I Must Do This Again Next Year
Remember how I dressed up the garage window with my collection of flowerpots filled with a variety of begonias? They did really well all summer, I only had to water them once a week or so, even with all the hot weather. I’m thinking I may need to move the shelf a little lower as the plants got a little taller than expected. The one on the end got too big for it’s pot and flopped over.
I’ll definitely be doing this again next summer since I loved it so much and it was quite easy to take care of. I’ll be trying some smaller begonias or moving the shelf down.
Do you have any annuals you use each year in your garden? Anything you do from year to year to dress up your garden or home?
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Dark Purple Columbine Seeds
The first year we moved in here at Chiot’s Run, I planted seeds for this dark purple columbine, it’s bloomed beautifully each year since. It seeds itself freely about the gardens, but not to the level of being invasive. I have little purple columbines that grow up all over the place, some where I want them, some where I don’t, like in the driveway. Mostly I don’t bother pulling them up, since columbine blooms so early in the spring I enjoy every plant I have.
Columbines set seed in these interesting little pods. They sound like little maracas when you touch the plant. They’re quite interesting, even when they’re no longer blooming.
On Sunday afternoon I spent some time cutting all the seed heads off of my dark purple columbine. I ended up with thousands upon thousands of seeds, way more than I need. I sprinkled some along the edges of the woods where I want to get them started and I saved a few for my mom. Since I have so many extra seeds, I figured I’d give some away. I have 5 packets of seeds available, so comment below and I’ll pick 5 winners.
Do you save seeds from your flowers from year to year?
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Beauty in the Garden
It seems like every week something new catches my eye in the garden, a new combination of plants, or perhaps the way a few plants are working together as they mature. Often it’s the free-seeding plants that tend to plant themselves in the most wonderful places. Nature does a wonderful job of coming up with some beautiful combos. This week I’m really loving the way my liatris and nicotiana look together.
Both of these plants are volunteers, meaning they seeded themselves down in this location, I did not plant them here. Neither were planted here originally or together on purpose. You’d never know it though the way they work together. The funny thing is that the nicotiana seeded itself around my gardens and everywhere it comes up in different shades that perfectly coordinate with the plants around it.
I noticed that the pollinators are loving this combo of plants as much as I am. The bees and butterflies love the liatris and the hummingbirds really like the nicotiana. They’re always abuzz with activity.
I love volunteer plants, especially ones like this that aren’t really invasive and are easy to remove when they crop up in unwanted locations.
What are you loving in your garden at the moment?
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‘The Watchman’ Hollyhock
Last year I purchase some seeds from Botanical Interests for ‘The Watchman’ Hollyhock. I mean how can you not want to grow a flower in your garden described as “towers of black satin”. Thomas Jefferson grew these in his gardens at Monticello, and now that I have one blooming I can clearly see why.
Last year I attempted to start the seeds, but didn’t get any germination or so I thought. I emptied the containers that contained the seeds into the front flowerbed and I noticed a week or two that one of the hollyhocks was black. I guess one of them germinated sometime last summer. You may remember that I used the floating method, which worked wonderfully. I was able to get 4 of the seeds to germinate. That means I’ll have more of these in my garden next summer (hollyhocks rarely bloom the same year they’re started unless they’re started very early).
This is how ‘The Watchman’ is described: From a distance, the dark color of The Watchman is as black as the moonless night sky, but on closer inspection you can see its rich purplish burgundy cast. In 1629, John Parkinson described black hollyhocks as being of a dark red like black blood. Thomas Jefferson grew them at his Monticello estate and loved them nearly as much as he did his roses. Seductive towers of flowers for bees and butterflies, they make an excellent backdrop for pink, red, yellow, or white flowers, and fences. (Botanical Interests)
These dark blooms will be a wonderful addition to my front foundation border. I think they’ll look particularity wonderful with my greenish white ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea and all the other pink and purple flowers that dominate this space.
Do you have any dark flowers in your garden?
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Dressing up a Garage Window
I’ve always loved window boxes and have wanted a few for the longest time. We’ve never installed any, we’ve just lacked time to make them. This spring I decided that I’d at least like to dress up the garage window with some annuals in pots. Since we didn’t have time to make a proper window box, I had Mr Chiots move a shelf that used to house birdhouses from the back of the garage to the front window. Then I potted up a few annuals in a variety of pots from my collection. With a few minutes of work the garage window looks 10 times better. I may use this idea on others windows on the house after seeing how well this works throughout the summer. I’ll see how much watering needs done and how the shelf holds up to the weather.
At first, I wasn’t sure if I’d like it as much as a proper window box, but now that it’s finished I think I like it more. I love the little details with all the different shapes, sizes and colors of pots. It’s a great way to use all those pots I’ve been collecting throughout the years and was storing in the garage.
I filled the pots with a few different kinds of begonias. They’re perfect for this shady spot and they’ll bloom all season long. I may try to keep starts of these in the basement so I can save some money next spring.
For less than $10 in plants, I think this really dresses up the window on the garage! It makes me smile every time I pass by heading to the back garden.
Do you use potted plants or window boxes for added color in the garden?
