cornflower | In the Garden With Jera

Busy week in week 17 as we hosted a garden party. The garden was at spring peak and we rented a tent and self-catered the food. We had a lovely time showcasing the flowers and spending quality outdoor time with friends and family.

Week 18 was the week goal week for getting my sunflowers and zinnias in. I did have to remove some poppies and cornflowers to make room for summer seedlings. I’m hoping the chipmunk and slugs allow me to keeps some! I planted sunspot, sunfill purple, cherry rose, teddy bear and sun rich summer Provence sunflower seedlings started in April. In addition, I put in parks lavender, benary giant mix, and Oklahoma salmon in my back zinnia border. I put parks siesta mix in my lettuce bed after harvesting bolting lettuce. Parks mix, and Art Deco mix ended up in my raised beds. Jim baggets mix and ice queen white were put out front. In addition to planting zinnia seedlings, I started several varieties of dwarf zinnia to fill pots that currently rely on pansies and cool weather flowers that will soon be dried up and will need to be replaced. I have started Aztec sunset, profusion cherry bicolor, Zahara raspberry ripple, and precious rose dwarf zinnias. I also started viscaria oculata, salvia summer jewel pink, Genovese basil and General Lee cucumbers.

My fantastic friend at Doc Green Grows traded me some eucalyptus, ptilotus Matilda, cockscomb celosia seedlings and a cafe au lait dahlia for chocolate mint and pineapple coleus, Avignon dahlia and Persian shield. These were planted in large containers as I do not have room for full eucalyptus trees. Weekend 18 was busy with planting and I still have 4 o clocks to plant which are small seedlings. I received these in a trade with another lady who traded for a rooted Maypop. I received a cutting of Jerusalem sage and some rooted oregano from a neighbor in exchange for a dahlia and an iris. I gave another neighbor a white iris for a split in the fall of her pink ones. If you know people with plants, ask to trade!

I also started rooting cuttings of 6 different Calibrachoa. I have no luck later in the season when they are woodier. I used fiber rooting blocks. Efficacy TBD on these!

Nights are getting warmer! This week was a slow week outside. We are still waiting for the folks to remove our chaste tree and rose debris from the prunings so there are still large piles of limbs laying about.

The week was spent mostly tending to indoor seedlings and there will be a unique post about the weekend 4-6 week seed starts.

The remaining stars for the metal scroll sculpture arrived and were painted cornflower blue and hung. I’m quite happy with the finished result of this up-cycled table!!

One thing I have been working on is making the property more welcoming to birds. This weekend I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. My goal is to add bird houses each year for a few years. This year’s house arrived and was put on the fence this week. The color fits right in with the blue accents scattered about the garden and matches the porch ceiling nicely.

In bulb land, the stop sign garden hyacinths are up and fantastic! Tulips and daffodils are still coming along.

The poppy and spring seedlings are coming along and promising me a spectacular show in a couple months. The expensive poppies in bed 2 still have done very little. I’m frustrated by this! At least that bed contains a large planting of madame butterfly snapdragons started last summer. They will put on quite a show very soon. Check back for the updates.