Gardening with Orange Flowers and A Wintry Leafy Vegetable

Season 7, Episode 2, November 27, 2024

My ‘Sango kaku’ Japanese maple from a different angle.

On this week’s episode, Carol was busy in her garden because she had some good weather. As for me, not so much. I’m glad it got cold this morning so I don’t feel like I always need to be out there. I did record some videos on Instagram. Although I know Instagram has moved on to Christmas, I’m doing a fall foliage series. Here’s my Instagram reel on my Japanese Maple.

Carol’s favorite this week is her Vietnamese Violet, a gesneriad related to African Violets.

We then chatted about orange flowers, growing mache, and a new book on water-saving gardening, plus our usual dirt and rabbit holes.

Carol's wrote a blog post about her first snow this past week. We might get snow in Oklahoma in December? It’s just now getting cold.

As our flower topic, we shared about orange flowers and how they perform in the garden. They’re also great for fall. Although these marigolds don’t flower in fall, they brighten up the summer garden.

‘Kee’s Orange’ marigolds.

For more orange flowers, check out So you say you don’t like orange? Or red? Or fuschia? on my blog. Researchng this topic, I found Rainbow Rhythm Orange Smoothie daylily from Proven Winners. I also found orange roses from Heirloom Roses. Carol grows red hot poker flowers from Proven Winners. We both like Zinnia ‘Queeny Lime Orange,’ an All-America Selection. It’s the easiest Queeny to grow.

‘Queeny Orange Lime’ zinnias barely open.

Then, we moved on to our vegetable topic which was about growing and eating mache. Did you know it’s a French weed? Here’s an article from Epic Gardening on growing mache.

Pink muhly grass and Mexican bush sage are both water smart plants.

On our bookshelf this week is The Water-Smart Garden: Techniques and Strategies for Conserving, Capturing, and Efficiently Using Water in Today’s Climate… and Tomorrow’s by Noelle Johnson (@az.plant.lady)  Jan 7, 2025  (Amazon). We both loved it. Find Noelle on Instagram as az.plant.lady. Thank you to the publisher for sending us review copies.

Our dirt was about bioengineered Arctic Apples and the Non-GMO Project.

As we chatted, we also mentioned: Teresa Byington at Rose Chat and Jennifer at Ladybug Lane Flower Farm. Hello friends!

What was your favorite part of this week’s episode? Leave a comment to let us know.

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For more info on Carol visit her website.  Visit her blog, May Dreams Gardens and check out her new weekly newsletter, In the Garden With Carol.
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