Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Good Flower, Bad Flower

I guess there really are no bad flowers, but I was struck by the difference between the two yellow flowers blooming in my yard right now.

The good:

Yellow bulbine. This summer I helped a friend thin out her bulbine, which was growing crazy with all the rain. I ended up with quite a few bulbines of my own, but I wasn't able to plant them for oh, two weeks, I think. They just sat on my tarp, partly because of the rain and partly because I was busy. So I am very happy that some survived.

They are in my free plant zone, the strip behind our fence in the alleyway. It's technically part of the right of way, and whenever there's phone, cable, or electrical work to be done, these plants get trampled. They also get trampled and pooped on by dogs so I don't want to spend much (or any) money on them but will gladly stick whatever I get for free back there.


The bad flower:


The pak choy, going to seed. It's only bad because I didn't had a chance to harvest it before it went to seed. I also did not thin the seedlings when I should have so the remaining ones didn't really flourish.

And then there was this guy (or gal):

An orange and black that is all over the pak choy and the other greens. It's not in my organic bug book so I am not sure what it is. I've been gently removing them and giving them a new home but there are a lot of them. And they eat. A lot.

3 comments:

  1. I love the bulbine - but the deer eat mine, so I don't get to enjoy them much either. Sometimes I let my veggies go to seed just to watch them!

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  2. The whole plant pak choi is edible-you can still harvest and cook the greens and flowers. I don't know where the idea started in America that the flowering plants are inedible.

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  3. Hello Vertie,

    I am having a rummage through your archives. Hope you don't mind.

    This post cheered me up no end: makes me realize that I am not the only one with garden troubles: beasties first eating my plants and then leaving a souvenir. It is getting to me, but you seem to take it all in your stride :-)

    Anyway, just to say Hello and that I am having fun reading your posts.
    joco

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