Fertilizer Friday

Fertilizer Friday is hosted by Tootsie Time

http://www.tootsietime.com/.

It's hard to believe that the week has gone by so quickly. This passed week actually brought a bit of much needed rain.

Above, the 'Broken Colors' four o'clocks are blooming like mad. Every day the show is a bit different. I highly recommend them if you like stripes and spots.

Above, 'Aomaraski Zyouhantensibori' morning glory. How's that for a name! These seeds came from e-bay on 2005 and this is the first year I've grown them. Every seed sprouted, and they really have helped satisfy my stripes addiction.

Above, another e=bay morning glory from 2005. This was supposed to be 'Gypsy Bride', a double (hige) of white with a purple spot near the throat. They bloomed this pink with a red star, a lighter pink than 'Sunrise Serenade' and they are come single and feathered. This is the single.

Above, a semi-feathered bloom.

Above, a fully feathered bloom. Since I have no idea what strain, if any this is I've dubbed it "High Hopes". It sounds much better than "I've waited all summer for this??!!!".

Above, another bloom of 'Cornell' morning glory, the last of those 2005 e-bay seeds. I should have loads of seed from this one when they ripen.

Above, 'Aomaraski Zyouhantensibori' morning glory showing a different face.

Above, the original strain of 'Bolero' marigold. This is the one that won the All-America Selections award in 1970 and has become almost impossible to find.

Above, one of my favorite types of petunia, the old Superbissima's, commonly known as 'Giants of California'. The plants and the blooms grow to a massive size!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Fertilizer Friday

Fertilizer Friday is hosted by Tootsie Time http://www.tootsietime.com/.

It was not a good week for me. Combine the remnants of a cold and a bizarre work schedule and I was left with just enough energy to snap some pictures.

Above, a hummingbird moth having his breakfast of morning glory 'Grandpa Otte'.



Above, a light pink selection of morning glory 'Stripes and Splashes', please pay no mind to the half eaten bean leaves.



Above, finally a bloom on of my two surviving 'Stardust Mixed' geraniums. I started with nine and lost seven to rot. I didn't think that was supposed to happen with seed grown geraniums!




Above, a close up of 'Cornell' morning glory.

Above, a selection from 'Candy Stripe' zinnia.

Above, a close up of my living bouquet of 'New Burpee Hybrids' cactus zinnia.

Above, a close up of two of the largest heads of 'Bicolor Chief' cockscomb.

Above, 'Cornell' morning glory, with a stray bloom from 'Grandpa Ott'.

The season seems to be winding down, even though it's still august. The heat and the draught have taken their toll despite my valiant attempts at keeping things watered. The summer vegetables were a bust this year, with the exception of sweet peppers. Last year, despite the problems with blight I had tomatoes on very surface in the kitchen. This year I couldn't even get a decent amount of cherry tomatoes. Sigh, there's always next year...

Have a great weekend!

Fertilizer Friday

Fertilizer Friday is hosted by Tootsie Time http://www.tootsietime.com/.

Not many pictures were taken this week, here are a selected few.

Just click on any picture to enlarge it.

Above, cockscomb 'Bicolor Chief'.

Geranium 'Horizon Orange Ice', zinnia 'Profusion White' and zinnia 'Zahara Double Fire'.

Morning Glory 'Early Call Blue'.

The front portion of the driveway bed.

Four O'Clock 'Broken Colors.

Balsam 'Peppermint'.

Have a great weekend!

Just a 'Fantasy'?

The scan below is taken from Burpee's 1937 catalog. Zinnia 'Fantasy Mixed' was introduced in 1935 by the Bodger Seed Co. and won a silver medal in the 1935 All-America Selections. They were considered a breakthrough in form, a variation on the relatively new cactus form. The bloom size was 3- 3.5 inches and the petals were extremely rolled and twisted. The last time they appear in my old catalogs is in the the mid 1970's. From all accounts the strain is extinct.

Pictured below is a bloom that I found yesterday while cutting a few blooms to bring to my mothers. They look remarkably similar, don't they and the bloom size measured just over 3 inches. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one.

