What's Growing in Our Gardens?

What's Growing In Our Gardens?

Stress Buster Fiesta!

As I mentioned on today's GardenLife radio show, this past week was filled with angst: so much to do and so little time and by yesterday, I was feeling uptight, and snarky; so much so that even puttering and watering for a few minutes was not enough therapy. Then a knock on the door and it was my neighbor who brought over a box of Fiesta roses that had accidentally been delivered to her. Upon opening the box, there was the beautiful bouquet of roses, each petal in alternating colors of lavender-blue, pink, and white, a lovely vase, care instructions, and floral preservative compliments of Tom Wienckowski, owner of Fiestaroses.com and Theultimaterose.com. His Ultimate Roses are red, really, really long-stemmed (3-6 ft. tall) roses grown at his rose farm high up in the mountains of Ecuador and his Fiesta Roses are stem dyed with a patented process so that each rose petal can be a different color. After giving the stems are fresh cut and adding in the floral preservative, I plopped them in the vase that arrived with the roses. Just looking at the lovely flowers erased all the stress that had built up over the week. Thank you Tom for the lovely flowers. They reminded me to "stop and smell the roses" because life is too short not to do so. Be sure to visit his websites and be enthralled and amazed at his uniquely beautiful roses.

What's Growing In Our Gardens?

A Return Visitor to My Pond

A common bluetail damselfly has returned to our pond a month earlier than last year to warm its wings on the sunny rocks surrounding our water feature and perhaps waiting for a willing female damselfly to "play" with him. I first blogged about the damselfly visitor on May 26, 2012 and although it is a few weeks early, perhaps the warm summer-like weather beckoned the bluetail to return to one of its favorite spots. It certainly brought me back to the pond today!

Horticultural Heaven

In this week's GardenLife Newsletter, I wrote about the California Spring Plant Trials that John, Bruce, and I attended and there were so many more plants to share, here they are, but please keep in mind, some may not be available to the public for another year. These are a few of my must-haves!

Pink Zazzle is not your normal gomphrena (globe amaranth) with tiny color boinks of clover-like flower heads, these blossoms are 2-3 inches and are composed of hot pink bracts that age into pink then white. The leaves are covered with downy, fuzzy hairs that feel so good to the touch. As cut flowers, they will last for weeks and can also be dried. Pink Zazzle will put the razzle dazzle in any garden.

Size Matters!

Sun Parasol Giant Crimson Mandevilla

Sonic Magic Pink New Guinea Impatiens