"You know you are a hard-core gardener if you deadhead flowers in other people's gardens."
–Sue Careless
8/19/16:
One aspect of caring for a garden that I've neglected somewhat is deadheading. I used to figure that, in general, spent blossoms would fall off naturally and new buds would spring up on the stems. I'd occasionally clean up the roses and a few other plants where unsightly brown petals would otherwise stay on the plant until the wind blows them away. But after reading on this topic recently, I realize that I need to manually remove dead flower heads (on many plants, not just the rosebushes) for maximum bloom time. So this past week, I've been addressing the daisies, chrysanthemums, columbine, petunias, crocosmia, geraniums and snapdragons. I'm saving the more colorful and fragrant petals for making potpourri soon.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a larger version.
Petals for potpourri.
Shasta Daisy.
Enjoying my new book.
For my birthday a few days ago, I got a great present from Steve: a big gardening book that focuses on our region, the Central California Coast. While I spend hours a week reading about gardening through Twitter posts, and other blogs and online resources, it's quite nice to have a physical book to leaf through while sitting under the patio umbrella on a sunny afternoon.
Speaking of sunshine, however, there has not been as much of it during the past 10 days. Some of my plants appreciate the misty, dewy mornings; and I think the lawn's gotten greener after having a bit of moisture in between my twice-a-week waterings. But the tomatoes and peppers need lots of sun to produce at their best, so I hope we'll have many more days of bright heat mixed in with the foggy times as summer continues.
Hint of lavender on white viola petals.
3 buds are opening.
Cyclamen.
I chose to focus on yellow and white flowers for this week's blog photos, since there are a variety of these currently blooming around the yard. I seem to have better luck getting a sharp-focused shot with a decent density range and richer color when it's overcast out. It's fun to always have my phone or tablet with me as a camera when out in the garden, and so far I've kept from watering either device or getting (a large amount of) dirt on them. I'd like to put together a calendar with 12 of my best images someday, if it's not too expensive to produce and make available to other interested flower enthusiasts.
