plants – MINDING MY P'S WITH Q

I am a believer in pinching the tips of my coleus to facilitate a bushier plant. Yet, about mid-August I stop my constant nipping of the leaves. Why, you may ask. The reason is at this point I let my plants begin to bloom. Although coleus blooms are not very attractive, I covet the new crop of seeds they will leave behind. I’ve named the coleus above Raspberry Swizzle. I’ve grown it for years, first from a seed collected from my plants, and afterwards from cuttings I take every winter from the plants I’ve saved. Allowing my coleus cross-pollinate for years has resulted in some interesting plants. Tomorrow I’ll post a selection of my favorites of this year.

On a gorgeous sunny morning last week I noticed there was a nest in my vitex tree. Can you see the lady cardinal incubating her eggs? What is it about a nest that fills our hearts with joy? Perhaps it is the promise of new life waiting to burst out into the world. For me, it is also a reminder of how very much the Lord God loves us all.

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” Matthew 6:25-34

I’ve included a link to information on Cardinal egg incubation. I think I can expect to hear the peeping of babies next week. Cardinal Incubation Period and Hatching