Seed lovers garden

And the winners are. . . . .

2011-10-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well, we had the draw.

Kevin Pierce (our photographer and Marketing Manager) assisted in drawing the names from a bucket.

Drum roll please . . . and the winners are: For a $100 gift certificate - Debra K. of Edmonton, AB; Cathy K. of Calgary, AB; and Janet W. of Bowmanville, On. For a $50 gift certificate - Erwin K. of High River, AB; Sara P. of Sudbury, On; Tonyia R. of Hillsborough, NJ; Vince Q. of Calgary, AB; Julia V. of Delta, BC; and Nancy Y. of Medicine Hat, AB. For a $25 gift certificate - Bibi A. of Mississauga, ON; Alan B. of Sundridge, ON; Andrea F. of Yellowknife, AB; Anne G, of Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC; Pat G. of Port Hope, ON, Almas K. of Almaty, Kazakhstan; Bruce M. of Toronto, ON; Satie N. of Calgary, AB; Jessie N. of Vaudreuil-Dorian, QC; Addie O, of Red Deer, AB; Jodi P. of Vancouver, BC; Rick P. of Peterborough, ON, Julie R. of Sydney, NS; Denise R. of Hinton, AB; Rhonda S. of Clarsholm, AB, and Jenna W. of Whitehorse, YK.

I will be contacting all of the winners by email.

An a-ha moment

2011-04-30T11:07:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about what to do since January! And then yesterday it came upon me. We'll have a draw! Yes, a draw would be a grand idea.

Beautiful Blooms will be 10 years old this September 29, 2010. To celebrate, we'll be giving away $1000 is gift certificates. What do you think about that?

Everyone who places an order this year, from January 1, 2011 to September 28, 2011, will be entered in the draw. If you place more than one order, then you will get more than one entry.
Prize breakdown will be - 3 x $100, 6 x $50, and 16 x $25 in gift certificates.

Doesn't matter how big or small your order is, you will be entered.

Spring is finally upon us. It is so exciting to see the new growth coming up out of the garden. I'm knee deep in sunflower seeds at the moment but soon I shall get some pictures posted.
Very exciting is that I see two green nubs of Eremurus poking up from the dirt. Started from seed back in 2008 - maybe they'll bloom this year.

Looking forward to Spring

2011-03-18T09:18:00.001-07:00

Do you know what I love the most about gardening? It's universal, no matter where you go, there are gardeners, people who love plants and gardening as much as I do.
I have had the pleasure over the last couple of weeks to place orders to gardeners from other parts of the world. I'm always curious to see what they order, what is common to me is not so much to them. It's fascinating.

I'm planning a seed planting weekend, what better way to celebrate spring. I'm late on some seeds, I know, but hopefully if I get them outside in the cold frame NOW, it won't make too much of a difference. We're still experiencing winter here in Red Deer, Alberta and the road report this morning warned of ice fog on the QE2 north.
Speaking of cold frames, I took a peak this past week inside of mine, and yes there is signs of green. How exciting.

And as I sit here writing this, two Canada Geese flew by my office window! Now if that doesn't say SPRING is here, I just don't know.
I did get a bit of a glimpse of spring in the yard this past week. We have had plus temps and the snow is melting fast. Dianthus and Heuchera (which are evergreen under the snow) are the first to show. I can't wait to see what bulbs have survived another winter.

Come on spring!

Trip to Ram Falls

2010-12-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

Now that's a chicken! Not sure what he is, so incredibly beautiful though. He just sat and watched while Kevin took pictures, crazy humans.

One of the wildlife preserves along the way to Ram Falls. There are signs posted stating 'Stock at Large' and indeed a couple of times we've gone through there have been 'wild cows' everywhere.

One of the reasons we had come up here again was to collect more seed. The area below had been full of geum, delphinium, grasses, asters, raspberries, and so much more. This is what we found on this last trip of the season. I was absolutely stunned! The loggers waved as we passed by.

We did find this patch of ?. I'm not sure what it was, but it was brilliant in the destruction around it. I had found Streptopus almost directly behind it and was hoping to find more, it was gone. I no longer feel in the slightest bit guilty about harvesting the seed that I did, especially after seeing the forest stripped.

