Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
pudge2b

The cutting garden 2007 - a little tour

Pudge 2b
16 years ago

So, another year come and gone, and my busy christmas crafting season is finally over (it was an excellent season). Today I'm looking thru the seed catalogues and planning the 2008 garden. I plan to continue with selling bouquets at farmers market, so much of my plans center around that. Looking thru the catalogues led me to going thru some photos from last year and since I shared very little on GW last year, I thought I'd post a photo tour of some stuff I was growing. These photos were all taken mid-July, before the big July 31 hailstorm and plow wind that destroyed a whole lot.

Aside from peonies and lilies, and other perennials, these are the annuals I had -

{{gwi:696727}}

Snapdragons - I grew both Rocket and Ribbon mixes, and prefer the Rockets. Lilies and Ammi majus are in the background.

{{gwi:696728}}

Celosia. I really had to baby it - covered it with frost blanket thru most of June to keep soil temp as warm as possible, and had to hand water with rain water instead of cold out of the hose. They did bloom nice but were too short to use for cuts.

{{gwi:696730}}

Lots of statice, all colors but the yellow are the heaviest and earliest blooming.

{{gwi:696731}}

Acrolinium, super easy to grow but fizzle out later in the season, even with constant cutting.

{{gwi:696732}}

Xeranthemum would be an excellent meadow garden plant. I didn't care much for it for my use but they're easy plants.

{{gwi:696734}}

Zinnias - these are Benary's Giant mix

{{gwi:696736}}

Agrostemma, Contessa pale pink. Really tall and the flowers last forever in a vase. I really like this plant.

{{gwi:696739}}

{{gwi:696743}}

I grew too many Rudbeckia's including Indian Summer, Prairie Sun, Cherokee Sunset, Corona (which stayed short but had nice big blooms) and Moreno.

{{gwi:696748}}

Some of the sunflower crop, and strawflowers

{{gwi:696750}}

Amaranthus Hot Biscuits

{{gwi:696753}}

Amaranthus Velvet Curtains.

All the Amaranthus plants froze at the end of May, shortly after planting out. I trimmed back the frozen parts and they came back with a vengeance. These photos were on July 19.

{{gwi:696756}}

Clarkia - another old fashioned favorite of mine for many reasons.

{{gwi:696759}}

Here are the carnations - Chaubaud mix, I think they were. They took forever to bloom but wow, when they did the scent was heavenly.

{{gwi:696762}}

The Crane series of ornamental cabbage. I don't think I'll grow these again - not for cutting, anyways.

{{gwi:696766}}

I wanted sunflowers ready for the July long weekend - I missed by a week and had these bouquets for the following weekend.

{{gwi:696770}}

{{gwi:696772}}

Finally a couple of shots of my table at Farmer's Market - that's my mom waving in the second photo (she usually comes along with me).

I'm looking forward to this year, after some trial and error last year I feel like I may be slightly more experienced.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Comments (7)

  • sierra_z2b
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Simply beautiful Pudge! What a perfect day for you to share your gardens....when its so cold and snowing outside and I am sure many of us are going through flower/garden withdrawal. I too have placed my seed orders for this year....and now wait for the seed racks to start appearing locally.haha Now if I could find your booth today, I would have flowers all over the house. LOL! I have been buying big bouquets from Costco and the grocery store...just to keep a few around....but just not the same as fresh from our gardens.

    I grew the ribbon snaps in a big bunch and we just loved them, but I didn't cut them. Did you find the Rockets lasted longer for cutting? I also think I figured out what happened when I tried growing celosia, they stayed really short and punny in my garden. I guess they need more babying and warmer soil. This year I am trying some again.....just because I couldn't resist...so maybe they will do better if I baby them a bit.

    Sierra

  • Crazy_Gardener
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Way to grow Pudge, everything looks so fresh and healthy!
    Great hobby you got there!

    Happy New Year!
    Sharon

  • marciaz3 Tropical 3 Northwestern Ontario
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

  • north53 Z2b MB
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I really enjoyed your pictures Pudge! I would like to visit your farmer's market. I'd buy a bouquet for sure.
    I liked the combination of Hot Biscuits with the sunflowers.

    How about posting pictures of your Christmas crafts also. I love seeing your creations.

    Thanks for sharing!

  • Pudge 2b
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ah, I'm missing summertime...

    Sierra, I prefer the Rocket snaps only because they are somewhat taller. The Ribbon bloomed a little earlier and were also nice colours. Either are long lasting as cuts. A trick to them is to always keep them upright - they're tips will turn up toward the light if you lay them them down, even for a little while. This tends to drive me somewhat NUTS!! Cut when the bottom 1/3 of the florets are open and strip all foliage from below the water line and they should last a week. They're a popular bouquet and I'll be growing at least 2 and maybe 3 beds of them this year, staggering their maturity dates.

    We don't have a florist in town (which tends to get me a-thinkin'!) and the sad little overpriced bouquets at the grocery store leave too much to be desired so I rarely have fresh flowers in the house in winter. You're right, they're not the same - in the first place there is usually absolutely no scent - may as well put silk flowers in a vase!

    Hot Biscuits with sunflowers go well, as do Velvet Curtains. My personal favorite is just sunflowers, though, either a mix or all the same kind but without filler.

    I've posted some pics of my Christmas crafts over on the conversations forum.

    Here is a link that might be useful: link to crafts post

  • sazzyrose
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lovely gardens Pudge.

    Your pictures makes me want the snow to go away.

    Shelley

  • savona
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    WOW Pudge your cutting garden is amazing! savona

Sponsored
Ed Ball Landscape Architecture
Average rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars30 Reviews
Exquisite Landscape Architecture & Design - “Best of Houzz" Winner