The more familiar species is Zinnia elegans, which includes most Zinnia cultivars, including double-flowered types that grow from one to three feet high. Zinnia linearis grows into a smaller, bushier plant and usually has single flowers. It is also more resistant to powdery mildew than Z. elegans. Hybrids between the two species show this resistance on plants that have traits of both parents.
Zinnias are one of the most popular seeds planted in school gardening projects. The seeds are large enough for little fingers to handle easily, and they germinate and grow quickly, blooming within a couple of months of sowing.
You can get a jump on the season by starting zinnias indoors under lights about 4 to 6 weeks before the average date of your last spring frost. Harden off plants gradually and transplant them into the garden. Trots allt, the danger of frost is past when you plant your tomatoes outdoors.
Zinnias like full sun and soil rich in organic matter but loose and friable with good drainage. Their native home is in sandy soil, and they will not grow in heavy clay soils.
The scourge of zinnias is powdery mildew. All varieties can show signs of the disease, with those in the variety Zinnia linearis a little less susceptible. Space the plants the maximum distance recommended for the type you are growing. Don’t water afternoon as this lessens the chance of the foliage being wet after sundown. Om möjligt, don’t water with an overhead sprinkler.
Remember to deadhead your zinnias by removing faded flowers, and they will continue to bloom until killed by frost. They are often one of the last flowers whose blooms still look good when other annuals have faded.
Zinnias make wonderful cut flowers. They last for a long time, and their wide range of colors makes them compatible with most other flower varieties.
The small varieties looked charming cut with short stems and placed in tiny vases or antique china teacups. Set them in unexpected places throughout the house.
Hydrangeas are those large, bush-type perennials with giant flower heads in either white, rosa, eller blått. They’re also called “mophead” or “lacecap.”
Fossil records show that hydrangeas grew in North America between 40 and 70 million years ago and about 25 million years ago in Asia.
They bloom in mid to late summer and keep their flowers long after their leaves drop off in fall. The flowers looked spectacular on the plants for winter interest in the garden or cut and dried for indoor flower arrangements.
Plant hydrangeas in full sun to partial shade in moist, rich, loamy soil that is well-drained. Add generous amounts of compost when transplanting and top dress with compost every spring.
The name “hydrangea” comes from the Greek words hydro (water) and angeion (vase) or “water vase.” The name doesn’t refer to the flowers; it refers to the shape of the seed capsule.
Hydrangeas are unusual in that you can change the color of their flowers by changing the pH of the soil in which they grow.
To make hydrangeas flowers pink like the ones in the photo above, raise the pH of their soil. Do this by adding dolomitic lime to the soil several times a year (available at garden supply stores). Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for correct quantities and add that amount to the soil around each plant in spring, sommar, och falla.
Another thing to do to keep your hydrangeas blooming pink is to use a high phosphorus fertilizer (the second number on the fertilizer label—for example, 10-15-10).
If blue hydrangeas are what you are after, add aluminum sulfate (a soil additive available at garden supply stores) to the soil they are growing. Mix 1 tablespoon aluminum sulfate with one gallon of water and apply a half-gallon of this mixture to the soil around each plant.
Varning: water your hydrangeas well the day before you do this so the roots can more easily take up the aluminum sulfate without getting burnt. Apply the aluminum sulfate mixture to the soil in spring, sommar, och falla.
To help keep your hydrangeas blooming blue, use a low phosphorus fertilizer (the second number on the fertilizer label) and high in potassium (the third number on the fertilizer label). Till exempel, use a fertilizer labeled 25-5-30. Avoid using superphosphates or bone meal if trying for blue hydrangeas.
If your best efforts to turn hydrangeas either pink or blue result in them turning the opposite color, the culprit is most likely your water. Water with a high pH will tend to produce pink hydrangeas; conversely, water with a lower pH will produce blue hydrangeas—both despite soil amendments to the contrary.
