Photos of Storm Damage

The storm blew across the salvia bed. It not only knocked down much of the Coral Nymph Salvia, it also uprooted some of the plants. The shorter plants did well since the denseness seemed to provide the necessary support needed to keep them secure.

At the side of the house, the neat and winding path is now completely gone. Zinnias, cosmos and milkweed obliterate the path completely in areas. I have to walk in the beds to get through!

Cosmos plants are very fragile. Under normal conditions they need to be stabilized. Since the blooms reach for the sun, they continue to bloom from the path twisting their stems accordingly.

The milkweed plants, grown for the propagation of monarch caterpillars, has been knocked down. I am still able to harvest caterpillars for teachers and friends who want to expose children to the life cycle experience.

Amid the losses, my rosemary plant is blooming! The hummingbirds really enjoy these delicate blooms. In true hummingbird fashion, they are fighting over who gets to enjoy the nectar of these flowers.

Hurricane Irene's Aftermath

I am having trouble uploading my photos right now but I wanted to let you know my flowerbeds took a serious hit by the hurricane. Many of the flowers were layed right over on their sides and to put them upright would have done more damage than just leaving them where they are. Since flowers reach for the sun, they are blooming away even though they are on their sides!

Hopefully I will be able to post photos soon.

Getting Ready for the Storm

We live in Middletown, Pennsylvania which is approximately 140 miles from Washington, DC and 155 miles from Central Park in Manhattan. We are to get heavy rain and strong winds as Hurricane Irene advances up the eastern coast of the United States. I went out to the flower beds today to assess what needed to be done before the storm hits.

It has been a very interesting week for us. On Tuesday we had an earthquake and now we must deal with the storm.

Normally on Saturday I go along the garden path and cut huge bouquets of flowers and do a fair bit of dead heading. I decided to do none of that today. I wanted as much weight as possible on the plants and keep them as dense as possible.

Of course I took a lot of photos since I'm not sure what the beds will look like after the storm has passed. I hope you enjoy another look and some of my comments.

This photo is of a zinnia at it mature prime. The center is fully exposed with the smaller ring of flowers inside. The outer petals are almost perfect. What a beautiful creation of God!

This is what I aim for every year when I plant zinnias - a sea of zinnias. It takes awhile to achieve this sight but it is sure worth it to me and the neighbors who walk by our yard.

This yellow zinnia is just about to open enough for the center to be seen. I sometimes pick a bouquet when the flowers are at this stage of development because they last a lot longer than when they are at their prime. In the next few pictures, you will see others at various stages of maturity.

The cosmos are spectacular right now. They are varigated in color which is NOT what I expected but I am still pleased with them. I have bouquets of them in almost every room of our home. Some of the blossoms have split petals. Very interesting!

The last thing I did was pick all of the nasturtiums that were in bloom. Some I placed in a ziplock bag for adding to salads this coming weeks and saved about a dozen blossoms to stuff as appetizers for tonight's dinner. I stuff them with softened cream cheese mixed with minced dates. They are so good and always a surprise for friends who have never had them. I pipe the filling into the throat of the flower with a piping bag made from a ziplock bag with a small hole cut in a bottom corner.

August Spendor

The gardens are in full bloom now. Everything has filled in now so the weeds can't find enough sunlight to grow. I love that! Of course using Preen also helped.

August Beauty Along the Path

After weeks of drought, we have finally had some rain and it is a welcomed relief. With the rain, the color burst forth in both vegetable and flower beds. Our Rainbow Swiss Chard continues to provide us with delicious and colorful side dishes. The heavy stems have been diced, blanched and frozen for fall and winter soups.

If you look down the side garden path you will see that my little marigolds and zinnias have grown into mature plants. If you are wondering where all of the zinnia blooms are, I cut them all off today. Yesterday I cut huge bouquets and today I cut the rest of the blossoms. Within a few days, we will have gorgeous flowers blooming. I will post pictures when they all pop.

The front flower bed is all mature also. The coral nymph and lady in red host lots of hummingbirds all day long. The orange profussion zinnias filled in right up to the marigolds.

Here is a close-up of the salvias. They continued blooming right through the drought which was good for the hummingbirds!

The nasturtiums took a real beating in the drought but I've had enough blossoms to add to summer salads and to fill with a delicious cream cheese and dates mixture. Oh so good!

Another Path

In addition to growing a lot of flowers, my husband and I also grow herbs and vegetables! One of the beds runs parallel to our driveway which is right outside our kitchen door. I enjoy the placement of the vegetable and herb beds because it is so handy to have them nearby when I am preparing summer meals.


Above is a picture of new green bean plants, parsley & chives to the left of the beans and Swiss chard on the far left.

Rather than plant in rows, we plant in squares 18 x 18 inches. On the left are beet plants. There are a couple of spring onions still in the very front of the bed. The Swiss chard we like to grow is called Rainbow Chard. The stems are truly rainbow color and the color is retained even after cooking!

Tomatoes and peppers grow in another veggie bed. They thrive in the late morning to sunset sunshine. There is nothing better than enjoying a fresh-picked tomato right off of the vine.

Father's Day in the Garden

A lot has been happening in the garden. Some seedlings have germinated and are doing well, others failed, my pansies have been dug up and replaced with my seedlings. Edging needs to be redone in places, and buds emerge on the seeds that did germinate.

Let's take a look around together.

This photo shows some nicely mature plants grown from seed. The popcicle sticks indicate where I have replanted zinnia seeds.

