Purple Giant Alliums

I've always loved these big purple ball flowers.  My sister has a bunch in their yard.  She has the smaller version of these flowers though.

These are called Alliums.  These are spring to early summer blooming flowers which is easy to grown when there's good drainage soil and full sun for them in your garden.

This is the first year I had these flowers in my garden.  I didn't read the planting instructions so I think I might have planted them too closely together.

Below are pictures of the bloom of these flowers.

They are pricey bulbs but they are just so pretty.  I just love them.  So far they seem to be pretty long lasting because other flowers in my garden which bloomed at the same time seem to have wilted already.

My sister also planted scallions and onions in her yard.  They look similar...maybe because they are in the same onion family?  But I believe the steams looks different and also the colors of the flower might be white. I got to try it since I've always have unused onions or scallions that goes bad which I can just throw into my garden.

Anyone planted Alliums?  What are some things I should look for in caring for them?  And has anyone tried planting scallions and onions?  Let me know!

Crochet Cactus, Flowers, and Succulents

Everyone knows cactuses and succulents are extremely easy to take care of and to keep alive.  But if some of you disagree check out my recent post on my crafts blog and make something that look like these plants and they can never die!!  Aren't they cute?

Check out site here: http://allmyfuncrafts.blogspot.com/2013/01/crochet-cactus-flowers-and-succulents.html

Echeveria 'Black Prince' Bloomed

My Black Prince had finally bloomed. The flowers are red and they are just beautiful.

Due to the frost and cold days we are now having in New England my Echeverias and other succulents are now currently indoors. And once I got my Black Prince indoors that is when it started to bloom.

I heard that now that my Black Prince is indoors it’s not going to get as much sunlight as before...and it might turn the color green. I'm excited to see how that would turn out. I will keep you guys all updated.

Another picture of my Orostachys Iwarenge (Chinese Dunce Cap)

This is a small cutting of the Chinese Dunce Cap.  It never grew that big but it did finally bloomed. Here's a close up. The flowers is prettier for some reason.

My Orostachys Iwarenge (Chinese Dunce Cap) has bloomed

My Chinese Dunce Cap succulents had bloomed! To my surprise they weren't that pretty. Since the succulent itself is beautiful I thought the flowers would look pretty nice too...I was wrong. I actually didn't even know it flowered until I looked at it closely one day.

The flowers are tiny and white.

 

Also my plant was infested with these tiny black greyish bugs. I'm not sure if you can see them in these pictures. When I purchase these Chinese Dunce Caps I noticed a couple of them but had gotten rid of them with a water and gentle soap. Now these bugs are all reappearing again. I tried the soap solution again but it's not working. Is the solution not strong enough? Any suggestion what else I can use to get rid of these pest? Or tell me what kind of pest they are? I did hose it down and most of them got flushed off but not all of them. Ugh! I hate insects!

Harvesting Zinnia Seeds

Mid-September and my Zinnias are still blooming. They are so pink andpretty. And because of them I still have some color in my garden. I want to tryto harvest the Zinnia seeds this year.

Look at all the Zinnias

I did a little research and here are the steps in harvesting these seeds.

1) You need to locate the dried seed heads from your zinnia plant. If theZinnias in your garden are mixed colors you might want to separate thedifferent seeds so next year you can plant the colors you want. The seed headsare the center of the color. Once dried, they should be brown and most of the petalshave fallen off.

2) You need to test the pod to make sure the seeds are mature. Break apartthe seed head with your fingers and the seeds should fall out easily into yourhands. The seeds should look like little arrow heads.

3) Each seed head will have hundreds of seeds. So collect as many dried seedheads as you wish and share the extras with your friends and family. Placeseeds in a bag or a container to keep them cool a dry. Don't forget to labelwhat you've collected.

4) Around 4-6 weeks before last frost you can start your seeds indoors orsow seeds outside after last frost.

I don't have much seed heads yet. So I'm going to wait for a couple moreweeks and I will then try to harvest them. I will post pictures of the processonce I get to it.

Anyone out there harvest Zinnia seeds before? Are the instructions listedabove accurate? Anything else I should be doing? If there is please let me know!

Seed head here but I don't think it's completely dried yet

 

 

Orostachys Iwarenge - Chinese Dunce Cap

I brought these succulent at my local nursery this summer. I feel in love with the small blue grey rosettes. I planted this succulent in one of my hypertufa container that I've made. It worked well in the container.

