Fertilizer Friday - Flaunt Those Flowers!

Begonias sitting on a stepping stone that my Grandson made for me. More Begonias in my old tool box planter. The Lobelia must be on steroids - it's almost got the Begonias covered up.
Wave Petunias
Wave Petunias
Would you believe my Bleeding Hearts are still blooming? They never do that. Are yours?
Ice Plant going wild now in an old breadbox
The Callas are starting to open
They are so pretty with a matching Hosta
Cardinal Song Columbine is blooming again but looks smaller and different than before.
This is the Columbine I was checking every day waiting to open when the deer wiped it out. It finally bloomed again but no pink bloom with it this time. It's also a lot smaller.
Another Columbine is re blooming. Strange because this one is in the hottest place of all my Columbines. I thought they liked more shade.
Jackmanii starting to bloom up a tree.
Garden Phlox
Asiatic Lily
Phyglius Cape Fuschia Funfare Wine

Take Cuttings 3rd Week In July For Best Results

I read an article by local garden expert Marianne Binetti 3 years ago about taking cuttings from your shrubs and perennials during the third week in July and I've been doing that ever since. In fact I've been prepping to get ready for that week to make things go a little faster for me. Cleaning out the greenhouse and making room for about 50 or so starts. Getting soil in the pots so I don't have to take my precious cutting and planting time to do that. Just little things to speed up the process.

She says the third week of July is a great time to save some money and make new plants from your favorite shrubs and perennials. Dirt cheap gardeners know most plants can be started from stem, root or leaf cuttings, and the secret to making new plants is to just keep cutting, poking the stems into soil and seeing if they "take" or form roots.

She said her lazy gardening method is to poke the pruning crumbs of freshly trimmed lavender, sage, ueonymous and other perennials with stiff stems directly into the moist soil near the mother plant. She pokes a half dozen stems into the ground and maybe one will survive if she remembers to water. You've got nothing to lose and new plants to gain.

Stem cuttings of shrubs are also easy to make and July is the month to take softwood cuttings of abelia, azaleas, camellia, choisya (Mexican Orange) heather, hydrangea, dogwoods, kerria, mock orange, potentilla, weigela, wisteria and any other shrubby plant that you would like to share or disperse around the garden.

Here are the three easy steps to free plants:
1. Choose a shoot of branch that is soft or pliable. It should be flexible enough to bend and not snap which is why these summer cuttings are called "softwood." Look for branches no thicker than a pencil. Snip off the soft and floppy tip growth from your cutting, leaving a stem about six inches long.
2. Next, strip off the lowest leaves and poke the stem into a pot of rooting medium. Easy-to-root shrubs like hydrangea, willow and forsythia will root if you poke them into the moist potting soil that holds your flowering annuals or perennials. As long as the soil is moist, drains freely and is not being blasted by the hot afternoon sun, the cuttings have a chance to form roots. If you're willing to put in a little more effort, fill a pot with equal parts peat moss, sand and Perlite. The peat moss keeps the mix moist while the Perlite and sand allow for free drainage so air can get to the developing new roots. Insert several cuttings into one pot so the lower half is underground and the top half of the cutting, with at least one pair of leaves, is above the soil level. Remove any leaves that will be covered with the soil, and pinch out any flower buds.
Tip: Most cuttings rot and fail due to fungal infections. Use a clean knife when you take the cuttings and make sure your pots are clean as well. Fresh potting soil or a sterile peat moss and Perlite mix helps banish the fungus.
3. Now you need to keep the rootless cuttings from wilting. Store the pot in a shaded place and keep the soil moist. Mist the foliage if it starts to wilt but do this in the morning so you don't have damp leaves overnight. Some gardeners cover the newly stuck cuttings with a plastic bag (poke a few air holes in the plastic for better air circulation). Shrub cuttings taken this summer should have roots and be ready for transplanting into the garden by next spring.
Dirt Cheap Tip: Professionals use a rooting hormone to increase the odds of their rooting success. Dirt cheap gardeners can use the natural power of willow water. Just cut up sections of willow stems (any type of willow from weeping willow to pussy willow) and soak in a small amount of water. Insert your just-cut stems into this water for 24 hours. Then pot them up and water with the remaining willow water. All willows contain salicylic acid, which is a natural rooting hormone - for free.

