How Does Your Garden Grow part 2

Once everything was planted... I had a little bit of a break... sure, we've had lots of watering... morning and night sometimes... but "watching things grow" part is what came next. We put plant markers in a lot of places where bulbs/tubers or seeds were directly sown. That way we wouldn't trample on any sweet little baby plants as they sprouted, and knew exactly where to water. It didn't take too long before we started seeing a sea of green amidst all the brown dirt. The dahlias grew quickly... as did the gladiolus, and cosmos... the sunflowers needed a lot of good warmth to sprout up high. Many of the perennial plants (alyssum, speedwell, bee balms, etc.) planted along the front part of the rock wall, have taken off with growing. We also transplanted some wild flowers found among the driveway cracks or yard to the garden, for refuge (yarrow and pearly everlasting), and identified some others in our yard that we will keep in their place. It'll be interesting to see what makes it and what doesn't, through our mild winters here.

The gladiolus, were the first to grow nice and tall... and once our temps rose to typical summer temps, they bloomed... they were bright bold yellows, pinks, coral orange, and purple. A true delight to the eye. They remind me so much, of our time in Europe. They add such height and dimension to a bouquet.

The cosmos were the next to begin popping open... and they've been my most pleasant surprise. They are called double snow puff cosmos... seeds bought from Floret Flower (my favorite online shop, and farm here in Washington). The more you cut from them, the more blooms they grow... seriously, they produce a ton. Their stems also seem to be a bit thicker than most cosmos (which to me, have flimsy stems). I'll for sure be planting double the amount next year. I'm also going to hunt down a double petal colored variation of them.

The dahlias started popping around mid July... and there are still so many that we are waiting on to open up and show us what color they are. This year, I'll mark them all down, to keep them sorted, so next year, I can plant them in varieties instead of such a medley between the rows. The tubers that I picked up from the local flower farmer, have been proving to be a great investment. The colors that are opening up, and the AMOUNT of blooms, is just astounding. They for sure, aren't disappointing...  every time I pull up in my driveway, I glance over at them... and my eyes don't want to break contact. To think that in a few weeks, it'll be time to dig them up, and divide them... and see how many more I can have for next year.