garden flowers Archives

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Barb — 8 Comments

Making a Garden a Place of Joy – Give Yourself Permission

Sunny hot weather this week in Northern California has given our garden just the breath of life that it needed after our cool rainy weather in May and the beginning of June.

The sunflowers actually look like sunflowers all neatly growing in rows, just waiting for each day’s sunshine. If you remember I planted three varieties in this section of the garden…my artist garden. I am envisioning a lawn chair in the shade of the maple tree, paints and colored pencils sitting at my side and a sketch book in my hand just across the yard from these beauties.

My three sisters garden is all planted and growing! We added the beans and pumpkins and most of the seeds have spouted and are growing right as they should. This has been a fun project….one that has captured my interest, renewing my gardening zeal.

We have had several quarts of strawberries already…big and juicy red ones!

Now this is another of my “mystery” plants. I was waiting to see what was going to bloom and this week it has come alive with color! Here they are…Cantebury Bells. I vaguely remember planting them last year and since they are a biennial, they are blooming this year. Amazing color….which you know will make its way into my nature journal.

We had two birdbaths in the backyard so I decided to move one to the front yard…perfect fit. The empty spot in the garden is really needing some attention and I don’t know what to put here. In the spring there are tulips and allium that bloom but in the summer there isn’t much to fill in the spot. I think those are old gladiola bulbs that didn’t bloom last year coming up. I am not a big fan of gladiolas. This spot gets sun most of the day so the roses love it and I let the allysum grow where it wants. Any suggestions for plants for this middle spot would be appreciated…I’m thinking something taller than the roses.

The tickseed is in full bloom and it makes such a great little bouquet for the table….nothing makes you smile more than having breakfast with a vase of sunshiney tickseed in front of you.

The chore list for the garden this week includes quite a bit of weeding, including the hedge bindweed that I wrote about recently. I try to spend 15-20 minutes in the morning each day just pulling weeds. The whole garden never is weeded at one time but it doesn’t get too crazy with daily attention. I have one tomato that doesn’t look so great so I will try to figure out how to perk it up. I also have one garden box that looks like it has some insect eating the leaves on the plants…..time for some private eye time to see if I can figure out who is the culprit.

In the past, I worried about having the garden “just right”. I spent way too much time worrying about the weeds and the organization and the practicality of it all. I realized this week that I have come to a new understanding about my garden. The garden is what I make of it and if I want to grow pumpkins in the middle of my grass…I can give myself permission to do so. If I want to try something new, I can because it is MY garden.

This year I am just going to enjoy the gardening experience…take the ups and downs as they come. I will put in the effort that I can and see what happens.

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Barb — 6 Comments

Azaleas and Good Qualities Grown in the Garden

We have been hoping to establish azaleas in our garden for years now. This year they are finally giving us the color we have anticipated. Azaleas do not grow naturally in our area so I had to experiment to find just the right spots for them to thrive. Each year I have patiently waited to see if the bushes would bloom. Last year the pink azalea bloomed a few pretty blossoms but the others I actually thought were dead, looking like sticks.

Here is our pink bush…wow! The bush is loaded with blooms and it makes me so happy when I walk down my back steps. It is flourishing in the shade of the deck, finally.

The red bush is blooming right now as well although it has very few leaves. The bush has long branches and flowers at the ends. It is not as pretty as the pink bush but I am thrilled that it is showing signs of life.

The white bush has the biggest flower blossom of the three colors and is so delicate and pretty. I love the way the light illuminates the petals.

Wonderful to finally see the colors. The rewards of patience and faith…..good qualities we can grow in our gardens.

Talk about rewards! Here are the first roses and strawberries of the season. Guess what kind of smoothie I had this afternoon? Yum!

I am patiently watching (okay not so patiently) as the seeds all sprout in the garden. Every morning there is something new to look at and I actually did a happy dance yesterday when I saw that every Kentucky Wonder has sprouted and has two leaves! My daughter and I planted her container garden (she is living with us temporarily so her garden will need to move back home with her in a few weeks). She planted a patio tomato, a Serrano pepper, and some basil seeds. She calls it her bruschetta and salsa garden. I am so glad that I have passed on the love of gardening to my children…that in itself makes the task more meaningful.

