Growing a Garden That's a Cut Above
Season 5, Episode 38, August 2, 2023
This week, (← that’s the early listen link!) Dee and I talked about growing cut flowers to make beautiful bouquets, how we add beauty to our vegetable gardens, and a lovely book Dee discovered at the library.
We started off, though, with Dee telling me about the velvet ant she saw in her garden while weeding. If you look it up, you may agree with me that another good name for it is the Halloween ant because it’s orange and black. (I made up that name, I don’t think that’s really a common name for it.) But don’t pet it because its other name is the cow killer.
We don’t know why it’s called the cow killer, but Dee said people should be wearing gloves while gardening because that ant and lots of other stingy-bugs and spiders are just waiting for you to put your hand in the wrong place. I agreed that gloves are a good idea and mentioned that earlier in the spring, I wrote a FH article on gardening gloves. Do you have a favorite brand or style of gardening gloves?
We did eventually get around to talking about growing flowers for cutting, and at the top of our list is zinnias. Who’s surprised? (No one!) I cut a fresh bouquet of zinnias just about every other day now.
One of the zinnias we both want to be sure to grow next year is Queeny Lime Orange Zinnia, an All-America Selection. You can get seeds from Botanical Interests.
When you grow flowers for cutting near or in your vegetable garden, it’s easy to add beauty around the bean plants. But we do other things too, listen to find out what!
On our bookshelf this week was Grow and Gather: A Gardener’s Guide to a Year of Cut Flowers, by Grace Alexander (Amazon link), which we both liked.
Our book discussion and a nudge from Dee prompted me to write a blog post about how I make nearly indestructible plant labels, as of this year.
We wrapped this episode with some boxwood banter. Here are a few links to read more about Boxwood winter dieback and diseases: Boxwood Browning, Blights, and Cankers – 2023 Update and Re-Visiting Volutella and Browned Boxwoods | BYGL. Then read how Bob Hill took care of his boxwood problems: Boxwood Winter - GardenRant.
Loaded down with garden veggies? Dee used up a bunch of hers with Taste of Home’s Sausage Ratatouille.
And that’s this week’s episode! Tell us about your favorite cut flowers or garden gloves or how you use up a bunch of veggies!
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For more info on Carol, visit her website or blog, May Dreams Gardens.
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