I have surrounded the miniature hydrangea with the large pompom marigolds. They were just watered in when this photo was taken.

The last time you saw this bed, it contained Coral Nymph Salvia in the back and pansies in front of those plants.

The pansies are gone now and there are 6 Lady in Red Salvias in front of the Coral Nymphs. In front of them are Orange Profusion Zinnias and then my marigolds.

The red miniature hydrangea is blooming and the blossoms are not red but a lovely shade of pink.
The more I cut the blossoms, the more it blooms. It is really a stunning plant.

My sweet peas are blooming

and very fragrant. I have small bouquets of them all through the house. They remind me so much of my mother!

I love the colors. The blossoms almost look as though they have stripes of magenta painted on them.

Poor Germination

I have been outside weeding today and feel discouraged by the poor germination response with my zinnia seeds and marigolds. This may be, in part, due to the high amount of rain we had after I planted the seeds. They may have rotted in the ground. Clearly some of them washed to other locations.

I am going to re-till part of the bed and plant again. Hopefully I will have a better response this time. Ah the joys of gardening.

Container Flowers Brighten My Day

My seedlings are coming up nicely but it will be awhile until they bloom. Dave knows this is a frustrating time for me, so he has planted some lovely containers for me. These are in the back of our house where I like to spend my early mornings and evenings.

June 1 - Weeds or Plants

This is a really frustrating time of the growing season for me. Seedlings are coming up but so are the weeds. I am a compulsive weeder which explains my frustration. I've taken some photos to show you what I mean even though it is embarrassing to post them.

In the picture below you will see weeds above a well-sprouted zinnia. Below that, to the left is a marigold. On the bottom right is a new zinnia seedling coming up beside a popsicle stick. Between the marigold and new zinnia sprout is a marigold but I think you will have as much difficulty as I had seeing it. I almost pulled it out.

The pansies are really getting leggy now. That is why I planted seeds that will last all summer in between them. To the left of the pansy plant is a new nasturtium plant

I have now planted coral nymph salvia behind the pansies. They look scrawny now but they will spread out to approximately 24 inches between them.

More Rain!

Gardening is curtailed due to ongoing rain. :-( It is to be clear tomorrow so you know where I will be. Yep, outside weeding. Not only does the rain help the plants, it also stimulates a LOT of weeds to grow too.

May 16 - Major planting takes place

May 16 seemed to be a good day to roll up my sleeves, put on my gardening boots and get my hands dirty by planting a LOT of seeds. It is amazing how many plants I can get out of a packet of seeds that usually sell for less than a dollar a pack! For the most part, I plant Burpee seeds. I do this because they are readily available at Walmart, the grocery store, etc.

Each year I tell myself I am going to start seeds inside in late February but I never do - except for my salvia seeds! The rest of the flower seeds I plant are quick to germinate after the chance of frost has passed us by so I just sew directly in the ground and skip the inside planting. Maybe I'm just lazy...why two steps when you can get it all done with one!

Remember my little, scrawny pansy plants I put in the ground March 21? Well they have all filled out! This is one of my favorites with its velvety purple petals amid the white ones.

Here are the rest of the pansies in the front bed. They are so lovely and they smell wonderful. When the windows are open, their delicate smell comes into the living room. Already some of them are starting to show signs of getting leggy.

I planted "Boy oh Boy" marigold seeds in between the front pansy plants and then two rows of bush nasturtiums "Nasturtium, Color Mix" by Burpee in the back two rows. Behind them in the clear area will go six "Coral Nymph" salvias. I grow these for the hummingbirds!

My hummingbird feeder is out and being visited throughout the day by both male and female hummingbirds. One female is displaying a nest ring on her chest so she has a nest somewhere with eggs.

By the time I pull out the pansy plants, the marigolds and nasturtiums should be growing real well. Once they are well established I will put Preen on the ground to help prevent weeds.

On this side of the garden path I have planted sunflower seeds near the back - against the house. These seeds were given to me by my daughter Ashley so I don't know what exactly will come up. In from of the sunflowers, I planted "Sensation Picotee"cosmos seeds. I still haven't decided what to plant in front of the cosmos - perhaps more zinnias. :-)

Around our air conditioner you will see popsicle sticks. They are marking where I planted a new zinnia for me - "Envy" by Burpee. They are a lovely lime green color. This color is also inter-planted with the "Giant Flowered Mix" which is also by Burpee.

The edging has been done on the opposite side of the garden path and approximately 100 "Giant Flowered Mix" zinnia seeds have been planted. These zinnias grow about 30-36 inches tall and are resistant to mold on the leaves. Near the front of the bed I have planted "Boy oh Boy" marigolds by Burpee as a border. Ashley gave me an unknown type of marigolds that are pure orange, I have inter-sown those with the others.

Zinnia Planting Tip! Years ago a friend told me if I wanted stellar zinnias to sprinkle Epsom salts around the soil at the time I plant them. She suggested also side dressing the plants with more Epsom salts when the buds first start to appear. It does seem to create stronger and more mold resistant issues than if the Epsom salts are not used. If you want to grow zinnias, give it a try.

For my birthday, my dear friend Lu Ann Selcher gave me a gift certificate to Stauffer's Nursery. I have wanted a miniature hydrangea bush for a long time. I found a Forever and Ever Red one there that I really liked at Stauffers. It blooms bright red and then fades to lavender before it pales to green. It already has a bloom starting. :-)