Hearts Started To Bleed And I'm Happy.

One of my Bleeding Heart plants flowered today :)  This one was planted in the side yard, where the sun exposure is limited and I did't water much. I planted the bulb on January 14th, so it took 79 only days.  I didn't expect to see the flowers so quickly!

Just as the name suggests, these little heart-shaped flowers are 'bleeding'.  Flowers are much smaller than I imagined.

Blanket Flower Has a Bud, Too!

Ah, finally.  Blanket Flower is one of the first plants I seeded back in September 2010.  Everyday, I didn't see much change; they looked the same but subtly growing new leaves, just getting bushy without showing any signs of flowers.  However, I have found one bud after all!

It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but I am sure this is a bud. Oh, please don't make me wait too long!

Bleeding Heart Update

Exactly 2 months ago, I planted three Bleeding Heart bulbs at three different locations through my yard.  One in the front yard (partial shade, west), another one in the side yard (shade, south) and the other in the backyard (shade, east).  ...And the fastest growing one is the one planted in the side yard!

This is the one planted in the side yard, and it's about 6 inches tall (the shiny long leaves in the background is 'Naked Lady', a kind of Amaryllis).

When I saw it more closely, I found some buds already! Woot!!  These look much smaller than I expected, so it may take a long time from this stage until the flowers bloom.  I will keep you posted :)

Upright and Blue

136 days after seeding, my first Texas Bluebonnet flower finally bloomed! 

The bud on March 5 - Slightly showing the color.  Bud is pointing down.

Bud on March 7.  Still pointing down but shows slightly darker blue than two days ago.

Bud on March 12.  Flower has started to open, but not quite 100%.

Contrary to my concern, the flower is upright and perfectly blue.  I see more buds in the yard - I am excited, can you tell?

Sunflower - Harlequin

When summer comes, sunflowers had better be in my yard.  I remember, long, long time ago, when I was in the 2nd grade, my classmates and I grew sunflowers as a science class project.  I vaguely remember the result was quite disappointing, though.

This time, I plan to do well.  I am going to grow Sunflower Harlequin.  Supposedly, it is a multi-stem veriety, so I should be able to enjoy more than 2 flowers per plant.

These are the seeds.  Stripe ones and black ones were both in the package.  I wonder if they are the same?  I planted one black and one stripe seeds, just to see what's different.

 

13 days later, black seed germinated.

SEED INFORMATION:

Seeds I bought: Thompson & Morgan's Sunflower - Harlequin F1 Hybrid

Seeds bought from: Thompson & Morgan

Origination of the seeds: Holland, Packed in UK

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: 10-21 days - Mine took about 13 days to germinate

*  Days to bloom: N/A

*  Plant height: 4-5 ft

*  Grows best: Full Sun

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: March - May - I planted in February.

One Week After

One week after transplanting, my Gaura has grown about an inch already and is looking very happy.  To be honest, I broke a bunch of roots during the transplant, so I was worried if that could kill the plant.  Contrary to my concerns, the stems got thicker, and more buds started to show at the tip of each stem.  Whew!

More flowers and more buds!

What's Poona Keera?

What do you imagine if I tell you I am growing Poona Keera?  It is a kind of cucumbers.  This variety originally came from Inida, and it is supposedly super delicious, crisp, juicy, sweet and mild - so why not try grow it? 

These are the seeds.  They look like cantalope seeds, but it makes sense since cucumbers and melons are in the same family, huh?  I planted 4 seeds.

12  days later, the first seedling sprouted, and its leaves opened up in a couple days after...I am very excited! Stay tuned for futher report on this cucumber!

SEED INFORMATION:

Seeds I bought: Pinetree Garden Seed's Cucumber Poona Keera

Seeds bought from: Pinetree Garden Seeds

Origination of the seeds: N/A

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: N/A - Mine took about 12 days to germinate

*  Days to fruit: 53 days - Mine took 92 days to fruit (first harvest)

*  Plant height: N/A - Mine are about 12-inches tall

*  Grows best: N/A

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: Unknown - I planted in February.

Cosmos - Day Dream

Actually, I grew Cosmos already, but I didn't keep any record.  So, here I go again, and this time, I will blog about it.  Last time, I grew ordinary, Pink-Red-White ones and dwarf Yellow-Orange kind, but this time, I will grow "Day Dream".

These are the seeds.  Pretty large and easy to see (believe me, tiny seeds are quite hard to plant because I can't see where they are on the soil) - I seeded 4 of them at this time.

7 days after seeding, the first seedling emerged.

In 2 weeks after seeding, all 4 seedlings sprouted out. They look happy with the "Banzai" pose :)

SEED INFORMATION:

Seeds I bought: Thompson & Morgan's Cosmos: Daydream

Seeds bought from: Thompson & Morgan

Origination of the seeds: Holland, Packed in UK

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: 7-14 days - Mine took about 7 days to germinate

*  Days to bloom: N/A

*  Plant height: 36 inches

*  Grows best: Full Sun

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: Unknown - I planted in February.

Texas Bluebonnet Update

Texas Bluebonnet is doing great, and the bud started to show the color; it's really blue.  Although I am anxious to see the flower, like, now, I've learned it takes a long time a bud fully blooms, so I will have to be patient for a little while. 

Hmmm....it's pointed down, like grapes, though - will it bloom upright like the picture on the seed package?

Marigold - Mr. Majestic

I was never interested in Marigold becuase I see it everywhere; it is almost always used for apartment, commercial, business landscaping.  It was too boring and looked cheap, so I didn't want it...until I saw a picture of this cute version in a plant catalogue. I wanted to grow Mr. Majestic!

 These are the seeds.  I planted them on December 5th  (I forgot to take a picture on the day I seeded).

 7 days after seeding, little seedlings emerged.  Sorry the picture is bit blurry.

34 days after seeding, a few true leaves started to show and roots were getting longer, so I transplanted three seedlings in a container and some in the ground.

 One month after transplant, and 66 days after seeding, there was already a bud!  That's fast!  (This one is planted in a container)

 While the container ones had bigger buds, I noticed the ones transplanted in the ground look different; these have larger and greener leaves, but their buds are much smaller.  Hm. I wonder why?

The bud got bigger each day, but it had taken a long time until the flower opened (it's true for most of the time from my experience thus far).  I got impatient and disappointed every morning as the bud was still shut.

 Almost a week after the above picture, and 91 days from seeding, the first flower finally opened!  Hooray~

Isn't this cute or what?  I hope the plants (I planted 3 in this container) will fill the entire container and many flowers bloom!

SEED INFORMATION:

Seeds I bought: Pinetree Garden Seeds MARIGOLD - MR. MAJESTIC

Seeds bought from: http://www.superseeds.com/

Origination of the seeds: Unknown

According to the package:

*  Days to germination: Unknown - Mine took 7 days to germinate

*  Days to bloom: Unknown - Mine took 91 days to bloom

*  Plant height: 10 inches

*  Grows best: Sun

*  Recommended planting season for San Diego: Unknown - I planted in December