Yeah, we grew them again this year.
Actually, they came up volunteer from last year's self sown seed. I was surprised to see that some had the dark color, but many had reverted to plain yellow so I took them down early so as not to end up with too many plain ones next year.
Thanks to Brandon for taking the photos.
Lots of little baby seedlings coming up! So exciting! Here are a few Larkspur (Consolida ambigua), which I sowed from a packet in fall.
Nearby is a hoard of Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damescena), self sown from a transplant I put in last spring.
Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) came up volunteer as well. I hope they'll retain the brown color of the type I planted last spring, but it's likely they'll revert to plain yellow.
California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), sown from a packet in fall, have popped up in several places, but this one is the most robust.
And one of my favorites from Wave Hill: Verbena bonariensis!
Much like one gallon gardening, 4 inch gardening is based on budgetary constraints.
To maximize my precious garden dollars, I often buy 4 inch annuals that have the potential to drop seeds and sow a new crop for me next year like this lovely (Linaria maroccana), a wildflower also known as Moroccan toadflax or mini snapdragons. I like how it looks next to my 'Red Sails' lettuce, a 4 inch vegetable transplant.
Just as some folks grow things they remember from their grandmother's garden, I love to grow plants that I learned about at Wave Hill, the beautiful public garden where I used to work. There, we had a sweet little self-sowing white and yellow (Linaria vulgaris) known by the common name: butter and eggs!
Bluebonnets (Lupinus texinsis), notoriously difficult to start from seed, are available in 4 inch pots in fall at NHG. For a little over a buck per plant, I get lovely foliage and the state flower of Texas blooming in spring. At that point, I'm satisfied, but if it also throws some seed around and reappears in the future, I'd be thrilled.
Notice in the upper background of this shot, baby seedlings of another wonderful Wave Hill plant, Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damescena) dropped at random by a plant orginially purchased in a 4 inch container last spring. Talk about getting your money's worth!
Zinnia 'Profusion Orange' planted in early summer, sprawled out to beautify a large area, while harmonizing with copper plant (Acalypha sp.), orange Wallflower (Erysimum sp.) and Dinosaur kale (Brassica oleracea). There is even a little Salvia leucantha 'Midnight' sticking up above the kale on the left. You guessed it! All grown from 4 inch.
Zinnia linearis was also gorgeous from June until December.
Sometimes a perennial like this Salvia farinacea 'Victoria', is sold as a 4 inch annual due to it's dwarf size which groups well with other bedding plants.
It blooms continuously and looks pretty along with other blues planted in the fall, but it also returns from the roots each year. A bargain hunter's dream!
Many people just use 4 inch material for color. Ornamental cabbage grow quickly if you plant them in early fall. Pentas complemented them until a freeze in December. Now rosy wine colored violas maintain a bit of a pink color scheme in front of my flowering quince shrub.
These orange violas attempt to blend in my new pink (not apricot), Apricot Drift Rose, an impulse purchase which looked more peachy in the garden center. Silver accent plants like Dusty Miller (Senecio bicolor subsp. cineraria) 'New Look' help too and will grow fat and lovely with time.
Of course you can start groundcover from 4 inch pots. When folks at NHG ask me — how many do I need? I say that it depends on your need for instant gratification. It takes most groundcover about 3 years to really establish and begin expanding.
Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicale) get planted in my garden as soon as they arrive in stock, usually in October. They live through our winter blooming occasionally, but the real show is in spring. I love poppies so much, I don't care that these don't perennialize or sow themselves. I must have poppies!
These lovely dark colored sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) were a favorite when we lived in Brooklyn.
Earlier this summer we grew and enjoyed them here.
Nothing could be easier to direct sow from seed. This type is called: 'Evening Sun' from Botanical Interests.
Pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) has one tiny bloom which was difficult to photograph since it nods.
Comfrey (Symphytum sp.) blooming looks pretty next to my spirea 'Magic Carpet'.
In the shade, this variegated Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegatum')
is sprouting and white Bleeding Heart (Dicentra alba) is blooming.
Doing lots of staring at the ground lately trying to distinguish self-sowing annuals from weed seedlings. Dark leaved Amaranth (Amaranthus hypocondriacus) drops millions of seeds which will have to be thinned to just a few plants. I love Larkspur (Consolida regalis) below, but editing will also be necessary.
Boo hoo! My holly croaked!
The delights of spring are so energizing!
Look at these cute little sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) I planted from seed finally showing recognizable leaves. The cultivar is called 'Black Knight' so I'm really curious to see (and smell!) the blooms.
Working to improve the east side of my garden, I moved this euonymus fortunei 'Winter Creeper' from here where it was crammed between other things to here where it can be a nice backdrop for other plants.
Cut back the buddleja. Last year I had success with pinching it early on to keep it bushy so I'll do that again.
Here are three new things I've planted: Lamb's ear (Stachys byzantia) 'Helen Von Stein,' Stokesia laevia 'Purple Parasols' and Leycesteria formosa 'Golden Lanterns'
Works in progress: placing a new path like the one on the other side. (Brandon and I disagree on where it should go).
And a rather drastic pruning on this larger of our two Taxus shrubs to open it up and eventually make it's shape more interesting. Right now the inside is quite bare and strange looking so I'll have to keep shaping it.
I tried to make a little criss-cross fence from the branches to distract from the trash cans and such, but it's too sparse to provide much coverage. Back to the drawing board.
While sorting through a bunch of old seeds, I found a number of packets for which I had no specific ideas. I sowed a bunch in the ugly alley behind our house to clear out my stash and see if any thing nice comes of it. I hate to get my hopes up since most of the seed was old, but it would be great to see some improvement in the view from our bedroom window.
Remember my beautiful calceolaria pocketbook plants which brightened my dismal early April landscape? I yanked them out of the ground when they started looking ratty and other things were finally going, but couldn't bring myself to toss them in the compost bin so instead they sat here in the shade next to it where I've continued to water them now and then.
Now they are forming seeds so maybe I can grow them myself next year!
