• Great plants - Our Garden

    Ordered annual seeds today

    Today, I ordered seeds for two annuals from Thompson & Morgan. They are: California poppy ‘Summer Sorbet’ – pink flowers instead of the typical orange Cosmos ‘Double Click’ – a double-flowering cosmos I was reading some reviews at Dave’s Garden on the weekend, and it looks like people have a love-hate relationship with Thompson & Morgan. They love their selection but many are disappointed at the germination rates of their seeds. I’ve never noticed bad germination rates, but I usually throw a bunch of seeds in between moist paper towels sealed inside a ziploc bag, and it makes them germinate…

  • Our Garden

    A lot of garden clearing today

    Today, I spent quite a few hours working in the garden, mostly in the front yard. I collected seeds from my Salvia nemerosa ‘East Friesland,’ white coneflower, lance-leaved coreopsis ‘Mayfield Giant,’ and a tall flower that’s either salvia transylvanica or nepeta transcaucasica. Can’t remember which, because I have planted both. Those are names from the Thompson and Morgan catalog, but I can’t find them in the Sunset Western Garden Book. I’m going to look up some info on those plants online right now and I’ll post a follow-up entry if I find different names for them. I’m thinking what I collected was the salvia seeds,…

  • Our Garden

    Park Seed: Chives

    Hey, here’s another idea: Chives. Nice grassy clump, but also has cool flowers and can be used for cooking. Might want some of these. Park Seed: Chives – Chives is the essential kitchen herb.

  • Our Garden

    High Country Gardens

    High Country Gardens is a great source for info and photos of ornamental grasses that grow well in the west. I might find a variety on this site and then look for seeds somewhere else, since HCG is expensive. Drought Tolerant Plants, Perennials, and Xeriscaping for Western Gardens

  • Our Garden

    Bought seed starting supplies

    I bought some seed starting supplies at Wal-Mart tonight: a 72-cell “Jiffy” system that has the peat disks that you water and then they expand so you can plant seeds in them. We’ll see how it works. Also got 50 of the little miniature peat pots that I need to fill with potting soil and plant stuff in. These are the ones you can plant whole in the ground, without taking the plant out of the pot. I’m thinking I should get some seeds for decorative bunch grasses that I can plant up in the Aspen tree area. I’ll browse…

  • Great plants - Our Garden

    Thompson & Morgan catalog

    The Thompson & Morgan seed catalog arrived this month. It’s an awesome catalog, and it has so much information on each plant that you can use as a quick reference for many plants in your garden. I have ordered from them, and the seed is always great quality. They have some interesting varieties you often won’t see growing in the local nurseries. Some of the things I’ve gotten from them are: Catananche caerulea Nepeta transcaucasica Salvia transylvanica Salvia viscosa Malva sylvestris I like Thompson & Morgan quite a bit! And from the looks of those plants I listed above, I…

  • Our Garden

    Gardening in January?

    Today was so warm, I was out pulling weeds in my yard! Well, the ground is still mostly frozen, but I was able to pull out a lot of old, dead weeds from last summer. It was refreshing to be out in the garden again. I remember two winters ago, we had a warm January. It got up to 60-some degrees late that month. Very unusual. Everyone says Utah used to have more snow in the valleys years ago. We all wonder if global warming is occurring, or if we just have faulty memories. I think I’ll look up the…