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Barb — 71 Comments

Watercolor Quick Sketch in the Garden

I have been sharing my hopes for a colorful “artist’s garden” to sit and sketch in over the summer. I am impatient for all my flowers to start growing but I was inspired this morning by my colorful blooming flowers on the back deck, waking to the sun and warmer temperatures totally lifts my mood and urges me to step outside.

The hummingbirds were darting in and out of the feeders hanging from the eaves on the back of the house and the bees were buzzing among the flowers. It was peaceful. I brought my new favorite art supplies and my nature journal to do a quick sketch and watercolor. Honestly this page took me about twenty minutes start-to-finish, including deciding what to draw and finding a comfortable spot to sit.

I made a quick sketch with my Prismacolor marker and didn’t worry too much about exact proportions or numbers of petals. I think that is the difference between art and taking a photo….if you want an exact representation you really should just take a photo. I was going more for capturing my mood and the vibrant color.

I used my little field box of watercolors. I shared this set of watercolors with some friends at a nature study presentation a few weeks ago and they were amazed at how small and light this little box is in real life. I am going to start carrying this in my daypack when I hike so I can add some quick color to my nature journal when I am out and about. It even includes a small brush and a vial to carry some water if you need it. (I rarely carry water for watercolors when I hike since I usually have a water bottle or there is a stream or creek to scoop up some water for my art.)

The paint colors are so vibrant! I filled in the sketch with some watercolors with a sort of “sketchy” style where I don’t worry too much about filling in the edges perfectly and if I color outside the lines that is okay too.

I came back with my Prismacolor marker and just outlined the petals again to sort of clean up the edges. I added a date and a caption to complete my page.

This is my first garden sketch in what I hope will lead to a whole book full of colorful sketches.

Here are the links to the supplies. The watercolors are a little pricey but these paints seem like they are going to go a long way….lots of color for a little amount of paint. The Prismacolor marker set is one that I reviewed awhile back. There is such a great variety in this little set and I have been using mine weekly and have yet to use any of them up. You can read my review HERE.

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Posted on May 17, 2011 by Barb — 4 Comments

Still Planting Seeds and Making Discoveries: Sunflowers, Foxglove, and Three Sisters

Three kinds of sunflowers – mixed the seeds and planted in our garden.

Seed planting continues in our garden as the weather has allowed us to be outdoors. We have had rain, wind, and one morning we had about half inch of snow! It has been the craziest weather year ever. The snow managed to come *after* I planted my tomato seedlings. They look like they are going to be just fine but I hope the weather warms up again soon.

I decided to plant a patch of sunflowers, mixing three different kinds of seed in a pile and then randomly putting them into the garden (see the photo above for the varieties we picked). We shall see how it turns out. The Lemon Queen sunflowers that I planted a few weeks ago are now sprouted and about 2 inches high. I ended up planting some Four O’Clocks in the same bed which will be interesting to see how they grow in the same space.

Our volunteer sunflowers sprouting up under the birdfeeder are really getting tall already. I love having sunflowers plant themselves and the birds enjoy the seeds in the autumn.

The Three Sisters garden did not get planted again this week. We have composted the row again and added a little mulch as well. It is really looking great after Mr. B dug out all the turf and roots left over from the last composting. The corn will be planted first in mounds and then when the corn is 6 inches tall we will plant the beans and pumpkins.

I did get one more tomato seedling in the ground and some lemon thyme to replace the one that disappeared from last year’s garden.

In other areas, amazing discoveries were made over in the butterfly garden. I noticed a rather large plant growing over the last few weeks. I couldn’t remember what I had planted in that particular spot….I’ve tried a few things there and nothing seems to like it very well. I left the plant alone when I was weeding, figuring I could wait a bit to see just what it was when it grew larger.

Sure enough, it is a foxglove!

This was quite a surprise since I don’t even remember EVER planting a foxglove in this spot. I will enjoy it no matter how it ended up in my garden. It looks pretty happy growing up among the daylilies and the lavender.

I can hardly wait for it to bloom!

This week we are hoping to get out and plant the remaining seeds – more basil, more zinnias, a few more rows of Kentucky Wonders, and a new dahlia that says it grows in containers (I put a link at the bottom of this post for the seeds we are planting). We are really keeping our garden a manageable size this year and I am anticipating a lot of time just sitting and enjoying the garden rather than working in it all the time.

