Bunches Of New Flowers For Fertilizer Friday

It's Fertilizer Friday and everyone is flaunting their flowers so when ya get done here be sure to link over to Tootsies place at the bottom and see what she and everyone else is up to.
I'm going to do something different today
since I just showed close to 60 flowers that were blooming between last FF and
yesterday.
I do, however, have an Aster that is starting to show color. I always thought this was a bush until the other day when reading about them and decided to go look. Well I'll be . . . it's a whole bunch of little bunches that
I was suppose to be dividing every 3-4 years. Wonder how many years I've had it.
Bet I get around 20-30 clumps when I divide it. WoW! Am I gonna have Fall color
in my yard or what next year.


My Delphinium is blooming - for the 2nd time. Me, who's been trying to grow
Delphiniums for 20 years now and only succeeding in killing them faster than the
year before. Now I have one that came back this year (from seed last year) and 2
I bought that haven't died yet. And now one of them is doing this. I think maybe
I've died and gone to (Delphinium) heaven.
I said I was going to do something a little different today. Well I am . . . I'm
going to show flowers I bought yesterday and a couple of days ago. I was in town
and for some reason stopped by Ace Hardware and they had lots of perennials and
the price was right. I only wanted some Asters after discovering I need to
divide mine up and am going to have lots of that one color. But when I started
looking they had soooooo many flowers - so I bought 4. But the more I thought
about it after getting home the more I thought I probably should go back and get
more. I did a few days later and today going to show you what I hauled home.
I'll never get to quit working in the dirt this year if I don't stop this!
This Dahlia only says Dahlia Hybrid so guess it has no name. I hate
when they do that. O'well at least I get to see a Dahlia bloom in my yard this
year. Oh it's sooooooooooooo pretty.

Platycodon Astra Blue Balloon Flower. I know I already have one but it's small and will go
great on the front bank.

Platycodon Astra White Balloon Flower, also for the front bank.

Phlox Scarlet Flame, another bank flower.

Guara Passionate Blush. I had a Guara and just loved it but one year it just didn't
come back. Sure hope this one sticks around.

And this one too. Guara Snow Fountain.

Penstemon Margarita BOP

Nepta Blue Moon Catmint. This one is bushy, it should show up a lot better than my
Walker's Low does. I can't wait to see it next year.

I FINALLY have a daisy! Finally found one that knocked my socks off. Leucanthemum
Superbum Schneehurken Shasta Daisy. I hope that's the right name. My tag fell
through the cracks on the deck (don't ya hate when that happens?) and I looked
this up. I was even at the site where they buy their flowers.

Silene Clifford Moor. I bought another Silene earlier this year and the bloom time is
long so I had to try another one. And this one has pretty varigated leaves which
will be great for a different foliage color in the garden.

Perovskia Atriplicifolia Russian Sage.

Isotoma Blue Star Creeper, another for the front bank.

Pratia County Park. I can't believe this one and the one above are not the same
family.

Ceratostigma Plumbaginoides

Aster Hazy

Aster Dragon

Aster Marie III showing a little color.

Bob's Passion Flower, I don't know if it's going to be a perennial here or not.

Now back to the ones I just bought (threw that Passion Flower in). Only these I'm
going to show now aren't blooming. Still I wanted to finish showing you the
flowers I got, and still have to plant.This is a tiny little Heuchera Canyon Duet. I think I'll have to

put it next to my little tiny Hosta I got earlier this summer. I didn't know
there was a Heuchera this small, only 3 to 6 inches. The bloom may bring the
height up to 12 inches. Yup, teenie weenie just like the Hosta with about 6"
leaves.

Penstemon Blue Buckle - I'm putting the tag with these so you can see what they will look
like.

Penstemon Husker Red Strain

Coneflower Ruby Star

Coneflower Baby Swan White

Coneflower Prairie Splendor

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