Plans for next season and beyond

I have started planning for next year already. If all goes to plan, I will have 3 separate dahlia patches in 3 separate locations. I am planning on working on collarettes, anemones and other open centered varieties at two other locations. My closed centered varieties such as the KA varieties that I have purchased will be growing at my house. I will also be growing some seedlings at my house. These are seedlings that are more likely to be close centered and from seeds I collected this year.

Closed centered dahlia Makayla Miranda

I am working on two separate zinnia breeding projects. Project one includes using some genetics from Floret's Unicorn zinnias and some other purple genetics to hopefully come up with something beautiful and unique. Project number two is going to be an attempted cross between two different zinnia species which may or may not work out the way I want it to. . .stay tuned over the next year to see if the beginning stages turn out the way I want them to.

Unicorn zinnia

I am working on creating a new variety of China aster. I have finally decided I want to try creating an apricot and white variety. I'm not sure exactly how it will turn out looking but I have a goal and it may take years to get where I want it to be.

Tower China aster

I am also working on creating a new poppy variety, a new nasturtium variety and some other side projects. I will have lots of pictures to come next year and the years after that. These are long term projects and they may take years to stabilize as I rouge out ones that don't match my vision. Eventually my goal is to have unique seeds and tubers available for purchase.

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A few fun varieties. . .

I found a few fun varieties of flowers to grow next year that were not on my list to buy. They seemed so interesting that I bought them anyway. #1 A beautifully pink sunflower #2 Something fragrant #3 The bright patterns caught my eye. #4 What can I say? I'm a sucker for purple. . . #5 This one was on sale. . . That's it for now but I haven't finished reading my copy of The Whole Seed Catalog so there may be a few more purchases between now and spring. After all my Dad could use some more vegetable seeds. . .

Nasturtium

I planted two different varieties of Nasturtium this year: Caribbean cocktail mix from Select Seeds and Vesuvius from Migardener. Both of them were beautiful. I think the Caribbean cocktail mix was my favorite though. The Caribbean cocktail mix: As the raspberry colored blooms aged, they turned a delightful pink. These are the Vesuvius nasturtium. I planted these ones in the ground while the Caribbean cocktail mix were planted into large pots. I didn't notice any difference in amount of blooms or plant health. The blooms start out quite neon orange and then fade to a beautiful apricot as they age.

Green Thumbs

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...

Briar Lane Flowers

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