Saturday Gardening Thread: Hearts and Flowers [KT]

Greetings, Horde! Valentines Day is coming up. Have you thought about growing some strawberries to cover with chocolate for someone you love?

There are at least a couple of day-neutral cultivars that you can grow from seed. Delizz is an AAS winner. Elan is heart-shaped, on long stems. But strawberries from seed take 120 to 150 days from sowing to produce their first berries. And the seeds are pricey.

I think I prefer starting strawberries from plants, whether they are the big-fruited kinds, alpine or musk types, or ground covers. There are a few pink-flowered types.

There are other ways to add hearts and flowers to the garden, too. From Tucson, here's a photo of Hearts and Flowers, the groundcover, Aptenia cordifolia.

It is drought tolerant and suitable for part shade in the desert. Full sun near the coast. 'Red Apple' is more vigorous than the species, and has brighter red flowers. There is a variegated form. Spreads easily in situations it likes. Sometimes a little too easily.

Photography from The Horde

Never let anyone tell you that there are no romantics in The Horde. Last week, a Pennsylvania moron said this in the comments:

The top picture reminds me of a photograph I wanted. I cleared a 4,000 square foot area. Planted hundreds of Shasta daisies I started from seed. It took two years to fill into the level I wanted. Then... finally, on a June late afternoon when the sun was low to the horizon and color saturation was at its peak I had my wife dress in a short white dress, bow in hair, carrying a basket with cuttings. I backed up so that the daisies filled the screen from left to right, about 100 feet altogether. Probably 1,000 flower blooms. She was about 30 feet away centered. Blew threw a couple rolls of film to get the *one* perfect photograph I wanted.

All that landscaping work. For one photograph. But it was worth it.

Then he sent in the photo, with the dress photoshopped to yellow. Is this photo dreamy, or what?

This is probably also a good week to post Kindltot's photo of Wild Bleeding Heart, Dicentra formosa. "I don't have much to say about this one, there are commercial varieties that are far more showy."

I rather like the delicate color of the flowers in this photo. Makes me think, "This is a wild plant". The surprise of finding flowers like this popping up all by themselves makes them special to me. I love the leaves. And these are the plants the commercial varieties come from.

Here's a profile on this species:

Don't let its delicate appearance fool you: Western bleeding heart is hardy and tenacious. This elegant, herbaceous perennial spreads slowly from rhizomes to form drifts of soft blue-green, ferny foliage in shady woodland areas. Above the leaves in late spring, pink heart-shaped flowers hang gracefully from long, arched stems, attracting scores of hummingbirds but not the local deer. It is surprisingly drought tolerant during the summer months

And a photo of a selection with darker flowers.

Gardens of The Horde

We have had more rain. Yay! Makes for mud at the upcoming International Ag Expo next week, though. You could learn about using Drones in Agriculture.

Any new garden or farming stuff going on in your neck of the woods, or plains?

Have a great week.

posted by Open Blogger at 12:31 PM

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