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Centaurea cynaus (aka
Bachelor's Buttons): 12-36 inches tall in shades of
pink, blue, lavender and white. One of my favorite sights is to
arrive in the gardens early in the morning and see the finches
as they ride the waves of the air feasting on the bachelor
button seeds. Bachelor buttons are great for small nosegay kind
of bouquets. They work well in larger ones too but after the
first blush of bloom you are going to have flower heads going to
seed among the fresh blooms. The buds are good for pressing but
not the flower heads.
The petals are edible. |
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Calendula officinalis (pot
marigold): You get a lot for your money with calendula!
Start them early in the season (mid April) because they like it
cool. They will bloom in late spring and early summer and limp
along in July and August, but come the cooler weather of
September and October and they will bloom enthusiastically until
a hard freeze. You can count on calendula to reseed itself year
after year and to be the last thing blooming in your garden.
The petals are edible. |
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Cleome (aka Spider Flower):
The first time I saw cleome blooming it was in the middle of
a neighbor's field. The next spring, I saw a
seedling in my garden that looked sort of like a tomato but not
quite. My rule with plants I cannot identify is to wait
and see what they become. This one turned out to be the
same kind that was growing in my neighbor's field the year
before. The flower is amazing. It looks great in a bouquet
of just cleome's but only last a day or two. It is not
good for pressing, drying or eating and does not have a nice
fragrance but I would not consider my garden complete without
it. It is a dependable self seeder but does not germinate
until the soil is nice and warm in early June. Cut it back
after it's first blooming and it will bloom again. |
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Cosmos: I first
discovered cosmos when someone donated a quart ZipLoc bag of
cosmos, Bright Lights at our first perennial exchange. We
planted them everywhere! They turned out to be the perfect
flower for teaching the seed cycle. Planted in the spring,
by the time school started in the fall they are in full bloom so
there were plenty of flowers to pick. The best part is
that students are able to observe the whole flower to seed
process on one plant. On the same plant there will be a
tight bud, one about to open, one half open, one in full flower,
another where the flower is fading, one where the seeds are formed
and one where they are brown and about to drop. They come
in a variety of colors and "faces" and the "Sensations" press
beautifully. |
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Hyacinth Bean vine: My
friend,
Rita Heikenfeld,
introduced me to Hyacinth Beans. Like all beans, it is
super easy to grow, just put them about 1" into the soil, water,
and
in less than a week you will see sprouts. Before you know it you
will have a tall vine covered with sweet pea like, purple and
white flowers. The show is just beginning. The
flowers are followed by bright purple seed pods
which are almost just
as showy. Even the seeds are beautiful. It is not
suggested that you eat this bean. (6' to 20' vine.) |
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French Marigold are a
great addition to the gardens and they are dependable
self-seeders. We planted bunches of seeds in the gardens
the first year and have not had to plant them since. We
just pull them out where we do not want them. They look
great in the fall garden, provide us with lots of flowers for
the students to pick and are perfect for the seed collecting
lessons because the seeds are so easy to identify. |
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Sun Flower: Whatever
else may be blooming around them, sunflowers always take center
stage. What most people visualize when you mention
sunflowers are the 10 foot giants with the 18" flowers.
It's true that these are real show stoppers and I love having
them in the garden but with these you only get one flower per
plant. Of the 20 or more varieties we usually grow, my personal
favorite is the fuzzy faced Teddy bears... or, maybe the ones
with the deep burgundy flowers. Have you seen the ones that have
all of the colors of the sunset? Now you know why we grow
so many varieties.
Petals and seeds are edible. |
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Straw Flower: This
flower is so perfect for drying that it feels dry while still on
the plant. They are perfect for making dried arrangements
and wreaths. Having no time for crafts, I picked a few three
years ago, tied them into little bouquets and hung them upside
down over my kitchen door to dry. They looked so nice hanging
there that I never took them down. The flower colors are still
as vibrant as ever. |
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Sweet Peas: 3-4
years ago, I planted perennial sweet peas by the bridges in the
perennial gardens. I envisioned them growing up the railings of
the bridges and peeking between the post. They do this
early in the season and look awesome. But then they keep
growing and the bridges are not large enough to contain all of
their mass so they grow over everything within 3-4 feet of the
bridges. They are so beautiful when in bloom, though, that
I have not been able to bring myself to dig them up. I
just keep cutting them back. This year, I am planting 7-8
new annual varieties that are more fragrant. These will go
in back of the school in the hill gardens so they can hang down
the retaining wall and take up all the space they want.
I am planting fragrant annual varieties. |
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Zinnia: If I had
to pick one flower for cutting, it would be zinnia. They
come in many colors, a wide range of sizes (6 inches to 6 feet)
and have many "faces". They produce lots of flowers over a
long period, are long-lived in the vase and are super easy to
grow. If they smelled as good as roses, they would be the
perfect flower. |