Arriving at Ram Falls we found Kinnikinnick - Arctostaphylos uva-ursi growing everywhere. Cool name, neat plant.

The path down to the lookout. If you're scared of heights, like I am, hang on to the rail, or just stay on the top. I did brave the trip down once, it is worth it, especially if it's warm. But on a chill fall day that wind cuts right through you. It is an incredible view. And yes, that white stuff is snow.

And as we made our way home Kevin spotted this grouse. Funny little chickens they are.

Rimbey Ditch

2010-12-13T19:05:00.000-08:00

I went back to this ditch so many times over the summer. It was full of such delightful flora, every time I went back I found something new. I wish I could have camped there for about a month, so I could capture images of all that I found, identify it and then be there for when the seed was ripe. The last time I went back was late September and almost cried upon finding that it had been mowed.
Next year I will make my visits more often.

Road Trip - Highway11

2010-07-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

We decided to head west this time. Our destination was Nordegg, no specific reason to head there, just a destination. It was cloudy and rained off and on throughout the day. Still it was a great day and we got some great pictures.

We turned off the highway and found some interesting plant life in the ditches, including these mushrooms.

This was the road we turned off on. We could see that it went on for miles and miles.

Paintbrush (Castilliga miniata) was in bloom everywhere, along with Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium montanum). No pics of the blue-eyed grass, but it was Everywhere!

Back on the highway, heading west again.

Abraham Lake. Check it out here - Abraham Lake

Kevin and I spent a couple of hours here, it is so incredibly beautiful. We will go back! Lots of neat plant life. It's hard to believe that this is man made.

Mid June 2010

2010-06-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Ismene festalis 'Zwanenburg'

I'm taking 'advantage' of the rain and getting some indoor work done. You know I'd rather be out in the garden, there's so much to do, especially this year!!!

What has survived, what I thought was a much too long winter, is growing well, some a little too well. It was a mad dash to get everything I could into the ground last fall, it didn't matter where it went, as long as it was in the ground. Some plants even stayed in their pots and got sunk in. It was worth the effort though. There are only a couple of plants that I've seen no sign from, allium karataviense for one. Botanus has it and I will replace it.

Allium 'Purple Sensation'

Alliums are a favorite and I'm forever adding to the collection. I thought I had given these all away prior to the move, I'm glad I didn't. What color! Especially with the blue water barrel as a background.

Iris pallida 'Aureo-variegata'

I picked this up at Parkland Nurseries Garden Centre If you don't have one in your garden yet, GET ONE! It has the most intoxicating scent I have ever smelled in an iris yet. Grape Kool-Aid comes to mind whenever I catch a whiff of it. It requires part shade, so I'm thinking I'll place it the garden by the front door. Morning sun but I'll still be able to enjoy that wonderful scent.

A good many of the iris are blooming or starting to bloom right now. It's very exciting for me as I'll be able to determine what I still have and what is lost. The iris pictured below is one I received from a good friend in Calgary and I'm grateful that it is still in the garden. One of these years I'm going to try a little hybridizing and see what I come up with. For now I'm quite content with trying to whip the gardens into seed producing shape.

This has been one of my favorites for years now, I'm very glad it was not lost in the move. I received it years ago from a woman in the US, back when the border was open for trades. She described it as an ugly brown iris. I love it!

Updates and such

2010-01-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

Gosh darn machines! We had a drive failure on our main computer over the holidays. I thought I had everything backed up, and I did, on that drive.

Oh well, back to the drawing board. Managed to retrieve a good deal, but not everything. A lot of mail was lost and a good many contacts. Also all of the programs that I had used to modify the web site are gone. Which is why nothing has changed! I'm so on it!! Hopefully within the next month I can get things running like a well oiled machine again. Fingers crossed please.

I've been able to get some of the new seed listed on the site with this years pricing, however it still claims that all is 1/2 price. Not quite! New seed is regular price, last years crop is 1/2 price. Still very viable, but it's not fresh seed.

I'm very excited about this years growing season. Seeds are coming in from the Seed Exchanges, stuff you just can't find anywhere else. Very exciting!

