Best Flowers of 2022

Posted on by capentalc

As we finish off 2022, I’d like to showcase all of my favorite flowers that were mentioned in the blog for the past year. It was an AMAZING year of beautiful flowers again! Before posting this I thought I wasn’t going to have as many beautiful flowers as I’ve had in the past but after perusing my photo collection, I realized I was wrong. I haven’t had an abundance of blooms on many plants but each plant gave me enough flowers to fawn over. I am so excited about all the successes I’ve had with new varieties of seeds and plants that I experimented with in 2022.

Most of the plants I have here are hibiscuses (my #1 favorite), lilies, roses, camellias, bearded irises, ranunculus, and daffodils. Other favorites are fuchsias, anemones, poppies, alstroemerias, brugmansias, statices, abutilons, peonies, and geraniums. New plants this year are ornamental kale, orchids, buckwheats, didiscus, linarias, lisianthus, dianthuses, salvias, cleomes, strawflowers, gomphrenas, voodoo lily, powder puff, and gloriosa lilies. I won’t list the plants I’ve showcased here but send me a message if you’re dying to know certain plants from each groupings.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

This concludes my 2022 flower collection. So many beautiful colors, shapes, and forms. All of the beauties in this year of flowers are once again attributed to the creativeness of our GREAT and WONDERFUL FATHER, who blessed me and you with the ability to see them. Have a happy 2023 and may your world be as beautiful as these!

Merry Christmas

Posted on by capentalc

Today on Christmas Eve we are hosting a party for extended family who we have not seen in a long time. About half of them told us yesterday that they willl be coming! Luckily they will be bringing some food too so I think we will be okay. Hopefully everyone is enthusiastic about seeing my garden which most have not seen in a very long time!

Wherever you readers and followers of my blog are, I wish you an abundantly blessed Christmas holiday. May you be blessed with good health, joy, and peace.

More on Ornamental Kale

Posted on by capentalc

This is the year of ornamental kale.

I grew a pink ornamental kale two years ago but this year I grew several different kinds. They are called the Lucir White and Kale Crane varieties in pink, red, and white.

I wrote about some that were in my Ornamental Kale post a few weeks ago. Ones in this post were mostly planted in the front yard. 

I have never seen anyone grow these or any garden centers carry them. It takes a really long time for them to get to this flowering stage.  It gets better and better each day. The colors and size intensify as the weather gets colder. These kale have been growing from seeds since January this year.  The colors are exquisite and in all the pink and cream shades that I love. 

The branches can get pretty leggy and they tend to circle around on the ground like a snake as visible in the picture below.  I was supposed to give them some kind of support so that they would stand but that’s too much work. These could be cut into bouquets but I’d rather they stay outside and enjoy for a lot longer.

The one below is larger than the size of my hand and as you can see the color pink is particularly vibrant here.

I also have an amazing, sultry, burgundy-red camellia in bloom right now called “Night Rider”. I’ve never seen one more beautiful! It blooms in the winter. This is the second year in the ground and there are a lot of buds getting ready to bloom.

Last of all is this beautiful orchid. Isn’t that awesome? I normally like to buy small seedling orchids because they are cheaper and I don’t mind that they take a couple of years before they bloom. I splurged on this one and bought it “in spike”, which means ready-to-bloom-any-minute-now!  I could die a thousand deaths for these flowers any day! 

Okay, no more gushing. That’s all I have for now. Go out there and enjoy the weekend before Christmas! Have a wonderful weekend!