Choice Morsels

Today I worked on the flower bed that's just above the veggie garden, weeding out weedy pesky tuffs of grass, laying down newspaper among the rows of flower stems, then mowing and scattering the mulch over the paper.  Here in Florida, where it's so hot and can run dry, a mulching helps retain moisture in the soil. I also noticed nematode damage on the Roma tomato and cut away that stem portion, saving what green tomatoes it had. (Tomatoes are one fruit that will ripen in the house! Today's Garden Pics: Lots of summer flowers means nice vases of garden bloom for my table: This vase has blue hydrangea, gladiolas & black-eyed susans! Other Summer Blooms: Here we have pretty Fushia colored 4 O'Clocks blooming next to a  thistle-like Sea Holly!  They make an interesting texture together! I keep meaning to snip some of the Sea Holly for my vase!  And My Favorite 4 O'Clock: Limelight! It has citron green leaves and dark Fushia flo...

  Welcome back! Finally got the guest room all cleaned and put in order. I planted my tomatoes I took so much trouble to raise indoors outside, but they promptly keeled over and didn't take. :( So I planted seeds in those spots and, at my Mother's suggestion, covered them with milk cartons cut for the purpose. You leave the cap off and it creates something of a terrerium enviroment. The seed is new, so maybe I'll come back to some baby tomatoes growing under there. Today's Garden Picture of the Day is of a type of lily called a "Hot Poker." It gets that name for it's coloration. The tiny unopened blossoms are orange and the open are yellow. As they open, the yellow color progresses upward.   (That bit of blue in the foreground is Sea Holly.)   I bought a bag of Hot Poker roots from Walmart last spring and this one is the first of them to bloom. I have another Hot Poker plant that I ordered from a catalog many years ago that i...