I'm still hoping to be able to retrieve the remainder of the email, but if I don't.... there was a woman in Calgary that was interested in pastel clivias, please if you read this, contact me. If there is anyone else that I didn't respond to, or would just like to drop me a line, please do. There were so many emails I had kept just for future reference, that are now gone.

Hope everyone is settling into 2010, I just know that this is going to be a fantastic year.

Happy Gardening
Linda @ Beautiful Blooms

Starting seeds!

2009-08-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

This is what I do.

Clean pots are a must, whether they are new or old, they must be clean. Nasty organisms that will kill your seedlings can hang out on uncleaned pots for years.

Your mix to start your seedlings is also very important. I used to mix my own and thought that was the best way to go, until I tried Pro-Mix. This just makes seed starting so much easier.

What pots to use? I use a 3 1/4" x 3 1/4" x 3 1/2" (deep) plastic pot. Or 85cm x 85cm x 90cm (deep). I prefer this size, they fit well into trays, 18 per tray, and deep enough for most seedlings to develop a good set of roots. Pictured below are a mix of what I use. The larger square ones are for seed starting, the small square ones I use for oxalis or cyclamen bulbs. The round ones are used for small bulbs (I'll blog on that another time).

I usually get a bit of an assembly line going when it comes to seed starting. I fill my Rubbermaid bin (56l) with Pro-Mix, have my pots on hand and my trays. Oh yes, can not forget my gravel topping and we'll discuss this more later in the blog.
I've gone through my Pro-Mix as I've put it in the bin, breaking up the clumps and taking out any sticks and twigs present. It's much easier to fill my pots after I've done this. I fill my pot about 3/4 full of the mix and using another pot I tamp the mix down. I keep doing this until I have a couple of trays full. I guess it depends on how much seed you have to sow. Once that is done I ready my tags and seed envelopes.

Tags are a matter of preference as well. Some use popsicle sticks, old cut up window blinds, purchased plastic tags, what ever works for you. I use these.

Marking the tag, I use a HB pencil. It stays on better than any permanent marker I've used to date. It does not fade nor does it wash off. It erases off quite well after being washed. I mark my tag with the name of the seed and the date it was sown. Why the date, some seeds take longer than others!

I write down the info on the tag and place it in the pot on one edge. Then I sow my seed on top of the tamped down mix. I place the pot with sown seed back in the tray. On to the next pot. Oh, hang on, I've just sown Seseli and I know that that seed requires light to germinate. I take my tag out again and mark the end with a colored marker. This is just to let me know that I should not cover the seed. I'm trying to be quite general and yet specific, if that makes any sense at all!! Each seed has different requirements, you learn what they are as you go along. You develop a system that works best for you.
I now have a full tray of seed sown pots, now what. This is where the gravel topping comes in. Why the gravel? I questioned that at one time as well. The gravel stops the seed from floating when watered in, it stops mold and other ucky growths from growing on top of your seeds and pots. It makes watering your pots so much easier as it acts as a buffer / filter for the water to seep down and not disturb the placement of your seeds. It just works!
I purchased 80lb bags of #2 granite grit (for chickens) from a feed store for quite some time at $8 per bag, and then I went to my local gravel yard. I filled up a 100 litre bin with 7 mm gravel for $3-5. A matter of preference again. I still buy the granite grit and use it as a topper when sowing my cyclamen seeds, I'm sure the 7 mm gravel would work just as well, just a preference. I'm sure when I run out of the granite grit I'll go to using the gravel, as I haven't found a source for the grit in Red Deer yet. No big deal.

The top of each seed sown pot gets a layer of gravel. Usually about 1/4" per pot. Now keep in mind what your seeds requirements are. Seseli as I mentioned before will not get covered. I treat Aquilegia seed a bit differently as well. For that I ready my pot, put down my layer of gravel and then sprinkle the seed on top of the gravel. Generally, it is mix, seed, gravel though.
If you're going to be starting a great deal of seed, you've found that you've developed an addiction to seed starting, get yourself some good books that you can reference, have your reference materials on hand so that you can quickly look it up and get back to your seed sowing.

