Saturday, August 26, 2017

Trimming Flowers on Coleus

Many of the coleus plants I have around the yard are growing flower spikes. Not so attractive, but this bee was hanging out the other day.


Do you trim back the flowers? I guessed that the flowers created the leaves, but I think I am wrong. According to this short piece in SF Gate:
Cut or pinch flower spikes back to a leaf node as they appear. Coleus flowers are light purple or blue and develop at the ends of shoots. Pinching off flowers before they bloom and go to seed saves the plant energy and encourages vegetative growth.
I won't be saving seeds from these plants so I am going to cut them off.

Saturday, August 19, 2017

#WorldPhotoDay

Lots of bees in the yard today. This is celosia, in the amaranth family.


Today is #WorldPhotoDay. Check out the website for more info.

Monday, August 14, 2017

There is Still a lot of Summer Left

Finally some tomatoes are developing on the Brandywine plants. It was all blossom-drop-all-of-the-time in July. According the to the University of Maryland Extension, it can be caused by heat which
we had a lot of in July here in D.C. The cherry tomato plant is slow this year, not flowering as much as previous years. There is still a lot of summer left in the mid-Atlantic and I am hopeful to get a good crop of tomatoes this year.

The green beans, and hopefully some wax beans, are starting to come in now. I should have enough for dinner later in the week!

Sadly the Cinderella pumpkin, or whatever that plant is, has not survived. I think it was the dreaded squash vine borer that killed it. A few weeks ago I bravely dug one of the buggers out and was so proud of myself. The plant perked up again and I thought all was well. But then the leaves started yellowing again, and I got busy at work, getting home after dark, and did not dig around for more worms. Plus, if I did get a fruit now, in mid-August would it even have time to ripen? I give up!

I was away last week so I was excited to get home and see how everything had grown. The zinnias do not disappoint again this year. They have filled in beautifully in their bed and I will have cut flowers for another two months. This is mix of Parks and Thumbelina.