Most of my bushes that flower have been here since I moved in, 18 years ago. Or was it 19 years ago.
Including the Rose of Sharon.
I'm not sure what these red flowers are.
I thought day lilies but nope. They may be red columbine.
The sunflowers are all volunteer from dropped bird seed.
When the flower wilts and the heads are seeded out, I cut them off and hang them in the butterfly bush for the birds to eat the seeds.
And the Butterfly bushes. There was one large one when I moved in and now two more, I grew simply by sprouting twigs off the original then planting. I love them. I call them the Tree of Life because everything on earth loves them--birds, bees, butterflies, dragonflies, and the neighbors cats love to lounge in their shade.
I cut them back yearly quite a lot. There's a lilac out behind the cat yard too. It's not doing so well. Too old I think.
My raspberries, grown from cuttings a friend gave me, have done so well this year too, giving me every morning a handful or two. They are of two varieties. When they stop producing, I cut them way down but every spring they come roaring back.
The only vegetable I grow right now are leeks, but I grow them the cheat way. They're really expensive at the store but I like them.. When I get some at the store, I plant the bottom in a pot and regrow it. They're usually smaller regrown but still works for me! Then I replant the bottom again. Never ending leeks.
Rose of Sharon looks nothing like a rose, more like a hibiscus. I keep hearing about butterfly bushes and I have no knowledge of them.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct Andrew. It is in the hibiscus family. Ill named.
DeleteYour flowers are outstanding! Are the Rose of Sharons the type that self-seed or the sterile versions? At my old house I had a self-seeding bush, and got annoyed with all the seedlings that came from the dropped seed pods.
ReplyDeleteI thought the bush was sterile. It has two colors of flowers on it and I've never checked to see if they're on the same bush or two were planted together. However, then about five years ago, suddenly another grew six feet from the other, so someone isn't "fixed". But that's the one and only, in 18 years. I cut it way back each fall, so it is possible it came from a dropped twig that rooted. No seed pods. The flowers bloom and eventually wither and fall.
DeletePretty flowers. Hey, if you can grow the vegetables that you like, why not?
ReplyDeleteI'ml not known for being Miss Green Thumb, but the ones I can just stick back in the ground and forget, that's my style.
DeleteI miss having flower beds. The deer is hard on plants here.
ReplyDeleteNo deer here in town, just endless subdivisions.
DeleteYour flowers are so pretty. I have only occasionally been able to grow sunflowers. The birds come and bite them off by the stem before they can get very big. If they only knew how much better the plants would be if they gave them a chance to flower and seed...
ReplyDeleteThey're tough to grow here too, except for the volunteers. Sheer volume of dropped seed and sprouts maybe. I love them, so bright and happy.
DeleteOh wow.. what a lovely garden.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy it greatly.
DeleteThere's nothing like regrowing from store bought vegetable roots! And I miss growing butterfly bushes, but the plants themselves dislike our soil, as I've whined about previously. lol Enjoy your garden, my dear, as I do mine when the weather isn't so hot.
ReplyDeleteThey seem to really like the soil here, that's for sure. It's getting hot here, allegedly, starting tomorrow I hear. I don't mind heat though. We have dry heat here, nothing like humid heat which I couldn't do I'm sure.
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