Category Archives: Gloriosa Daisy

September 15, 2019 · 6:45 pm

TINY TREASURES

I was raised by depression era parents.

They were not over the top tight

But let’s just say I never leave a room

Without turning off the lights.

They were however

Extravagant in all the right places.

Loving, giving, sharing.

I’m a lucky lady.

What I experienced in childhood

Shows up over and over again

In my garden.

I guess that’s what you can attribute

My seed collecting to.

I simply can’t throw anything away

That might turn into a plant

In someone else’s garden.

The problem is

In a garden the size of mine

That’s a ton of seeds.

You can’t just let them all drop to the ground

Or your garden will become

Even more of a jungle.

Now seeds are generally tiny

So you would think I’d have room

To store endless amounts.

That’s what I thought

Till it got totally out of control.

Last spring

I dug all of my seeds out

From the places I’ve stashed them

And put them in these clear jars.

Plants like Purple Coneflower

And Gloriosa Daisies

Are just too big

Or too prickly

For the space I have.

Luckily my friend Martha

Has five acres that she is planting

To flowers for pollinators.

We garden together at Faith Farm

Twice a week.

So I’ve been taking

Grocery sacks full of deadheads

To her for the past several weeks.

I love finding good homes for things.

Right now my potting bench

Is covered with German Bearded Iris

Waiting to go back in the ground.

Some will go here

Others still need a home.

Zinnias are drying

Along side dahlias.

Dahlias are a new challenge for me.

I really don’t know what I’m doing with them yet.

Much research ahead of me.

So what do I do with all of this.

Some goes into my garden

But most are

“Up for adoption”.

Because there is only

So much Larkspur

And Cockscomb

A garden can handle.

I hope you will come by my house

This fall and make a few selections

From my seed inventory.

Because seeds need to be spread around

And given homes

Where they can take root.

Loving, giving, sharing.

Thanks Mom and Dad.

Gail

PASSING IT ON

I consider myself very fortunate to have a garden.

It’s the place I go to work

Get sweaty

And think things through.

Or as my dad used to say

“To think the long thoughts.”

Lately it seems I need that place

The “long thoughts” are occupying my mind

Much of the time.

Perhaps it’s a stage

Or my age

Or summer

When my schedule is a little freer

Than the rest of the year.

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One thing I do know

Is it’s important to pass this along

To the next generation.

As a toddler Elliott was by my side

In the garden

Then like all kids

He grew to want and need more freedom

And began to roam the neighborhood.

There were days in junior high

That I thought I had failed

To teach him to love the soil.

Not so

He’s grown into quite a capable gardener

Growing vegetables for their family

And flowers for Kristina to arrange

And share with friends.

I’m certain Elliott’s time on the farm

With my parents

Contributed to his deep appreciation

Of this earth.

So is it nature

Or nurture

I’ve wondered

As the next generation has come along

These past two years?

Can a child being raised in the center

Of a major city

Grow into an appreciation

Of the earth

And the things that can be learned there?

Even at two

It seems we have our answer.

Both Harper and Henry

Love being outside

Constantly wanting to check in on

Sally the salamander.

Who lives in the valve box

Of the park’s sprinkling system.

Or helping with Jojo’s “work”

In the yard.

Henry seems especially interested.

So perhaps it’s both.

Being born into a family

With dirt under their fingernails

On both sides.

Carrying the name of family members.

And watching their parents

Love and appreciate nature

And the gifts that God has given us all.

Gail

I’m home from vacation now and will get back to regular gardening stories soon.

Thanks for indulging m

2 Comments

Filed under cleome, Gardening, Gardening Mentors, Gloriosa Daisy, Grandchildren, Uncategorized

July 4, 2016 · 3:46 am

EDITING DAYS

You may not know this

But there are two “gardening deadlines”

Here in my Zone 7 garden

That fall on the 4th of July.

I’ve learned over the years

That the 4th of July is the last time

To plant Zinnias for fall bloom.

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I know

Most of you planted yours weeks

If not months ago.

In my over-planted piece of this planet

I don’t have space for Zinnias

Until I pull up the Poppies and Larkspur

That have gone to seed.

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Yesterday I went a little beyond just pulling up the dead stuff.

I went a little crazy.

My garden is now 11 years old.

As a result

It’s overgrown in may places.

So along with the waning Poppies and Larkspur

I dug up two Rose bushes

About a dozen blue Veronica Spicata

Several white Iris

Some Purple Coneflower

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An a lonely Gloriosa Daisy or two.

Normally, I wouldn’t excavate quite so much

Especially since I have no idea who will adopt these plants

So, I’ve taken a new approach.

Let’s call it the “Urban Dumpster Method”.

In cities if you want to get rid of something

Just lean it against your dumpster

It will disappear long before

The Sanitation Department has a chance.

