Hollyhock

I have been gone rafting this past weekend but, I am trying hard not to fall off the wagon when it comes to posting updates!

Last night I did a tour of the yard. I was surprised to find that one of the hollyhocks I planted this spring is blooming!

They are considered biennials, completing their life cycle in two years. Apparently not true for this one?

- Dan

Bachelor Buttons

I have been meaning to post a photo of these flowers for a few days... They have been in bloom for about two weeks.

I got these in a seed packet I found lying around our house... I planted a bunch of them, but soon after that we spread mulch and most of the seedlings died off! Lesson learned.

- Dan

Dahlias

Last Fall I saved a plethora of seeds from three dahlia plants we had planted on the south side of our house. There was one yellow, one pink, and one red plant. I was curious to see what the seeds would produce, as they often are not the exact same as the parent plant...

The pink and the red plants actually made it through the winter and the yellow one did not...

The red dahlia I saved seeds from.

The pink one...

And now for some of the offspring! This picture is actually three different plants...

This is one of my favorite ones, it is more of a golden, orange-ish almost pink color. I love the gradient of lighter to darker from the center to the end of the petals.

This one is pink as well but it is more magenta and darker than its parent.

Another one came out almost the same yellow as the one we had last year... you can see it in the photo above too.

This pink one looks very similar to the original pink... it does seem to have some more yellow in the center though. I'm not sure if that is just because it hasn't fully opened up yet?

This one hasn't bloomed quite yet... but it looks like it is an even darker pink!

These ones still have yet to show me what they will look like!

 

I will let you know what they look like in the near future!

- Dan

Nasturtiums

As July draws to a close...

Our nasturtiums have been blooming one at a time for a couple weeks now. Of course they are not usually just single blooms but ours seem to be doing that... I thought I would show you them in all there single-bloom glory!

 

I love the orange with red in the center...

- Dan

Pansies and Violas

Here is a glimpse of some of the pansies and violas we have growing around the house this year.

 

 

- Dan