Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Pretty Pinks, Peculiar Pelargonium

First, I'll tell the embarassing story of my week. I got my seed order from Stokes, which oddly came in a box this time. Rather unusual for a few packets of seed, don't you think? Then I pulled out this foil package a little smaller than a bag of breakfast cereal, labeled "Keystone Endive, product of Netherlands". I only wanted a few seeds to see if I could grow endive under lights, but instead I got 10,000 pelleted seeds! It wasn't the company's mistake. I should have wondered why the seeds were so expensive. I looked back at the website and found that the "quantity" box for certain vegetables had a "10" entered by default, and these particular seeds were sold by the 1,000. Thus, I have enough endive seeds to cover the whole area of our lawn. It's not worth the shipping amount to send them back, so I'll see if anyone I know might actually want them. They've got to REALLY like endive.

I don't recall having Lewisia blooming all summer like this before, but I'm not complaining!
Lewisia "Little Plum":

The Primula acaulis plants I put out in spring (I started them from seed) are getting their second wind. I give these plants a little more attention since they are close to the house. The regular removal of spent flowers is probably paying off.
Primula acaulis:

I have a few of these unusual zonal geraniums in pots this year. They are "tulip flowered", producing these pretty little closed buds that never open. I propagated a few of these plants from a cutting from my mother-in-law's plant. I quite like this flower and will definitely be saving some plants/cuttings over the winter.
Tulip flowered zonal geranium:

7 comments:

Charlotte Weychan said...

Lovely colours!

Sigrun said...

Do the primula winter over in your zone?

Gardenista said...

Yes, these primulas often will overwinter. The best ones for hardiness are the P. auriculas, though. My P. denticulata does okay too.

Lona said...

I just love the geranium. The blooms do look like little tulips. Very pretty.

easygardener said...

Is there such a thing as an Endive lawn? Could it be an experiment for next year :-)

Northern Beauty Seeker said...

I have never seen those tulip flowered zonal geraniums before-they are lovely!

quu said...

I got a Lewisia from a friend and that was a best garden gift ever :)

Enjoy of your Lewisia, she needs it :)