failed crops

Thursday, September 24, 2009


zinnias

My crop of zinnias failed miserably. A cheery, colourful flower that I love. A flower that sits permanently in my top 5 favourite flowers. I maybe had a dozen blooms and even those looked weak and troubled, as if it took every ounce of goodness in them to unfurl their stunted petals into blooms. But at least I did plant zinnias - always an every summer plan of mine.

The leaves and twining tendrils of my gigantic pot of sweet peas (perhaps No. 1 in my top 5 because of their incredible scent) have climbed to great heights, way up the artful spray of dead branches plunged deep into soil and compost but have had only one blossom (maybe I planted the seeds too late or maybe they didn't have enough sun). The teeny Icelandic poppy seeds sprouted early in masses with great hope and then promptly all died and the morning glories also, didn't ever amount to anything.

I do have a small bed of cosmos blooming happily, a tiny gardening success. They dance & bob on their spindly stems, vivid & bright, each early Autumn morning in the new sun. And nasturiums are trailing out of pots everywhere with their large round saucer leaves and bright orange and golden blooms all from seeds I did not knowingly plant.

It's raining here this morning and the new dawn sky is a strange yellowy colour.

8:40 am it's pouring rain ... it's coming straight down and our windows are all open wide because the air is warm. We're tucked in by lamp light here at the teak topped desk with new projects on the go and I can't explain it - but the rain makes me feel happy.



13 comments:

  1. we have the same taste in flowers, i think. i, too love zinnias and cosmos. at our old house i planted tons of morning glories every year and we enjoyed their showy displays so much. i hope there isn't something going on with your soil that is keeping these lovelies from thriving.

    enjoyed this early morning visit so much! hugs to you and miss winnie d!

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  2. We started our zinnias a little late, and planted them a little too close to the cosmos, so they didn't get as much elbow room as they would have liked. I love walking down the rows of those flowers, snipping some for the house. Of course, I always forget to take photos! :) Hugs to Miss Winn!!

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  3. now see? my zinnias were gang busters. i love the big red state fair variety. sweet peas? too hot and humid here. i think i am going to try them for winter. poppies too. i like the orange and red ones. my cosmos were good too. i like the bright lights best. i had a lot of the pink seashells but those are too subtle for me.

    what are we doing for the gift thing? i am making mine now.

    love to the sniglet and miss D
    i only have chickens today - husband left with trout on an adventure. without me!!




    YAY!!!! i love being left alone.

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  4. I love morning glories but I have a hard time photographing them for some reason. At least you gave it the old college try. Sometimes it's just not meant to be.

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  5. That sounds lovely, sitting inside with the windows open and the rain falling .

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  6. My mother always had zinnias growing along the back yard fence. The thought of them takes me back to my childhood. I'm afraid I took them for granted... in my childlike way, I thought they just always grew there!

    So many things that mothers do, and children take for granted...

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  7. I've not always had success with zinnias, and no luck with morning glories in Nova Scotia, although they did well in Quebec. Nasturtiums are always a hit. I just throw seed around.

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  8. My zinnias bit the dust too. Way too hot and humid for a summer planting. I'm gonna try earlier in the spring and see if that helps.

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  9. I planted the saucer light blue morning glories and they had a few blooms. Nothing like last year. Didn't try the zinnias this year. I like the pastel version.

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  10. Zinnias are so cheery.Rain makes me happy too Susan. I love the big fat plopping rain of summer- huge splots on warm asphalt.The rain you describe sounds cosy.

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  11. I planted a tiny cosmos....it stayed tiny.....then died.....sigh......

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  12. I never have had luck with zinnias. I love them, but they seem to always get mildewy here in my humid climate. Nothing worse than a mildewed zinnia.

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  13. I noticed that strange yellow cast to the sky also. Very weird.

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