Today's garden

Last night in the garden the cockscomb was in full bloom, undaunted by the torrential rains brought by "IKE".

Although gorgeous in the garden and as a cut flower I do not cut them to dry them. The dried color is a really unsightly dirty brown.

We garden organically. Only using controls which do not harm species that are beneficial. Needless to say we are constantly battling the masses. So we look to our insect friends to help us.

Seconds after the above picture was taken we snapped the following one. The picture was not staged. The Praying Mantis flew in.

These "Green Envy " Zinnias are interspersed among the cockscomb. Actually it is the other way around.

I start zinnias in pots and then set them out. The cockscomb showed up a week after I planted the zinnias. Disturbing the ground to plant the zinnias exposed the cockscomb seed to the sun light and started the growing process. With all the rain we've had moisture was not a problem for germination. I decided to let them be where they are and was very happy with the end results.

In my garden there are lots of "Glorious Creations". One is a Marigold that came to us via two hybrids I planted 17 years ago. That was the name I gave to the offspring.

One was a three foot tall, large golden flowered, marigold. The other was a tiny eight inch tall marigold. With Burgundy/bronze blooms.

It was the first year at our new farm. We were busy taking care of moving in so I wasn't into raising my own plants. I went and bought plants where ever they were the cheapest. At that moment least expensive was the code word.

The following year we started the garden season with gusto. Vegetables for putting by were a prime importance. The ground was till and made ready.

A couple of weeks went by and of course the weeding became important. As I was weeding I noticed there were marigolds sprouting up all over. I dug them up and replanted them all around the fence. Hunny says, "They are from hybrids, you have no idea what you'll get." I replied I didn't care, they would at least keep the bugs at bay and the weeds out of the fence line.

When they started blooming it was glorious. They were all different heights but they all had the same bloom. The bloom you see in the picture. That year I saved seed from the plants that were the nicest shapes and the most prolific bloomers. The following year I planted only plants from the saved seed. I pulled up all the volunteers. The plants were even nicer and hardly an itinerant one in the bunch. I saved new seed that year. The fourth year I planted, you see the resulting plants in the above picture. The plants are full. The one above was a 6 inch tall plant July 16. They are too full...they require a support like you would use for a peony. The branches get so full of blooms and foliage. Lack of dead heading doesn't seem to affect them much. But for looks it improves them. This one would be fuller in flowers if it had been planted a month earlier. If a branch does break, you can plant it if you notice roots around the stem. The broken place fills in and is blooming in three weeks.

Now you can see why I gave it the name "Glorious Creation"