I love flowers and often buy bouquets at Trader Joe’s to enjoy. At this time of the year, the daffodils, tulips, and freesias are my favorites to have around the house. It finally dawned on me that for the price of a six-stem bunch at Trader Joe’s, I can purchase a 6” pot of freesias and plant them myself. This way I can enjoy them for the next two weeks and then with a little luck and two green thumbs, I can enjoy them again next year and the year after with a little effort and no added expense.

Inspired by this “revelation”, I dragged Chris to Home Depot, Lowe’s and a local nursery. In keeping with the yard’s color scheme and my love of bold colors (orange wall, anyone?), I also planted dahlias, zinnias, marigolds, salvias, coreopsis, calibrochoas, nasturtiums, and gazanias in shades of yellow, orange, and red. The colors really liven up the backyard and the flowers, as you can see below, are stunning! (Thanks to Chris for capturing them so beautifully.)

As a novice gardener, I have a lot to learn. I turned to my copy of the Sunset Western Garden Book and Google to research how to care for all the different flowers.  I’ve enjoyed learning about all my flowers and about gardening, in general.  A few nuggets I’ve learned so far:

Nasturtiums leaves and flowers are edible.  Fertilizing nasturtiums will result in lush green leaves at the expense of the colorful flowers.  (That’s why all the vibrant orange and red flowers are now gone.)
Gazania flowers close up in the evenings and on overcast days.
Deadheading, or removing spent flowers, not only keeps the garden neater, it also encourages more blooms.
According to the 1990 USA Hardiness Zone Map, I live in Zone 10.
Gardening is really fun!

I look forward to tending to my flowers before I go to work each morning and having cut flowers on my desk.

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