the ranunculus are here! / WHAT JEN DOES

the ranunculus are here!

6.18.2017

I really don't want to jinx it, but the flower garden is .... doing well. Last year was pretty much an epic failure with the exception of the sunflowers crushing it hard. So any success this year is just really thrilling.

But this week, I was out socializing on Monday and Tuesday ... and then on Wednesday... bam. Ranunculus! I grew these little babes from bulbs I bought off Amazon. I'll never forget the first time I saw ranunculus in Tuscany. All of the layers of blooms were so captivating. Last years attempts barely peeked out of the ground so to have plants and a handful of blooms is a flipping victory. I already feel like I won. I did end up returning the Lowe's ranunculus... they couldn't handle the wind and really crapped out.

For this part of the garden, I've spread some of the remaining salt marsh hay to try and keep the weeds down. I would love to understand how weeds can grow faster than grass and faster than flowers. In spite of my glorious plan laid out, I have not torn out the rogue sunflowers that are thriving outside of the designated sunflower row. Given how terrible this effort was last year, I'm holding on to any bloom I can get. Also, when I tried to transplant one of them it died... so we agree to disagree about where they live. But to round out the rest of the update, here is how everything else is doing.

Dusty Miller // Coming in pretty strong. Although it's a little confusing why two of the plants are wildly large... and the rest are just plugging along. Either way, all of the plants from last year are coming back and I didn't need any of the new seedlings that I started. There is something so enchanting about the slightly furry leaves. Maybe furry isn't the right word, but either way.

Dahlias // Coming up big and strong! The Arabian Night one that I planted first has some solid buds on it that could bloom in maybe a week or less. I can't wait to pair it with the dusty miller. Unlike the dahlia's planted last year, these are really growing straight up. I do expect that I'll need a stake or something to support them in a few weeks.

Sunflowers // Feel free to call me insane... but I legitimately planted 8 varieties of sunflower seeds. I think last year I did maybe 3? But, Jake gave me all these seeds... and I really couldn't pick which ones made the most sense... so I planted all of them. Additionally, I planted a few scattered rows of rogue sunflowers on the other side of the wind screen. I'm really hoping they take root ... and grow big and tall ... and make for amazing sunset backdrops.

Cosmos // Of the two cosmos varieties I planted, the second variety was doing much better. It seems like the seeds have a 50% germination rate or so. I ordered some more seeds from Burpee and just planted some more this afternoon. Really looking forward to some blooms here.

Love-in-a-mist // Doing well... but no blooms yet... and no real timeline for it? The seed packet had suggested planting more seeds every couple weeks or so to maintain flowers all summer. I'll probably do that next weekend.

Tuberrose // Of the 4 bulbs I planted, only one came up... which did result in a credit from Burpee. It is supposed to smell amazing so I can't wait for whatever the blooms are to show up. I might have to fill in the rest of this box with something else.

Ranunculus // See all above comments about how my eternal happiness for these babies. I do need to figure out how to make them grow even more. A lot of articles say that cutting the flowers actually helps them grow even more so I'll be Googling that all week.

Previous Flower Posts: what I'm growing [4/22]