Tag: Annuals

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Happiness In A Vase: Zinnias

Bunch of zinnias

This sweet little posy of zinnias was all the nicer for being a gift from Jim Rosenblatt. His official title may be Dean Emeritus of The Mississippi College School of Law, but he wears the unofficial title of Plant Enthusiast with the same self-depreciation and benevolent good nature.

Several years ago, he created a cutting / kitchen garden in an unused corner of the faculty’s parking lot. The soil is rich and crumbly now, after years of being tended, making the plot very productive. These zinnias were freshly gathered from there.

I wonder how many other people have benefitted from gifts of peppers, tomatoes, herbs and flowers from his car park plot? Many more will have their day brightened by spotting this city centre garden as they passed.  Continue reading “Happiness In A Vase: Zinnias”

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Temporary Plants

A leafy plant with purple and silver striped leaves

When I first started gardening, it was in a garden that was so big, it seemed to eat up plants. The broad expanses of clay soil, hospitable enough with plenty of leaf mould and grit dug in, were insatiable. Had this been a boarding house for plants, a jaunty ‘Vacancies’ sign would have been permanently on display.

I could order a whole box of bare roots, at considerable cost, but they seemed to melt away in the garden’s expanse. Three would go here, and three more there; a choice plant by the gate so you were bound to appreciate it; a few more in the main borders and underneath the canopies of trees, but the box was soon, sadly, emptied and the garden seemed virtually as open as it had been before.

Luckily I like propagating – splitting plants, growing from seed – so that was OK. But I developed the habit of not liking annuals. Annuals were a waste. Mere temporary fixes. Their gap of land would still be a gap in a year’s time – in five years or twenty – if ‘real’ plants were not put there instead.  Continue reading “Weekly Photo Challenge: Temporary Plants”

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Impressions: Cutting Garden At Arley Hall And Gardens

Cleome with annuals

If I was using a macro lens rather than an iPhone, I’d be able to isolate the spidery flowers of cleome against a nicely diffused, neutral background. As it is, I’ve learned to appreciate the impressionistic quality the iPhone can give. It’s nice that our eyes can drift along the flower border and make out some of the annuals: pink and red cosmos and blue cornflowers (Centaura cyanus). And I’m often impressed how well the iPhone captures colours, especially the blues, which my old camera struggled with.  Continue reading “Impressions: Cutting Garden At Arley Hall And Gardens”