Deb in Cedar Falls sent me a picture the other day of a plant that a friend had given her a few years ago.  She didn’t know what kind it was, so she asked me. 

Space alien in a Cedar Falls garden.

I have seen this before and it was driving me crazy until I came across a picture on the Better Homes and Gardens website.

This looks VERY similar to Deb's UFO (Unidentified Flowering Object)

They call it a globeflower, but that isn’t what MY globeflower looks like.  Hmmm.

My Globeflower

It turns out there is a Chinese Globeflower, which is what Deb has, and a European globeflower which I have.  There also seems to be an American Globeflower, although when I was doing the search, some of the photos for the European came up as the American.   They are all in the family Ranunculaceae, or the buttercup or crowfoot family.

This is one of the main reasons why when you go to the nursery to ask for a particular plant, you have the scientific name with you.  And not just Trollius, as in this case.  You need to specify Trollius chinensis or Trollius europaeus. And to make it even more clear as mud, there are also Trollius cultorum (hybrids) and Trollius asiaticus (from Asia) to look through, too.  I also came across a Trollius laxus.

Trollius does best in moist soil and sun to part sun.  I have mine on the north side of our house and it isn’t overly wet there, but it seems to do well.  Of course, we get some sun even on the north side of our house in the late spring through early fall, so it probably loves it.

Posted under Plant Identification

We needed to fill some holes in the front raised bed and we needed to get a couple of butterfly bushes for one of the back beds.  Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s get another trumpet vine, some sedum and some more columbine.

I found a white Bellflower (Persicifolia White Campanula) that will look terrific in our front bed.

The orange on the left is Orange Marmalade Crossandra, a tropical annual that really sets off the hardy geraniums. On the top right, the yellow is Lemon Symphony Osteospermum. They should look great with the other two along with the purple petunias I planted a couple of weeks ago.

The Columbine patch. We have white, very large light blue, red and orange, yellow, black, red and I suppose there is some other color combination in here, too. Our new ones are Lime Sorbet, Clementine Rid and Crimson Star.

Of course, when you buy the stuff you have to get it in the ground.  And in the heat of the weekend, keeping them in the pots is going to dry them out even faster.  So… Sunday and Monday afternoons were spent digging, fertilizing and watering the new stuff.

Black Knight Butterfly Bush

A red butterfly bush is keeping my rose bush, Sven, company.

So far, they seem to be doing alright.  And by the time the next round of obnoxiously hot and humid weather comes around, they should have better developed root systems.  And I’ll be way to tired of the heat to actually do any work outside in that obnoxious heat and humidity.  That’s why they invented air conditioning, right?

Dig it!

Posted under General

The kids got a lot done yesterday at the Vinton Youth Garden.  Well, the adults helped, too.

I got twenty 40 pound bags of top soil to try out the Gardening in a Bag I spoke about in an earlier posting.  After planting gourds and watermelons, we covered them with mulch.

We still need to plant some pumpkins and acorn squash, so I will be getting more of the bags for next week.  We have plenty of room available. 

Gardening in a bag with mulch around to hide the bags.

Leo and Lori were helpful, too.  Lori helped move the bags of soil and wheelbarrows worth of mulch.  And Leo was a HUGE help in weeding the area under the pine trees with the hostas.  It looks AWESOME!

The hosta bed looks terrific. The mutant dandelions did their best to take over, but I think we won with Leo's help.

We also got some Cannas planted, some sweet potatoes in the ground, and the peppers caged.

We moved the picnic table to the cement slab and got the fabric on top of the pergola to help provide some needed shade on the table.

Picnic table moved... check. Canvas put on pergola... check.

Next week we will be moving some peonies that aren’t even budding (they are in a kind of pit and obviously too deep), mulching the apple trees, the next round of Garden bags and the hostas.  And possibly planting more flowers in the fourth lot.  I’ll keep you informed.

Dig it!

Posted under Youth Garden

I love African Violets.  I had them when I was in college, but when I got them home, I couldn’t keep them alive.  No air conditioning probably didn’t help.  I’m sure the cats munching on them had nothing to do with it.

If you like African Violets or want to learn more about them and want to take a road trip this weekend, head over to Des Moines.  The Evening African Violet Club of Des Moines is having their Annual Show and Sale at Merle Hay Mall Friday through Sunday.  Friday the hours are Noon to 9 PM, Saturday from 10 to 9 and Sunday from Noon to 4.  If you want more information on this event, contact Joan Watts, Publicity Chairman at 641-377-2656.

If you want more information closer to Eastern Iowa, go to a meeting of the Cedar Valley African Violet Club.  They meet at Western Home, 420 East 11th Street in Cedar Falls the fourth Tuesday of each month (except July and December) at 7 PM.  They have a show the last weekend (Friday and Saturday) of September at Crossroads Mall in Waterloo.  For more info on anything African Violet in the Cedar Valley, contact Carol Magoon in Eldora at 641-858-2554 or email her at carolmagoon@peoplepc.com.

Posted under Event