Fertilizer Friday

Fertilizer Friday is hosted by Tootsie Time http://www.tootsietime.com/ . This week I have a lot to flaunt. I have to admit that I'm a bit obsessed with my zinnias this year, while the heat and the draught have negatively affected just about everything else, they have been spectacular!

Above, 'Broken Colors' four o'clock and 'Meteor' zinnia.

Above, a glorious peach from 'Burpeeana Giants Mixed' zinnia'.

Above, a living bouquet of 'New Burpee Hybrids' cactus zinnia, that turned out in a glorious blend of sunset shades.

Above, a light pink selection from 'Burpeeana Giants Mixed' zinnia.

Above, 'Canary Bird' zinnia.

Above, 'Peter Pan Pink' zinnia.

As always, you can click on any photo to enlarge it. I hope you enjoyed these blooms.

Hola 'Senorita'

Zinnia 'Senorita' was introduced by Burpee in 1968 as part of the 'Burpeeana Giants' zinnia series, she graced the cover of the Burpee catalog that same year. I first grew her sometime in the late 1980's. Crosman Seed Co. was selling five packs of cactus zinnia seed for .99 cents. The varieties were 'Floradale Scarlet', 'Sunny Boy', 'Snowtime','Springtime' and 'Senorita'. I faithfully purchased this collection all through the 90's, the last year being 1999. In 2000 they dropped the collection and 'Senorita'.

She became one of my all time favorite zinnia's. Large, pointed and/ or twisted petals in a gorgeous shade of salmon rose, very hard to capture on film. The plants topped out at about three feet and she never had a bad year. 2003 was the last year I could coax her seed into germinating. Needless to say that every year since I scoured the internet hoping I could find her, no such luck. Of course, I still tried to germinate a few of the old seed every year with no success...

This spring I had great success germinating some zinnia seed from 2002. This spurred me on to start way to many varieties of zinnia. One was a packet of 'Rose Pink Giant Cactus' zinnia from Crosman's dated 2008. Germination was excellent, and the five pellets of seedlings were crammed into a twelve in pot in June. Last week they started to bloom. I couldn't decide if my eyes were playing tricks on me, so I went and got a bloom from another salmon zinnia to compare. I actually let out a whoop of joy! At long last here was my 'Senorita'! Later on I began kicking myself. Here she was under my nose all the time. I will definitely be saving seed this year and still have almost a full packet left. Now, has anybody seen 'Cherry Buttons'?...

Here she is in all her glory...

It Pays to Wait..

Or, Ed is Cheap!

Yesterday I received my order from Thompson and Morgan, of course I HAD to take advantage of their clearance sale. I scored three varieties that were new this year, and several that were introduced last year. I really had wanted their 'Sweet Sixteen' cosmos, but money being extremely tight this spring I had to pass. Gotta love those clearance sales!

Here's the list

1. Cosmos 'All Sorts Mixed' $1.19
2. Hollyhock 'Halo White' $.88
3. Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy' $1.05
4. Dahlia 'Black Beauty' $1.58
5. Hollyhock 'Spring Celebrities Mixed' $1.98
6. Cosmos 'Double Click Rose Bon Bon' $1.38
7. Dianthus 'Microchips' $.60
8. California Poppy 'Jelly Beans Mixed' $.88
9. Snapdragon 'Bronze Dragon' $1.18
10. Foxglove 'Pam's Split' $1.58
11. Cosmos 'Sweet Sixteen' $1.19
    

Above, zinnia 'Zahara Starlight Rose', 'Zahara Double Cherry' and alyssum 'Carpet of Snow'.

One of my garden buddies, the butterfly bush is filled at this time if the year.

Above, from left to right, petunia 'Fire Chief', morning glory 'Pearly Gates' and 'Heavenly Blue', zinnia 'Aztec Sunset', zinnia 'Meteor', morning glory 'Grandpa Ott' with golden spirea in the fore ground.

Not much is going on in the vegetable garden. The heat is causing most of the blooms to drop on the beans and tomatoes. What is doing great are the three peppers planted along the driveway. They now have at least six peppers each and blooming like crazy. Note to self, next year peppers and bush tomatoes along the driveway.