Fruit and Flowers in the Garden

My bergamot is finally blooming! I planted it partly for tea purposes and partly because every book I read mentions how good the flowers are for the bees. The trouble is, in two years of growing, it has failed to flower--until today.

There have been a few ripe sungolds so far. I'm looking forward to the tomato boom!

I call this sunflower the Behemoth. Near as I can tell, the Mammoth sunflowers I grew last year hybridized with someone else's branching sunflower and this gigantic hybrid resulted. It's over 12 feet tall and is going to require an ax to get down once its blooming days are over. It actually had branches up and down almost its entire length, but several of the lower ones have broken off as we've brushed by it to tend other plants.

I mentioned earlier that I was trying wonderberries because they are a strange plant I had never heard of before. The first ones I ate were ok but nothing to write home about. This batch is about three times as big, so I'm hoping they'll be more impressive taste-wise as well.

And, of course, the roses are blooming! Here's Ebb Tide again, showing off.

Aloe Vera in the Garden

The aloe vera had to be trimmed back quite a bit--hacked back with a shovel, truth be told--because it was forming a huge, thorny mound (aloe is good for treating the cuts gotten from caring for aloe). Now, it's back in shape and blooming. 

The miniature roses aren't doing so badly, either. Wish the big ones were doing as well.

Raindrops on Roses

Columbine II

I have completely fallen in love with these flowers.

Colombine!

 

I first fell in love with Columbine flowers at (you guessed it) Disneyland, having seen them in one of the Tomorrowland gardens. I found a few more around the neighborhood and admired their graceful stalks and ballet-dress beauty.

It was too late, however, to find any plants, so I had to buy seeds, which I planted with some trepidation--I'm not that good at keeping seeds alive and nurturing them through that awkward, delicate seedling phase when too much water drowns them and too little withers them, and the difference between the two stages is a few drops.

To my delight, however, a number of the plants survived my care; no more than a small percentage, but enough. I planted them all around the garden--instructions on Columbine care vary, some saying "Full sun" and some "shade," so I mixed them.

Some died in the torrential downpour we had over the winter, but some lived, and now several are blooming! Or, rather, promising to bloom. The only open one is an unpromising mix of sickly green and pale red, but I have hopes that it will darken into something more impressive.

In the meantime, three others hold tightly furled buds, mysteries waiting to unfold.

How Doth Your Garden Grow?

Very well, thank you!

The nasturtiums have been reseeding wildly. They spent most of the winter months growing slowly; with the arrival of the sun and cool weather, they are in their glory.

I love these daisies. We've had them for years. They try to take over if they are allowed, but starting around now, I work to keep them trimmed back.

All the roses seem to have survived my pruning attempts and some are beginning to bloom.