Zone 7b. My cucumbers are short and kind of round, almost look like limes. Pollination issue? Any help is greatly appreciated. The plants also are not vining like they usually do.
American Flag Flowers – How To Grow A Red, White, And Blue Garden
You can do more than just wave the flag to demonstrate your love for the country. A patriotic flower garden is a fun way to celebrate the Fourth of July or any national holiday. Red, white, and blue flowers combine to represent your devotion to the country. There are tons of combos or you can plant an American flag with your plant selections. Follow our tips on a USA flower garden that will astound your neighbors.
Planning a Patriotic Flower Garden
Making a political statement with gardening may seem a bit much, but it can be a fun and beautiful addition to the landscape. A red, white, and blue garden is about so much more than a partisan statement. It is an expression of love and devotion to the land in which you live.
American flag flowers may be perennials, annuals, or an entire bulb garden. You may even opt for bushes with colorful leaves and blooms. Choose an area where the bed will be seen and where flowers will get appropriate light. Amend the soil as needed and then it’s time to select red, white, and blue flowers or plants.
Using petunias as the base provides an affordable and easy way to build a USA flower garden. There are solid or striped, single or double petals, and even creeping petunias in each of our patriotic hues. They make the ultimate American flag flowers, which will grow and blend together in a tapestry salute to our pennant.
Using Native Plants as Part of a Patriotic Garden
Native plants in the scheme pack a double whammy. Not only can they bring in the red, white, and blue tones, but they are part of this country naturally. Few things will salute our great nation as easily as plants that are indigenous to this part of the world. Some wonderful native selections might include:
White
Arrowwood
Silky dogwood
Fringe tree
Goat’s beard
Wild quinine
Calico aster
Red
Cardinal flower
Columbine
Coral honeysuckle
Rose mallow
Blue
American wisteria
Passion vine (maypop variety is native species)
Lupine
Virginia bluebells
Jacob’s ladder
Wild blue phlox
More at link: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/fgen/grow-a-red-white-and-blue-garden.htm
Many thanks for the July thread!
Ate the first radishes from the vegetable bed. Tasted much better than store-bought. Have also taken it into my Neanderthal pea brain to try growing an orange tree from seeds. Bought some Valencia oranges and extracted all the seeds. I’ve read that it can take several years before the tree produces fruit, but that’s OK by me. Putting them in containers will make it easier to move them inside for the winter. Alternatively, is there a way to insulate / protect them so that they can remain outside?
So now it's all about maintenance, watering and mulching as much as possible.
Few things bloom in our extreme summer heat and hot winds.
I do have some tiger liles coming up in a shaded area:
Plumerias can stand some heat, these are in partial sun:
And this lone iris that is blooming bravely:
Ready for the 4th of July!!
Hi Diana. Thank you for this thread. Love it! Am interested in responses to cucumber question. Am having mixed results in my garden. Some normal, some disfigured. Thank you!
I am starting to get a few tomatoes. Some plants are doing well, but the fruits are small. Like 4 oz. when they should be 8 oz. Others are fruiting before being big and strong enough to really “do it”, so I’ve been clipping those fruits off early to hopefully help the plant to put all it’s energy into growth. It’s sort of the opposite of when I asked about plants that were almost all growth and a few big fruits. Nitrogen levels test fine, so I don’t know what’s up.
Of note is that one of the “Heatwave II” tomato plants that successfully overwintered is producing fruits early. FWIW, these seem to be very mild tomatoes, more like Romas in taste.
Most other plants except weeds are doing poorly. It make me wonder if other plants than lettuce and spinach can get messed up by a disconnect between day length and temperatures. (We had some early very warm days.)
On another note, sometime early yesterday morning the raccoon that has been getting in the garden and also killed a couple of our free range chickens finally made a mistake and went into a trap. I was sorely tempted to shoot it, but instead took it 8+ miles away to over by the river to release it. Hopefully that’s far enough.
How did it get to be July already?
and just like that, it stopped rainin'.
Well, shoot. Our old (and it’s likely 60-70 years old) apple tree is dying. It in only 2-3 weeks has lost most of its foliage. The soil is slightly dry for this time of year, but not “parched”. I don’t know why the tree is dying, it might be borers. Basically there are just a few ends of branches left with a little foliage on them. The foliage doesn’t look too bad. Would it be possible to clip a couple where they are, say, about 1/4” diameter and get them to root? Is there good instruction on this anywhere?
— I’ve had poor success trying to root clippings in the past.
I DID rescue a couple weak tomato plants this year by clipping the stem where it was healthy, about 8” off the ground, clipping off about half the foliage, and then putting them in a vase a few days. As soon as roots started I transferred them into new, moist potting soil, watered them often, and, by golly, they are taking off...
First tomato today; 63 plants and 50 varieties. Mostly heirloom
Thanks, but a 7-1 thread on 7-13?
Bkmk
As a side note, I just noticed about two dozen grackles under the bird feeder in my back yard that are obviously starting their migration south.
I'm ready for them, see my home page.
The British make some of the best PCP air rifles in the world............