Till sist, hydrangeas planted near a concrete foundation or walk will tend to bloom pink because of the considerable amount of lime leaching out of the concrete, which raises the pH of the soil.
One last note on changing the color of hydrangeas:white hydrangeas will always be white and cannot be changed to pink or blue.
Read also:Flowers and Plants for Northern Gardens
24. Lily Varieties Bloom from Summer till Fall
Lilies come in several different varieties with blooming times from midsummer through early fall. Plant some of each variety for a continuous supply of blooms throughout the growing season.
Although you can plant lily bulbs in spring, fall is the best time for planting as it gives them time to develop a strong root system before breaking into vegetative growth the following spring. Potted lilies in active growth can be planted in your garden at any time during the growing season.
Lilies are grown from bulbs with fleshy overlapping scales with no protective covering. Plant them soon after purchasing and don’t allow them to dry out.
Plant them in well-drained soil in a site where water does not stand after rainfall. Dig down 12 inches and remove rocks. Add peat moss and compost to improve the soil and help with drainage. According to the manufacturer’s recommended quantities, add a little bone meal to the bottom of the hole and scratch it in with your garden claw.
A pleasing way to display lilies in the perennial garden is to plant them in groups of three or five bulbs, spacing the individual bulbs 8 to 12 inches apart. Space the groupings 3 to 5 feet apart. Small bulbs should be planted 2 to 4 inches deep and larger ones 4 to 6 inches deep, as measured from the top of the bulb up to the surface.
Spread organic mulch-like cocoa hulls over the bed. Just before the ground freezes for the winter, add a layer of protective mulch of evergreen boughs, hö, or fallen leaves.
Asiatic lilies start the lily season when they bloom around midsummer. The picture above is of Asiatic lilies blooming right now in Zone 4. Most types of flowers face upward and have few markings on the petals—Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.
Trumpet lilies begin blooming at midsummer. They are named for their trumpet-shaped flowers and are hardy in Zones 5 to 9.
Tiger lilies bloom from midsummer on. They have freckled, pendulous blooms with petals that curve back on themselves. They multiply prolifically and will form large clumps in a few years. Each stem produces many flowers in warm colors, from golden yellow to orange, to red—Hardy in Zones 3 to 9.
Rubrum lilies bloom in late summer to early fall. They resemble Tiger lilies but come in cool colors from white to deep pink. Their blooms are sweetly fragrant—Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.
Oriental lilies start blooming in late July, with some varieties not coming into bloom until late August or September. They are intensely fragrant with flowers up to 10 inches across—Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.
Orienpet lilies are a cross between an Oriental and a Trumpet lily. They bloom from mid to late July into mid-August and can reach eight feet high. Flowers come in both warm and cool shades, with some varieties extremely fragrant. They prefer dappled sunlight or morning sun with afternoon shade—Hardy in Zones 4 to 9.
Plant a variety of lilies, so you have a continuous supply of blooms from midsummer through fall.
25. Honeysuckle – Prolific Vines and Fragrant Blooms
Honeysuckle vines, belonging to the Lonicera species, are easy to grow, heat-tolerant, vigorous, and nearly indestructible. They are commonly used to climb up a trellis, staket, or another framework. Less well-known is their use as a ground cover for erosion control.
Said to protect your garden from evil, honeysuckle is known as the “love bind” because it symbolizes a lover’s embrace with its clinging growth habit.
They prefer full sun but will tolerate partial shade. They are drought-resistant once established and only need supplemental fertilizer in early spring and again at midsummer.
Plant honeysuckle in early spring, when all danger of frost has passed. Prepare the planting area by adding peat moss and compost. Dig the soil to a depth of about 6 to 8 inches. Mulch well after planting. Honeysuckle like their leaves in the sun and their roots in the cool shade.
Prune for shape after they finish blooming but only prune lightly until the vines are in their third growing season.
