-time.  

Cut flower season has arrived with the first Cut-and-Come-Again Zinnias.  These three followed the first Dahlia that I showed yesterday - a Melina Fleur Dahlia .  These were direct sown seeds and are being over-shadowed by what I'm pretty sure is Nicotiana Jasmine stalks.  I might have to thin those out to keep these happy - not to mention the Disneyland Roses that are tucked back in there. I did exactly what their name implies:  cut them.  Here's to...ummm...coming again. These took a little more than four weeks from seeds being sown to the first cut flowers. 

Day four of Zinnia-mania - but now we move from beyond IB2DWs to the new cut flower bed that I carved out on the side of our house.   For 2024 plantings with Zinnias, I first  posted the details of some common orange Zinnias that I planted as bedding plants .  A day earlier, I planted a larger, further-along  Uproar Rose Zinnia  from the nursery.   Then, yesterday I planted a Zowie Yellow Flame Zinnia in the conifer garden IB2DWs .  I pinched off all the blooms on these to try to get them to grow a bit more bushier.   But, I'm also going full-on Zinnia Chaos Gardener with the new bed on the southside of the house .  I bought a couple of packets of Cut-and-Come-Again Zinnias and decided to direct sow them in the bed.  Did I evenly space them?  No, just kind-of scattered them.  Here's the bed recently planted - you can see anything but loam/dirt/mulch/compost/biosolids of course: I also put some in the Greenstalk ...

I've said it before:  I'm a foliage gardener.  I'm most comfortable talking about, working on, planting foliage plants.  I'm also a shade gardener, so that's (kinda) why I'm a foliage gardener.  Last Fall, I began to address a significant garden deficit:  conifers .  Via CSCF. Conifers Should Come First .  Those conifers came in a flurry in the late Fall. But, so too, did something else:  flowers.  I planted some new (to me) perennial flowers: Midnight Masquerade Pentsemon , a Pow Wow Wildberry Echinacea and some May Night Salvias - all in the IB2DWs extended bed.  I also tucked in a pair of Stachys monieri Hummelos (Betony) on the other side of the driveway that has upright, purple flowers.   In my 2023 recap post , I included a mixed list of lessons learned/things to think about going forward and included on that list:  plant more flowers.   Get out of my comfort zone and think about adding flowers to a com...