Saving Seeds

I like saving flower seeds from annuals to plant the following growing season.  Usually, after a flower on a plant has died down, the spent bloom is cut off the plant to encourage new growth.  But I leave some of the dead flowers on the plant to  dry out and form seeds.  Then I remove the seeds, put them in an envelope labeled with the contents and year, and store in a cool, dry place.

Zinnia flower that has dried out and gone to seed.

Petals with attached seeds pulled from dry flower

Seeds separated from petals ready for storage

Store in a labeled envelope until ready for use next Spring.

Community Garden Fall Harvest

This morning, while hubby was repairing our fence, I headed over the the community garden to do some harvesting.  The weather is a cool 63 degrees and sunny with a light breeze -- perfect for working in the garden and a reminder that Fall has arrived.  The leaves on our two sugar maples have begun to change color and the last of my Fall blooming perennials, the Toad Lily, has finally flowered.

Leaves changing color on our sugar maple tree

Over at the community garden I picked cherry and regular tomatoes, beans, carrots, yellow and red  onions, eggplant, and peppers.

The first batch of onions that I harvested a couple weeks ago were dried in a single layer on a homemade soil sifting screen for about two weeks, the stems were then removed, and the onions are being stored in used mesh bags that I save when buying oranges at the grocery store.   

Harvest the onions when the green tops flop over in the field. Of course, they can be used right after picking, but if you have more than you can use at one time, they can be stored for later use.  I dry them in our shed to keep them out of the rain.

Onions on drying screen

Onions after drying with stems removed

Ready for storage in mesh bag

After a couple weeks they're ready to store in mesh bags in a cool place and will last a few months, depending on the variety. Onions can also be chopped and frozen and don't need to be blanched first like most other veggies that are frozen.  

The Toad Lily is the last of my garden perennials to bloom.  The flower looks like a mini orchid.

Toad Lily

Concord Grapes

We started our little Concord grape patch about 15 years ago with three vines and planted them next to our shed where they get sun most of the day. Concord grapes are native to North America.   I've never known how to prune them like an expert, but we still get a nice crop each year, enough for juice, jelly and snacking.  We always know when they're ready to pick just by walking by the vines and smelling that wonderful grape aroma! And, of course, by the taste test : )

Photo taken on July 31, 2016

Photo taken today, September 22, 2016, of the same bunch of grapes.

Gaillardia

One of the perennials that continues to flower into Fall is Gaillardia or Blanket Flower, a member of the sunflower family.   The variety below is called Arizona Sun.  In our garden it does best with lots of water in our well-drained soil and gets sun most of the day.  It grows about 10" tall.

Another variety of blanket flower called Sombrero

More Fall Garden Views

Fall gardening is such a pleasure with temperatures gradually getting cooler.  I can dig, divide, weed, plant and mulch pretty much all day long in this weather! And that's what I've been doing for about four days straight. Click on any of the center photos and they will enlarge.

Center bottom shows blue plumbago, deep red tickseed at bottom of rocks, yellow mum above rocks, pink Hot Lips turtlehead middle right.

Yellow mum in clay pot, red mum at bottom of photo, zinnias in blue pot, river rock area in center.

Close up of river rock area with pot of zinnias at left, winter pansies, bi-color iris that have been cut down, red tickseed at bottom of rocks

Another view of blue plumbago, yellow mum and red tickseed and pink creeping phlox ground cover at bottom of photo that bloomed in spring, with a few new fall blooms.

South entrance to garden with zinnias on left and whorled milkweed on right

An expanded view from south entrance of garden showing arbor at north entrance, seating area at far left.

The ferns along the shady part of the path are pretty, but they're crowding out the astilbe and hostas, so they were thinned out. 

One patch of wild iris was removed and replaced with a tall bearded iris from another part of the yard that in the Spring will have large purple blooms that I like better.

I found bright purple winter pansies at the garden center that I added to the river rock area of the perennial garden.  They're supposed to flower all autumn and into the first part of winter and are said to be hardy even under the snow.  Although we won't see them if they're covered by three feet of snow! They look pretty together with the yellow coneflowers.

Purple winter pansies with yellow coneflowers

Our little rabbit friend "pruned" the carmine aster early in the season and I had to surround the plant with chicken wire to protect it from further damage.  It's finally blooming and I think the pruning did it some good, since it looks nice and bushy and has lots of flowers.

