Flowers and Tips

I love flowers; I could wax absolutely silly over orchids, and hollyhocks and pansies. I have been fussing with my pots, especially since the racoon wars of the past week. I planted by basil in the pot with my midnight bells; they critters don't seem to like the basil. Of course, if planted in the ground,it infuses its flavors with tomatoes planted near it.

My tip is that a large, stainless steel tablespoon makes an excellent mini shovel or trowel for planting. I also find combing plants of various types in big pots isnot only economical, but also makes them heartier.

Our volunteer pumpkins, cinderella variety, are coming again, as our the newly planted varieties and the older patch has reseeded itself. My tip for reseeding isto empty pots into the ground in the fall; violas and pansies tend to reseed themselves.

Our piano teacher, who loves plants, too, passed on another good idea. She rinses all types of plastic containers well, and also cuts milk cartons in too to start seeedlings. This way, you can recycle, and save a little money. I also like to take boxes of wildflower seeds,even the dollar variety Walgreens sells, and scatter them in our ravine and all over the yard. I get all kinds of blue bells, and small pink hyacinth type blooms.

I was also thinking it would be fun for young kids to put together flower scrapbooks,photos of their gardens, sketches they draw, Internet pictures of their favorite exotic plants, and some dried examples all make for an excellent botanists journal, but also serve as inspiration for future art projects. Enjoy the solstice; more and more,sunlight is important to me as I age. Follow us on Twitter, and welcome to new followers.