Happy Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Thanksgiving from the Jarvis House.

 My kitchen  hutch, made of pine, is a wonderful place to display holiday collectibles.

 I partnered the fall objects with greeting cards that I water colored.

All of the pumpkins and gourds are faux! 

 This is one of my Callicarpa bushes.

 The first one that I planted did so well in my garden that I have added two others.  When you trim the stems in the Spring, the bush produces a huge crop of berries.  In the wild, the berries are sparse.

The berries are very attractive to winter birds, like Cardinals, Blue Jays, Mocking Birds, Cat Birds, and last year,  Robins.

 This is a perennial Chrysanthemum that I propagate each year.  Originally, many, many years ago, it came from a bouquet that my Mother received.

 This particular Chrysanthemum  roots in wet soil, whether in a pot or the earth, without hormones. Just cut the green stems and plant.  Keep it watered. This year my starts produced flowers.  A much better bet for a frugal  gardener like me. The hot house plants bloom for a very short time.  These remain until Thanksgiving.

 The grafted split leaf maple

The split leaf maple that I grew from two leaves, picked out of someone's lawn forty years ago.  A true mutant plant.

 The remaining blooms from a blue hydrangea.

 They turned red late in the fall.

 A knockout Rose,

 which is still making buds.

 The Marigolds out front.

Still blooming, and what a color.  Grown from last year's seeds.  A much better choice than Chrysanthemums.

 The Crepe Myrlte

 whose leaves turn red and yellow.

 Marigolds in an urn,

 and near the birdbath, both grown from last year's seeds.

 Blue Berry plants

The Euonymus shrub.

 The Oak leaf Hydrangea

with its bronze leaves and flowers.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Saving Seeds for Next Season

This is a photo of the bloomed out flower of a Marigold plant.  I started to collect seeds for next spring while I was at the home of a relative.

I spent some time babysitting for two darling dogs.  This is Chloe,

and this is Sophie.  While I was there I decided to collect some of the seeds from flowering plants that were in the garden.

 There were Nasturtiums in planter boxes.  They were beautiful and

 I found some of their seeds on the deck below.  The seeds look like shriveled peas.  They were stuck in the cracks of the decking boards!

 Nasturtiums are lovely plants and come in several warm colors.  The seed pods are green while attached to the plant, but turn brown later when dry.

A selection of Nasturtium seeds

There was a very impressive boarder of bushy Marigold plants in the garden.

 I couldn't resist dead heading and collecting the seed pods. 

 The Marigolds of this variety made lovely mounds of flowers.

In my garden this year grew Marigolds that had a very tall nature.

Their flowers were striking with blazing color,and they stood up very tall and strong.

Thses Marigolds would make excellent cut flowers, and they lasted in the garden many days without fading.

 

 Their seed pods look like this.

 I saw a basket of Indian Blanket flowers and ornamental peppers near the driveway.  You can see the spent flowers and the potential seeds.

 I even thought I might try to propagate the pepper pants.

 These are  fading Cone flowers.

When they are finished they look like this.

These are the seed pods.

This is a photo of the spent blooms of  several Rudbeckia plants.  The seed pods turn black and they can be collected for next season.  You can take a chance and sprinkle the seed pods in the garden hoping that they will re-seed by themselves.  Usually this works.

Rudbeckias in my garden.

 Another plant that is easy to propagate is the Phlox.

 After the flowers drop off, seed pods become evident.

 In this photo you can see the Balloon flower and its seed pods.

I couldn't identify this plant but I thought that I would try to save the seeds,

 and see if it came up in my garden next year.  That would give me time to find out what it was.

 The garden boasted colossal heads of Sun Flowers,  The seeds heads were so heavy that they were bending over. 

 Sun Flower seeds are easy to collect, and you can use them to feed winter birds, especially the Cardinals and Blue Jays, for next year's plants, or toast them for a snack.

 When I got home I put the seeds in brown office envelopes and labeled them.  Paper envelops or paper bags will allow the seeds to dry.  Plastic bags might retain too much moisture and rot the seeds.

 This was a beautiful Marigold plant that had it all, color, a mounding form, and abundant  lasting blooms.

 I collected this plant's seeds too.

The doggies finally took a nap, and I had enough seeds to start many, many plants, plants enough to share with all of my friends!