Port Potager

Although we enjoyed our vacation last week, it was also really nice to come home. One reason for this was that we were greeted by a green lawn and a low of colorful bulbs in full bloom: If you have no trouble growing hyacinths, this probably isn’t that exciting to you. For me, though, these are the best I’ve ever managed to grow. This is probably due to the extra sun they’re getting, since once again , another fence section fell during the winter.  Since these are growing in the cutting garden, I cut some to bring inside. I love the way they smell, and a little goes a long way. The other big flower story this week is that our orange tulips are blooming: This picture, taken on an overcast day, doesn’t really do them justice. They are a much more fiery shade in real life, which looks great against the yellow paint of the house (and will look even better once we finish that paint job).  Last fall I planted another 100 orange Darwin tulip bul...

Tulips don't last forever, and this past spring it was clear that many of the ones we planted in the cutting garden were past their prime. Some sent up only leaves; others had weak, spindly flowers. I made a note to order some replacement bulbs in the summer, and this week they finally arrived in the mail for fall planting. Planting bulbs is pretty easy, as long as you plan ahead. You need to get them in the ground a couple weeks before frost so that you can still easily work the soil, and so they have time to develop their roots for a month or so before a hard freeze. Here's what I set out today: First I hoed out all the weeds in the bulb bed. There were quite a few, because this bed is  ordinarily covered in chicken wire  to protect the bulbs from squirrels and chipmunks. It's very effective, but it does make it harder to get weeds out because it's hard to grasp them all the way down at the base to bring them up by their roots. Once the weeding was d...

I'm glad that zinnias are such a powerhouse of an annual flower. I just wish I had colors other than pink left. Lavender, zinnia, and calendula. Zinnias. Zinnias and wild asters.

Ok, so there are still not all that many flowers left for cutting, but at least I found a nice new way to photograph them. The vases are set up atop the closed piano keyboard. Also, check out the big daisy that rebloomed — it's the only one to do so in the perennial border, and it's a good one! Artemisia and Shasta daisy. Snapdragons. Chrysanthemums, echinacea seed heads, and marigold.

Cool nighttime temperatures are definitely causing a slow-down in the flower department. I barely even have any zinnias left, and that's kind of all we've got for this month. Limping our way towards frost, at least as far as unprotected annuals are concerned ... Zinnias and calendula. Zinnias, blanket flower, echinacea, calendula, and chrysanthemum. 

I have to admit, there's not much left in the cutting garden. Next year I will definitely need to plan better to have some more perennials and annuals that last and/or open for the first time in the fall. And I want some deep purple, all — the last I had of that color was done months ago . What we have here are just more riffs on the same theme of all of September: snapdragons and zinnias.  Snapdragons, blanketflower, zinnias, and yarrow. Zinnias and calendula.

This is my last Friday of summer — from here on out it's work, work, work, with gardening squeezed in between getting home and sunset and chauffeuring kids around. I'll try to keep Flower Friday going through frost, but it could be a challenge.  Zinnias and echinacea. Snapdragon, zinnia, echinacea. Echinacea and artemisia "Silver King."

Another kinda lame Flower Friday , but I am on vacation. Instead of vases of flowers that will definitely be dead by the time we get back, here's what the cutting garden looks like in its current, pre-cut state: Here you can see short marigolds in the front, tall orange cosmos in the back, and some pink zinnias mixed in. This is from another angle: The cosmos are on the right, with zinnias in the middle and black-eyed Susans to the left. Not much going on here in the way of perennials lately, although I do have some echinacea, salvia, and veronica trying to make a go at a second flowering. I hope so — I don't think there will be much left for September and October unless I pick up some new annuals to round out the fall.

I have to admit that this week's flower post is seriously lame. The kids are away at camp, and we used the time to finish the walls of our renovation. That is a dirty, dusty, terrible job, and it didn't leave me with much energy for flower arranging.  And where would I put them? The house is a construction-zone disaster, and I can't even blame the kids. Anyway, yesterday I went out and cut a handful of snapdragons and some matching zinnias for our bedroom (a safe haven from the dust). By next week the house should be back in our control, with running water and working appliances and everything — including flowers. Snapdragons and zinnia.

Not too much to choose from right now — just the late-summer annuals are still going strong. The marigolds and zinnias also last pretty long in the vase, so I don't need to replace the bouquets as often. That's good, since I'm busy dealing with peaches, pickles, and tomatoes right now. Zinnias and hosta leaves. Brown-eyed Susans, snapdragons, echinacea, and zinnia. Marigolds and zinnias.

Most of the perennials in the cutting beds are past their prime — or in between their first and second flushes of flower. I'm relying a lot on annuals (or snipping from the border out front for those hyrangeas) to make up the difference.   Zinnia, cosmos, and calendula. Echinacea. Hydrangea. Zinnia (in shades of pink that I actually like — not too fuchsia). Marigolds.

Pale pinks and whites are long gone — time for the bright, hot colors of late summer! I'm warming up to most of the pink shades of the zinnias, although I left some purplish-pink ones uncut. Zinnias and black-eyed Susans (a lovely gift from a friend's garden!). Black-eyed Susans and cosmos. Black-eyed Susans, calendula, cosmos, blanketflower, and zinnia. Zinnias and yarrow. Astilbe leaf, snapdragon, zinnia, echinacea, and salvia.

I'll admit to being a smidge lazy with the flower arranging this week. Not only is it crazy hot here, but we are also tearing up the house to move our downstairs bathroom and laundry area around. It's not like a few vases of flowers are going to mask the dust and dirt that is settling everywhere . But I did go for some easy pickin's with the lilies that are in bloom this week. I love how one stem makes a whole bouquet, so their bloom was well-timed with our latest house project.  Roses (David Austin "Heritage") and lilies. Lilies. Echinacea. Lilies.

Summer flowers are here: snapdragons, lilies, daisies, hydrangea. I'm especially interested in what color the lilies turn out to be, since I bought them in a mixed bag collection, something I never do. So far, so good. Snapdragons, echinacea, yarrow, and lilies. Hydrangea. Shasta daisies and hydrangea. Astilbe, snapdragons, echinacea, and Shasta daisy.  I would ordinarily have skipped the daisy in this arrangement, but it was a perfectly healthy hold-over from one of last week's bouquets, and it seemed a shame to throw it out. Also, I always think of daisies as our wedding flower, and it's no coincidence that they are flush at our anniversary every year — our fifteenth was yesterday!

Happy summer! This holiday has been filled with the beach, some touring, and a whole lotta heat. These were all cut back during the cool rains earlier this week.  Delphinium (blossoms pulled from their long spikes). Veronica lupine, white lavender, yarrow. Delphinium, echinacea (a puffy one and "Sunset"). Lavender and calendula heads. Lavender and Shasta daisies.