August 6, Wow.

Here it is August 6th. How did this happen? It feels like August. Today anyway. The gardens look like August with all of the typical August flowers blooming. The zinnias, rudbeckias, celosia, ageratum, dahlias, cosmos and so much more are all going gangbusters and the flower farmer looks as though it is August, tired and achey. The flowers make up for the gardener though and that is a wonderful thing.

I have the most amazing crop of self sown amaranth and celosia this summer. the celosia is all varieties with some of their own breeding and it is all over the place. And it is blooming just about the same time as the ones I so carefully germinated and planted out. They are smaller because they aren’t near the irrigation, and they haven’t been fed because I didn’t plant them but it is pretty amazing to see them. The amaranth is as statuesque as ever.

Amaranth

I love this plant. The foliage is great in arrangements, the flower spikes are great in arrangements and if I don’t harvest it soon enough the finches are all over it, (it is also a great grain) which is probably why it and its buddy celosia are all over the garden. Speaking of foliage and fillers, I have been adding interest to your bouquets with scented geraniums, basils, mountain mint that all have a beautiful scent, and color comes from the dusty miller, amaranth and mahogany splendor.

Now that the weather is drier than the last two months, I am beginning to get the flowers drying for this year.

Flowers hanging to dry

The drying season has begun, and this will only be added to as the drier season hopefully continues.

Flowers that are on deck in the next weeks? The annual asters are showing beautiful buds, more zinnias and celosia, more rudbeckia and the peacock orchid. Further along on deck are

Baby pumpkin

Pumpkins on a Stick and the big pumpkins I grew a few years ago. Fingers crossed on that one. they aren’t looking very big, nor promising at this point.

Remember, change the water on your summer flowers daily, or at least every other day and add a couple of drops of bleach to the water to keep the skank away. You can safely compost your flowers when they are spent. No chemicals or preservatives have been used in their post harvest, or their growing for that matter, unlike the imported flowers that come from most grocery stores. Those I would never compost. Not good.

I leave you with last week’s instagram post. I like this one. It is the cool colors in celebration of the cooler weather we had for a few days last week. Enjoy.

Hydrangeas, clematis, perennial sweet pea, wild carrot and mountain mint. Cool and refreshing.

Until next week. Happy August. Allie