southernmagnolia's Blog

Red Mittens in the Trees
Sep 18, 2009 | 2:31 AM PST
Tags: sassafras , tomatoes , zinnias , hummingbirds

I was standing out in our backyard, looking into the woods.  The sassafras trees' leaves are turning red and look like childrens' mittens waving in the breeze.  A few leaves fluttered from oak trees and blew to the ground.  I like the changing of the seasons because it gives me a sense of freshness, newness, renewal.  I like the autumn because I love the holidays, and autumn gets me thinking about how I'll decorate this year.

The garden is drying back and the zinnias are about spent.  I leave the flowers there until I quit getting any new blooms.  I can't bear to yank them out when they are still producing flowers, even though the stalks are getting splindly and the leaves are turning brown.  The pentas are still going strong and the hummingbirds are still visiting.  Last year we saw the last one in early October. 

I am not a tomato gardener.  In all, we have gotten 21 tomatoes from the two plants and I didn't think they tasted any better than grocery store tomatoes.  For all the effort and the cost of the plants, I am not going to put them in again.  Not unless someone I personally know gives me some plants that will yield some really flavorful tomatoes. 

I am going to Southern Vistas nursery today and get some new flowers for the fall and hope to put them in this weekend. 

Mid Summer Garden Update
Jul 11, 2009 | 4:06 AM PST
Tags: slugs , zinnias , salvia , pentas , tomatoes , forget-me-nots

This summer everything is taking a long time to get accomplished.  After the slugs were killed off, I put two large zinnias in and waited.  They both did well, and are continuing to grow and bloom profusely - one pink and the other orange, both with double petals.  After no slug damage, the following weekend I put in 3 packs of zinnia seeds, two are the giant cactus variety and one of the doubles.  Wow, are these coming up strongly and so many - like over 100 plants are growing in 3 beds.  I just hope they have enough sunshine to bloom for a long time into the fall.  The house shadows these beds come fall.

The pentas are doing well and the hummingbirds are enjoying them.  This year, I have red, lilac and white ones.  The birds go for the reds first. 

Yesterday I bought 18 red salvia to plant where the pansies pooped out.  I am hoping the hummingbirds will enjoy them.  Last year I had a salvia in a planter and I remember the birds checking it out.  So later today I will get busy planting them. 

My husband wanted to see if we could grow some tomatoes so we went and bought two plants back in mid June and put them in.  Just this week I saw that 4 little maters are setting on, right now only the size of marbles.  But this is exciting for us.  We haven't grown any vegetables in more than 25 years.  So I hope they do well and that the sunshine will continue on them long enough for them to get big and ripen. 

The forget-me-nots didn't bloom this year and now the leaves are fading.  I thought that there was something wrong with them, but I got on a gardenguides forum and asked a question and found out that they bloom early in the year.  So they will hopefully be full of blooms next Spring.

We had a nice long Spring this year, but now it is a typical South Carolina summer with very high temps. 

Dasterdly Slugs!
May 30, 2009 | 9:04 AM PST
Tags: slugs , WalMart , zinnias

I was all excited to see my Giant Zinnia seedlings sprouting 2 weeks ago after only planting the seeds about 5 days before.  A couple days later, every single seedling was gone... into the bellies of those nasty snurly slugs.

 I took to slug slaughtering, but how can you find them all?  So today I am off to buy some slug killer at Lowes.  And now I am going to have to buy zinnia plants after I have rid the flower beds of slugs, and start over.  I was really looking forward to Giant Zinnias again, and if Lowes still has some seed packs, I will buy them and plant them too.

I did buy some impatiens at WalMart and some petunias.  I have had luck with WalMart's clearance plants.  I have been paying half price and haven't gotten a bad plant yet.  Started buying there last year.  Now to find some pentas for the hummingbirds too!

 

My Giant Zinnias
Oct 11, 2008 | 6:36 AM PST
Tags: zinnias , zinnia seeds , giant cactus flowered zinnias , hummingbirds

I bought a package of giant zinnia seeds at Lowe's (Lowe's brand) this June and sprinkled them in an inch or two of dirt along one side of our patio.  They sprouted right away and, according to the package, they were to grow to 2-3' in height. 

They are now up to 5' tall with beautiful big blooms.  The package reads "Zinnia Giant Cactus Flowered, Mixed Colors" and cost $1.25.  I must have 50 plants and they have been the highlight of my first summer garden.  The soil around my patio has alot of sand in it.  Maybe that helped.  I put MiracleGro on them twice.

I didn't know that hummingbirds would be attracted to zinnias, but they were and they loved them.  The little yellow "mini-flowers" (?) inside the big flowers must have had good nectar.

I plan on putting more of these in next season.