plant flowers

We’ve added some new seeds to our garden! When we were in Cloverdale, there was an agriculture display for kids where they could pick a flower or vegetable, design a little tag for it, and get a seed and little plantable container to fill with soil, water, and take home.

Isak chose a sunflower seed, and yesterday we planted it in between two of the small hedges outside. We also scattered an “old fashioned flower garden” seed mix around a corner that could use some more colour. Isak’s the official watering-can man & has a great time running around the yard watering & spritzing flowers. Our Enchantment continues to thrive…

It was hard to decide which flowers to plant. It cost a pretty penny. The seeds were not too expensive, but the soil was. Who knew DIRT would cost so much? Preparing and planting took up most of the day. The bugs were very annoying. But I felt a deep sense of accomplishment when it was all done .

I planted Candy Cane Zinnias, Kaleidoscope Four O’Clocks, Giant Imperial Larkspur, Sweet Pea Streamers, Marigolds, Excelsior Hybrid Foxglove, Harlequin Columbines, and Bells of Ireland. All at the seed stage. I also planted 4 Beefsteak Tomato plants.

I am very excited to nurture them and watch them grow.

It IS Enchantment. Oodles of it has come up now. It’s just started blossoming and is gorgeous!! Every time I pass by, another bloom has popped open! We’re still waiting for other things to nudge up out of the soil, but I’m so happy to see these little pink and yellow explosions…

EDIT: Mission accomplished, at least partially.
I got the urns planted. I’ll try and plant the remaining plants tomorrow afternoon.

I often do things backwards. I rewarded myself before starting my little project instead of afterwards. But at least I got something done. :)

Unless I’m mistaken, the enchantment I planted a couple of years ago has re-emerged in the flowerbox, and is growing quickly. Markus has contracted the flower bug too, and bought some purple coneflower seeds which he planted this afternoon. I’m hoping we find some colourful faces blooming in the next few weeks…

I found a drawer full of old seeds today, and sunshine was running rampant, so Isak and I generously planted 4 packs of forget-me-nots around the little hedges under the planter-box. I’m not sure if they’ll grow, but we sure had fun playing in the garden, and I think we’ll pick a few others as well. Isak seemed pretty keen on the scarlet runners…

Planting and growing flowers is harder than vegetables and herbs, but they look great and seeing the flourish is really wonderful. Just pick something hardy and resilient to get started with, like Marigolds. Just be sure to pick something right for your climate and familiarize yourself with care, as many flowers are VERY sensitive to overwatering.

I am always delighted when I find flowers in unexpected places. I was driving in the country once in the spring and I found a small group of homes that had “naturalized” daffodils all around in the ditches and surrounding wooded lots and brush. Far too many to be accidental. Another time, I found a large country estate that had a yard made up of blue flowers. Scilla I think they are called. The entire yard was blue and they had spilled out into the surrounding area till they thinned out. Really nice. I want to do my own version of this by planting hollyhocks along an ugly fence that runs along the woods by my village. Should be quite pretty in about 2 years.

I always have lots of flowers in the spring and summer, but I never have them in the fall, so this fall I want to plant some fall blooming perennials.

I have done this a couple times, but now if I want to, I just have my gardener do it.