Friday, May 18, 2012

In the Garden

First off, I'll be teaching on Sunday at Black Sheep Knitting Company in Needham, MA this Sunday. As of yesterday there were still a few spots left. Call 781-444-0694 for more information.

I know I am way behind most of you in the gardening season. Tradition in western Massachusetts is not to plant a garden until Memorial Day. I stick by this, mostly because it feels right. This year, with the warm weather, I probably could have gotten started earlier. Soon. 

Spring always makes me think of planting my sunflower seeds. For all you sunflower and gardening fans, here's an article from last week's NY Times Thursday's Home Section. Read past the drivel of using the tap root to leach stuff out of the soil.... my sunflowers don't have a tap root! I may be wrong but I consider tap roots to be hollyhocks or burdocks. Am I wrong? The article introduces a Dr. Heaton and company who has spent 20 years developing a RED Pro-Cut sunflower. Fascinating. Must order. What about you? 

From my photo archive, the pinky-red flower below is called Strawberry Blonde and I purchased the seeds from Johnny's. It has a multi-branching habit and blooms that aren't too big. Very pretty.

  
Check out this website - the retail arm of Dr. Heaton's research and development company. They have The Joker (photo below) which was very difficult seed to find last year. They also have Stella Gold. I was on a mad hunt for those seeds a couple years ago when Johnny's discontinued them. Never found them. Now I can get them again. Loved the wacky look of those blooms  - long thin petals on a giant dark brown disc center. Grew them before I had a good camera hence no photo. Take my word - simply stunning. I usually buy all my seeds from Johnny's. Great customer service and fast delivery especially on the east coast.


Here's our sweet little kitten named Roxy. He's leaving this weekend.... We will miss him!


Good weekend everyone! Hope to see you tomorrow at the Webs Fleece Sale.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your flowers are beautiful. here in Colorado, we wait until May 15 to plant. This year we could have actually planted on April 15, but who would have guesed? Jo

Cat said...

Beautiful flowers, it's just getting to where we can start with these.
KITTEN! LOVE IT!!!

Cat

Mary Lou said...

I had no idea that range of sunflowers were available. I may spend some time shopping for seeds...

Adaliza said...

Good luck at the sale. I have a spinning wheel but have never managed to use it successfully! One day I'll get to grips with it. Brilliant there's such a resurgence in interest.

Anonymous said...

I love the different color eyes on the kitten. So sweet. I tried spinning, I'd like to try a different wheel some day. I did get rid of my original one,which I was not compatible with, some time ago. Planting has always been a Memorial Day event for me.

Elaine said...

I'm like Mary Lou. I never realized sunflowers came in so many colors. There were bunches of cut ones at the grocery yesterday. Beautiful kitty!!

MicheleinMaine said...

I've only started peas here in Maine but could put in other things at this point, I guess. No tomatoes for a while yet!

Roxy is the sweetest kitty ever!

Thanks for the sunflower site. I'm ordering a bunch (no sure what I'll do with 100 seeds of each but I'll manage!)

katiegirl said...

Why do you call it drivel? And yes, sunflowers do have taproots.

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