Gardening Hint

[j_cheney]

Note to self:
When you grow maidengrass (AKA bloody sawgrass) in your yard, remember that the grass volunteers you see might be them. PLease remember not to yank them out of the ground like dandelions. Must wear gloves.

(Yes, I forgot. I yanked, I bled--quite a bit actually, which is unusual for me. I'm not a bleeder.)

I have a whole basket full of zinnia heads now, waiting to be separated. (Zinnia "Apricot Profusion".) When I first planted them 2 years ago, I didn't expect them to self seed--but this one cultivar did, resulting in a lovely late summer border that came in just as the Coreopsis "Early Sunrise" was dying back. They turn out to be fantastic companion plants, so more are certainly in order for next year.

Also, the Chrysanthemum "Texas Gold and Silver" is doing great right now, in full bloom and crawling with bees and every other sort of polinator. Other than the pansies, it's the only game in town now.

Comments

[alaneer.livejournal.com]

Ouch, I'm sorry about the cut. Put neosporin on.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Done!

[gabriel-writes.livejournal.com]

My garden is all dead and gone. Cleared out for next year. Awesome fall colors in the trees though.

So what are you doing with the basket full of heads? How are you going to seperate them and why?

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Ah. I'm going to pull all the seeds out of the flower heads. (I'm letting them dry out a little first)

[kara-gnome.livejournal.com]

Ouch about the cut! I discovered some lovely white wildflowers out there blooming today--I'd pulled our loads of others of the same kind, thinking they were just a raggedy old weed, and I could have had a whole area of all these white flowers!

I put my garden to bed, too. heh, heh, heh, get it, get it?! Seriously, it was my first stab at gardening in my new state (Michigan). In Arizona, there's not a lot happening, really, but here there were already a mass of bulbs that I had to cut the tops off of and split them up and replant, which I did do.

I also moved a few trees and rearranged this one garden and added a bunch more bulbs. Oh, and I also saved some daisy-type flower heads and pumpkin seeds and something else, I forget what, for spring planting. It's all very exciting! We planted some, I think they're called flame bushes, in front, which are now sticks. I hope they appear again in the spring.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Ooh, good luck in spring, then.

It was a big change for me, moving to Oklahoma. You can't grow a lot of the things you can in Texas, so it's a hard chore to re-learn it all.

[rcloenen-ruiz.livejournal.com]

I admire your gardening skills. My first year as a gardener, I managed to kill almost all the plants in our back garden. The second year, I dug up the entire lawn. The third year, we had to put in new grass and plant a new border. Now, my garden has evolved into some sort of wild outdoor backyard.

It does get saved from being totally degenerate by the occassional trim the lawn job and trim back the bamboo job. But those bamboo can grow wild. I so want to put in something else, but my husband just loves those bamboo.

I do like your border plants. Must make a note to try that next year .

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Good luck with it. I hear bamboo is really persistant too....hard to get rid of.

Of course, you may not be able to grow the same things, so you'll just have to keep experimenting ;o)