Archive for the 'Flowers' Category
If you missed the giveaway on the Timber Press blog for Ruth Rogers Clausen’s new book, 50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants: The Prettiest Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Shrubs that Deer Don’t Eat
, you’ll be happy to know we are holding another one this week for the readers of Garden Therapy.
50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants makes keeping deer away as simple as choosing the appropriate plant. Instead of the typical barriers and fencing, expert plantswoman Ruth Rogers Clausen has chosen the 50 most beautiful (and least palatable) annuals, bulbs, ferns, grasses, herbs, perennials, and shrubs.
For your chance to win:
- Post this contest to Twitter or Facebook and then leave a comment here letting us know that you did.
- Receive a bonus entry for “liking” the Garden Therapy Facebook Page.
The winner will be chosen at random next Thursday, August 25, 2011. Good luck!
August 18 2011 | Flowers and Gardening | 17 Comments »
Me: I’m making you lavender sachets for your t-shirt drawer.
Husband: But what will my friends think when I show up somewhere smelling like flowers?
Me: That you’re married.
DIY: Easily make these lavender sachets by filling organza bags from craft or discount stores with dried lavender flowers. In addition to freshening up drawers, you can tuck one in your pillow at night and give it a squeeze to release the relaxing fragrance. Ahhhhhh.
August 16 2011 | Flowers and Harvest and Projects | 5 Comments »
I bought a Kew Red lavender plant at the farmer’s market this past spring at which time I met a Lavender Guru. He told me the secret to beautiful lavender on the West Coast is to harvest the flowers and cut back the shrub by half all before August 15th.
I have eight different lavender plants scattered around the garden, all in bloom now and covered in bees. It’s hard to harvest these gorgeous plants and take the blooms way from the bees, but my plants are leggy, patchy and woody the rest of the year so I’m committed to cutting them back for the greater good.
I started with one plant today, and stumbled upon a problem, what to do with all that lavender? First I will have to dry it, and that leads me to a space issue, which I’m proud to have resolved by decorating the Virginia Creeper that trails along my side fence.
Next up? I’ll harvest the rest and use it to make a dried lavender wreath for the house. Stay tuned for that project.
August 07 2011 | Flowers and Gardening and Growing Food and Harvest and Projects | 6 Comments »
I missed bloom day this November and last month I didn’t post at all. What a shame.
When we got a spot of sun yesterday, I headed out to the garden to do some veggie garden prep. The temperature was so warm and the day so lovely, that I quickly lost track of time puttering around. When I ventured out to my front flower garden I was delighted to find some hardworking plants bearing flowers in the cold, rainy November weather. Good for them. Yet no one has been out to appreciate their hard work. A shame.
I like listing off what’s blooming in the garden each month so I have a record (a blog is a journal after all) and it does get me out there appreciating the flowers that I have been neglecting. I have recently been treating it as a chore. Then to look back on my previous posts-stunning colour and shapes that change month to month so dramatically-I’m glad that I at least I have a year to review. Less of a shame.
I’m back on track now, loving both the blooms and bloom day. Setting aside the canning jars and root vegetables and homemade soap and all the projects for a moment to appreciate the beauty that lives on. Better late than never, right?
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Sedum Autumn Joy
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Rudbeckia ‘Cherry Brandy’
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Red Cabbage
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Hydrangea ‘Blue Ball’
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Heuchera ‘Blackberry’
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Hawthorn Berries
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Echinacea ‘Twilight’
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Beauty Berry
November 18 2010 | Flowers and Gardening | 4 Comments »
While most of the crocosmia I have planted in my garden is nearly finished blooming, the smaller Emily Mckenzie crocosmia is in full bloom. I’m happy that she has a prominent spot in the front garden, and that she occasionally turns a bloom upwards letting is all see her decorative colours.
The rest of the crocosmia is ready to be divided. It’s easy this time of year, just grab a clump and pull to thin them out, or dig up the whole bunch and put back a quarter of them. I like to leave some adorning the garden as the seed knobs take on interesting shapes. In a few weeks the bulbs will turn orange and it’ll be like a second blooming.
August 27 2010 | Flowers | 6 Comments »
Here are the lovlies blooming in my garden this month. Hover over the thumbnail to see the name or click on the thumbnail for a larger picture. Anyone able to help me name the hydrangeas? Extra points for identifying the bright red bloom.
August 15 2010 | Flowers and Gardening and Photography | 13 Comments »
At the rental house before I bought my current home there was an alien-like passion flower vine that serpentined around the iron fence up front steps. It was obviously old and established because it set of a profusion of flowers each year and produced many egg-shaped little orange fruits. I never tasted one for fear of the unknown but I did enjoy my one season with the vine tremendously (I’ve since learned that the fruits are edible indeed).
When I moved into my new house the following year, I went straight out and bought a passion flower along with an Italian Prune Plum tree which I also adored during my time at the rental. To my dismay, it died that winter. I bought another the following year and it died over winter too. I certainly wasn’t about to try a third time (at $18 a pop) so I grieved and moved on. Until one day a interesting plant collector traded me a Hardy Blue Passion Flower that was already more than 10 feet long! I planted and trellised it last year and just as the plant collector assured me, it WAS hardy enough to survive!
I now have an amazing twining vine above the apple espalier arbour and ducking under the variegated butterfly bush. I’m so happy to once again enjoy the most unique and stunning blooms. All hail the Hardy Blue Passion Flower – I hope to someday try your fruit.
August 06 2010 | Flowers and Photography | 14 Comments »
Right now my garden is alight with the fiery glow of crocosmia–the smaller orange ‘Emberglow’ and the taller red ‘Lucifer’. I’ve planted the of the corms in clumps around the back patio, bordering the back of the front potager, and interspersed wherever I find a space that needs some cheering up.
Crocosmia also puts on quite a show when it’s in bloom, attracting a constant stream of bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies to entertain you. It is such a prolific perennial that some gardeners shy away from it. I just enjoy the many blooms and when they are through, I’ll give a clump to a neighbour or friend. And if you want to thin them out a bit, well, they make great cut flowers as well.
For more detailed information on crocosmia click here.
July 30 2010 | Flowers | 10 Comments »
Here is what’s blooming in my garden this July. Hover over a photo to see the name or click the thumbnail for a larger pic. Enjoy!
July 15 2010 | Flowers and Gardening and Photography | 12 Comments »
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