Wednesday, August 23, 2017

COLOR ON THE FARM

Even on the farm in the blazing heat of Summer, we have some color.  It's hit and miss, but it's there.

Lantana carnival
The happy multicolored lantana...

Yellow marigolds
The bright yellow of these marigolds...

Pentas
The deep red of the pentas...

Orange marigold
More marigolds this time in orange...

Texas Lilac
And this purple of the Texas lilac (vitex)...

Now we just need to multiply all this by tenfold, ha. We do have more lantana planted in the flowerbeds and a few pentas, and of course several vitex scattered around, but we need more, lots more. Next year might have to be the "year of color" at the farm.  

For now, we'll take what we can get!

18 comments:

  1. A bit of color is better than none at all.
    By doing some Fall pruning on your Texas Lilac Vitex you can form that from a bush into a tree form by cutting off the bottom branches and also if you dead head the spent blooms you will have more blooms come the following year. All pruning must be done in the Fall.
    Link on pruning your Vitex:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4FcFlX4C0s

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    1. Reading previous comments, trying to take our minds off the weather, ha. Thanks for this info, I need to do some pruning on it for sure this Fall. Thanks!!

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  2. Cosmos! Yellow and orange,low care.. and Zinnia!

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    1. Cosmos? Really? Thanks for this info, will try that next Spring. We want color!! And Zinnia I forgot about that one, my Grandmother LOVED zinnias, or as she called them, her "zinnys" ha.

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  3. I love the color. There may be a spec or two of color in my yard. Not sure. I like the pentas.

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    1. The pentad are pretty and get pretty big. Of course they might be washed away now, ha. We'll see. Distracting myself by catching up on old posts. The weather is INSANE here right now. Floods, lightning, etc. We're up high of course but I worry about Houston.

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  4. Lantana is one of my favorite summer flowers, plus it is a favorite of butterflies. I tend to go overboard with lantana, zinnia, and marigolds. You have to be hale and hearty to survive my lack of daily attention!

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    1. We LOVE lantana and it grows so easily here. And another vote for zinnia, I'm going to just try those next year. I like how you think about them, I need to think like that too, ha. Once a week water or you're outta here! ha

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  5. Colour is one of the very best mood enhancers isn't it?

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    1. Definitely. And with the weather we have now, I need to look at it even in pics and enhance my mood. :-)

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  6. What a lovely mix of colours.
    You can save the seeds of most of your flowers to use next time, the sterile Lantana you may be able to take cuttings, ask mr Google or some friendly gardener.
    I am sure you will find some flowers that don't mind the cold weather and will add a pop of colour to your yard for your more frequent visits as the cooler months arrive.

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    1. I will try that. I'd love to move the lantana around by propagating. I will do some googling about that. thanks!!!

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  7. Great color and I agree about taking what you can get! But just think, it's a start and will get better every year!

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    1. Yep, thank you. It's a marathon not a sprint, right? Ha.

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  8. Warning 1st Man : http://grist.org/article/a-texas-size-flood-threatens-the-gulf-coast-and-were-so-not-ready/

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    1. Thank you for this, I saw it earlier in the week and we started planning. You are so sweet to give us a heads up. We miss these things sometimes, thank you again. We were prepared because of it.

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  9. 1st Man,

    Beautiful pops of color!!! And next year you'll have a lot more.
    The flowers must smell nice around your farm :-)
    Enjoy them!!!

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    1. They are coming up slowly but surely. More next year for sure! Now that the garden is working great and the fruit trees are planted, time for color!!

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