What next? Water, of course. Your trays are filled with seed sown pots and they want a good drink. Again, there are different ways of doing this. I put my seed sown pots in a water tight tray and fill the bottom of that tray with water and let the pots soak it up. I keep doing this until I'm sure the pots are well watered. Or, I place the pots in mesh bottomed trays and a hose on the mist or shower setting I water the pots in well. I've placed my gravel on top of the pots of seed, I'm not worried about my seed going anywhere. My preference depends on how many trays I have to do, how much time, and how much energy I have.

And lastly, what do you with these seed sown pots? Cold frames! When I think of the years I started all my seeds in the basement, I shudder.

I love my cold frames. I had left my cold frames with the last house, just too big and cumbersome to move, or take apart, or,,, at any rate, they got left. They are just too easy to build though, any one can do it. I'll post another blog on how to build / create a cold frame. But back to starting seeds.

The trays of pots get a good drink and then are placed into the cold frame. Soon, before you know it, you'll have a frame full of wonderful seedlings.

Taking advantage of a rainy day.

2009-07-28T12:15:00.001-07:00

I know I've been neglectful in keeping the blog updated however in my defense, I've got gardens to dig.
I'm going to go back to May for these pictures, and I realize my last blog entry was April, so we should be good.
The following pictures are of the new yard in which Beautiful Blooms will put down its roots and grow.
This first picture is taken from the side and back of the house. It is situated on a corner lot.

A view of the same side of the house, as above. Keep in mind that it is May and it was a cold spring, and there used to be a dog that lived in the house.

The front of the house under the living room window. The tufa rocks that I brought with me from the last garden.

Again, the front, facing south, digging just to get plants in the ground for now. Garden planning will come later.

Facing north, same thing, get them in the ground, will plan later.

The back yard, which blissfully is fenced. The fence is not in the best of shape, but easily overlooked when I think that for the first time I can actually garden in a protected space. Very exciting.

The back yard again. Clean up from former tenants is well under way, hopefully that poor tree will heal.

This fenced in area is on the west side of the house, it would be perfect for either a vegetable garden or maybe green houses.

A view from the top of the deck in the back yard.

In the front again under the living room picture window. The first of the cold frames to go up. Not sure if I'll leave it there or not, for now I wanted it in a location where I could keep an eye on it. I do think that I've located a better spot in the back yard.

Although the house and yard are in a state of neglect and disrepair, it has such potential. The soil is wonderful, compared to the clay of Okotoks, loads of space for huge flower beds, room for green houses, cold frames, vegetable gardens, and so on. I'm very excited about the challenges I have facing me.
Also, and this is so far just a thought that I'm sharing, there is a walk out basement suite that would be perfect for a Beautiful Blooms store, zoning and permits permitting of course. Just a thought?

New Beginnings - Again!

2009-04-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

Did you ever think that something was going to last forever? And then something minute and almost not even noteworthy happened and it set off a chain of events so insane, so crazy, and yet so wonderful and life altering.
My last blog entry was July 2008 and I was whining about mosquitos. Today, April 2, 2009 I am in a new house in a new city with a whole new wonderful life. And all because of an email sent by an old friend. Life is a funny, funny thing!

So, here we are in Red Deer, Alberta now. Beautiful Blooms and I have ripped out our roots from Okotoks, Alberta and moved north to the gorgeous city of Red Deer. It is a very pretty, very friendly city and so far I really like it here.

New gardens are being dug and I almost hate to admit it, but I think I'm getting older. The old body isn't quite as limber as it used to be, but maybe, just maybe it's also due to moving furniture and boxes as well. Two, maybe three more trips back to Okotoks and I'll have the bulk of the garden moved. It's very good timing, this move, plants are just starting to wake up and not as resentful about being moved. They settle back in quite nicely.
Tomorrow's trip to Okotoks will be to pick up the cold frames, we were able to pick up some old storm windows at Habitat's ReStore and they will make great covers for the old cold frames.

Stay tuned, more to come.
Happy Gardening.

I hate mosquitos!

2008-07-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

As soon as you step outside they swarm and dive in looking for blood. With all the rain we've had, a gazillion skitters, all in my back yard!

Surprise! Some more aquilegia.

Geum rivale var album, very pretty.

