Spring is coming?

Greetings from northern Minnesota, on a blustery wintery day!  It is 4 degrees outside (above zero), and the wind is blowing rather ferociously.  What better day to pull out that stack of seed catalogs that has collected on my shelf and make some plans for this summer!? 

Have you started planning your vegetable and/or flower gardens?  I have some new plants that I am excited to try this year and wanted to share them with you.


Heirloom Elephant Head Amaranthus:


(http://s92.photobucket.com/user/BLONDECHICK95926/media/ElephantHead13-3.jpg.html)



Peanuts:

(http://backyard-homestead.com/how-to-grow-peanuts)

 Lemon Grass from seed:

 (http://www.outsidepride.com/seed/ornamental-grass/lemon-grass.html)

Dragon Tongue Arugula:

 

 (http://loghouseplants.com/plants/shop/arugula-dragons-tongue/)

Mixed Colors Echinacea

 (http://easybloom.com/plantlibrary/plant/echinacea)

 Red Shiso:

 (http://plantfreak.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/the-somehow-hearty-and-minty-shiso/)

Edelweiss (like from the Sound of Music)

 (http://www.outsidepride.com/seed/ground-cover-seed/edelweiss.html)

Joe Pye Weed

 (http://www.obsessiveneuroticgardener.com/2013/08/a-little-joe-pye-weed-love.html)

 Ramps

 (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/dining/20forage.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

 Neck Pumpkin Squash

 (http://www.homekitchengarden.com/home-kitchen-garden/neck-pumpkin-a-home-kitchen-garden-marvel)

Narrow Leaf Echinacea (the truest medicinal echinacea)

 

(http://my.chicagobotanic.org/science_conservation/undercover-science-5/)

 Black Current Swirl Datura

 (http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/jour/p/07/gw1013007/page.html)

 Valerian

 (http://whitesagelanding.net/herbs-essential-oils/valerian-essential-oil)

 Watercress

 (http://www.wildedible.com/wild-food-guide/watercress)

 "Velour" Dwarf French Garden Bean

 (http://broadwayandthresher.com/farm-and-garden/2013/6/20/the-soils-warm-plant-beans-fg)

Oh, and just like that, it is now snowing outside!  Wonderful....

What exciting new things are you going to try this year in your garden?

Christmas Cactus Cutting Update

Good afternoon!  Do you remember when I took those Christmas Cactus cuttings last summer?  I just wanted to update you on how they are doing!

I lost a few of the cuttings (to be expected), and the ones that are left are growing really well.  On these pictures you can see the beautiful new growth each cutting is putting out.  Sometime in the next month I plan to put the cuttings into their own individual pots.

I'll keep you posted!

Final Carrot Harvest

First of all, I would like to apologize for my lack of posting lately!  With the Holiday's fast approaching, I have found myself with too much to do and not enough time on my hands. 

As I was going through my unpublished posts, I found this one I had started last fall of a basket of carrots I harvested.  I planted a mix of carrots and was happily surprised at the results!  It is interesting to note that I actually thought the purple carrots were sweeter than the orange carrots.  Has anyone done a taste test?  Any thoughts or experiences to share?

Flower Bouquets...

Good afternoon!  I was just looking over some pictures from the summer, and thought you might enjoy seeing some of the flour bouquets I made. 


The dahlia's were wonderful!  We've picked so many of these 'dinner plate' white dahlias.

We've also had a pretty good year with sunflowers.

Some more dahlias, with a few sheaves of wheat for contrast.  



This is a one gallon ball jar, so you can tell this is a pretty big bouquet!  I took a picture of it with a box of sure jell in front so you could have a size comparison.

A close up view of the same bouquet.  So bright and cheerful!

Another large bouquet, with pink pompom dahlias, pink stargazer lilies, pink love-lies bleeding, white dahlias and gladiolus and a yellow sunflower.  This was one of my favorite bouquets of the summer!

Late Summer Flower Garden Shoot

The late summer garden is so beautiful!  I've been taking these pictures over the last few weeks, and just wanted to share them with you!

The love-lies-bleeding amaranth is looking so beautiful and graceful.

The dahlia bed has also been great this year.  Now, I just have to remember to dig up the tubers after the first frost!

The squash arbor didn't do so well this year (I should have watered it a bit more, my bad).  We did get a few spaghetti and buttercup squashes, though. 

Warning: dahlia pictures ahead.  They are gorgeous!

Our dinnerplate white dahlia's were amazing this year.  As you can see, this dahlia is a good 10 to 11 inches across - and many of the white dahlia's were even bigger! 

The stargazer lilies smell as delicious as they look.

The morning glory vine has taken over this trellis in the vegetable garden.

The pink morning glories are my favorite.

This light pink hollyhock is now well over eight feel tall.  And it has been flowering all summer!

The datura is going crazy.

The gladiolus' bloomed quite late this year!

The wildflower garden keeps blooming and blooming!

This is my most favorite nasturtium ever - "Peach Melba."

The cosmos grew from seed this year.

A glorious pink wrinkled poppy.

A sunflower just about ready to open.

A little spot in the vegetable garden where I planted a love-lies-bleeding, pink zinnias and cilantro.  The cilantro is gone to flower, with the delicate little white blossoms.  Beautiful!

Another sunflower head, getting ready open.

This stargazer lily was just going crazy.

This is a mystery flower.  I have no idea what it is.  Any suggestions?  It just popped up this late summer in one of the perennial gardens.  The stem has no leaves, and there are four open flowers at the top, and several unopened buds as well.  The whole thing is about 20 inches tall.  I would love some help in identifying this flower!

The foxgloves finally decided to bloom as well.

And this phlox!  I couldn't believe how gorgeous this pholx was!  It was blooming right in with the regular pink phlox.  I am not sure if it is supposed to look like this though?

The hydrangea's are still blooming.

And the monarda as well.

The borage has been blooming all summer.

And I loved this hollyhock!



It is hard to imagine how much of a true-blue color this delphinium is.  I believe the variety is called "Sky Blue."

The zinnia's are going crazy.

Thanks for joining me on my walk through the garden!