Fertilizer Friday

Fertilizer Friday is hosted by Tootsie Time.
Stop by and see who's flaunting their flowers this week.
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Fall to me really means three types of flowers, marigold, dahlia and chrysanthemum. The mums usually take center stage, but with the cool nights and shorter days the dahlia's and marigolds really start to shine.

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Above, 'Aztec Sunset' zinnia, hard to photograph, but so easy to grow.
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Above, a golden mum that's been here for years.
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Above, two of the seed grown cactus dahlia's.
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Above, 'Golden Unicorn' rose.
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Above, a yellow selection from 'Double Extreme Mixed' dahlia. From the shape of the petals this one looks it has pom-pom ancestry.
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Above, a deep pink from 'Stargazer' dahlia.
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Above, a selection from the 'Cactus Mixed' dahlia that were grown from seed. Note the yellow near the heart of the flower. This one definitely will be over wintered to see how it looks when more mature.
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Above, a stray red marigold that was in with the 'Petite Orange' marigold seed. Both are shown above.

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I had originally thought I wouldn't have much to show this week, but it looks like I'll have good bloom for the rest of the month. The long range forecast shows daytime highs in the low 70's and night time lows in the upper 40's. Great fall gardening weather!

Fall Lettuce

At long last the lettuce was finally big enough to plant outside. The weather has been cool, overcast and rainy. Perfect for setting out the seedlings.
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Above, 'Heirloom Mixed' from Renee's Garden Seed.

Above, 'Bronze Beauty' and 'Buttercrunch'.

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Pictures of them planted out will follow.

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A note about 'Bronze Beauty'. This is the same lettuce that everyone sells as 'Bronze Arrowhead'. Can someone tell me why? It was introduced in 1947 as 'Bronze Beauty', it won a bronze medal in the All-America Selections as 'Bronze Beauty', it was featured in the catalogs as 'Bronze Beauty' (and I have the old catalogs to prove it!). Sorry folks, this is one of my pet peeves. If we know the correct name, why change it? Until some one can tell me other wise it will be called 'Bronze Beauty'.

Harvest Monday- Beans

Daphne's Dandelions is the host for Harvest Monday.

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This is probably my last major harvest of beans for the season. The beans have been my best producers this year. I've picked over a pound a week for the last ten weeks. Despite most of the pole bean tripods being overrun with morning glories they are still producing.
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Above, from left to right, pole beans 'Potomoc', 'Rattlesnake', 'Gold of Bacou', 'Blue Coco' and 'Cornetto Largo Verde'.
. Above, bush beans ' Beurre de Rocquencourt', 'Slenderette', 'Cherokee', 'Purple Queen' and 'Masai'.

The bush beans are growing in a block of six square feet. Planted in the beginning of July production took of when the the temp's finally dropped below 90 degrees.

My favorite of the bush beans this year is 'Slenderette', incredible production of slender pods that hold for a few days. It may replace my all time favorite 'Greencrop' next year as my main bush bean.

Fertilizer Friday

Fertilizer Friday is hosted by Tootsie Time.

Stop by and see who's flaunting their flowers this week.

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We actually had rain most days this week. Mother Nature seems to want to make up for the lack of rain since June. In the last 24 hours we have had over 6" of rain!

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Here is what was still blooming at the beginning of the week.

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"High Hopes" morning glory produces more and more blooms every day. You may be able to see a few leaves of the pole beans that she has smothered. Note to self- don't ever again plant morning glories near pole beans!
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Not to be outdone by Annie's Granny, a perfect bloom of 'Heavenly Blue' morning glory.
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'Cornell' morning glory continues to captivate all who see her.
This picture comes closest to her true color.
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'Grandpa Ott' morning glory.
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'Grandpa Ott', quite a sight every morning especially when back lit by the sun and the bloom's seem to glow.

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I still have a zinnia patch that's doing well. The abnormally high temps and dryness have kept the morning fogs at bay, and no powdery mildew this year!
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I'm hoping to a post on seed saving soon. This year is the first year I've purposely saved seed and the very dry season has given me a bonanza of certain kinds.

Fertilizer Friday

Fertilizer Friday is hosted by Tootsie Time.

. Above, looking down from the deck at 'Grandpa Ott' morning glory and 'Meteor' zinnia.

