Briar Lane Flowers

I grew two different varieties of Japanese morning glory from seed this year both of them from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds. The first of them was the Split Second morning glory, a beautiful double pink.  It is unusual looking and almost looks like a pink peony. The second was the Imperial Japanese morning glory and each plant was unique in color but most were some shade of blue or pink.    (Split Second morning glory) I started the seeds inside 4 weeks before my last frost. I clipped off the ends of each seed with a toenail clipper and then put them in an old no longer used Tupperware container inside of a damp paper toweling. I placed the container on the highest shelf in my house near a heat vent and closed the lid and checked on them once a day. Every single one germinated within 4 days. I planted them in trays under lights in my basement until after frost then planted outdoors.     Imperial Japanese morning glory I did not have any pro...

I collected all of my green tomatoes in my garden after a frost advisory was given. These were all from the one volunteer green zebra tomato plant seedling that self seeded from the year before. Instead of waiting for them to ripen and possibly forget about them,  I decided to make roasted green salsa.     Roasted Green Tomato Salsa Around 15 small unripe tomatoes  1 white onion 9 medium size garlic cloves 1 cup of cilantro 1 teaspoon salt 6 tablespoons lemon juice 3 jalapenos Step 1:  Cut the tomatoes in half or in quarters if they are larger. Cut the jalapenos' tops off only and peel the garlic and peel and cut the onion in fourths. Step 2:  Put all ingredients from step one under the broiler in your oven until they are slightly blackened. Step 3: Put the rest of the ingredients (the lemon juice and onion and salt and cilantro) into a blender along with the ingredients you just put under the broiler. Blend on high until texture is smooth. Step...

Nasturtium is a delicious edible flower. In fact not only is the flower edible, the whole plant is edible. The leaves, stems, seeds and flowers are all tasty. The leaves and flowers are peppery tasting and taste great in salad.  I made a simple nasturtium salad. My recipe is: 2 cups washed nasturtium flowers 1 cup baby spinach leaves 1 cup washed nasturtium leaves 1/2cup chopped carrots (I used the last of the carrots from my garden.) 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes Dressing of your choice (I used Catalina.) That's all I added and it tasted great with Catalina dressing but you can add more add-ins like: Mushrooms Feta cheese Radish Swiss chard Sunflower seeds Chicken chunks Bacon  Etc. I hope you have the courage to try to grow and eat this beautiful plant next year.

I have been following The Propagator blog for quite awhile now: (check it out at thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com) and I have decided to do a Six on a Saturday like he does so here is my Six on a Saturday. 1.) Miniature rose still blooming its heart out. I bought this one for $1 at Walmart and it is hardy down to zone 3.  2.) One of my dahlia seedlings blooming for the first time. It must be a late bloomer or it is one of the ones I started a tad too late from seed. 3.) Unicorn zinnias still putting on a show despite powdery mildew on leaves. 4.) Split second Japanese morning glory: One of my favorites this year. 5.) My nasturtium have been loving the cool weather and are covered in beautiful blooms. 6.) The Sahara rudbeckia has outdone itself with numerous blooms.

I would love to talk about all my successes but along with the success I have had a lot of failures and that's a good thing because failure means there is usually a lesson to be learned. This year I made so so many mistakes that I learned from. Mistake #1: I tried starting Lisianthus from seed and overwatered the seeds causing the seeds to rot and producing a ton of nasty fungus gnats and wasting tons of very expensive seed.         (Fun morning glory picture since I did not get any Lisianthus to even germinate. .  . sigh) Mistake #2:  I started my hosta seedlings too late not realizing how long they take to grow/germinate. They were super small when I planted them out. This year I will be starting the seeds within a few weeks and that should help out a lot.             (Hosta seed parent's flower) Mistake #3: I planted my very expensive hostas and forgot to tell my father in law  where I plant...

Why do I grow flowers? I get this question a lot from people: mainly those that think that growing flowers is a waste of space and time and energy. I don't think that way obviously. .     (A zinnia in my kids' pollinators garden) I do actually grow herbs and vegetables every year along with my flowers but the flowers are my true passion. I have nothing against growing only vegetables. My dad loves to grow vegetables and that is his passion and I understand that. (In fact, I already purchased his Christmas present for him . . . something to do with his garden.) .    (A native aster which supports bees and butterflies late in the season when not much else is blooming.) I digress. Anyway I grow flowers because when I had postpartum depression it was one of the only things that made me excited and want to live. I grow flowers because it gives me goals and because looking at a new flower bloom makes that part of my heart open up and live again...

I am working on breeding projects for nasturtium, zinnias, cosmos, dahlias, and poppies and more. Dahlias are the highest priority for me but each project is important and I hope to be able to create something beautiful and unique to offer to consumers within a few years. Let's start with zinnias: my goal is to create a unique ruffled purple variety. This plant pictured is not the end project rather just one that I am saving seed from. I am saving seeds from several dahlias this year including this beautiful cafe au lait. I have ordered a large amount of tubers of unique dahlia seed parents for next year and I can't wait to see what beauties my breeding program will produce. I have decided not to use any seeds from my nasturtium plants this year. I have a new kind of nasturtium that I will be working with and trying to isolate out a specific color. Stay tuned to see how it works out for me. My cosmos goals are for a uniquely color...

People often tell me that I have a green thumb and that plants 'just' grow well for me and that they have a black thumb and kill everything. I don't honestly believe that people have black thumbs or green thumbs. I think being successful with plants is about being able to be good at a few key things: 1.) Don't underestimate the amount of care that your plant actually needs:  People seem to think you can just plop a plant in the ground and ignore it and it will turn out beautifully. Not so. . .plants actually need a lot of care. (Zinnias will do much better if you make sure there is adequate space between plants and you don't water from above.) 2.) Don't plant high maintenance plants like roses if you are unable to give them the time and energy they need. (Roses need pruning, to be fertilized frequently, and need a full sun location.) 3.) Make sure to research your plant (house plant, annual or perennial)'s water and amount of light an...