Tag: asters

Plants – Flower Garden Update/August 2012

On By TimelessladyIn Plants1 Comment


My late-summer flower garden is thriving. The Rudbeckia is full of blossoms. I don’t deadhead these flowers. They do not produce more blooms if I do so, and then I would deprive the finches of their treat. These flowers produce hundreds of seeds and are a favorite of the goldfinches. I often see the small birds hanging upside down on the seed heads, feasting on the bounty.

The Coral Nymph Salvia is a beautiful plant. It almost becomes shrub-like as the season progresses. I do deadhead the spent flower stalks of this plant, and it keeps producing until cold weather. It is a favorite of hummingbirds.

This Salvia self-seeded last summer, grew in a crack between the sidewalk and front porch steps, and is thriving. I will save seeds from this plant this fall. It has a resilience and determination I admire.

The Popsock Cosmos I grew this year is a bit taller than I had thought it would be, but is still a welcome addition to the front garden.

These cheerful petunias I bought on a whim this spring have been fantastic. I love the bright color and the abundance of blooms they have given me.

The coleus plants in the front garden are outstanding. I will soon let them begin to flower for next year’s seed harvest.

The asters I grew by winter-sowing are beautiful. They come in a variety of purple, lavender and pink shades. I am really pleased with this plant.

The Bonariensis Verbena is often perennial. This patch grew tall and broad this year and is constantly attracting butterflies. Last year it also self-seeded, and I have several new patches of this great plant.

Dahlias grown from seed and sun-loving impatiens (a Mother’s Day gift) are all doing well.

Here is one of my mistakes, although I love the lilypad-like foliage. I planted nasturtium in fertilized soil, and the foliage is abundant, but the flowers non-existent. They prefer to grow in poor soil.

Both varieties of Fuschia are doing well, as are both varieties of the Dragon-wing Begonias.

 

Last but not least is my Lady In Red Salvia, a great hummingbird flower. I love the little hover-fly sipping nectar that I captured in the photograph below.

Pressed Flowers – The Unpressables

On By TimelessladyIn Pressed FlowersLeave a comment

Wildflowers are abundant, even invasive sometimes. To see all this plenty makes my fingers always itch to press, but I have had little luck with many of them. Tops on that list of unpressables are chicory and white aster daisies. Chicory has a very thick calyx, and by the time you get it home, the petals are limp and shriveled. The asters have super thin, thread-like petals with a large, hard center. I managed to press a few recently, and had a bit of luck. I crushed the calyx of the chicory before I placed it in the pressing book. I did the same with the center of the aster daisies. In the top corner are a few petals of lantana, a whole other story I won’t get into today. I gave these wildflowers about 15 to 30 seconds of heat. The amount of time depends on how hot your microwave gets. I wanted the book to be gently warmed, not hot.

The bottom line on these two wildflowers is you must press three to five times the amount of flowers you want to use. As you can see from the chicory on the left, only one out of three worked out at all. The blue was retained, but there is also a little browning I will need to try to pull or cut away. Still, true-blue flowers are not abundant in the garden, and the daisies are unique and delicate. I will keep trying and press more than I think I need.