 

Early August I've noticed the middle of the roseletts started to grow outward.

 

These pictures below were taken today. After doing some research I found out this succulent is starting to flower. I believe they will start to turn into pinkish conical spires. These spires can reach up to 6 inches tall. And the flowers will be pink and white. The sad part is that after flowering the plant will die. How upsetting. Hopefully it will self-sow so I will continue to have these beautiful flowers again next year.

 

Anyone else have these succulents?  Do they really come back from seeds the following year?  Please let me know!

Update on Parent's Garden

Here are some more blooms in my parent's garden. You can see they have hypertufa containers...they are similar to mine. That's because my sister and I made them. I will post pictures of mine and talk about them more later in another post. For now...enjoy the pictures.

Disco Belle Mix Hibiscus

Went to Wilson Farms in Lexington, MA for the first time last weekend.  Turns out it was corn feast that weekend.  There were so many corn there.  It was so freah and so sweet.  I believe it was around 4 or many 5 dollars a dozen.  Of course I had to get a dozen.

The main reason why I was there that weekend was to use up my Groupon.  At first I thought this was a nursery.  I spent $15 dollars for a $30 certificate.  I was really hoping to add more plants to my garden.  I ended only getting two.  I got a Disco Belle Mix Hubiscus.  I always wanted a Hubiscus.  And another annual plant.  I'll talk about that plant some other time.

Look at how pretty the flowers are. They are so big and round.

These flowers grow all summer long. Since this is a mix I should be getting three different colors in one. Which is great because at the time I was having a hard time deciding which color to get? These are pest-free and I was told was easy to grow in full sun and moisture rich soil. It offers nonstop flowers even during the heat wave! Yah!

Some facts about this Disco Belle Mix Hibiscus:

• hardy perennial in zones 5-10
• blooms early summer - early fall
• bloom colors are mix, pink, red, rose, white
• light requirement is full sun
•  needs to be moist and well drained
• they are heat tolerant, pest resistant and performs good in humidity

So what's not to like about this plant right?  I will take more pictures and share with you all once I get this Hibiscus planted.

(Updated 8/15/12 pictures)

Flowers from preschool - Zinnias

The seeds my daughter planted from preschool bloomed. I currently don't have the name of the flower...I'll try to find out and provide you guys an update later.

All flowers are pink but I've noticed they all look somewhat different, shades of colors and the way they are formed.  The steams are very fuzzy.

And a great thing about these plants is the animals have no interest in them...unlike my morning glories that they love to chew up so much.



Enjoy the pictures!

(Update: 8/14/12: These flowers are called Zinnias. I have a lot more bloom now. And I have to say...the blooms last a long time too. I just wished that the ones we planted were in all different colors and not just shade of pink. Check out the latest pictures below)

My Morning Glory Flowers

One of my sisters threw some morning glory seeds around the front of my house this summer. It's been growing pretty fast but at the same time it's been getting eaten pretty fast too. Now that summer is winding down, whoever been eating my plants, hasn't been returning as much. Now I can actually enjoy the flowers.

(Picture above) At first I couldn't figure out what's been eating my plants. Some said it might be insects. But can insects eat so much at a time and also make such precise cuts? I've been seeing lots of rabbits and chipmunks around. I think it might be animals eating my plants.



(Picture above) Poor plants. Bottom of my plant gets chopped off so the rest of the plant up dies with it. It took so long for it to climb up that pole too. I was really looking forward in seeing the plant bloom. Oh well...

(Picture above)  See...something is munching on my plants.

(Picture above) Finally...some made it through the feast the animals were having. So pretty! The colors of the flowers look purpler in person. I'm not sure why the camera turns it blue.

(Picture above) See how fast they grow back? They grow like weeds! Some people do consider these plants as weeds.

(Picture above) This little one never had the luck in having flowers. This one was planted away the fence so maybe that gives the animals easier access.

(Pictures above) The flowers are getting ready to bloom. I just love how they look. For those who are not familiar with Morning Glories, they unravel into full bloom early in the morning. And they start to die or fade in the afternoon. They will start to curl back. Each bud or flower blooms once.

(Picture above) Again, more munching. Anyone out there knows how to prevent animals from chewing up your garden? Please let me know!

Pretty Red Flowers

I took some pictures at my parent's garden again. I just love these red flowers. They all started to bloom in the last couple of weeks. Aren't they pretty? Sorry but I do not know the name of them.