Seed production and collection.

In my yard, everything is open pollinated. The bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies spread pollen from flower to flower. There's no telling what mix you might get from year to year. This is most evident in the black eyed susans. Early spring bloomers have started releasing their seed pods. Some have already been scattered around the yard. Some will be collected for trading. Most will be returned to the soil just before it rains for next year's plants.

Sweet Williams. I'm sending most of these to the backyard, especially the pink and white crape myrtle bed which needs some early color.



Columbines have already produced a lot of seed. Sown fresh, they will germinate this year and probably bloom next spring. I'm filling mostly shady spots with these plants.



Peonies. I've never grown peonies from seed, but I know it's possible. I might wintersow them, in summer.



Red Hot Pokers. There are a LOT of seeds on these two plants. I'll probably collect them instead of scattering them. People love these plants that start out looking like fine blades of grass. It takes 2 years for blooms from seed. Year three is where mine are now.



Poppies. I'll scatter them as soon as they are ripe. They'll germinate when it's time.



Mountain bluet seeds are hard to collect. These seedlings are beneath the current plants. Once they get a little size to them, I'll move them around this fall to areas that still need spring color. The parent plants need to be cut back soon.



Dusty Miller has just started to bloom. Planted in the fall of 2009, these plants have gotten huge. The blooms float about 2 feet above the soil. If I remember, the seeds are like dust.



Grown from scattered seeds, the annual Monarda citriodora is one of my favorites. After it blooms, it can be cut back for a repeat bloom. I did this twice last summer. The seeds are collected by shaking the spent blooms over a container.



Speaking to Cameron at Defining Your Home Garden, I've decided to scatter seeds as soon as they ripen. This seems the most natural method as it's what happens when there's no gardener present. Nature takes care of enough seeds to create a new crop each year. I'll save a few seeds just in case. You never know what could happen over the winter.

It's currently 81 degrees and pouring rain. Heavy thunderstorms are about to move through the area. The rain is expected to last a few hours.

These things aren't roses.

I've gone a little overboard with the hybrid teas lately. So here's what I've been neglecting.

Elymus arenarius 'Blue Dune' is blooming.





Fuchsia in a hanging basket. We had an abundance at the store. It was cheap. No, really.



Sweet william. Wintersown in 2008/9. From the same container. One clump on each side of the perennial arbor.





Just around the corner, Pinks Maiden dianthus. Wintersown in 2008/9. Bloomed a little last year.



Columbine. To be wintersown 2010/11. Lots of seed pods here. Dame's rocket is flopping all over. Seed pods are starting to form.



The first larkspur. These seeds came from Kathy in Texas. I tossed them out in the late fall. They germinated and held on through the rough (relatively speaking) winter. I noticed this one while Szylvia and I were walking the yard yesterday afternoon. I sent her away with tomato plants and a rooted cutting of the white butterfly bush.



Ditch lilies. Stella D'Oro clumps have formed buds too. The Coreopsis Moonbeam below them will not bloom for another month at least.



It's 72 degrees. The rainfall measurement reported by weather.com was 0.68". Parts of the yard are still dry. I'm going to spend the rest of the morning planting out Pineapple Sage and Sunflowers. I've already planted six ligustrum along the neighbor's chain link fence. They were on deep discount, $1 each. They'll need some recovery time before I show them. In a couple weeks, they should have new foliage. I've also planted two new hybrid teas. One is an unknown yellow with orange tones. The other is Gypsy.

One very positive note, NellJean was right again. The oakleaf hydrangea is regrowing from the roots already. It wants to live.

His mama named him Tommy

The folks just called him 'Yellow'.
-Kenny Rogers

I've got two kinds of yellow roses. Sunny Knockout opened its first bloom yesterday. It's funny. I never even noticed the bud. I think the fading daffodils had me confused.



Golden Showers on the perennial arbor is budding. This is a reblooming climber.



The last "last" daffodil has opened. I think. Maybe there will be another later blooming variety after this one. These came from the mixed bags I planted in the fall. Ignore the weeds. They'll be gone soon.



The last daffodil, the one that bloomed before the last yellow one has a touch of yellow in the center. Both of these have multiple blooms per stem.



The Amur Honeysuckle also contains yellow. It's not much, but the fragrance is lovely.



This bearded iris came from my sister's house last spring. I had to clear a bed of them when I planted her round flower bed. I remember them all being brown. I don't have a very good memory, obviously.



Out near the street, this has appeared. I'm not sure what it is. I know I planted a rooted weigela in that area. I don't remember anything being this color. I like surprises.



The latest columbine bloom has a hint of yellow with blue streaks.



Speaking of blue, Blue Girl hybrid tea rose is budding.