So this afternoon

I put my garden abundance on the curb

With a sign saying

“Free Plants

Take what you want – need a sunny home”.

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When I last checked they were all still there.

I’m hoping for a swarm of midnight gardeners.

To take this stuff off my hands.

So I’ll feel good when I attack the rest of the garden

Tomorrow.

The second deadline has to do with mums.

If you have the old-fashioned kind

That grow and grow

This is the time to give them one last

Harsh trim

So that they will be thick and full

Come fall.

May have to fudge on this one a bit.

That’s what I love about gardening.

There’s always grace.

Gail

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3 Comments

Filed under Calla Lily, Gloriosa Daisy, Larkspur, Perennials, Purple Coneflower - Echinacea, roses, Uncategorized, Veronica Spicata, Zinnia

September 15, 2014 · 1:58 am

SEPTEMBER’S SONG

I have long loved fall.

You would think as a passionate gardener

That would not be the case

With the season winding down and all.

Certainly I know what is coming

An end will come with its inevitable freeze.

But here in the middle of September

Winter is still a bit out of reach.

And what a September it is.

Endless days of crisp air and sunshine.

This is the time of the year

That the garden slows

And so do I.

My weekend gardening days

Move at a more reasonable pace.

Which gives me time to observe.

Bumble bees in flight.

Baby praying mantis

Blending in with zinnia leaves.

Even a large praying mantis

Outside the kitchen window.

Orb spider spin their amazing webs.

Butterflies bask in the soft fall sun.

And peppers finally have their day.

This is also the time of year

That pots come into their own.

They begin to ooze over the side

With the fullness of the season.

I’m not great with annuals

But September makes me look like I know what I’m doing!

Plants that were cut back in mid summer

Are coming into full bloom again.

Smaller…more contained than their spring version

But just as lovely.

The last few years

I’ve taken a new look at fall

As a time to plant.

As I pull up things that are spent

Cockscomb mostly

I plant seeds in their place.

So mixed leaf lettuce, arugula and carrot seeds

All were planted today.

Not in tidy little rows

Like most vegetable gardens.

But in the empty spaces.

I know I’ve said it many times

But fall seems like the time to repeat

The value of taking time

To observe nature

It’s seasons

It’s changes

It’s lessons.

Enjoy the week,

Gail

2 Comments

Filed under Arugula, Bugs, Bumble Bee, Butterflies, Carrots, cockscomb, container gardening, Fall, Fall Vegetables, Gloriosa Daisy, Orb Spider, Peppers, Seeds, Uncategorized, Vegetables, Zinnia

June 23, 2014 · 1:49 am

MIRACLES

This morning’s sermon was about miracles.

A reminder of those familiar Bible stories

And a challenge to think about miracles

In life today.

For gardeners this is not really a challenge.

We spend our time observing nature

Digging in the dirt

(Sorry Daddy – soil)

And watching what are for me

Miracles everyday.

Who among us can turn this

into this?

Plant a seed or plant

and you end up with this…

or this…

It can’t possibly be what we do.

I for one, can’t even imagine how this happens

Yet it does.

Season after season.

Year after year.

Now there are weeds along the way.

This particular season it seems to be

Crab grass in my garden

And there are years when

Things don’t go as we hope and plan.

For instance it’s another year of limited hydrangea blooms.

But all in all

The miracles are there

Every day.

We just have to stop

And look

And open ourselves to see them

Everywhere.

Gail

4 Comments

Filed under Clematis, Gloriosa Daisy, Larkspur, Lilies, Miracles, Perennials, Poppy, roses, Seeds, self seeding annuals, Stella d Ora Daylily, Uncategorized

Tagged as Miracles

May 27, 2014 · 1:19 am

STARTING AND STOPPING

At long last we’re getting rain.

Not tons of it

But rain just the same.

Soft showers

Interspersed with real rain.

Throughout this long weekend.

So my gardening has followed the rain.

Starting and stopping

As the weather allows.

It’s actually nice.

Cool days

Soft soil

Perfect for weeding

And planting more seed.

So I’ve decided to run a little experiment.

Since we are having a bit cooler than usual spring.

I’m thinking I still have time to plant

Cool season seeds.

Lettuce – Arugula – Radishes – Bush Beans

I know

It’s way past time to plant these.

But I’m experimenting with a little

Micro climate vegetable gardening.

So…as I’ve weeded the edge of the garden

And along the paths

I’ve planted all of the above.

Some in sun like I’ve always done

And this year in dappled shady areas

To see if I can have fresh greens

Later into the season.

We’ll hope it works.

I’ll let you know.

And when it rained

I arranged flowers

In my friend Beth’s fun Fiesta pitchers.

And oh yes…

There was this.

While thunder rolled through the state

The Thunder rolled over the Spurs.

What a fun weekend!

