Tag Archives: sunflower

GBBD 8/15/14

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day
August 15, 2014

Once again, there are sunflowers in bloom and if I am lucky I will have even more next month.

These are about 10 ' tall.

These are about 10 ‘ tall.

These are heavy flowers an have faced down all week.

These are heavy flowers have faced down all week.

 

I am guessing this sunflower is 12 ' tall.

I am guessing this sunflower is 12 ‘ tall.

 

 

There are lots of sunflowers on my Pinterest pages.

Sunflowers are big, happy flowers. I love them.

The common name “sunflower” applies to the popular annual species Helianthus annuus.

You can buy the seed at Renee’s Garden.

 

 

Datura

Datura is a night bloomer.

Sometimes they open on cloudy rainy days, thinking it is night time.

Sometimes they open on cloudy rainy days, thinking it is night time.

 

There are night moths that come when these flowers bloom.

There are night moths that come when these flowers bloom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, we have flowers 24-7 at the Hobson Estate in the summer. Datura, sometimes called moon flower, is a “witches weed.”  Datura has a history of causing delirious states and death. It was well-known as an essential ingredient of potions and witches’ brews. The seeds are produced in lots of spiky balls. Fail to pick up every single seed pod, and you will have more every year. They take up lots of space.

Resurrection lily, Naked Lady, Surprise Lily, Magic Lily.

Sometimes called Surprise Lily, or Magic Lily.

 

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Sometimes called Naked Lady or resurrection lily.

Sometimes called Surprise Lily, or Magic Lily.

The leaves sprout and grow in the spring, then die back during June. Then in late July or early August the flowers appear.

When I first moved here it was a long time before I got to plant these bulbs. I gave away a lot of these bulbs. The original few I had were given to me by two different friends. Before I moved to Cape, I dug up a small portion the many that bloomed every year in the hottest part of the summer.

If you have these lilies, how did you get yours? I gave about six bulbs each to at least 5 different people. Every year I think of the friends who gave them to me.  It looks like it is about time to divide them again.

 

“We can have flowers nearly every month of the year.” ~ Elizabeth Lawrence.

Carol at May Dreams Gardens started Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. What’s blooming in your garden? Share with other garden bloggers on the 15th of each month. Leave a link in Mr. Linky and the comments of May Dreams Gardens.

 Thank you for visiting my blog: Oh Grow Up!

 

GBBD October 2011

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day October 15, 2011.

Sunflower perennial

perennial sunflower

Things at my gardens are chaotic, flowers are running wild trying to get that last bloom on and produce that seed before the first freeze. These are perennial sunflowers.

“There’s no such thing.” said my husband, the botanist.

 

They look like sunflowers to me and they come back every year. Some times, I try to stake them up, but not this year. Its a riot of yellow sunflowers. Bees love this plant.

Then more chaos. The blank wall in this photo used to have a trellis. Thats it covering the sidewalk. The weight of all the flowers and the wind blew it down. It was too heavy for me to lift up. So I left it down for weeks.

I love these little trumpet flowers. So they bloom where where they lay. A few vines crept around the corner and over the rain barrel.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marigolds a Russian sage are  always in my garden. Marigolds will broom till the last gasp of fall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More marigolds, many of them have gone to seed. I collect the seed and mix all the kinds together for planting next spring.

 

 

Camomile flowers, so bright and white though no bigger across than a dime.

Thank you May Dreams Gardens for hosting another month of GBBD.

The Great Sunflower Project

Herb gardeners know how important bees are to our gardens. One of every three bites of food we eat come from a plant pollinated by wild pollinators. Unfortunately many pollinators are declining. That’s what the Great Sunflower Project wants to change. 

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Grow sunflowers to attract butterflies, bees and finches. Photo by Patsy Bell Hobson

The Great Sunflower Project, a project that plans to unravel the mystery of the disappearing pollinators, pulls together data that you help them collect. With this data it will create a database to help understand what is happening to the bee pollinators and how our green spaces are connected. Sunflowers is an easy-to-grow plant that gives height to the herb garden and is wildy attractive to birds and bees.

Sign up and plant your sunflowers.
Watch your sunflower for 15 minutes: Write down how long it takes for the first five bees to arrive at your sunflower. After 15 minutes, you can stop. If you haven’t seen 5 bees by then, the Great Sunflower Project want to know!
• Enter your data online.

By watching and recording the bees at these sunflowers, you can help with the research the Great Sunflower Project is doing to understand the challenges that bees are facing. Grow annual ‘Lemon Queen’ sunflowers (Helianthus anus). I got mine from Renee’s Garden. ‘Lemon Queen’ is a lovely branching variety that is particularly attractive to bees. Other herbs that bees are attracted to include basils, borage, catmint, lavender and rosemary.

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Win ’Lemon Queen’ sunflower seeds and participate in the Great Sunflower Project. Photo by Rhonda Fleming hayes/Courtesy Flickr

Win ‘Lemon Queen’ sunflower seeds and participate in the Great Sunflower Project.
Photo by Rhonda Fleming hayes/Courtesy
Flickr

Seed Packet Giveaway

Renee’s Garden is giving away three packets of ‘Lemon Queen’ sunflowers to three lucky blog readers.

HOW TO ENTER

• Post a comment in the comments section below telling us why you grow, or why you want to grow, sunflowers.

• End date: June 1, 2011 (12:00 a.m. Central Time)

Good luck!

 

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