Saturday, July 11, 2015

The Second Petal

This is one slow lily. It has taken three days for the second petal to drop. It already smells. There are going to be some disappointed pollinators drawn in by that sweet heavy scent only to find it isn't open for business yet.





















There are plenty of other options out there to keep the fertilization crews occupied while they wait for the sweet lilies.



























Today I found a Rudbeckia hirta with odd petals. They are much longer and thinner than normal. I like it. That means I should mark this plant and collect the seed for proper sowing. What will happen is it will self sow like all the others. It's on its own. I may never see this odd rudbeckia again after this year. I have not planted any of them and they are a very short lived.





















There are more rudbeckia in the sunny utility meadow. There are more species of rudbeckia in the meadow. Three total I think. No, make that four species. There is more of all kinds of things in the sunny utility meadow and we keep adding more.



























We have Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea. We could use more. I have been adding copious amount of seed gathered in my travels. My editing has helped open ground for it to take hold in places. I wouldn't call it a generous self sower in competitive conditions. It can use a little help.



























A whole lot of gardening effort revolves around petals. We plant and wait for them to unfold.


5 comments:

Sallysmom said...

Every year I tried to get the coneflowers to multiple. I tried everything. Then last year I cut the dried stems down, scratched the dirt to get it loose, and laid the stems down. This year, I had coneflowers to grow from that. I think for some reason the seeds decided to germinate.

Christopher C. NC said...

Sallysmom I think the disturbed soil is the key. It gets the seed in contact with the ground in an opening of sunlight.

Jean Campbell said...

Sometimes it helps to take a whole seed head and smush it into the ground. Maybe those little seeds do not like to be lonely.

Lola said...

Love it all. Sure wish I had more property.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I am certainly waiting for some things to open here too. Once the lily pops it will be gorgeous no doubt worth the wait.