Some of the plants I've started are:

Lacecap Hydrangea
Lilac Trees
Weigela
Soapwort
Guara
Mallow
Butterfly Bush
Azalea
Red Valerian

How Exciting - A Ladybug In My Garden

A couple of days ago I finally got out again to walk around and see if anything else was sprouting or could I possibly hope for a bloom? Not likely around here as we're usually a couple of weeks later than everyone else because of being higher. But I do have a friend whose flowers are even later than mine - that'll teach her to live 5 miles straight up. But it's worth it - you should see the view she has!

Ok back to my stroll. Right out the door I checked a few containers on the deck and found some Sedum Tri Color,

and some life showing on the rose my husband put in a container as the deer were chewing on the main plant. We don't often get to see roses bloom so we moved them closer to the house and we got to see a few but now the deer are checking there too.

Then I saw some little Johnny Jump Ups with the yellow tops. I had already shown one with the purple top on an earlier post that had bloomed all winter through the rain, snow and freezing weather.
In a bed next to the deck is some Spiderwort - I love this flower and I have it in 2 different colors. Now that it's good and established I plan on putting some everywhere to fill in and keep the flower buying $s down.
and some Columbine that is a really tall purple one I don’t know the name of as I think it was given to me.
Next, up to the greenhouse in a flowerbed I started on one side of it last year I found some Purple Coneflower,

and Siberian Irises. This is a mauve one I bought about 5 years ago and it has had the hardest time getting going. It was blooming the year I bought it and then quit until last year. Hopefully it will continue to grow now. I have lots of purple and lavender ones and I give them to everyone I have so many. But this little guy hasn't done well.
I went into the greenhouse and decided to take a picture of one of my Lacecap Hydrangeas that I started last summer. It looks great so I hope it makes it.
And there was a little pink viola blooming – I have one blooming outside too but it was hanging it’s head down so I grabbed this picture.
Back outside I have a little pot of hyacinths that were in a bed last summer but spread out everywhere and didn’t look so great so I stuck all of them in this pot last spring and will replant them at a later date. I took this inside to force a bit since I didn’t have anything for the experiment I posted about forcing bulbs and trees.
In fact look how much they’ve grown in about 3 days. And there's 3 little blue blooms you can see if ya look really close.
Then I looked over and was really happy to see some color up by the pumphouse where I have some Crocuses blooming.
3 days ago they looked like this when I took a picture and didn't get it posted.
Then I headed back over to where I had been by the greenhouse and was looking at a bunch of starts I have in 5 inch pots and there sitting pretty as you please on my Wormwood plant was a little ladybug. That had to be the thrill of the day to see her and get a picture.
Over at another bed I found some Phlox peeking out
then across the yard some Hardy Bachelor Buttons – is it Cornflower,
some Lupins
and Autumn Joy.
Around the corner where it’s a bit shadier I found Heuchera Plum Pudding, and as you can see we have lots of needles from all the fir trees around our place.
Bleeding Heart
and Brunnera Jack Frost.
I hope this wasn't too long, drawn out or boring for you but I didn't want any of my flowers to feel slighted for being left out. They are, after all, part of the family!

Blooms At Last

Imagine my surprise when backing out of the driveway I see some purple on the front bank. Yes, we have a bloom on the property - FINALLY! In fact I have two flowers blooming and a couple showing colored buds. First my Periwinkle or Vinca Minor is blooming.
Then I did a real double take when I saw my Brunnera Jack Frost. There were little tiny sprouts of blue showing that I almost missed.
And my Armeria has some pink buds just waiting to open up into pink balls on long stems.
Last is the flower I've had a love/hate relationship with for years. Actually that isn't true - I didn't love or hate it - I ignored it. I'm sure this Helleborus Niger Lenten Rose was pretty once or it wouldn't have come home with me. But later it seemed so blah and washed out and of course the stems and leaves just lay on the ground. Then a couple of years ago I heard about nothing but Helleborus and how beautiful they were. I just kept my thoughts to myself and bit my lip rather than asking if everyone was nuts. Since then I have started seeing some really pretty ones online at peoples posts. So the other day I went out and looked at it and ya know what? It's getting prettier with age. In fact this picture looks beautiful. Of course it's leaves are still all over the ground and it doesn't hold it's head up so we can see it but when I propped it up for a picture it was really pretty.

I suppose if I quit ignoring it and gave it a haircut and some food it might do better. So I guess it's a keeper after all it is blooming at a time when nothing else does.