If We Could Eat Flowers!!! We Wouldn't Starve!!

I do not proclaim to be an "ACE GARDENER".

But through my many years of gardening, I have learned two

important things. This will take a few summers to accomplish.

One, Plant annuals that reseed themselves. Annuals that reseed well are

Zinnias....Marigolds....Four-O'Clocks....Petunias....

Rose Moss and Cleome (Spider Flower).

And second plant Perennials.

Do this and you will have a great, easy

and full Flower Garden without ever having to visit the nursery

or get down and plant.

~Wave Petunias~

Always Dead-Head spent flowers and sprinkle the seed in

your bed. These will lay dormant all winter and come up in the spring.

I always leave fall leaves in my Beds,

it's kind of like a warm blanket through the winter.

Remove the leaves in the early-early spring.

Rake them do not use a leaf blower.

Crape Myrtle

This can grow as a Bush or trim it up as a tree.

I like it trimmed like a tree, you can then plant flowers under it.

Four-O'Clocks and Black-eyed Susans.

Four-O'clocks reseed and can get out of hand.

You'll have a lot of hand pulling in the spring. Do not think

mowing them down will get rid of them,

it really just makes their root stronger.

In the fall after the first freeze, I break or cut Four-O'Clocks

off at ground leavel and next spring they come up from that root,

bigger and better.

Black Eyed Susan are perennials and come up more and more ever spring.

They bloom all summer long.

Geranium

I have the best luck with geraniums in a pot.

There are Seed Geraniums and Zonal Geraniums.

Seed Geraniums are more reasonable at Nurseries,

but I have found they are not Grand. Zonal Geraniums

are bigger and produce more flowers. This is one Zonal

and to get the same look I would have had to plant at least

4 Seed Geraniums.

I have read you can pull the Geraniums up before the first freeze

and keep the first 3 inches of stem and connected root

in your cool garage all winter.

Plant them in the spring after the last freeze and they

will grow. I tried it. It didn't work for me.

Asparagus Fern

This Fern is 5 year old. He lives under my tree, in the shade,

from spring, after the last freeze, all summer long.

Before the first freeze in the fall he gets a hair cut and spends the winter in my garage.

I give him a drink about once a month all winter.

Sweet Potato Vine

I have planted these vines in the ground and they

do great. In fact they do so good they must be trimmed

all summer. They will take over a bed.

In a pot they grow, but do not go wild.

They come in this pretty chartreuse green ( my fovorite),

a dark purple and a pink and green variegated.

I was told these come from Texas and are considered

a weed there.

This is called a Whirling Butterfly and it is a perennial.

If you like a sculpted look this is not your plant.

This has very long stems with a flower on the ends.

In the wind the actually whirl.

Garden Phlox-Perennial

Oooooh Sooooo pretty and they smell good too.

These pretties multiply every year.

They are easy to transplant

in the spring when the little new ones come up.

Aster

These are also Perennials.

They bloom in the last of the summer just

before the Mums bloom.

Spider Flower (Cleome)

I love these flowers but please believe me when

I tell you, just one plant this year means

100 plants next year.

They will be in your yard,

in you garden, in all your Flower Beds,

and will come up

in the cracks of your sidewalks.

The seeds are small and blow every where.

Impatients, Marigolds and Monkey Grass

Impatients like shade, so I squeeze them in between taller

plants.

Monkey Grass make a big statement in your yard.

It is really quite striking as an edging. Because it is Grass

it will grow and grow and grow. The roots runner under gound

and it has to be hand pulled to keep it confinded. In the spring

mow or weed-eat the old down and new will grow bright and green.

Zinnia

Zinnias are WONDERFUL !

They reseed, come in so many collors, bloom all summer and

into the fall. They are tall so they make a pretty back drop in

your bed or just have a big bunch of them only.

Zinnas make great cutting flowers for inside the house.

The more you cut them the faster they bloom more flowers.

I use to keep a vase full of Zinnias in the house all summer long.

Then we got Murphy and that put and end to that.

More Zinnias

Don't forget to dead-head and sprinkle the seed and

next year you will have Zinnias galore!

Hyacinth Bean Vine

These are great on a trellis or fence.

Each little pink flower will turn into a deep purple bean pod.

Let the bean pods stay on the vine untill they are brown and crisp.

Break open the bean pod and you will find 4 0r 5 little black,

with a white eye, beans. Save, in a jar with a lid, in the cool garage

all winter long.

In the spring plant about 1 inch deep .

I would advise you to take the vines down in the fall when they

are soft and pliable,

because they get very dried and hard if left on a fence all winter.

Your hands will be sore after working with the hard dried vine

that is woven in and out of the fence or trellis.

Cosmos

This is a nice plant that reseeds.

Lots of Yellow Flowers on a tall stem with lacy fern like leaves.

These also have seeds that blow in the wind.

Your neighbors may have a patch of Cosmos

rather they wanted them or not.

This is a Cherry Pepper Plant and next to it is a

flower that reseeds. A little purple ball on a straggly

stem. I do not know the name.

Remember the title of this Blog?

If We could Eat Flowers, We Wouldn't Starve.

Well this is my Veggie Garden.

As to date:

I have had 1 very small Eggplant,

Cherry Peppers that will not turn red,

and 3, yes 3 tomatos.

I'm glad AJ & ME do not depend on our Veggie Garden

to get us through the winter.

Yes we would starve!

~~~

Y Y

Hi Cass

YY