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Barb — 1 Comment

Garden Flowers: Geraniums are the Perfect Beginner’s Flower Study

Up until now, I have not appreciated the geranium. I usually don’t pick geraniums for my garden but after reading that hummingbirds were attracted to red flowers I decided to give them a try. I picked the reddest variety I could find at Home Depot, brought it home, and potted it right under my hummingbird feeder.

When we were deciding on a garden flower to study this month as part of the suggestions in the Outdoor Hour Challenge May Newsletter, I skimmed the list of garden flowers in the Handbook of Nature Study. One flower we have not observed closely and added to our nature journal is the geranium. I turned over to the pages to read about this common flower and I was dazzled by all that we could learn by taking a few minutes to follow the suggested lesson activities. (Lesson 163 in the Handbook of Nature Study)

1. We observed the leaves, touching them and enjoying the fuzzy texture. Mr. B said that they were thick and stiff and I would agree with that. What a great shape the leaves are and I decided right away that was going to be the focus of my nature journal entry.

2. We looked at the petals as suggested in the lesson, noticing that all the five petals are not the same shape and size. Anna Botsford Comstock says that this flower is the perfect beginners flower since you can observe and name all the parts easily.

“The geranium’s blossom is so simple that it is of special value as a subject for a beginning lesson in teaching the parts of a flower; and its leaves and stems may likewise be used for the first lessons in plant structure.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 585

3. We read about the nectar tube and took a closer look at it after reading how the structure works.

“No other flower shows a prettier plan for guiding insects to the hidden sweets, and in none is there a more obvious and easily seen well of nectar. It extends almost the whole length of the flower stalk…”
Handbook of Nature Study page 586

This lesson was only a few minutes long on a sunny morning out on our back deck but what a lot of information we now have about this common garden plant. I love learning more about my own backyard.

We used the geranium notebook pages from NotebookingPages.com’s Wildflowers, Weeds, and Garden Flowers set….use my discount code (discount5) and get them for $7.95. If you own a Treasury Membership, you already have access to eight different designs for each of the wildflowers, weeds, and flowers included in this set (over 45 plants). Each person can pick a different design for their nature journal entry. I used the coloring page and the lined page with boxes for sketching and a photo. I was thinking that the coloring page is something you could make yourself using the Fill In The Circle idea from the May Newsletter.

Here are a few more photos of flowers on the back deck.

Can you tell I am going for lots of color this year?

Lantana for the bees and butterflies.

Petunias (Lesson 162 in the Handbook of Nature Study)

Pansies (Lesson 152 in the Handbook of Nature Study)

Gerbera daisies

You can grow a lot of different flowers in pots even if you only have a small space. I encourage you to give it a try and then complete some of the garden flower challenges listed on the right sidebar of my blog (OHC #12 through #19) Keep your study simple by choosing just a few of the ideas in each lesson, building on what you already know.

I hope you are taking advantage of the warmer, drier May weather to get out into your own backyard. I look forward to seeing your nature study adventures as you submit them to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Don’t forget to include some of the nature journal ideas from the May Newsletter: Fill In The Circles, add some poetry, and use the Know Your Own Backyard notebook page.

You can submit your blog entries for May HERE.

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Barb — 3 Comments

Garden Focus: Bees, Birds, and Color….with Veggies Too

Flowers in Pots Attract the Bees and Hummingbirds…Easy to Maintain

My goals this year for our garden are a little different than those in the recent past. I usually focus on growing veggies and accent with flowers. This year I am going to be a rebel and do the exact opposite. I am growing color and accenting with edibles. I am hoping for more of an “artist’s garden” this year, providing a space to sit with watercolors and colored pencils and oil pastels on those long hot summer afternoons. Sometimes a garden is more than just for growing food, healing and refreshing us with its beauty and vitality. Of course, you can really call it a “bee garden” since the focus has been on flowers that will attract bees, birds, and/or butterflies.

Our deck usually has some herbs and a few veggies in pots, keeping them close for the dinner time crunch. It is a great plan and I will do the same this year with two tomatoes and some basil.

