This summer, I have been extremely impressed with Lavatera tauricensis. This plant was not supposed to be hardy in my Zone 6 garden. I think it’s listed as a Zone 7 minimum. I had grown some in California, from seeds bought from Thompson & Morgan. The ones in California produced some seed, which I brought…
So, like I posted earlier today, I went and got some clear plastic cups for planting some cuttings. I drilled a hole in the bottom of each one for drainage and filled each halfway with peat moss and perlite. Probably about 30% perlite. I took cuttings from a very nice looking yellow specimen of Gaillardia…
Today I was at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, seeing all the flowers that are still blooming well at this time of summer. I’m thinking of replanting my flowerbeds next spring, perhaps with more summer annuals, especially in the backyard. Here are some good flowers to consider for next year, from what I…
I’m having some troubles trying to grow some flowers and trees from cuttings. I have succeeded before in getting cuttings of flowers and shrubs to grow by putting them in one-gallon pots with a plastic bag over them to keep the moisture in. I dipped the stems in rooting hormone and planted them in peat…
My garden hit its peak bloom about a week ago. Now several flowers are in decline, especially in the back flowerbed. Here’s a list of what I can remember off the top of my head: Shasta daisies are starting to shrivel up. I’m going to cut off the heads and see how much rebloom I…
I fertilized the lawn today. It was about a month overdue. I also sprayed Malathion on my apples and nectarines and then sprayed a small remaining amount on some flowers that had too many grasshoppers recently. Yesterday, I sprayed the rose hedge with “bloom booster” fertilizer as a foliar feeding. Those roses are actually finally…
I bought some chelated iron to spray on my maple that has chlorosis. It’s a 4.5% solution of EDDHA iron (that’s the kind of iron molecule it is derived from, which matters for our alkaline soils if I use it as a soil treatment). I sprayed it on the tree today, and we’ll see if…
Tonight, I finally did it. I got the city irrigation water connection all the way hooked up to my sprinkler system, and it’s running. This is awesome! No more $200 water bills in the summer! Now I get all the water I need for about $30 a month. Also, I discovered a few more flowers…