plant a flower garden

Too late to plant more bearded irises, I think, so opefully the chickens haven’t eaten or trampled the ones I have. They were just starting to poke their heads up when I left on travel a week ago.

Time to start planting sun flower seeds, too. Need to find a way to protect everything from the chickens!

Over 40 of them bloomed last summer. The bearded Irises did very well, also. Going to actually see if I can get a cutting bed of flowers to bloom this year. If so, then I’ll consider this done.

and a second sunflower is on the way. Perhaps it will bloom tomorrow? A half dozen more will also be ready, soon. Not the hundreds I dreamed of, but over the course of the summer, there could be 25 or 30… up to 40, if they all survive to that stage…

Most of the morning glories (MGs) died from lack of watering when I was on travel last. The hazards of having a disinterested teenage boy doing the watering. “Oh, those? I thought they were weeds.” Oh, well, he did a good job of taking care of the dog and the chickens. And of himself. That IS more important, but I do dream of someday having a fence of morning glory blooms.

I don’t see any moon flowers yet, but I’ve got some morning glories poking up out of the ground. The classic Heavenly Blue – and, it IS heavenly… If I can get them to grow and flower, anyway!

Moved some irises out of the veg bed and to the boarders of the garden area. Next spring, perhaps, I will have irises blooming all around the area. Or maybe the spring after that. Sometimes they won’t bloom the first year after being moved.

40 sunflowers are up. The first ones planted are several feet tall… the ones just recently planted are barely an inch out of the ground. The orignial goal was 100, but I have other things to plant, so I think 40 is good. Only in Gardening can 40% of a goal still be “plenty good enough.” Something ate the caterpillar that was chomping down on one of the sunflowers. I’m glad I didn’t kill the caterpillar. It had a happy, if short, life eating sunflower leaves. Now, I imagine, it has become some happy bird’s meal. The caterpillar poop (known as “frass”) has been washed down into the sand to help feed the sunflower. The sunflower is recovering nicely. The world continues to “go ‘round.”

5 more sunflower seeds germinated today…
put some bearded irises in the ground and also a few day lilies… (photos on my blog… http://highdesertgardening.blogspot.com )

They’re up out of the ground ranging from just up to having several sets of leaves. Going to plant at least a few dozen more. Even if they don’t attain the 10 – 12 foot “Mammoth” stature that the package claims, if they grow and bloom, they’ll be a total success. And at a mere 6 inches tall, the bigger ones are already starting to track the sun. Just have to remember that they will all eventually settle and face East before ripening.

Last year I only had one bloom as the dogs kept relocating them. Since my garden area is now fenced, they are thriving. After this year’s bloom, I’m relocating them OUT of the vegetable area and going to edge the garden area with them. They have multiplied and are taking over! Also, when they bloom this year, I’ll be able to tag what color they are! I once knew, but my doggies decided to mix them up for me so I could play the guessing game!

Read more about my garden on my blog http://highdesertgardening.blogspot.com/

Tiny yellow and white flowers. Delicate lavender flowers. Teeny-tiny white flowers with pink centers. Small pinkish-purple flowers. I didn’t plant the seeds, but surely, they are a flower garden :-)

They didn’t come up last spring, so I figured that the desert had “done them in.” However, a dozen in the front yard and a dozen in a circle around one of my fruit trees are 6” out of the ground right now! And some crocus in raised bed #2 are up, along with a few daffodils there, too.

Also, desert mallow is germinating around the yard – I am trying to give them extra water and see if I can cultivate them.

Bearded irises coming out of hibernation.

My lone day lily is barely surviving in the house – going to plant it outside in late spring and hopefully it will take off and go crazy and go forth and multiply like day lilies do…

Took my yearly seed inventory the other day – I have all sorts of basils (very pretty flowers), various cosmos and various marigolds, along with about a dozen types of morning glories, several sunflower varieties and a few other misc flowers. I think I could make a pretty nice little flower garden with what I currently own. Which is good, as I’m trying to save money right now. I am trying really hard not to purchase anything from any seed catalogs right now. Maybe I will have some spare money after the new year. Can’t really start any seeds until around Feb/March, any way.