We have had a lot of hummingbird traffic at our two feeders as well as the colorful flowers.

I am keeping just a few flowers on the deck and most of them will be to try to entice the hummingbirds up to the feeders. Red geraniums, bright daisies, and a hummingbird favorite lantana or two. I started my zinnia seeds and much to my surprise I found a pot full of milkweed growing already over in the corner. Seeds and seedlings are all tucked in ready to go. We are planning on studying our geraniums along with the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson #163) this summer.

Back in the main veggie garden I am going to be growing pole beans…Kentucky Wonders. I am dreaming of the green towers of vines and the never-ending picking that will come as the summer progresses.

Lots and lots of Bee Balm growing in the butterfly garden.

What will be missing are many of the water thirsty plants that I usually have that yield very little in proportion to the effort like bell peppers.I have lots of great plants that are well established that will give color without a lot of work.

These are coneflowers, chrysanthemums, and daisies from last year. I will fill in the empty spots with seeds.

The boxes this year are filled in with coneflowers and zinnias, dahlias and daisies. The bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds are going to be having a party all summer long out there. I love having a cutting garden to fill oodles of vases indoors.

We ended up transplanting a few daylilies to the front of the box and the rest is waiting for me to come finish planting the sunflower seeds. Thunderstorm rolled in this day and I had to give up.

My new garden space is coming together and the seeds are almost all in the ground. We had a composting problem and somehow a load was dumped in the garden space with un-composted rotten potatoes so we are sifting through again to get those out before planting the Three Sisters Garden (pumpkins, corn, and beans). The pumpkins, corn, and sunflowers will also be part of our summer nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study.

Happy Squash.

I have four zucchini seedlings happily growing in their new spot and the sunflowers are all showing signs of sprouting as the garden comes alive.

Looks a little different than the last time…now the lavender is the predominant plant, along with the blooming dogwood.

I am hoping that I don’t regret our decision to shift our garden focus this year but as with anything we can always change things back next year. We have a wonderful Farmer’s Market in our town where we can put our hands on any veggies we decide we need. Still eating healthy and with local produce….an important goal in our family.

That is this week’s garden update…..next week hopefully I will share our Three Sisters Garden.

Jami’s Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

Posted on March 17, 2011 by Barb — 8 Comments

Early Spring Bulb Study: Watercolor Time

I started dreaming of spring bulbs blossoming way back in the fall. Although I didn’t feel like getting out and digging the holes and actually planting them, I knew that if we did there would be a springtime show of color.

Well here it comes!

Here is our Early Spring Flower entry for the last challenge of the Winter Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges.

Our fall planted daffodils are adding splashes of yellow to our front yard. You might remember we did a complete remodel of our landscaping last summer/fall and we are just now starting to see the new plants getting green again. It is amazing to look out my front window and see how things are shaping up.

We have had lots of vases inside filled with daffodils….the new ones have rather large blooms.We can all clearly identify all the parts because of previously studying daffodils, including dissecting them. They are still an amazing flower to observe and to marvel at when you think that they come from a dried up old bulb you stick in the ground months ahead of time. They seem to know just when to start growing.

Don’t you think they are even lovely from the back?

We have jonquils blooming in the yard as well which smell heavenly.

Another watercolor nature journal today….this one was fun because I used paint splotches at the end to sort of fill in the page. I would love to know from my readers whether my nature journal entries encourage you or discourage you from doing some of your own pages. Leave me a comment or send me an email….

I have enjoyed seeing your early spring flowers this week and it has recharged me to get going on the next series of spring challenges tomorrow. If you are still experiencing lots of snow and cold temperatures….be encouraged by those of us who are through to the other side of winter already.

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Barb — 14 Comments

2011 Winter Series OHC #10 Early Spring Flowers

Winter Series #10 Early Spring Flowers

Hardly seems possible that we will be finished with all our winter nature study after this week! I think completing the challenges makes the time go by faster for some reason. This has certainly been a memorable winter season as far as the weather for most of us and I think we did a great job taking advantage of the opportunities that came our way.

My favorite posts are the ones that share the unexpected joy of winter nature study. Thank you for sharing all your wonderful experiences with the Outdoor Hour Challenge.

