Gardening Tips

Posted on by capentalc

I read that blogs should give something of value to the readers, something for them to walk away feeling that they learned something. I realized that my blog doesn’t have interesting tidbits to share, it’s mostly about me gushing over my flowers.

So…today, I will share three tips I learned while growing and developing my garden.

“PEWTER PINK” reblooming daylily
“STRAWBERRY CANDY” reblooming daylily

1. Home Depot or any large local home improvement centers are your friends. I’ve read several books that say don’t get your plants from large retailers that don’t specialize in plants but I completely disagree. Sometimes they have the best selection of plants at a much lower cost than the specialty garden centers. A lot of these plants are in small pots and are usually begging to be saved from their pots. I love rescuing plants and I don’t mind the small sizes of plants. I have saved many near death plants from the clearance sections! I always feel a great sense of pride when they sprouted new leaves. This would be a great place for you to start plant collection if you don’t mind the work.

Imperialis cornflower

2. If you have a broken branch/stem you can still save it from death. I had a broken dahlia stem because my dog trambled on a stem that had my first dahlia. The stem was not completely broken but mostly broken. Not wanting anything to go to waste, I tried re-attaching the stem by leaning it up in the position that it would normally grow, with the cut closed, and tied it so that overtime the cut would grow back into its original stem. Then you water the plant again to make sure the water gets to the broken stem to hydrate it while it fights for its return to life!

“RUBY SPIDER” daylily

3. Walk, don’t run. This will ensure that you don’t hurt yourself somehow.

“BLUE EYES” fuchsia
Hibiscus

Ha ha ha! Did you think that last tip was the real gardening tip? It COULD be so that you don’t hurt yourself in the garden but it’s not meant to be my third tip. Here is the third tip:

3. Plants that are in small pots need more water and nutrients than larger pots. If you keep it in a small pot, you will need to feed it more. Water and nutrients drain away quickly so it needs to be replenished. I had a small 2-inch potted seedling once and noticed that it was alive but not thriving. I re-potted it in a larger pot and gave it some fertilizer. Within days it was boosted with more leaves and taller stems. The larger pot held more nutrients for longer to feed the plant and allowed its roots to spread out. Be careful that you don’t put it in a ridiculously ginormous pot too big for the plant. It can become waterlogged and kill it.

Plumbago
Alstroemeria

Those are my gardening tips today. I hope you enjoyed the flowers I have in my garden this week. Have a great week!

Hibiscus

A Bevy of Flowers

Posted on by capentalc

Today I thought I should start creating and eventually print a gardening book that will contain all the flowers I showcased in this blog and more that I couldn’t post before. I would put in tips on how to care for them and where to plant. It would be overloaded with pictures of beautiful flowers.

Basically, it is going to be a book I want to use as my go-to gardening book. I have so many gardening books but they are not comprehensive enough or tailored to the plants I love to grow. I want to combine it with pictures of my plants that I love. It would be an eye-candy book for the flower gardener. There are not many books out there that fit my needs for a comprehensive flower gardening book in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

So that’s going to be in the works in the future. For now, let’s look at this week’s favorite flowers.

Fiji Island Hibiscus

This four inch pot produces the biggest hibiscus flower I’ve ever seen. It’s bigger than my hand. It is such a beauty! I am in love!

Twilight Zone Rose

Princesses Charlene de Monaco

My very first rose from this plant so I am super enamored by this. What a beautiful shade of peach and pink!

Chicago Peace Rose

This is the first year that this bush has produced the best number of roses all at once. For the past 2 years it eeked out about 2-3 for a whole year and they were never perfectly shaped. This here, showed I have at least 7!

Linaria “Licilia Peach”

Abutilon “Blushing Belle”

Dondo Blue Ageratum

This is a great plant that I grew from seeds in the spring of 2020 and it still alive and happy today. Beautiful purple color!

Hollyhock Indian Spring

I grew these from seeds last spring and it has finally flowered for the first time.

Cranberry Hibiscus

This tree was grown from seeds 3 years ago. It’s a beautiful cherry colored tree. The flowers opens for a few hours in the early part of the day. By the time I get home from work it had already closed.

Peach Orange Lion-tail Hibiscus

“Fruit Punch” Poppy

I’ve had this plant for three Spring seasons now. It is alive all year long but flowers only in the spring. The color is spectacular every time. This year seems to be a little slow going for it though as this is the second one so far. I normally get at least 5 or 6 by now.

Okay, this picture of my dog Hunter is so cute that I have to share. He used the toy as a chin rest after he chewed the heck out of it! I love him!

Bye now! Have a good day!

Columbines, Statice, Schizanthus, Linaria, and more

Posted on by capentalc

In this post I have a lot of plants I grew from seeds. There are many that I grew from the end of winter that have not flowered yet but these below are some very quick growing ones.

Columbines

This year Columbine is my favorite flowers to grow. I tried planting several seeds and also purchased a few. The two below are plants I purchased at a local nursery. My seedlings are still so small and have not flowered yet.

Yellow Statice

The color of this statice cannot be captured here accurately. It is more of a light goldenrod color and very unusual. Unfortunately, this picture shows that it is beige rather than yellow. This one was grown last year or maybe the year before that but it was hidden under some plants so I did not get to see much of it. I cleared the area and now it has more beautiful stems.

Schizanthus “Angel Wings”

These little darlings are like tiny snapdragons with cute little flecks of color in the center. It prefers partial shade and is supposed to bloom for several weeks. The stems are about 8-9 inches tall. It is also known as “poor man’s orchid”. I grew these from seeds without any problems and no pests tried to eat it.

Clarkia “Elegant Salmon”

This Clarkia is also adorable and tiny. It just has one stem with ONE flower so far. I am rather enamored with its flowers though. The shape is a bit unusual. I tell you, God made some of the most AMAZING flowers on Earth! I am constantly in awe of His creations!

Linaria “Licilia Peach”

This linaria is also grown from seeds and is not susceptible to pests eating the seedlings. They ate tiny, tiny little flowers though so you would have to zoom your eyeballs to look at these. It’s a keeper. I hope it re-seeds.

Takane Ruby Buckwheat

These buckwheat grown from seeds are also flowering but they are quite miniscule. I was dreaming of a field full of pink buckwheat instead I have a few tendrils. I heard that buckwheat helps improve soil so I am trying to grow more of them. I have several plants spread out all over in my yard. Hopefully after it flowered it will spread more seeds.

Morning Glory Tree

I know this is not a seedling I grew from seeds but it is so beautiful it deserved to be mentioned this morning.

Have you ever seen a prettier pinky – lavender color? Oh, sooooooooo cute! I am in love! I purchased this one a few months ago and I finally got around to planting it. I hope it survives our heat waves in the summer.

That’s all the flowers for this post! I have a few cosmos that I grew from seeds, maybe I can show you next time. See you soon!