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Above, 'Zahara Double Cherry' zinnia, still looking good.
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Above, an orange 'Sparky' marigold and 'Burgundy' gaillardia
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Above, 'Sparky' marigolds.
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Above, 'Aomaraski Zyouhantensibori' morning glory. A real glamour shot!
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Above, 'Grandpa Ott' morning glory goes native.
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Above, 'Aomaraski Zyouhantensibori' morning glory basking in the sun.
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Above, 'Burpeeana Giants Mixed' zinnia's still blooming.
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Above, 'Heavenly Blue' morning glory and friend.
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Above, the many faces of "High Hopes" morning glory.
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This weekend I'm going to be harvesting as much seed as possible. The bone dry conditions have been a boon to my seed saving, but they are actually predicting rain every day next week!

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On the vegetable front, I'm still picking at least a pound of beans a week and the lettuce seedlings under lights are sizing up nicely.

Have a great weekend!

Dangerous Waters

And I will probably be paddling up them before long.

It all started with the post below.

An innocent ( at least I HOPE it was innocent!) comment from Annie's Granny

"...a page at another webgarden site here A Forum devoted to Morning Glories is here at http://cubits.org/MorningGlory".

Of course, I followed that link.

An hour later, I had mentally removed half of the plants on the property and had started the web search.

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Bear in mind that I recently had my latest horticultural obsession, daylilies, go into remission.

In the very late 90's I bought two newer tetraploids, 'Strawberry Candy' and 'Elegant Candy'.

Two years later I had over one hundred varieties and thought nothing of shelling out upwards of $200 for the latest and greatest. Another thing to bear in mind, I am a Botanist by training, and when an obsession consumes me, the hybridizing bug kicks in. This year was the first year I made no crosses with my daylilies. I finally realized I had no room for 1000+ new seedlings every year!

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Now Japanese morning glories have a lot in their favor. They are relatively inexpensive, easy to grow and apparently easy to hybridize. After I got a look at the images in the above mentioned forum, and saw what was available, the Siren Song became much louder.

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.I do plan acquiring a few of those luscious Japanese hybrids. Upon going through my vast seed collection I did come up with the following, that are now topping the list of what to grow in 2011.

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'Tie Dye Blue' morning glory

'Carnevale de Venezia' morning glory

'Minibar Rose' morning glory

'Rose Silk' morning glory

'Blue Silk' morning glory

'Tie Dye Rose' morning glory

'Mt. Fuji Mixed' morning glory

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I'll keep you posted on what happens.

You may be able to witness my descent into obsession!

I already have visions of the gorgeous strains I hope to grow and eventually create.

Good thing my back yard has a six foot privacy fence!

Morning Glory 'Cornell'

Seeds for 'Cornell' were purchased on E-Bay on 2005. I don't remember who from or how much I paid for them. Honestly, I don't know why I bought them since I was living in a rented townhouse and literally had a postage stamp sized garden!

I moved to a house in the fall of 2005 and promptly forgot about them. The seeds spent the intervening years in my basement laundry room. Last winter when money was extremely tight I vowed to sow as many of my old seed as possible and they were added to the list.

I soaked 10 seeds overnight and then transferred them to damp paper towels in a plastic container. The next day I checked them and every seed had sent a out a strong root. They were planted in peat pellets and the rest you can see below.

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Here they are looking very strong and healthy.

The glamour shot. The color is a deeper, rosier tone than I can capture in pictures.

Two seedling were planted on each side of the gate. Above is the right side. This is not even a full flowering day.


Here is the left side, a good illustration of the plant habit.


A nice group photo, with 'Grandpa Ott' peeking through.


Still looking good in September.



Judging from the three lobed leaves, this is from the Ipomea nil species, that's the Japanese Imperial Giants strains in the trade. The vines are very vigorous, start to flower in late July. Individual flowers can reach up to 6 inches in diameter. It also sets seed like a champ. I'm hoping to save quite a lot of them this fall. There is one flaw, some of the buds seem to get hung up and need to be teased open. The variety is so floriferous, this is not a major issue. This is definitely a variety that needs to be in wider circulation!



I have not been able to discover anything about the history of this variety. Countless web searches have yielded little. I do have a vague recollection that it is from the early 1960's. If any who read this have any background information, please let me know.