Gail

P.S. I realize these pictures have nothing to do with the subject.

But pictures of seed packets and hoes just are all that much fun!

CLEANING HOUSE

Every gardener needs an unkept place.

A place to park your wheelbarrow,

And the city composting bins

And the stack of bricks

Leftover from the patio remodel.

And my compost tumbler

And the old potting bench

Lovingly built by John

Years ago at my first big garden.

And miscellaneous clay and plastic pots.

For me it’s the area behind my garden house.

And it really needed a good cleaning.

So this was the weekend.

It’s actually driven by the fact that

My garden house floor is littered with

Larkspur, Poppy and Hollyhock stems

That have been drying out for several weeks.

You see if you compost them when you first cut them back

You’ll be very sorry.

Seeds don’t actually break down in my compost

It just never gets hot enough.

So I dry out the stems and thus the seed pods.

Shake them out good

And save the seeds.

Only then is it safe to compost the stems.

If you do this too early

You’ll have compost full of seeds

Which will be like seeding your garden to Larkspur

Or Poppies or Cockscomb come fall.

When your garden is new

That’s not such a bad thing.

But if you keep doing that

Year after year.

Oh my

So the garden version of Dominoes began

On Saturday morning.

In order to make room in this area

For all this dried stuff.

It went like this.

Load up and haul away 2 years of plastic flats and little pots.

Luckily my favorite green house – the Garden House

Reuses these so I don’t have to add to the land fill.

Take bags of last spring’s leaves

To Loaves & Fishes for their new garden beds.

Thankfully John has learned never to put leaves on the curb.

They will find their composting home sooner or later.

Then dig up compost and take it to where I’ll be testing out

A fall vegetable garden spot.

Plant lettuce in the empty spaces

Along the edge of the garden.

Move some of those leftover brick to finally finish out my path.

How excited will the kids be next Easter

When they discover they can walk the path

Through the garden – end to end.

I haven’t had a day this productive

In months.

Tired hands.

Tired body.

Now this kind of work

Doesn’t really make for pretty garden pictures.

So I’ll just dot in a few

Without any real connection.

But as always

There seems to be a lesson here.

The beauty of a garden begins

Deep within the soil

Waiting for someone to come along

To care for it.

To nurture it.

To bless it.

Just like people.

Gail

Dahlia in Elliott & Kristina’s Garden

4 Comments

Filed under cockscomb, Compost, Dahlias, Dead Heading, Fall Vegetables, Garden House, Gloriosa Daisy, hollyhocks, Larkspur, late summer garden, Lettuce, Poppy, Seeds, Uncategorized

June 1, 2013 · 2:55 pm

THERE’S A BOBCAT IN MY GARDEN

There’s nothing more scary than

Heavy equipment in your garden.

We had known it was coming for months now.

The utility company is replacing all the lines in our old neighborhood.

Somehow we had escaped destruction in the garden

When they were in the neighborhood all last fall

Laying the main lines.

But now it’s time to connect each of us to the new main lines.

Fortunately, though it didn’t seem fortunate at the time,

We had discovered a gas leak shortly after moving into this house.

Actually our friend Clark figured it out

From the circle of dead grass in the middle of the backyard.

So we have a new connecting line

With the meter placed at the house.

The preferred location.

All of this is important because

The main line

And the connecting line

Intersect at the back of my garden.

I was told last Friday

That my number would be up on Tuesday.

So I didn’t dare leave home.

And shortly after 8 they began.

Around 11:30 I discovered

A Bobcat in my backyard

Heading straight for the garden.

Luckily after a quick conversation

They broke for lunch

And I began digging plants

Filling the wheelbarrow.

They even found a leftover Easter Egg.

Filled with chocolate.

Which every girl needs

At such a stressful moment!

Most of the things in their path

Were pretty strong plants.

Daylilies

Tall Garden Phlox

Gloriosa Daisies

Lamb’s Ear

There were however some more finicky items.

Hollyhocks whose tap roots don’t make transplanting much fun.

Alliums which I simply cut and hoped for the best.

And the greatest loss

Purple Poppies.

I’ve never had purple poppies before.

I spotted these last year in my friend Becky’s garden.

She was able to remember the source of the seeds.

So I ordered a supply.

Held on to them through the fall and early winter.

Actually remembered I had them

Then found them

And sprinkled them on the snow

One day last winter.

This, I have learned, is the most effective way to plant poppies.

I had a really good stand of them

And was looking forward to their blooming

Going to seed

And making lots of purple poppy babies.

But they were right smack dab in the wrong place

For the Bobcat.

So I quickly found some empty space.

Dug holes for their new home

Before I even dug them

Then dug them with as much dirt as possible.

And popped them into their new home

With a good quick drink.

Will they make it?

I don’t know.

Time will tell.

