Summer Flowers - August '24

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Back in May we had a spectacular display of red clover & poppy flowers in (or near) a backyard planter box. By early June, when the first hot days arrived, those plants self-seeded & dried out, heading for the exits.

Spent plants in the box were removed, compost & new soil were added, and on June 5 two rows of Zinnias in the front & a row of sunflowers in the back were seeded.

Sprouts appeared in 3 days, and then grew like crazy. On the hottest afternoons, I covered the plants with white 'floating row cover', attaching the nearly weightless fabric to the top of the green wire fence at the back with 22 ga. wire, like sewing. When not in use, the cover sheet hung over the back.

The fabric was removed after seedlings were higher than the fence, the young plants looking viable. Then we had two weeks of 100+ degree days, as high as 114 F, and they were not fazed. Just add water.....

note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again (not on smartphones). 

	June 24		sunflowers at the back, July 4		first flowers on July 13
				first sunflower

Zinnias & sunflowers thrive in full sun.  In mid-July, six weeks after seeding, the summer flower show began. 

	Rouge Royale, July 16				first full bloom on July 24
						a knockout flower
			like granny's garden		sunflower seeds
		on lamb's ears				on dymondia, see note 1
			August 7		Aug. 21

note 1 - dymondia is a dense low-growing "step-able" ground cover plant, drought-tolerant, with an attractive grey-green color & intricate texture. 

About Zinnias - when flowers are cut for display, replacements come fast & keep getting taller. The Aug 21 photo shows this effect, the Zinnias nearly bursting out of the box ! This was my first time growing Zinnias, although my wife had 3 or 4 successful years growing Zinnias when the planter box was in a different part of the yard. 

About sunflowers - Rouge Royale has true-red, medium-size blooms which quickly gain mass as seeds develop the healthy oil, and older flowers start to droop, and the tall plants tend to lean forward. The stunning flowers are somewhat short-lived, but flowers just keep coming, getting smaller over time. 

In 2018, both yellow bloomers below had sturdy stalks, even with giant flowers, that lasted a long time.

	Honey Bear
		Teddy Bear

Sunflowers are easy to grow from seed. Our first success was a single Honey Bear plant in a large ceramic pot, 4 ft. high & it produced a handful of spectacular flowers, during the hottest two months. There are also dwarf varieties, intended for patio gardens. 

It is always good to browse at a nursery for seeds of newer varieties of standard flowers. Rouge Royale was a recent variety, and the packet of seeds was purchased only a few days before planting.

Gardening (and landscaping) is & will always be an experiment !  

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