Bringing in Blossoms

One of my favorite things about gardening is making arrangements from our flowers and herbs.   For the first time in a LOOONG time, we have a "cutting" bed in our "Garden of Eatin'".    It's main purpose is to grow flowers to bring inside.   (Second main purpose is to attract pollinators - that's why we planted these flowering annuals near the edible plants).   Here's what our cutting bed looks like right now - pretty much just zinnias and marigolds.   I think it's gotten too hot for the foxglove we planted after Easter. 

There are lots of perennials that are great for arrangements, but I don't put them here because we rotate the vegetable crops and that would impede that a bit.  

 

I have found that when it's hot outside, it is best to pick flowers and herbs in the morning.   They've had overnight to rest and recuperate from the stress of the summer heat. 

This is my harvest bucket.   Fill it with water and as soon as a flower is cut, it gets dropped into the bucket to rest and take up water.   I try to leave them resting for at least 2 hours and sometimes much longer.  

If I buy flowers at HEB or Sam's, this is basically my same procedure.   Trim the ends and let them sit in a bucket of water for a nice drink.  

Today, we just made small arrangements in glass jars.   Dotted along the dining room table, they will add nice touch for a Tex-Mex Dinner

Stunning Butterfly Host

When I say stunning, I'm not talking about the heliconus butterflies but instead their host plant, Passion Vine or May-pops.    There are many varieties of passion vine and this one is Passiflora incarnata.   It's leaf has three lobes and it's flower is a stunning purple and white beauty.   

Our native passion vine is a host plant to the Gulf Fritillary, Zebra Longwing, Julia, and Variegated Fritillary caterpillars.    I'm trying to increase the varieties of butterfly host plants in our yarden and have been wanting this one.   They begin blooming in June so I have been riding the pasture fence lines in search of one.   I know they're there but no luck yet.   This morning as I sat outside enjoying the early morning, I noticed a "weed" in a lantana.  I have to admit that I'm pretty easy on weeds these days but I don't think this weedy vine was there last weekend.   The leaf was not that of the many weeds common in (or taking over) my flower beds so I walked around for a better look - and it's PASSION VINE!   Must be a gift from God. 

As I said, it is growing up amid a lantana.   If I don't move it or give it something to climb on, it will soon cover everything in this bed.   They are vigorous growers that die back in winter.   I guess I'll enjoy it for a few days and then decide whether to train it up the nearby pillars or transplant it in a better spot.

Happy gardening!