Gertrude's Flower Garden Weekly Diary

7/4/08 - Today I watered all of the containers, because, dispite the showers that we have had, they were still quite dry. One of the few drawbacks of a container garden is the fact that it needs constant watering. I have found, however, that flowers are not shy about letting you know when they are thirsty; they will shrivel and droop, but spruce up quickly when they get a drink. The Browallias and the Star Zinnias seem particularly affected by the lack of water, while the Geraniums and Purple Petunias are least affected. If I water with the watering can, I usually add a bit of fertilizer to the water, but it is faster to water with the hose running gently.
I guess that I have been spending most of my gardening time taking care of the flowerbeds in which I have planted annuals. I still haven't completed the flowerbeds around the garage, and I haven't gotten into the rock garden. I would like at least to get the front of the rock garden in better shape, but working around the pathway in the rock garden will have to be put off for the present. Probably next year I will plant fewer annuals, which will leave me more time to work on the perennial beds. The very hot weather we have been having has also cut down on the time that I can spend outside.
I have written recently about the work that I have been doing in the Birdbath bed. Besides edging and cultivating, I planted an outside ring of Purple Petunias, an inner ring of Multicolored Coleus, and behind both of these a ring of the new Orange and Yellow Marigolds that I raised last winter in the basement garden. Around the birdbath itself the flowers are all perennials--a few Phlox and Black-eyed-Susans that seeded themselves, but mostly Balloon Flowers, Platycondon grandiflorus, that have been growing there for some years. This week's is a picture of a close-up of these lovely blue flowers that get their common name from the buds of the flowers, one of which you can see in this picture. Native to China, eastern Siberia and Japan, this long-lived perennial is characterized by the unopened flower buds that resemble small inflated balloons. Being one of the last perennials to emerge in the spring, planting locations should be well marked in the garden, so that you don't accidentally dig them up in the spring clean-up. Blooming from June through August, the five-petaled flowers open from the balloon-like buds. Once opened, the flowers are graceful, saucer-shaped stars that resemble Campanulas. Use Balloon Flowers in your borders, rock gardens and cutting gardens. They make excellent, long-lasting cut flowers if the base of the stem is seared with a flame before placing in water. The Balloon Flowers in Gertrude's Garden have been great self-seeders and are spread around the garden.

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