Things Are Blooming

My last garden was surrounded by flowers. Though veggies are my first love, there have been years when I plant some of my veggie bed up in flowers. And every year I interplant a few flowers. I try to pick flowers that are edible or that the bees love, but occasionally I plant them just for me. My cosmos this year is that kind of flower one just for me. Silence sent me some flower seeds last year of a double pink cosmos. I love cosmos. So I really wanted to try them. I couldn't last year. Sadly those haven't opened up yet, but I do see a couple of buds.

I interplanted them with my two tall zinnias. I haven't a clue which zinnia is which. The one above is the biggest of the two. The one below has the most interesting structure. I've never grown zinnias before, but this year I have three zinnias total. One is a short zinnia. I'll probably save seed and get some mixed up zinnias next year. But I like that.

In front of my zinnias the chamomile is blooming.

And on the other side of the path the marigolds have started. Soon they will take over the path and I'll have to be careful to step over them. But if I break off a stem, it is no big deal. They really are weeds here. Wherever they touch the ground they root, so occasionally I chop them back hard.

The tomatoes are blooming too. Pretty much all the plants have flowers or buds on them. I can't wait for tomatoes.

Along the path is the massive horde of sweet alyssum. There are some dianthus hiding between each plant, but they haven't bloomed yet and are getting over run. I hope the dianthus make it to put out some pretty little blooms. I've got sweet alyssum scattered in a couple of veggie beds too, but they aren't nearly as big as these. They must love the heat of the path. Slowly overtaking the sweet alyssum are the mixed sunflowers shooting up.

I've also got some nasturtiums scattered here and there. I rarely eat them, but on occasion I do.

And one rangy weed of a flower is borage. I don't know why I love it. It could be because it is edible. Or it could be because the bees love it (not that I've seen any bees this year). It gets so disheveled halfway through the season. But every year it gets planted anyway.

The peas are also putting on a good show. These are the Blizzard snow peas, and they live up to their name. They put out a blizzard of flowers on them. The Golden Sweet snow peas have much prettier flowers. They are a bicolored purple. But they put on a nice flush and there just aren't any fully open right now to photograph.

In front of the peas the favas are blooming. The ants have started the aphid farm and there are no beneficials in my garden yet. I thought about squishing them all. It wouldn't be hard. But I figure the favas are old enough to withstand them at this point and the little favas have started forming. I'll let the aphids stay. Maybe some ladybugs or lacewings will find my garden and start reproducing.

And my golden lemon thyme is blooming. I swore I wasn't going to plant it again. But I saw it and had to get it. I loved the plant before, but rarely did anything with the leaves. Ah well, I love the lemon scent so it stays. At my old garden you wouldn't be able to photograph this without some bees or wasps getting in the way, but I just haven't seen them this year. I need my bees. I remember last year it took a while for the bees to find the garden, I hope they hurry up before the squash get big enough to bloom.

And last but not least is my perennial dianthus. It was originally grown from seed over 20 years ago at my first house. Then it got moved to house #2. And now it is in house #3. Eventually I want to propagate it enough to have a whole row peeking out from under the air conditioner fence. But I will probably wait until next year to split the plants up. I'll give it one year to grow and spread in its current spot.