April 21 , 2021
Cut Flower Garden Love with La Otra Flora!
One of my most powerful memories is the murky bounce Saturday when I pick flowers from my very first garden and coif them in a penny-pinching store vase . I burn up the phone lines to tell our parents about this wondrous case ! When I meet Laura Ruiz Brennand ( pre - pandemic ) , she utterly glow with the same lightness I discovered as a young gardener . So , for now , we hook up via Zoom and a agile visit to her garden to get the level behind her flower garden blueprint consulting job , La Otra Flora . Laura ’s always gardened , but when she and her husband had a babe , she just tossed some narcissus bulbs into the beds . “ And I was so engaged with my sister that when they started produce in the spring , I just was blown off on how beautiful they were . And it opened the threshold to all kinds of blossom . I was a teacher for a long time and so I decided to combine my sexual love of teaching and my love of flower to teach people how to turn them , ” she allege . Exuberant son Shea , now four , can teach you a lot about plant , too!I’d known Shea for about two second when he hasten off to pluck a nasturtium leaf . He handed it to me with an enthusiastic “ try out this ! ” Oh , how yummy . That peppery mouthful remind me — yet again — to embed nasturtiums next bounce . I ’ll call them Shea ’s nasturtiums!Then he waltzed me over to a mixed layer of strawberries , Swiss chard , Daucus carota sativa , clams , and flowers . Laura breaks down the essentials for getting started with soil , sunlight , fertilizer , and lacrimation . You do n’t want a big infinite at all . Small raise bed ingroup in a mess of flower power if you do n’t scrimp on garden soil . Get a good one that ’s light and fluffy . Mix in some compost and organic granular plant food , too . In containers , choose a high - quality potting filth . It ’s ok to supply a flake of compost to them , too , though some mix will already check compost . Here , she combine African daisy and violet - riff , pink - flowered wood sorrel for tiny bouquet . Alyssum ’s fragrancy perfumes the front porch , specially on our breezy , balmy days . If growing in the ground , she rede to just tease it to aerate , getting oxygen into the soil . habituate a garden fork or trowel rather than tilling which can harm earthworms . lightly mix in good garden dirt ( at least the first meter ) , compost , and some organic granular fertilizer . Add compost every planting time of year .
But in the side strip beyond the fencing , plants pretty much take forethought of themselves . aboriginal pinkish evening primrose show up on its own . In fall she throws out various wildflower seeds , like standing winecup ( Callirhoe digitata ) and firewheel ( Gaillardia pulchella ) . “ It makes me so happy and it makes the neighbors glad , ” she said . I’ll try seed winecups next fall ! My winecups are the footing - huggingCallirhoe involucratathat I set forth as transplants a few years back . In this area , they ’re wandering into fuzzy - leaved Jerusalem salvia . So sad that the Jerusalem sage wo n’t bloom in fourth dimension this year for their velvety yellow flowers against that copious burgundy . Native dayflower disperse her part shade area , particularly under trees . She leaves most to the bees , but cut some for arrangements . I have it off them , too , so I ’ve get to show off a white that flower for me this time , a rare event in my ingathering of pink , purple , and lavender . Spiderworts die back in heat and return in fall . They cross pollinate like brainsick , so it ’s fun to see what newfangled unity show up next year from their scattered seeds . When the seed head are amply browned , collect some seeds for next twelvemonth to partake in with a friend or a new smear . Planting time are decisive with seeds , bulbs , and corms ( like ranunculus and anemone ) , Laura reminded us . For natural spring bloomers , she lead off in October . Last capitulation , she sow one-year white - spiked mignonette , unripe Bell of Ireland , silvery dusty miller and larkspur ( in the foreground ) that ’s blooming by now . Beyond , foliage of early spring blooming narcissus promises fragrant bouquets next year . Wait until the foliage browns up to cut off to the ground .
Watch now for easy and fun ways to celebrate Earth Day every day , even in diminished space and containers !
Thanks for stopping by ! Linda
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