Another gloomy May day. Good for my plants, flowers & ground water, bad for my laundry - the procrastination continues! I was lured outside by all the bright greens, pinks, purples and bold contrast colors. Though, I suffered a lot of dampening off this year basement work = poor air circulation, surprisingly, my green envy zinnias bounced back and are starting to bloom. Last year I made the mistake of directly sowing zinnia seeds outdoors - they took forever to grow & bloom - it wasn't until August that I finally had a flower! This year I started 10 indoors, and they all seem happy and eager to attract humming birds and butterflies.
Herb flowers are also gorgeous. Since moving my chives & sage to pots, they overwinter and come back with dynamite edible flowers each year. Above is a sage blossom. Full of sweet sage nectar, this year I might try frying them with sage leaves & serving with some butternut squash pasta.
I grow flowers for their beauty and for attracting pollinators & good bugs to the garden. Marigolds (above) and Bachelors Buttons (the bud below) attract bees, butterflies, lady bugs & lacewings.
Below are chive blossoms. They are just about to bloom and are delicious. I have a crop on my deck and on my patio - and they'll make it into salads, atop frittatas and as a finishing touch in stir fries.
My front garden is jam packed with flowers this year. African Marigolds, Zinnias, Dahlias, Geraniums, Spanish Lavender, Daisies & a few herbs too. Most of these flowers will be low maintenance & require only a bit of watering & deadheading.
My favorite is still the black viola. It reseeded itself over the winter and found two shady spots out front. That's reason enough for me to water every other morning.
The next flower on my radar is one that I don't want to bloom, the delectable garlic scape. My fingers are crossed that the cool spring means more scapes and larger garlic bulbs!
What's popping up in your garden?