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Hosta’s in bloom

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Hosta Flower buds

These are hosta flowers.

I’m not always that into them when I look at them from afar amid the rest of the plants in the garden, but when I get up close to Hosta flowers I do appreciate how pretty they really are after all.

Do you enjoy your hosta flowers?

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.






The Color Purple

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My garden is made up of many different colored flowers, but when I look at the photos I’ve taken it seems that there are much more of some color than others. I thought I’d show you a few of my lovely purple flowers today.This flower is grown from a bulb. It’s formally called Liatris and more commonly known as Gay Feather.

Liatris

In my front flower bed I grow a small woody plant called Pervoskia Little Spire. I believe it’s a form of Russian Sage. I think it was a little windy when I took this photo and the flower stalks in the center moved closer to the lense as I shot the photo so the center is slightly out of focus.

If you can’t grow lavender you might try growing Russian Sage or even a nice Salvia as they are similar in appearance (tidier I believe), but they don’t have any scent.

Pervoskia Little Spire

Finally, here’s the common but ever so lovely purple petunia. Need I say more?

Purple petunia

How many purple flowers do you grow?

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Do you put mulch on your garden beds?

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If you’ve been reading my garden stories you know I was a very very bad gardener this year. I didn’t complete my summer gardening tasks until last week! Those tasks included adding a three inch or so layer of shredded red cedar mulch to my garden beds.

Time and time again I’m amazed at what a difference mulching the garden came make. If you use an attractive mulch it makes your garden beds look nicer. I find it also makes your garden look tidier.

Other benefits of mulching include:

  1. It cuts down on weeds and the task of weeding since weed seeds can’t penetrate the thick mulch easily.
  2. Mulching helps hold the moisture in the soil so you don’t have to water as often.
  3. Mulch helps keep your plants roots cool.
  4. I find fewer animals digging in my garden beds when they have a good layer of mulch.
  5. Plants look healthier.
  6. It’s been said that red mulch placed around Tomato plants reflect certain light rays back at the plant and actually help make tomatoes grow better.
  7. The mulch eventually breaks down in the soil and adds nutrients for your plants.

Since putting mulch down we’ve only watered the garden twice and the plants look great. I did rain on Sunday though so you could say the gardens had three waterings. Prior to adding the mulch the plants were wilting in the hot summer heat within two days. The soil was just drying out too fast.

Now my plants were fairly healthy despite the lack of care I’ve given them this summer, but still, I can see an improvement in how they are withstanding the summer heat in the short time that the mulch has been down on the garden beds.

I’m not new to mulch. Ever since I put my garden beds in six years ago I’ve been putting mulch down on the garden beds by the end of each June. This is the first year that I did it so late and I won’t ever be late again. It really helps!

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