Iris variegata ? I love the smell of this iris, grape kool-aid, cool.

Allium obliquum - One of my favorite allium, one of many.

Polemonium pauciflorum - Silver Leaf Form - one of the prettiest of the polemonium I grow so far. A short lived perennial in the yard, easily seeds about where ever and is easy to pull out where not wanted.

2008-07-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

One can never have too many aquilegia!

And another one.

Siberian Iris blooming for the first time, not sure where I got this one from?

Lewisia I've had this plant for a long, long time. It's nice to see that it is finally settling in from the move.

Argemone polyanthemos before blooming. This is such a cool plant, more of a short lived perennial in my garden so far, easy enough to make sure a couple seeds drop to the ground.

Alpine Poppy

And another aquilegia from the garden!

June 19, 2008

2008-06-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

Some of the aquilegia blooming in the garden at the moment. They are all so pretty.

This is one of my favorite iris. I got this through a trade from a lady in the US, long before 9/11, long before the border closing. It was so long ago I can't even recall her name. My camera makes the beard blue, really it is a bright mauve, otherwise the colour is fairly accurate.
(I want a new camera, saving up the airmiles.)

Funky mutation on this one. I like it!

June 9, 2008 Monday morn

2008-06-09T06:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pics from the garden. Maybe if the rain stays away for a bit this morning I can get some more.
It's supposed to rain again this afternoon, tomorrow and then the day after. It feels like this is day 87 of rain, I'm tired of it and I want to dig in the garden. Being stuck inside sucks!

I really like this one, before the blooms open they look like little spurred balloons. This has been added to my favorite list.

Simple purple bloom but look at the foliage!

More of this little beauty, isn't it just gorgeous.

Aquilegia viridflora 'Chocolate Soldier' Stunning! Seed came from Chiltern's. If I could only have one aquilegia in my garden, this would be it. Thankfully I can have way more than one.

Myosotis from Montburg Gardens in Australia. I'm very pleased with all of my seed purchases from this company, I will buy from them again.

Delosperma aff. congestum, I really have to get the name of this figured out if I'm going to harvest seed from it, or I could just label it a Delosperma beats the hell out of me'?

2008-06-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

Iris suaveolens 'Rubromarginata' purchased from Holes a couple of years ago. It's one of my favorites in the small iris category.
These are also quite easy to start from seed.

Aquilegia grahamii - unfortunately my camera makes this little beauty pink, and it is definitely not pink but a pretty red. Very nice addition to the rock garden, I'm very pleased.

This is a stunning little beauty of an aquilegia. This one came in a clump of thyme I received in an exchange, thank you Leslie!

Geum 'Mrs. Bradshaw', I do love this orange. 'Mrs. Bradshaw' is one of my favorites, oh who am I kidding, I've never met a geum I didn't fall in love with.

And this is a ?. It was supposed to be cortusa, but it's obviously not. Hmmmm?

May 25

2008-05-25T18:38:00.000-07:00

Day 5 of rain! The water started coming in the basement yesterday. That must mean the water table is still fairly high? I don't completely understand it, considering we face water restrictions each summer. In 2005 the Sheep River flooded, I'm a stone's throw from the Sheep, maybe 3-4 blocks. However I'm on a hill!

There is supposedly an underground spring in the hill back of the house, and that is fairly evident when one looks at the amount of moisture in the back yard. So when it rains for 5 days straight, a good hard rain, the water comes up through the cold joint in the concrete, right into our basement. What's more odd, is that it comes in in opposite corners, front right and back left. The water is crystal clear and doesn't smell, so if you want to look at it positively, it's a good scrubbing of the floor.

We need a sump pump!

It's Spring!

2008-05-22T05:16:00.000-07:00

It takes forever for spring to arrive in Canada, or so it seems. Day two of blessed rain, which is why I have time to write a blog. Everything is greening up quickly. Hmmm, I've made up a new gardening term, 'greening up' - to turn green after a good rain in the spring. It's early in the morning, what can I say?

Draba rigida - Cool alpine plant. Obviously it has settled in quite well. Last year there were about half a dozen flowers, this year there are a few more. ;-}

Fritillaria meleagris - One can never have too many of these bulbs! I've started more from seed this spring, they've sprouted and I will plant them out in the garden next spring.

