Thursday, May 1, 2008

A Riot of Color

















When I originally planted a variety of seeds in my cutting garden area, the plan was, well, obviously, to cut the flowers and bring them inside.

But now the seeds have germinated, the plants have grown, and the flowers have bloomed, I find the flowers are just so pretty, and look so happy in the bed, that I decided I would just visit them outside instead of bringing them in. Because I wasn't planning on leaving all the flowers together outside, I didn't even consider how the colors would combine.

Individually, I love the colors.
















The cosmos are from a random seed packet I picked up one day. They are blooming like crazy.























Someone who combined the cosmos seeds knew what she was doing, because the color variations complement each other.


















Even this white sweetpea looks nice against the cosmos backdrop.























But once you start adding the reddish sweetpea,





















and the yellow and orange nasturtiums,
















it becomes quite a riot.

Not to be outdone, the passionflower vine in my new sun bed decided to get in on the action. About an hour ago, I was still amazed that I had a bud on the vine. The plant isn't even tall enough to stretch up the trellis, and it already has a bud.

I thought I maybe had a couple more days before it bloomed. Twenty minutes later I was outside again checking on something else, and it caught my eye. It had bloomed! Completely. No gradual unfurling, no teasing, just full on passion.

And it's not the color I wanted! I feel like Pam and her maroon bluebonnets. I wanted it to be purple, not white. The sale tag only said passion flower; if it said what color or any more specifics, I missed it.
















Maybe the other one will be purple?

(In case you don't recognize that nose, my efforts to keep the dog out of the new bed are obviously NOT working.-))

5 comments:

  1. Ha--I can never get the passionflower I want, but I keep trying. 'Blue Crown' is the one that shows up in nurseries most often, but it's not a fave of mine. I too prefer the purple ones, and I was after 'Incense' last time but got something else.

    Today I bought a red one, so we'll see how that goes.

    Your cosmos look so pretty, and I think your riot of color is cheerful and cottagey. Love it!

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  2. I don't think your cosmos and other plants look that bad together. Just remember next time to think of them melding together. I know I haven't planned my blacony to mesh well but it's my first time.
    The passion vine is pretty even if it's not purple. Maybe next time or maybe just this bloom was a white.

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  3. I've got a whole wall of roses, red, pink, and white, that I think the previous owners planted for cut flowers. But I can't bear to cut them myself - they look so pretty left on the plant!

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  4. I agree with Pam, a riot of color is cheerful...Maybe adding more white would tone it down.

    Gail

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  5. You've answered a question for me that I've been wondering for over a year now-- when the pastel cosmos bloom. It seems like everyone has the summer-blooming orange ones, but I prefer the softer colors that you have, and I've never had much luck with them when I planted in spring. :)

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