It is only fair to report

That the utility crew

Was as gentle as they could

When you’re digging a hole to China

In a garden

At the end of May.

O Blah Dee O Blah Da … Life Goes On.

Gail

2 Comments

Filed under Allium, Gloriosa Daisy, hollyhocks, Poppy, Seeds, self seeding annuals, Tall Garden Phlox, Uncategorized

June 9, 2012 · 2:03 am

GLORIOSA DAISY

There’s a reason someone named them Gloriosa Daisies.

They are glorious!

Or maybe it’s just sentimental on my part.

They are, after all, the first perennial I remember in my garden.

I remember the day very well.

It was December.

I was decorating for a party for Shirley Jones.

You know…of “Oklahoma” fame.

She was in town doing a concert.

The party was across the street from my friend Sally’s house.

Sally was well….distraught.

There was a backhoe in her garden.

Chewing things up.

She scooped up some plants and asked me to take them home.

They needed a safer place to reside.

So home we went.

Thus began my first perennial garden.

When they bloomed the next spring

I thought it was the most glorious thing.

Sally’s garden always has great patches of this bit of floral sunshine.

Now, all these years – decades – later I do too.

They begin blooming as the larkspur is waning.

The gold and blue combination is stunning every year.

Gloriosa or Rudbeckia if you like the Latin

Are easy to grow.

They like a sunny spot where they can become a small bush.

About the size of a peony.

They can get tall and fall over

So support is a good thing.

I put small portable green wire fencing around them.

Gro-Thru hoops also work.

If you deadhead them.

They’ll bloom off and on all season.

They are a good cutting flower.

Bringing the same sunshine to any arrangement.

Just be sure to remove the leaves below the water line.

And slit the stem and inch or two to increase water intake.

I don’t know what varieties I have.

We’ll call them Sally’s Mom’s Gloriosa.

Since that’s their lineage.

They do self seed and make lots of babies.

To share.

Most recently with Megan and Torry.

There is one variety I don’t recommend.

Rudbeckia Goldstrum.

The flowers are great.

But the root system is greedy.

It spreads into a giant mass.

It’s like digging up a tree to get rid of it.

Be warned.

As I look across my garden it occurs to me

That Gloriosas are like the exclamation point.

The patches here and there give accent to the colors around them.

Blasts of happy faces everywhere.

Just love this one.

Enjoy the week.

Gail

2 Comments

Filed under Bouquets, Dead Heading, Garden Planning, Gardening, Gardening;Perennials, Gloriosa Daisy, Gloriosa Daisy - Rudbeckia, Larkspur, Uncategorized

May 20, 2012 · 2:25 am

PASS ALONG PLANTS

One of the things I love about gardeners

Is there willingness to share.

I’ve mentioned this before.

Sharing is so prevalent

It’s even been given a name.

Pass Along Plants.

Sally’s Pass Along Larkspur

Most well-kept gardens

Produce babies.

Lots of them.

And there’s a need to find them each a good home.

At least that was true when I first started gardening.

After all I had been given plants by my friend Sally to start my garden.

I should certainly pay it forward

When the time came.

The truth is it’s impossible to find each seedling a new little bit of heaven.

But I still try.

Twice this season I’ve had the chance to share lots of plants.

First my friend Mary wanted to fill in some empty spaces in her flower beds.

She moved a few of her things around.

Divided some hostas

And dug from my garden.

Ferns, Gloriosas, Purple Coneflowers, Larkspur.

And a Rosebush which had a Helianthus growing up the middle.

Then last weekend Megan came.

Megan & her trunk full of plants

She got here as I was finishing up the big dahlia dig.

So she got a bit of this and a bit of that.

Ferns, Stella d’ Ora Daylilies, a mystery Day lily,

Two pieces that fell off one the Blushing Bride Hydrangeas.

They are real babies, but patience will reward her.

More Gloriosa Daisies, Purple Coneflowers, tall garden Phlox and Larkspur.

A Butterfly Bush

Dahlia tubers

Tiger lily bulbs that appeared in the mail without being ordered.

And volunteer Hellebores – which I’ve never had to offer before.

Then we hit the leftover seeds for more goodies.

We dug

And visited

And laughed

And remembered our “professional” gardening days together.

During her Junior High and High School days.

It gives new meaning to sharing.

Sharing gardens

Sharing lives.

The timing was perfect

Just as the Larkspur was hitting full stride.

Larkspur & Friend

The Larkspur growing from seeds given to me by Sally

Who got it from her mother.

Generations of plants ago.

Life is good.

Gardening makes it even better!

Gail

1 Comment

Filed under Dahlias, Ferns, Gardening, Gloriosa Daisy, HELIANTHUS, Hellebores, Hosta, Purple Coneflower - Echinacea, Seeds, Tall Garden Phlox, Uncategorized

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