If you missed last week’s list of spring challenges, here is a LINK.

If you are ready to read some more about the spring series of challenges, I completed a Squidoo page where they are all organized with additional links and ideas.

Spring Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges

Thank you to all the Winter Series and Winter Wednesday participants. We enjoyed reading all your entries and sharing your nature study.

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Barb — 1 Comment

Garden Update-September 6th 2010

I have been neglecting my garden. I confess it and I admit it. The herbs are going to blossom and then seed because I am not cutting them regularly. (These are garlic chives.)

My strawberry patch turned brown because of lack of water but here it is coming back to life after two weeks of daily attention.

Okay…is this the prettiest little pink flower ever? I filled a couple of empty pots up with some sort of succulents from Home Depot at the beginning of the summer. I did not realize when I got this one that it would have these pretty flowers come the August heat. Gorgeous. There were about ten flowers blooming at a time on each of the plants. Wish I could remember what kind of plant this is and I would give it to all my friends. I will have to check Home Depot next time I am there.

Our sunflowers this year were quite disappointing. They bloomed for a day or two and then immediately turned brown and shriveled up. After last year’s bumper crop, we felt like we hardly had any at all to count bees on for the Great Sunflower Project. This is the Lemon Sunflower which I have come to love for its big yellow petals.

We are still picking tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini from our garden but nearly as many as normal. The squirrels are eating or dropping all the walnuts from the tree and making a huge mess. I have already started my fall garden clean-up which is very early for us.

Our attention has been in our front yard, remodeling to remove the water thirsty grass and replacing it with plants that need less water. We removed a tree and put in a retaining wall while we were at it.

Here is the before photo:

Here is where we are now:

We are hoping to finish the basics and fill in with plants and pavers as we have time and money. My husband and the boys are doing all the work themselves. I will write up some future entries with exactly the process we have worked through to get where we are in the remodel.

That wraps up this garden update. There is always something to do and something to plan for the garden isn’t there?

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Barb — 3 Comments

Garden Update: Just Not a Great Year So Far

I wouldn’t quite say the garden is disappointing but it is far less productive than in recent years. Could it be the weather? Too cold and wet early on? Too hot now? I know I was committed to having a smaller garden this year so it may just be that I have become accustomed to having more of everything and this scaled back garden is what it is.

The zucchini is blossoming but nothing to eat so far. This bee was so heavy with pollen he could hardly move. I have never seen so much pollen.

Our sunflowers for the Great Sunflower Project are just now blooming so we will have the opportunity to count bees and participate in that activity this week. The bees are far more busy in other parts of the garden.

Our butterfly and hummingbird garden is a hub of activity. Swooping hummingbirds, buzzing bees, and perching finches grab your attention whenever you are outside in the backyard.

Rainbows of colors fill the flower beds now that the day lilies, coneflowers, bee balm, and roses are blooming all at the same time.

Some crazy pretty day lilies in the butterfly garden.

Most likely my new favorite flower in the garden this year is this bee balm.

Sometimes you just capture the best moments purely by chance. I was taking a photo of this butterfly bush and the bee came along and entered the shot. Pretty cool huh?

The crepe myrtles are starting to burst out in color this week. We love this bush so much that we planted three more in our front yard last fall…so easy to grow, brilliantly colored when they bloom.

Another new to us plant in our garden is this Dusty Miller. Here are the colorful buds.

This is the shape of the leaf…amazing and beautiful.

So as you can see, the veggie garden is not all that exciting but the flowers are making up for it. Hopefully my next update will be filled with yummy delicious things to eat.

Category: garden flowers

Making a Garden a Place of Joy – Give Yourself Permission

Azaleas and Good Qualities Grown in the Garden

Watercolor Quick Sketch in the Garden

Still Planting Seeds and Making Discoveries: Sunflowers, Foxglove, and Three Sisters

Garden Flowers: Geraniums are the Perfect Beginner’s Flower Study

Garden Focus: Bees, Birds, and Color….with Veggies Too

Early Spring Bulb Study: Watercolor Time

2011 Winter Series OHC #10 Early Spring Flowers

Garden Update-September 6th 2010

Garden Update: Just Not a Great Year So Far

Outdoor Hour Challenges for families since 2008!