Lagerfeld is finally open and looks as it should, a pale lavender with a delicious fragrance.



Soon, the pink rose I moved from the woodsy area last spring to the perennial bed arbor, then the front porch, and finally to the swing out back, is about to bloom. I hope this year to have it identified. There will be lots of blooms. It's covered in buds.



After work yesterday, I repotted most of the tomatoes into individual containers. They're still tiny. I gave them a very weak dose of transplant solution. I also stuck cuttings of euphorbia in the cloner. I'm hoping they take root. My seeds didn't germinate.





Poncirus trifolata, or Hardy Orange, has germinated well. I'll be planting these out in the gully to discourage the neighborhood kids that have twice decided to play hide and seek on my property at night. The 1-2" thorns are deadly.



It's 45 degrees. The high today should reach the mid 70s. Still no rain to speak of. Maybe Tuesday.

Blooms.

My theme today is shades of pink.

Columbine.



Lagerfeld.



Weigela.



Miss Kim lilac.



There are others. Some were blurry. Some were yellow and white. Dutch irises are starting to bud. Dame's Rocket is blooming, but hard to capture. Amur honeysuckle is not as fragrant as I recall.

It's 39 degrees. Yesterday was cool and windy. Today should reach 80. I've got my list of things to accomplish.

- clean the cloner. take cuttings
- toss the wintersown containers with no sprouts
- plant the hostas along the front walk
- mow/edge/blow
- plant beans, squash, and cucumbers
- separate and repot tomatoes

Every blasted year. - The city sends some guy on a tractor with whirling blades to "clean up" the growth along the street next to my property. He just finished his awesome work. Good job, dude.



He made a second pass to make sure he took out this huge mock orange shrub that was starting to bud.



And the sweetshrub that was loaded with blooms.



Thank heavens he left all the privet and honeyscuckle. I'm gonna sow cosmos seeds this afternoon. See how they like that.

9:00 am - The cloner has been cleaned and the beans are soaking.

Dry

Everything is parched. Last Thursday we received a little rain with the passing storms. It's been a while since we've had any real precipitation around these parts. Everyone's complaining about it. Too bad the winter rains couldn't have been spaced out a little better to help us now that the temperatures have increased. This week, our next chance of rain is on Monday, a week away. I'll have to pull out the hose and water a little every morning. I hate doing that.



The purple columbine I sowed in December 2008 is about to bloom. I sowed more this past winter and hope to have several more planted out as soon as it looks like rain is likely.





It's another cool morning at 41 degrees. At least the pollen seems to be taking a break. The air is clear and crisp, as it should be.

8:39am - Beefsteak and Rutgers tomatoes have been transplanted into single containers. The seedlings are still so tiny. I gave them a weak dose of fertilizer yesterday. I'm hoping to see some growth soon. Granny Cantrell seedlings are the tallest at about 4" with lots of leaves. Last year, I had 2' tall plants going into the garden about this time.

Returning.

The perennial bed was my main focus last spring. Most of the wintersown plants went into this bed. I also grew a great number of annuals like melampodium, zinnias, petunias, salvias, and cleome. Already, after a few days in the low 90s, there are blooms in the perennial bed. Many more will be coming along shortly.



Red Valerian, or Jupiter's Beard, is about to bloom. One comment I read about this plant says it's best suited where chaos is desirable. Let chaos rule.



Clearance dianthus are blooming. These were purchased for a song last fall and used in the window boxes until Thanksgiving. I planted them out in the garden along with pansies and violas.







The purple columbine is heavily budded. I've waited a whole year to see these bloom.



Small white bell-shaped flowers stand atop these plants. I don't know the name. I moved some from a neighbor's yard in mid winter this year.



The canna found in the lawn last summer has returned. Must be a cold hardy type. I hope it blooms.



The ferns transplanted last week are growing.



Perilla seedlings. I made a huge mistake.



In the backyard, a dark leafed weigela is budding. The other three I have are a little behind this one. It gets more sun.



Spirea. This was the first plant I moved to the shrub island I built in June 2009. I took cuttings this spring. None seem to have survived. I'll take more later.



More hosta have popped in the North Bed. I was planning to reorganize these before they grew too large. I don't want to disturb them now. Maybe I'll do it next year. I have lots of wintersown babies up in three containers in the driveway.



It's 39 degrees. I moved my tomato seedlings indoors last night before dark. I set out the water sprinkler in the perennial bed, just in case of frost. There seems to be none with the relative humidity so low. The sky is starting to turn. There's a thin sliver of the crescent moon through the trees in the backyard. The high today will reach the mid 70s. It's going to be chilly for a bit this morning.