“The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.”
– Vita Sackville-West
7/5/17:
New today: the GreenWise Gardening Resources page! I’ve wanted for a while now to properly organize the helpful links to guides, infographics, databases, maps, apps and communities that I’ve found over the past 2 years, along with any downloadable resources I create myself. There’s not much on the page yet, but more will be added at least once a week.
In preparation for writing up a guide to making potpourri, I’m experimenting more with flower-drying. It turns out that mixing silica crystal cat litter in with a small bowl of petals speeds up the drying nicely. Another discovery: some flowers dry prettily, but their scents aren’t pleasant, making the potpourri’s fragrance musty or cloying. Marigolds and Shasta daisies are a couple of these.
In preparation for writing up a guide to making potpourri, I’m experimenting more with flower-drying. It turns out that mixing silica crystal cat litter in with a small bowl of petals speeds up the drying nicely. Another discovery: some flowers dry prettily, but their scents aren’t pleasant, making the potpourri’s fragrance musty or cloying. Marigolds and Shasta daisies are a couple of these.
Clicking on the small images below will bring up a larger version.
Drying flowers.
Delicate little lily.
Oleander.
Various lilies are blooming now, and orange crocosmia. I’m picking these and other flowers for colorful bouquets. In our front hedge, the escallonia has concluded a bloom cycle, while the oleander (Nerium) beside it has become covered in candy-striped buds that open to pale pink flowers. Dark red geraniums are popping up at the top of the hedge. Clusters of blackberries are ripening. And the honeysuckle, jasmine and rosemary are just getting taller and bushier every day. I should trim all this back again, but will wait until after our Independence Day party tomorrow.
In preparation for the event, I watered everything yesterday and tidied up the pathways. I will enjoy observing friends appreciating our nice yard; most of it except the brownish, weed-filled lawn is in good condition at the moment. There’s still a hole in the hedge area along the fence, where dead privet bushes were removed, but at least the ivy gives this space some ground cover. Steve had the great idea of eventually putting a birdbath there.
In the vegetable patch, a few of the lettuces have bolted and have little yellow flowers on top. Some of the radishes have also gotten quite tall, but when I pull them up, there isn’t a round bulb: just a red root as narrow as the stems. I want to do a bit of research and find out what’s going wrong here. The tomatoes and peppers have small green fruit, and the leaves aren’t getting chewed up as much these days. Herbs are also growing well. I’m looking forward to picking the basil when it gets taller, and making my BLT Appetizer.
In preparation for the event, I watered everything yesterday and tidied up the pathways. I will enjoy observing friends appreciating our nice yard; most of it except the brownish, weed-filled lawn is in good condition at the moment. There’s still a hole in the hedge area along the fence, where dead privet bushes were removed, but at least the ivy gives this space some ground cover. Steve had the great idea of eventually putting a birdbath there.
In the vegetable patch, a few of the lettuces have bolted and have little yellow flowers on top. Some of the radishes have also gotten quite tall, but when I pull them up, there isn’t a round bulb: just a red root as narrow as the stems. I want to do a bit of research and find out what’s going wrong here. The tomatoes and peppers have small green fruit, and the leaves aren’t getting chewed up as much these days. Herbs are also growing well. I’m looking forward to picking the basil when it gets taller, and making my BLT Appetizer.