Aphids love honeysuckle, and you’ll need to be vigilant in washing them off with a strong spray from your hose.
Notorious for its sweet scent, honeysuckle vines attract both bees and hummingbirds, who feast on the nectar deep within their elongated blossoms.
Honeysuckle will climb up anything with just a little help from you. Get the vines started climbing by loosely tying them to their supporting structure. They will soon grow and fill it in so much that the supporting structure will virtually disappear.
Folklore tells us that if you bring honeysuckle into your house, there will soon be a wedding. And if you sleep with a sprig of it under your pillow, you will dream sweet dreams.
Of your impending nuptials, no doubt.
26. Lupines Are A Beautiful, Versatile Flower
Spring blooming lupines, Lupinus albus, were cultivated 4, 000 years ago by the Egyptians. In the Americas, Lupinus mutabilis were brought into cultivation 1, 500 years ago.
Although we think of lupines as flowers, they are grown as feed for livestock in many parts of the world. Because they grow well on poor, sandy soils and, faktiskt, improve the soil, lupines are often grown for soil improvement and followed by a more demanding crop, such as melon, majs, or wheat.
Romans used them medicinally for skin ailments and as an antidote for the bite of an asp, although there is no data on the latter’s effectiveness.
Lupines prefer slightly acidic soil that is well-drained and moderately fertile. They do best in full sun but will grow in partial shade.
Sow annual lupines from seed around the time of your last frost. They will bloom about two months later.
Perennial lupines are best sown from seed in autumn. Soak the seeds in warm water for a day before sowing. They will bloom in mid-spring. You can also start plants indoors about eight weeks before consistent frost-free weather in your area. Plant outside. After all danger of frost is past.
Space lupines about 10 to 12 inches apart. Water regularly and fertilize with a high phosphorous, low nitrogen fertilizer. (In other words, a low first and a high second number, such as a fertilizer labeled 5-25-10.)
Lupines come in blue, lila, rosa, gul, och vitt. They will bloom over and over if you deadhead them by cutting off faded flowers.
Pliny, the Greek writer, and physician claim that the smoke of burnt lupines kills gnats.
I wonder if it works on mosquitoes.
27. Ornamental Salvia Grows Where It Wants To
Salvia is a popular flowering plant for urban gardens. With a combination of over 700 annual and perennial species, there’s a type of salvia out there for everyone.
They can prolifically reseed themselves, like the ones in the photo at left. These are growing in the cut-out area of a sidewalk around the installation of a telephone pole. They most likely blew in from the cultivated salvia growing in a flower bed a couple of houses down the street.
Although I don’t know the variety of this particular salvia, it is most likely one of the tender perennial varieties treated as annuals in temperate regions.
Salvia does best in full sun. Självklart, they’re not fussy about their soil, only that it should be well-drained.
If you’re planting salvia, you can direct seed it right in the garden in late spring. Sprinkle the seeds on top of the soil. Do not cover; press them in gently with your hand. Mist lightly after you plant them and then mist daily to keep them moist until they germinate.
You can also propagate them by root division, which is best done in spring.
They’re also one of the most popular bedding plants found at garden centers and farmer’s markets every spring.
Space salvia 10 to 20 inches apart, depending on the size at maturity of the variety you’re planting.
Although the red variety of salvia is often planted, the purple variety provides a cool contrast to the hot reds, oranges, and yellows of most summer-blooming flowers. And it reseeds itself.
28. Pine and Evergreen – Prune in June
In Minneapolis today, workers hoisted the last steel beam to the top of the new baseball stadium.
Attached to the steel beam was a pine tree.
The tradition goes back some 1200 years to the Vikings (somehow appropriate). Scandinavian builders topped off their buildings with a sheaf of grain for the horse of their beloved god, Odin. For his part, Odin was so pleased with this that he bestowed good luck on the future occupants.
