August Blooms - Sunflowers Again

I'm linking up with Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day today, and am looking forward to seeing what's in other gardens around the Internets. In my garden this month it's all about the sunflowers: 

The teddy bear sunflowers have begun their second life. The first set of blooms lasted a couple of weeks before succumbing to the brutal summer heat, but these new buds were on deck waiting to bloom.

I have a mystery flower. This is the mystery sunflower that bloomed amongst the Chianti sunflowers last week. Not sure what variety it is, but it's very pretty.

This is what a Chianti sunflower looks like! It bloomed a few days ago, and I'm so happy to see this beautiful flower in my garden again this year. 

Unfortunately, the Chiantis are not as tall as they were last year, and the heads aren't as big either. But  there are other Chianti buds growing behind the first bloom, so I should have more flowers soon. 

Sadly the Coconut Ice sunflowers that bloomed last month didn't even last two weeks, but there are new buds growing on the stalk, so I should have another set of Coconut Ice blooms later this summer.

The Pink Diamond hydrangea tree is blooming. The blooms are white in the summer, but by fall they will turn a deep shade of pink. The tree has been slower to bloom this year compared to last, and there don't seem to be as many blooms or as many butterflies, bees, and other winged visitors as there were last year. 

Also in bloom, as I mentioned on Friday, the Mighty Petunia.

Happy GBBD!

Introducing Coconut Ice Sunflowers

Yes! They're here! The Coconut Ice sunflowers have finally bloomed. There are only two flowers, but I'm just glad they made it, considering the other sunflower troubles I've had this season.

Like my other sunflowers, the Coconut Ice hybrids are in a container and they were grown from seed. My sunflowers seem to do well in pots, but I'm sure they would be taller in the ground. The beauty of containers is that I can move them around and they make a nice little privacy screen from my neighbors. They're not quite as tall as I am (5'2"), and it doesn't look like they'll grow any taller. I'm really pleased with these flowers; I love the contrasting white and chocolate brown colors.

And just so they don't feel left out, this is a picture of my Teddy Bear sunflowers from yesterday. We now have six flowers! They're in a container and the tallest stems have grown to about 3 feet high. They are really pretty and I think they'll be regular flowers in my garden from now on. 

I'm so excited about my flowers and am sharing them with Fishtail Cottage's Cottage Flora Thursday today.

Finally, A Sunflower!

Over the weekend, the first Teddy Bear sunflower opened.

Then I came home from work Monday night to find that two more Teddy Bear flowers had opened!

...and although the other sunflower plants have not really made much progress, the Coconut Ice plants have finally developed buds.

On a different subject, there's a new tomato to add to the list we're growing this year: Supersweet hybrids. They're supposed to be small (about an inch wide) and sweet--SUPER sweet. We transplanted the seedlings to pots over the weekend. They're calling for blistering heat over the next week, so maybe that'll help them grow.

July Blooms (and Non-Blooms)

I'm linking up with Carol's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Unfortunately, this month I have more non-blooming flowers than blooming ones, so I'll be getting my July floral bloom fix around the internet instead of in my garden.  First, here's what I do have in bloom:

The pink diamond hydrangea tree has started to bloom. These flowers start out white and by Fall they turn pink.

The butterfly bush has blooms too. These dark purple flowers are so pretty and have a pleasant, sweet smell. I've seen a few white sulfur butterflies, but no other kind of butterfly. These flowers attract bees too, and I do like my bumbles, so that's been nice.

Now for what's NOT blooming.

My mammoth sunflowers look weak. {sigh} Last year they started blooming in June. We're now at July 15, and I haven't seen so much as a bud. To be fair, the seedlings I started early this spring got clipped by a vile creature commonly known as a squirrel, so I had to start them over. These haven't been growing as long as they would have had the original seedlings not gotten clipped, so developmentally I guess you could say they're a few weeks behind.  A little fertilizer may be in order. 

More non-blooming sunflowers--On the left I have Coconut Ice hybrids, and in the square container I planted Chianti hybrids. I've never grown Coconut Ice before, so I have no basis for comparison. But I did grow Chiantis last year, and they were blooming by mid-July. The Chianti seedlings I started in early spring also got clipped, so these are the second try.  For the mammoth and Chianti flowers, I have done nothing differently this year. They get plenty of sun and are even in the same containers they were in last year. Maybe a little more time is all they need.

All my hopes for mid-July blooms rest on the Teddy Bear Sunflower. These are also new to my garden this year, and I spotted a few flowers trying to open last night. Maybe I'll have some blooms in the next few days. And I hope by next month to see all my sunflowers in bloom. 

Happy GBBD!

Sunflower Setback

Chianti hybrid sunflowers in 2010 garden

We grow sunflowers every year. Last year we grew giant mammoth and Chianti hybrid varieties. The Chianti hybrids were so pretty with their deep red blooms that I absolutely wanted to grow them again this year. The giant mammoth and Chianti seedlings started to sprout a couple of weeks ago.  When I went to check on their progress a couple of days ago, I saw that they had all been cut at the base and were lying there in the soil, dead. Squirrels had dug holes in the soil and just clipped the seedlings out.

When I was younger I thought squirrels were so cute. I couldn't understand why my friends' parents and grandparents hated them and set traps for them so they could drive the squirrels miles away and release them somewhere else. Well, now I understand the anti-squirrel feelings. Squirrels have eaten my strawberries, thrown mulch and dirt all over my deck, and dug up tulip bulbs in the past. And now they've attacked my precious sunflower seedlings!

Chianti hybrid seedlings before

Mammoth seedlings and the two flowers that we started early and took off. The bigger ones weren't disturbed, but the small seedlings were all yanked out.

I replanted both the Mammoth and Chianti varieties, and we're going to cover the containers with mesh, similar to what we're using to protect the strawberry patch, until they're big and sturdy enough that the squirrels won't bother them.

squirrel attack--all seedlings removed. you can sort of see them laying in the dirt

Interestingly, the two giant mammoth sunflower plants that have already grown up are fine (see picture above). This year we're also growing teddy bear sunflowers, and the squirrels left those alone.

teddy bear 

I'm linking to Cottage Flora Thursday today.