Pulsatilla violacea - I put this in 2 summers ago, it's blooming for the first time. I've never grown pulsatilla before, but now I want them all, every color on the planet. They are beautiful little plants, must get more!

Aquilegia saximontana - It came from seed labeled as such. I have several in the yard from this batch of seed, three of them look true to form, the two in the front rock garden do not. I'll have to do an aquilegia blog.

Aquilegia saximontana again - a close up of the flower. Aren't they simply divine!

Aquilegia grahamii - First bloom from seed started last year. Oh, I do like this one. Very tiny plant, very tiny blooms, very, very pretty. I've never met an aquilegia I didn't like!

Fall

2007-10-31T20:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not overly fond of an Alberta fall. It seems that mid September the leaves start to turn, frost hits, trees drop all their leaves. So end of September on, there are only naked trees. It just doesn't seem fair.

The trick will be to add some good fall color that can withstand the first couple of frosts. Like those colchicum. Mountain ash seems another good choice. I will have to do some research on this. Need more fall blooming plants. Crocus planted up the hill would look smashing. Purple and pink everywhere. That sounds delightful. I wonder if I can find some fall blooming yellow to toss in?

I think I accomplished a fair bit this summer and I feel pretty gosh darn good about it as we head into 5 months (gulp) of winter. Why oh why do I live here? Oh yes, Alberta, the land of milk and honey!

The hosta bed is coming along, only minor deer damage this year. I've also place a couple of dicentra in that bed, along with corydalis and polygonatum. So far so good. The soil throughout the entire yard needs some serious amending. What is sitting on top of the clay is dry and silty. It will take years to get it to where I want it. I MUST remember to visit the mushroom compost giveaway in the spring.

This is Dicentra exima. Very nice dicentra. If sited well it will bloom all summer, or it does for me anyway. Maybe I'm just lucky? It doesn't set seed, or I've not found any yet, still a very nice plant. They're deer proof too.

2007-10-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

Here are so more pictures from this past year, inside the house and outdoors.

One of the many delphinium in the yard. I'm very partial to these as well.

One of the many cyclamen I've purchased over the past year. They seem to be available all year round now. They just keep blooming and blooming. Very easy to cross pollinate and get loads of seed. I've already got babies of this one growing. There were 9 petals on this particular flower.

Colchicum - must get more of these. Still blooming as of Halloween, we've had snow, twice, and temps of -10C. Gotta get more! Put them all over the hill so that come fall there will be splashes of pink everywhere.

Cerinthe major purpurescens - I adore this plant. It's an annual and I try to grow it every year. Grown in a semi-shady spot it is beyond stunning. I had no idea the foliage was serated until I took a close up photo. The eyes are going in me old age.

Catanache bicolor - Finally! Do you know how many times I purchased this seed only to get c. caerulea. It was worth the wait, very prettiful.

Aquilegia x discolor - in the front rock garden. This is a vigorous little guy in spite of the fact that he's planted under a massive pine tree and gets little water.

Another one of the many aquilegia in the garden.

Aconitum uncinatum - What a delightful monkshood. It scrambles through whatever you place it next to, popping out with an incredible bloom here and there. Foliage is a rich dark glossy green. I highly recommend this one if you're partial to monkshood.
And I'm very partial to monkshood. Just ordered seed for one called 'Red Wine'. I can't wait. They can be difficult to germinate however.

Summer 2007

2007-10-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

Extra spurs on this one?

Gilia aggregata, new one this year from the CRAGS spring plant sale.

Delosperma aff. Congestum grown from seed from Gardens North. I'm not sure if it will survive here or not. I've heard it can. Not sure if I should try to cover for the winter or let Mom nature take care of it?

Aquilegia chrysantha with guests. This is one of my favorites in the garden, lovely lemon scent, blooms all summer long and well into fall, produces oodles of seed.

I don't know what this one is, I have a keeping tags with plants issue! It sure is pretty.

To Blog or Not to Blog

2007-10-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while I get the urge to reach out to the outside world and try to meet like minded people. I know, it's a crazy idea. But here goes!