Flower of the Day - Astilbe x arendsii Flamingo

Astilbe x arendsii Flamingo

Airy soft pink plumes of flowers grace this perennial in early summer.

Its prolific blooms make lovely cut flower bouquets.

Perfect for the edge of your shaded woodland garden.

Aquilegia vulgaris William Guiness

Common Name: Astilbe

Hardiness Zone: 4-8

Fragrance: No

Deer Resistant: Yes

Exposure: Part Shade

Blooms: June-July

Height: 20+"

Spacing: 18-20"

The Lazy Gardener 

recommends this for your carefree garden.

Flower of the Day ~ Columbine William Guiness

Stunning purple and white bicolor flower blooms in spring.

Loved by hummingbirds.

Excellent long lived cut flower.

Deadhead to encourage repeat blooming and reseeds freely in the fall.

Aquilegia vulgaris William Guiness

Common Name: Columbine William Guiness

Hardiness Zone: 3-9

Fragrance: No

Deer Resistant: Yes

Exposure: Full to Part Sun

Blooms: May-June

Height: 24+"

Spacing: 12-18"

The Lazy Gardener 

recommends this for your carefree garden.

Flower of the Day ~ Agastache Tutti Frutti

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Bright pink tubular flowers attract hummingbirds to your garden all summer.

This sun-loving, drought resistant plant is easy care.

It shrugs off early fall frosts and keeps on blooming.

Agastache Tutti Frutti

Common Name: Hummingbird Mint

Hardiness Zone: 6-9

Fragrance: Yes

Deer Resistant: Yes

Exposure: Full Sun

Blooms: July-Oct

Height: 24-36"

Spacing: 12-24"

The Lazy Gardener 

recommends this for your carefree garden.

Flower of the Day ~ Echinacea Flame Thrower

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Stunning coneflower sure to take center stage in your garden!

Vibrant yellow and orange petals make no mystery of where this flower got its name.

Coneflowers are easy to grow and tolerate hot dry summers and cold winters.

Blooms all summer long.

Echinacea Flame Thrower

Common Name: Coneflower

Hardiness Zones: 4-9

Fragrance: Yes

Deer Resistant: Yes

Exposure: Full Sun

Blooms: July-Sept

Height: 36"

Spacing: 24-30"

The Lazy Gardener recommends this for your carefree garden.

Top 5 Favorite Flower Catalogs

The flower catalogs are mailing out and I’m thinking of the flowers that will soon come up in my garden. I’m wondering what survived the cold and squirrels and moles or which flowers just didn’t have the will to go on or had a lack of survival skills necessary to make it in my carefree garden.

I guess what I am truly thinking of is what can I plant this year? What do I need to replace? Can I squeeze any more flowers into existing beds? Or, should I create another flower bed?

All of this thinking leads me to the flower catalogs that have been showing up in my mailbox. I can't wait to open my mailbox to see what catalog came today! I will dog-ear the pages, circle and star my selections, then deconstruct those glorious flower catalogs until I find just the right plantings for my garden.

Winter is the perfect time to dream and plan for spring planting.

Here is my list of top 5 flower catalogs.

#5

Spring Hill Nursery

Younique™ Silvery Pink Astilbe

This catalog has a huge variety of beautiful flowers from perennials to roses, climbing flowering vines to low blooming ground covers, plus flowering trees and shrubs, this catalog is all-inclusive. Plus they have catalogs just for day lilies and irises.

#4

Jackson & Perkins

Pinky Winky Hydrangea paniculata Shrub

Not only is this catalog filled with stunning roses, it also has beautiful perennials and flowering shrubs too. But the roses…awww…the roses are breath-taking! Floribunda’s, Grandiflora’s, tree roses and hege roses and so many more.

#3

Hidden Springs Flower Farm

Peony Chocolate Soldier

This online catalog is loaded with stunning peonies of every variation. It is has sections by bloom time, A-Z peonies, rare peonies, award winners, heirloom, cottage garden peonies and more. I like to think of them as the keepers of all peonies.

#2

David Austin Roses

 Malvern Hills Rambling Rose

This catalog has the most stunning roses ever created. It is filled with full, lush, gorgeous rose bushes, tea roses, climbers, ramblers, tree roses, hedge roses, even roses for pots. What is not to love?

Drum roll please.....

#1

White Flower Farm

Fire Spinner Ice Plant

This catalog really gets me excited about flowers. Their selection is amazing and filled with unique flowers (like the ice plant above!). They really understand color combinations which are enhanced by their wonderful photos. The potted annual collections are truly inspirational!

Now go order some catalogs!

Winter is for Drooling Over Seed Catalogs

It's that time of year when your garden is resting but you are restless for dirt under your finger nails! 

Satisfy that urge with drooling over seed catalogs.

Many of them are free for the asking.

 Just do a Google search for 'free seed catalogs' and start drooling right away!

When reading the descriptions, you may have some questions about seed terminology. 

What is an heirloom? 

Is a hybrid GMO?

And what the heck does open-pollinated mean?

Here are answers to some of these mysterious seed terms...

Hybrid seed is derived from mixing desired traits from various plants to come up with a new or unique variety. It is a controlled pollination. If you collect and save your seed, this seed will not be true to the current plant in your garden but may sprout as one of the 'mother' plants.

Open pollinated seed means the seed is allowed to grow as nature intended. Often it is self-pollinating though some may cross pollinate on its own increasing biodiversity. All heirloom seed is open pollinated seed.

Heirloom seed is seed that has been passed down from generation to generation. It is seed that is from at least a 50 to 100 year old strain of seed that has proven to grow 'true to type' meaning that the seed you plant will look like the parent plant. 

Organic seed is not necessarily heirloom seed. Organic simply refers to the methods and practices by which the seed has been grown, usually with minimal chemicals. Both hybrids and heirlooms can be grown organically.

GMO Seed is seed that has been genetically modified using genetic engineering. It comes from the insertion or deletion of genes in the seeds genome. These seeds were created to be resistant to herbicides or pests or harsh environmental conditions and are mostly used for commercial farming.

Hopefully these answers will makes your seed selection easier.

So, drool on...

Happy Gardening!

The Lazy Gardener