As the Vikings spread throughout (conquered) Europe, they brought their topping off practice with them. Britons and Germans substituted trees for the grain, and interestingly enough, the Scandinavians eventually switched to using a tree.
The tradition was brought to America by Scandinavian ironworkers, who promptly added an American flag. Så småningom, it became common for the workers to sign the beam before you set it in place.
Not only does raising a pine tree commemorate the building to the highest point of the structure, but it also celebrates doing so without serious injury to the workers.
Pine and evergreen have long symbolized hope to humanity. During the cold, mörk, seemingly lifeless winter days, the pine and evergreen remain green and look alive.
För det mesta, pine trees do not need pruning. If you do prune a pine, don’t remove whole branches; the tree may never recover. Till exempel, if a branch is growing into a path, cut a few inches off the tip rather than the entire branch.
Evergreen shrubs and small trees are often pruned to maintain their size and shape in the landscape. June is the ideal time for this.
På nytt, prune sparingly. Only prune off the tips of the branches. If it is necessary to remove an entire branch, do not cut it off flush with the main trunk. Leave a quarter-inch stump.
If you have a large pine or evergreen which has overgrown its space and you’re tempted to cut off the bottom branches, do the tree and yourself a favor and have the tree removed.
Cutting off the lower branches of an evergreen removes the lowest level of support for snow-filled branches. Så småningom, starting at the bottom, the remaining branches will break under the weight of the snow.
Remove the tree and plant something that loves acid soil, like blueberries or rhododendrons.
Blueberries taste a lot better than pine cones anyway.
29. Zucchini – There’s No Stopping Them
I captured a zucchini blossom this morning on a plant that’s barely bigger than a transplant. It’s actually the second one that opened. I missed the first flower—you can see it wilted in the background in the photo at left.
Zucchini, come on like gangbusters, and don’t let up until the weather cools in fall. Stories of grocery bags filled with zucchini that were left on neighbor’s doorsteps were circulating in the neighborhood a few years back, but no one came forward as the alleged recipient.
All squash are native to the Americas, but zucchini is a mutant or sport that originated in Italy. Its name comes from the Italian zucchino, which means “little squash.” Botanists called it Cucurbita pepo, a member of the same family as cucumbers and melons. In the United Kingdom and New Zealand, zucchini is referred to as “courgette, ” while Australians and Americans call it “zucchini.”
Whatever you call it, you have to call it versatile. You can serve zucchini cooked or raw, sweet or savory. Zucchini is grilled, fried, deep-fried, stuffed, or baked with an endless variety of spices and seasonings. And virtually everything you can do with the fruit of zucchini you can do with the blossom.
Faktiskt, one of the ways you can “temper” the amount of zucchini your plants produce is to harvest the blossoms. Stuff them, dip them in tempura batter and deep fry them. Bake them. Put them raw into salads. Use them as a filling for quesadillas.
Sometimes you can find a perfect zucchini blossom still attached to the tiny zucchini fruit at its base. These are much sought after by gourmets and pricey restaurants.
You grow zucchini the same way you grow cucumbers. Plant them in late spring. Trots allt, the danger of frost has passed. Plant five or six seeds in “hills” of soil. When the plants are about two inches high, thin to the strongest two or three plants, this is best used for “bush” varieties of zucchini, which form a compact bush-like plant.
For varieties of zucchini that grow into a vine, it’s best to grow them vertically. Zucchini will climb a vertical trellis or net with just a little help from you. Vertical growing keeps the plants off the ground and makes it easier to see the fruits.
Make sure to harvest zucchini every day. Pick fruits before they reach six inches in length when they are the most tender and flavorful. If you miss a few and get a little large, peel them, seed them, grate them, and make zucchini bread. Or add a couple of cups of grated zucchini to any chocolate cake recipe.
Read also:Flower Meaning Perseverance – Magnolia
But try to resist leaving them on your neighbor’s doorstep.
Read also:How To Rebloom Orchids