Here in Central Maryland, we are well into August of this very wet and sultry summer. The good news is that everything is green, but that green may very well be algae.
We've stopped watering our container plants, continued to fertilize, and since this is the time when plants tend to get 'leggy' and stop producing flowers, everyone got a trim. This will encourage growth from the core. Hopefully.
I've also pulled out all the leggy zinnias and re-planted seeds. I'm hoping to have flowers in October.
Within the last four months, I've switched from a PC to Apple, and I'm still not able to post pictures from my iPad. You'd think it would be easy. It probably is, but I'm not yet able to figure it out. Everyone keeps telling me it's intuitive, but evidently I'm not that smart.
About Me
- KathyA
- I am a retired English teacher and department head, the mother of three grand mother of four, and have been married to the same man for 53 years, two years after we met at college. I taught in both middle and high schools as I really love teens and in-betweens. I was also a certified Lamaze instructor, and for a short time a volunteer chaplain at Howard County General Hospital. I am a two-time cancer survivor, ovarian (2003), and breast (2019) I was born in South Philadelphia and grew up in the 'burbs with great parents, in a bilingual household. I love soft pretzels and cheesesteaks, the Phillies, the Eagles, the Orioles, and sometimes the Ravens. I love being Mom, Aunt Kathy, Nona Kathy (Kath), and Teacher. I spend a lot of time in my gardens in the spring and summer, and in the winter I plan what I'm going to plant. I also am an avid reader, cook, photographer, lover of languages, music, and four-footed furries.
Showing posts with label zinnias. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zinnias. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Reaping What One Sows
Did I mention that husb did not lose a filling? No, it turned out that he only had a sharp surface that our wonderful dentist smoothed. Problem solved.
Youngest daughter has left the Madeira School's equestrian program to manage a wonderful barn in Virginia horse country. Middle daughter is out on the Chesapeake Bay fishing, and son and DIL are camping in the Outer Banks. While things are good right now, I've gotten used to waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The weather has changed a little; it's still warm but we're not wilting under the brutal temps of the past two weeks. This afternoon we'll head down to Brookside Gardens and stop in at Comet Pizza/Ping Pong and maybe the Politics and Prose bookstore if it's still open. This morning, with garden hose and Windex bottle that attaches to the nozzle in hand, I'll do our front windows and screens. This to me is fun. Maybe I should get out more.
The gardens seem to be a little happier with the cooler temps and it's beginning to sound like late summer as I note crickets have now joined in the cacophony of the cicadas. The air is rife with butterflies; I've never seen so many. I've been sowing cosmos and threadleaf zinnia seeds for late harvests. I like this idea, and will plan to do more late season seeding next year. I'm about to pull all the snapdragons that returned from last year (amazingly after all that snow!) as they're getting really ratty and sow snapdragon seeds that will bloom this fall and maybe next spring, too.
Youngest daughter has left the Madeira School's equestrian program to manage a wonderful barn in Virginia horse country. Middle daughter is out on the Chesapeake Bay fishing, and son and DIL are camping in the Outer Banks. While things are good right now, I've gotten used to waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The weather has changed a little; it's still warm but we're not wilting under the brutal temps of the past two weeks. This afternoon we'll head down to Brookside Gardens and stop in at Comet Pizza/Ping Pong and maybe the Politics and Prose bookstore if it's still open. This morning, with garden hose and Windex bottle that attaches to the nozzle in hand, I'll do our front windows and screens. This to me is fun. Maybe I should get out more.
The gardens seem to be a little happier with the cooler temps and it's beginning to sound like late summer as I note crickets have now joined in the cacophony of the cicadas. The air is rife with butterflies; I've never seen so many. I've been sowing cosmos and threadleaf zinnia seeds for late harvests. I like this idea, and will plan to do more late season seeding next year. I'm about to pull all the snapdragons that returned from last year (amazingly after all that snow!) as they're getting really ratty and sow snapdragon seeds that will bloom this fall and maybe next spring, too.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Before and After
Fanfare! Trumpets and Flourishes! This is my 100th post. Big deal, right? Well for someone who wanted no parts of blogging, maybe it is. It took Cheryl almost two years to convince me to write, and I'm glad she did. I've met some wonderful people through blogging and have also had a whole, wide world of ideas opened to me, gained some technical know-how (thanks to many of you), and maybe even had an epiphany or two about myself.
Today, Sun Nurseries came out and did some sprucing-up of our front landscaping. I usually do this type of thing myself, but was a little overwhelmed and perplexed as to why we were losing our plantings pretty consistently. The design consultant, Donna, was great to work with and the men who did the planting were courteous and exemplary in their work.
Before
After
Before
After
My personal battle with the rabbits continues. Today, however, UPS delivered the Tree Guard that I ordered. I have already donned, gloves, an apron, and protective eye wear, and doused all my plantings in the back with the stuff. It usually works pretty well -- is latex-based so does not have to be re-applied after rain or watering. We'll see. The rabbits have been climbing into my pots and decimating the zinnias, trailing verbena, portulaca, and impatiens. I know that their persistent defoliating of my roses is responsible for my losing quite a few this year. If the Tree Guard doesn't work, I'm considering electric wire or a flame thrower.
Today, Sun Nurseries came out and did some sprucing-up of our front landscaping. I usually do this type of thing myself, but was a little overwhelmed and perplexed as to why we were losing our plantings pretty consistently. The design consultant, Donna, was great to work with and the men who did the planting were courteous and exemplary in their work.
Before
After
Before
After
My personal battle with the rabbits continues. Today, however, UPS delivered the Tree Guard that I ordered. I have already donned, gloves, an apron, and protective eye wear, and doused all my plantings in the back with the stuff. It usually works pretty well -- is latex-based so does not have to be re-applied after rain or watering. We'll see. The rabbits have been climbing into my pots and decimating the zinnias, trailing verbena, portulaca, and impatiens. I know that their persistent defoliating of my roses is responsible for my losing quite a few this year. If the Tree Guard doesn't work, I'm considering electric wire or a flame thrower.
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