 Carmine colored aster

Fall Blooms Along the Path

We had a couple hours of a good, soaking rain this weekend, so the blooms seem to be much more colorful now.  After the rain, it was a good time to do more weeding and cultivating.  I also trimmed back an early spring creeping phlox that had crept a little too far and was starting to smother the plumbago.  

The nasty iris borer had laid its eggs in the leaves of some of my iris plants, so I cut all the leaves close to the base of the plants to prevent the hatched worms from traveling down to the fleshy rhizomes where they do their damage.

I planted more English lavender along the edge of the path, hoping that its fragrance will be released when its brushed.  I paired the lavender with yellow yarrow -- my favorite color combination. The foliage of both plants is a pretty grayish green.

The burgundy coreopsis or tickseed stands out nicely against the neutral color of the rocks.

This is the third blooming of my peach rose bush.  With the dry weather this year, I didn't have a problem with black spot on the leaves that affects it when we have a rainy summer.

My ironweed continues to get more blossoms.  I love the bright reddish purple color of it.

Turtlehead got his name because the flowers look like turtle heads -- I can see the resemblance!

This butterfly bush amazes me, since it completely dies down to the ground every winter and I never think that it will actually survive.  But each June, there are the new sprouts at the base and it grows to at least 7 feet tall!

Have a great week!

Monarch Waystation Update

The monarch butterflies are about to begin their migration toward their winter home in Mexico. The number of monarchs has been steadily decreasing, so a few years ago I decided to provide a yard that could help sustain them as they migrate through North America.

With that in mind, I planted lots of milkweed varieties and flowers for nectar sources to do my little part to help increase the population.

I found most of my information through Monarch Watch and after completing the requirements for a waystation, ordered my site sign to make it official.

The monarchs seem to especially like the bright zinnias and fragrant butterfly bushes (buddlea). The purple buddlea shown in the photo was grown from a seed dropped by a bird or blown through the wind and I transplanted the resulting seedling into the area behind the potting shed. That was three years ago. The bush is huge now. This is the area of the yard where I find the largest amount of monarch eggs.  I think it's because it's very secluded -- or maybe they can read ; )

Perennial Late Summer & Fall Bloomers

Balloon Flower

Part of the fun of having a perennial garden is looking forward to each plant as it blooms throughout the season. When a perennial blooms, flowering usually lasts about 3 weeks.  There are exceptions, (such as my phlox and coneflowers that seem to flower all summer), but in order to have continuous color, early, middle and late season varieties have to be included.  If the early varieties are cut back after blooming, I might get a second blooming in late summer.  I noticed today that the yellow coreopsis that flowered, then was deadheaded in the spring, is now full of new buds again!

Some of the varieties in my garden that don't flower until late summer and fall are balloon flower, turtlehead, aster, mum, Joe Pye weed, sedum, ornamental onion, plumbago and iron weed.  

Joe Pye Weed

Joe Pye Weed is supposed to attract butterflies, but I haven't seen one on mine. 

Plumbago

Plumbago makes a nice ground cover.  It grows about 6" tall.

Sedum

The sedum is just starting to show color and the honeybees love it! 

Turtlehead

Ornamental Onion

Ironweed

Chrysanthemum

Growing and Drying Herbs

It's always nice to have fresh herbs straight from your garden, when possible. You don't need a large area in which to grow them, either.  I attached a window box planter to a sunny spot on our porch railing and am growing parsley, oregano, rosemary, basil and chives in this 2 foot by 6 inch area.  

There's a patch of spearmint that always grows through a crack in the concrete patio below, so we have fresh mint to enjoy, too.  Late in the season toward Fall, I begin drying bunches of my favorite herbs to use during the winter. 

I'm not an expert, but this is what I do.  I gather the herbs on a dry, sunny day and spray them with the hose to get off any dirt and bugs that may be attached to them.  Shake out the herbs to remove most of the water and pat them with paper towels.  Then gather them in a bunch and tie with a rubber band.  That way, when the herbs start to dry and the stems shrink, the rubber band will shrink around them.

Hang the herbs from a clothes hanger or herb rack in a warm, dry area out of the direct sunlight.  When dry, you can strip the leaves from the stems and store in a baggy.  Be sure they're completely dry, though, or they will get moldy in the plastic bag.  I don't put the herbs in bags, but just hang the dry bunches in the pantry.