Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
8/6/99 - This week I completed edging, cultivating, and generally tidying up the six center beds in Gertrude's garden. These are the beds in the garden in back of our house and don't include the beds that line the perimeter of the garden. It seems as though I only finish this job when it is time to start over, for gardening like housework (I am beginning to discover) never really gets finished. And a good gardener, like a good housekeeper, can tell at a glance what sort of work is being done.
I have added to my library of flower books by buying guides to annuals and perennials, so that, when I refer to flowers by the names by which they are known in this part of the world, I will be able to add the scientific names. In that way, friends in England and France or relatives in Germany who are kind enough to read my "Diary" will know the flowers that I am writing about. Otherwise, it is easy to be confused, because as Taylor's Guide to Annuals says, "Depending on one's taste (scientific, romantic, or macabre), Amaranthus caudatus may be known to one neighbor as 'Kiss-Me-Over-the-Garden-Gate" and to another as 'Love-Lies-Bleeding'."
The cycle of garden growth moves at different rates for different flowers. Some of the flowers in Gertrude's garden, phlox (Phlox paniculata) for instance, are just beginning to bloom, while others, such as larkspur (Delphinium ajacis) have finished making seeds. This week, I began my next year's garden by gathering my first seeds. Of course, many of the seeds for next year's flowers are already in the ground. As I pull up dead larkspur plants, I shake them to spread the seeds that will be next year's plants-- they do so well as "volunteers" that I don't need to raise seedlings during the winter. This year, however, I planted a new variety of nicotiana (Nicotiana sanderae--Nicot's herb, named after Jacques Nicot, said to have introduced tobacco into France), whose seeds I want to save. It may be that my nicotiana will produce hundreds of "volunteers" from the seeds that are now dropping, but I don't want to chance that. I take an ordinary letter envelope, pick the ripe seedheads, and squeeze them until the tiny brown seeds empty into the envelope. You must be sure to pick only the seed heads that are brown, dry, and slightly opened--ready to drop the seeds when the plant is shaken. Although I don't collect the seeds of the rose campion (see last week's "Diary") since it is a perennial and I have enough plants, I did collect some for a friend following the same procedure used for the nicotiana.
This week's picture is of part of our driveway and the front of our house. It is intended to show how I have used Wings begonias for many years as the mainstay of my plantings. I run a single line on each side of our driveway, and edge beds, particularly the shady ones, with my versatile Wings. This is a fibrous begonia, but it is a variety that is larger and more sturdy than the begonias one usually sees. Its flowers range in color from white, through many shades of pink, to deep, cherry red. Because of its thick, moisture-holding foliage, it does well even in the driest weather. I have grown all of my own plants from my own seeds, so that this year's Wings are the great-great-grandchildren of plants I have had so long that I don't remember their origin. I will be telling you much more about them when I write in the "Diary" about seed-gathering and planting.
8/13/99 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
7/30/99 - Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary
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