Growing Upward

Zinnias

The Zinnias are really enjoying the heat!!!  Those little seeds that were planted over Memorial Day weekend, germinated and now the Zinnia plants are just on the move.  About 3 weeks ago, they did need to be thinned out.  At that time the petite plants were large enough to take a few "clumps" and transplant them to other areas in the rows that needed to be filled.  (Not every seed germinated.  Some were also washed away.)  Now, the bright abundant colorful flowers look great!  Each plant is "branching out" and many buds are visible, too.

Closer Look!

So, I may be spending as little time as possible outdoors during our 4th heat wave this year, but those Zinnias are sure lookin' good!  Today is day 6 of this heat wave.  This is extreme for my corner of New England.  Yes, I remember our winter, but now, just waiting it out for Sunday's cool low 80°'s!

Definitely having plenty of H2O!

     

From scratch ...

and also from the soil rising upward!  Usually food is my topic of choice, but during this past week I have been enticed with the plants growing around our home.  Summer in the Pioneer Valley is so colorful - filled with annuals  and perennials.  The local Strawberry and the local Blueberry crops have been sweet and also abundant.  In my last post I mentioned that while growing up my family always had two large gardens filled with veggies.

My Hubby & I continued my tradition.  We lived in an apartment in a suburb and had a great landlord!  He knew that we were dreaming of a garden ... someday.  Well, his thought process was why wait?  Part of his side lawn was plowed, so we could have our wish!  Now, that was totally cool!

We grew corn, cantaloupes, squash and all of the customary veggies.  I canned and froze veggies to my heart's content!  After we purchased our house and moved into our home, my DH and I were raising a family and gardening was in the past.

However, there was always a place for flowers and flower boxes.  Flowers are just gorgeous!  Earlier this summer our Salmon colored Daylilies blossomed for a month.

Last year after having a difficult time locating Zinnia plants that would grow to a certain height, I decided to plant Zinnia seeds.  Until a hard autumn frost arrived, the vibrant colorful display of blossoms were so pretty!  One of our planters contained deep purple New Wave Petunias.  Throughout the growing season, I saved the extremely delicate small black Petunia seeds and also many Zinnia seeds.

This past week has been sunny and bright.  The seeds that I saved and planted in early June (from last year's abundant crop) is now blossoming!  A few Zinnias and one Petunia!  There are so many buds visible!  How cool is that?!?

We will have a very large bouquet of Zinnias in our yard starting this week!  (I did keep my distance from the Bee.)  Cardinals and Blue Jays sing in our trees, but a ceramic bird makes his home on my pot.  :)

Yes, I will be saving seeds, again, to plant next year!  I will plant the seeds 2 weeks earlier.

Do you save flower seeds to plant the following growing season?

We are enjoying their beauty!