Why I Oughta...

On Monday, I posted my latest cut flower arrangement featuring dahlias and zinnias and some perennials from around the garden .  Today, I'm showing another arrangement - featuring dahlias.  This time, though, it includes a couple of large Pablo Gallery Border Dahlias as the big statement pieces.  I used a few small Disneyland Roses, some snips of Limelight Hydrangea (before they opened up), a couple tall legs of Garden Ghost Artemeisa, and greenery and texture via Butterscotch Amsonia.   This is in a green Goodwill thrifted vase that has the look of Uranium Glass (but it isn't).  I tried to get that look of one side arching up with the other side arching down (via the Euphorbia).   The stand-outs are the Pablo Gallery dahlias - see below for a close-up.   Including the various peony-filled vases , this is the fifth (or so) arrangement that I've put together for the year.  

I wrote about purple flowers this week.  Like I said then, I'm drawn to dark-color blooms.  The darker, the better.   When I saw this Petunia - Crazytunia Cosmic Violet - I immediately said to myself:  'add to cart'.   Here, below, is the sign at The Growing Place.  It says "Blooms deep plum purple feathering into pale lavender edges.  Crazytunias are bread for tolerance to extreme weather including heat, rain and wind.   Here's how White Flower Farm describes them : Petunia Crazytunia® Cosmic Violet is a prolific bloomer but maintains a tidy habit and won’t overwhelm its neighbors. We like the saturated purple tones of the flowers, as do pollinators. Here are a couple of photos showing the plants: I have gone back-and-forth on our smaller patio containers.  Mixed plantings vs. monocultures.   For this Crazytunia, I'm going sort-of 'in-between'.  I planted it to the side of one of our smaller containers and left ...

#7 on my 2024 to-do list was to 'do better containers' this year .  That meant doing DIFFERENT containers than I've done in the past.  This goes back to that whole 'get out of your comfort zone' thing that I confronted with flowers in the beds last Fall.  I told myself to resist early Spring and resist the Big Box store.  But, also...lean-in to what I liked about last year.  That 'what I liked' in our containers last year started and stopped with Euphorbia.   Last year, I bought one Euphorbia plant and tucked it in with some Zinnias from Northwind Perennial Farm .  Loved it.  I also saw that the Morton Arboretum used Euphoriba in one of their beds in the Fragrance Garden.  Lovely .  (That's also where I spotted Cardoon, too.) We have two large rectangular containers - one on back patio, one in the shade on our front porch.  Then, we have a large round planter on the patio and a couple smaller companion planters that sit on the ...

I had to pick up one of the kids at the Morton Arboretum recently had had a little bit of time to get some steps in and decided to go see the Fragrance Garden up by the Thornhill Center on the West side of the Arboretum .  It is a spot where you can park pretty close and get to see some beds and containers on a quick little, easy walk.  A couple of years ago, I was in this same garden and posted some thoughts and photos here .  At that time, I was struck by the bedding plants and combinations they had in what felt like a very shady garden (which...is a lot like our own garden).    It was from that experience that I said (to myself) that I needed to think about using annuals beyond the container - as bedding plants - in the shade.  In fact....that was one of my 2023 to-do items and the push behind all of the annuals that I planted this year including some Lobelia, Begonias, Impatiens, Polka Dot Plants .  The beds at the Morton Arboretum have inspired me...