Love, Joy and Peas: red zinnia

Showing posts with label red zinnia. Show all posts

Friday, September 23, 2016

Mexican Bush Sage, Purple Coneflower, Impatiens, Giant Zinnia, and Tithonia Flowers

Happy autumn, floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" The Mexican bush sage has started to bloom and I'm always thrilled to not only see the flowers but feel their super soft texture. They're almost as soft as pussy willows. I overwintered this plant in the house as it's not perennial in our planting zone.

The white impatiens I planted in early spring is still putting out lovely flowers in a semi-shady area.

This volunteer purple coneflower sprung up in the middle of my giant zinnia area but I let it stay. I'll probably move it later this fall or early next spring, but for now I'm enjoying the contrast.

I only planted red giant zinnia seeds but also got pink and purple from the package. The bees and butterflies like them all so I do too.

Our biggest annuals this year are the tithonia (also called Mexican sunflower). They are huge and covered in pretty flowers.

That's all for this week's tour. Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Butterflies on tithonia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/08/butterflies-on-mexican-sunflowers-at.html
Monarchs on chrysanthemum: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterfly-on-pretty.html
Brookside Gardens butterflies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/monarch-butterflies-from-brookside.html

Friday, August 26, 2016

Butterflies on Bright Summer Flowers

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" Many flowers are blooming and it seems like we have more butterflies than we've had in the past couple years, so that is an added blessing.

The butterflies love many of our flowers but the butterfly bushes (aka buddelia) often have several butterflies per plant, especially in the morning.

The dahlias get their share of butterflies too.

And the giant red zinnias definitely attract butterflies.

There often are butterflies, bees and even golden finches on the giant zinnias. The tithonia have started blooming too but the flowers are up so high I have yet to get a sharable photo. Hopefully next week. The tithonia are special in that they also attract hummingbirds.

Thank you for visiting! That's all for this week's mini garden tour. May God bless you!

Related posts:
Cute critters on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/cute-critters-on-flowers.html
Monarch butterflies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/monarch-butterflies-from-brookside.html
Bees on butterfly bushes: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/10/bees-and-butterflies-on-butterfly-bushes.html

Friday, July 22, 2016

Apricot Rose, Pink Veronica, Dahlia, Zinnia and Day Lilies for Floral Friday

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" I'm loving our new apricot (light orange) rose flowers. So are the Japanese beetles but I pick them off as I see them and enjoy the flowers despite the bites taken from them.

Last year we planted bluish purple veronica in our main flower bed and it survived the winter so this year we put in some pink veronica and I think it's beautiful.

This Mr. Optimist dahlia was a great surprise because the tuber survived the winter in our raised bed. I don't think any other dahlias have ever survived the winter in my Maryland garden before. It was one of my favorites last year and I couldn't find any locally this year so it's extra nice.

This is my first giant red zinnia flower of the year. I grow them from seed so they're extra special.

The orange-yellow day lilies are blooming heavily. It's nice to have early, mid and late blooming day lilies to extend the day lily delights in our Maryland garden.

That's all for this week's mini garden tour. Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Flowers and funkiness: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/09/flowers-freeloaders-and-funkiness-for.html
Orange rose bud: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/05/big-yellow-irises-and-multicolored-roses.html
Fun flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/10/autumn-maryland-garden-flower-photos.html

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Pretty Insects on Giant Red Zinnias and Joe Pye Weed

Happy wild Wednesday! It's an amazingly warm and beautiful day here in Maryland. Although spring won't officially be here for a few more weeks, it feels like it's here and I'm enjoying the warm days.

I haven't seen a butterfly or moth in the wild yet this year but hope these photos from last August make you smile. Spring and summer with their wild delights will be here before long.

Last year I experimented with starting a batch of early zinnia seeds indoors and direct sowing the rest. The direct sowed plants quickly caught up with those sown indoors and then turned out to be far sturdier. They were from different sources so it could be that the direct sown seeds would have grown stronger plants anyway but this year I'm planning to just direct sow the zinnias and pray for the best.

Last year I waited until after Mother's day for direct sowing and I'll probably do the same this year.

If you have room in your garden, zinnias are a great delight for both humans and animals. We had finches, hummingbirds, bees, butterflies and moths enjoying ours.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you today and always!

Related posts:
Giant orange zinnia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/giant-zinnias-gladiola-mr-optimist.html
Giant pink and red zinnias: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/vinca-dahlia-giant-zinnias-and-day-lily.html
Blue ribbon zinnias: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/blue-ribbon-flowers-for-floral-friday.html

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Pretty Butterflies and Fuzzy Bee for Wild Wednesday

Happy wild Wednesday! I hope these butterfly and bee photos from last summer in my Maryland garden brighten your day.

The giant zinnias were the star of the garden last summer. Bees, butterflies and small birds flocked to them and made me very happy.

The butterfly bushes also attracted a lot of insect wildlife.

It was great to be able to see butterflies almost every time I walked in the garden and I'm already looking forward to next summer's adventures in gardening and wildlife.

May God bless you this winter and always!

Related posts:
Butterflies & bees on purple coneflowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/butterflies-and-bees-love-purple.html
Brian Dering's Aruba wildlife photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/wildlife-in-aruba-photos-by-guest.html
Wild raccoon photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/wild-raccoon-in-national-arboretum.html

Friday, September 18, 2015

Blue Ribbon Flowers for Floral Friday

Happy Floral Friday! This is a special edition of "this week in my Maryland garden" as all the flowers were grown in my garden but the photos were taken on location at the fair (several days after they'd been cut then judged and displayed). The flowers looked nicer the day I cut them but I wasn't able to get photos at that time.

I am amazed, honored and excited to have been awarded at least 21 blue ribbons in the flower department (I entered in 49 categories)! A large number of my entries were in the zinnia categories, such as the pretty little orange zinnia in the photo above.

Until I'd entered in the fair for the first time I thought you could only enter one type of flower for the fair (for example, one rose, one zinnia, one marigold) but it turns out that my fair has many categories, mostly based on color and diameter/size (and they even get out their rulers when you submit to make sure you're entering in the right size category). I think I was able to enter three different white zinnias, in the "under 1 inch", "1-2 inch" and "2-4 inch" categories, and two, including the one above, won blue ribbons. Pretty neat! Especially since I grew these white zinnias from seed.

I was especially excited that my giant red zinnia, also grown from seed, won a blue ribbon. I thought I'd have giant orange, pink and purple to enter too but while they were close, none of the pretty ones were over the 4" in diameter required for the "large" zinnia category. Only the red had large enough blooms. Although, when I bought the seeds, they were all supposed to be red anyway. The giants of other colors were a surprise blessing.

My dahlias have mostly petered out but I was able to enter two in the miniature category and they both won blue ribbons. The bicolor one, pictured above and a burgundy one.

The roses are also producing fewer blooms now that autumn is approaching but this divine smelling red rose won a blue ribbon. My pink one won a lesser ribbon but the person who earned first place definitely deserved it.

Hearty thanks to my kind hearted husband who carried all my vases in for me and waited patiently while I entered everything! And for all the times he watered my flowers for me too! And congratulations to him on his photography ribbon!

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

If you'd like a vote in selecting this week's most popular flower photo, please let me know which photo you like best from today's post. Also, if you enter in your own county fair, I'd love to hear about it! And feel free to share any tips on entering fairs too.

Related posts:
2013 county fair flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/09/county-fair-photos-haikus-and-results.html
2012 county fair flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/09/fair-flower-photos-for-floral-friday.html
County fair flower art: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/flower-paintings-for-floral-friday.html

Friday, September 11, 2015

Red, White and Blue Flowers and Haiku Poem for 9/11

May God bless America and you too, dear friend.

It's September 11th and I don't feel right with my usual start to my floral Friday/this week in my Maryland garden post. But I do have a little haiku poem and some red, white and blue flower photos to share. Every day, I pray for our country and for God to thwart terrorists' plans. My heart aches for all those who lost loved ones in terrorist attacks. May God heal their hearts, comfort their pains and light their paths.

Haiku Poem for September 11th

Nine one one... somber
day of reflection, mourning,
remembrance, prayer.

As heavy as my heart is, I still love flowers. And I'm thankful to have these red, white and blue ones to share with you.

The red salvia just started blooming this week. Perfect timing.

Someone mentioned how they like these "blue" Mexican bush sage flowers so I thought I'd include them here. Their petals are super soft, like pussy willows. I've loved them for a long time but this is the first year I've grown them.

Whatever is happening in your heart, mind and soul today, I pray that God will give you just what you need and bless you, America, and comfort all those who mourn.

Related posts:
National day of prayer: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/05/national-day-of-prayer-haikus-short.html
National Cathedral: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/national-cathedral-photos-and-good.html
Isaiah 40:31 prayer: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/04/isaiah-4031-prayer-for-you.html

Friday, September 4, 2015

Dahlia with Skipper, Unusual Zinnias, Vinca and Dill

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" It's been hot and we've lost some plants but overall the flowers are doing great despite the heat.

I love these puffy, pom pom type zinnias and this pink one is my favorite of the bunch.

We've got a variety of vina flowers but this was the prettiest of the week.

In the naturalized herb garden we have this volunteer dill and I like its cheerful yellow flowers.

And the giant red zinnias are going strong. Some are nearly five feet tall and need staking. But it's worth the effort for their gorgeous flowers.

Thank you for joining me on this week's mini garden tour! May God bless you!

Want to help determine this week's most popular flower? Please share which photo you like best from today's post! I'll be gathering your votes from various sources and posting the results in the comments section of this post next week.

Related posts:
Unusual flower photos: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/sunrise-zinnia-pink-rose-sunrise-dahlia.html
Pom pom cherry blossoms: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/04/cherry-blossom-pom-pom-flower-photos.html
Late summer flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/chrysanthemum-obedient-plant-tithonia.html

Friday, July 10, 2015

Vinca, Dahlia, Giant Zinnias, and Day Lily From Our Garden

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" The vincas in our deck box are thriving despite the summer heat.

So far the Mr. Optimist dahlias are the only large ones blooming but others have buds so I hope to see some soon (we have three other varieties planted).

That package of "red" giant zinnia seeds has surprised us with orange, pink, white and other shades of zinnias as well.

Thankfully it did provide a handful of red zinnias too. The bees love all the colors.

Day lily season is still going strong. I love the extra bright inner shade of the yellow frilly day lilies.

That's all for this week's mini garden tour. Thank you for joining me! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Cute critters on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/cute-critters-on-flowers.html
Fancy red zinnia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/giant-zinnias-gladiola-mr-optimist.html
Sunflower and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/sunflower-day-lilies-vinca-and-mystery.html