Showing posts with label miracle-gro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miracle-gro. Show all posts

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Pretty Yellow Gerbera Daisies in my Flower Garden

I've written about the art of gerbera daisies, my favorite daisy, and lots of other flower art. Now, I've gotten to experience a little of that particular flower art with some pretty yellow gerbera daisies growing in my front yard garden.

Pretty Yellow Gerbera Daisy Growing in Front Garden
Pretty Yellow Gerbera Daisy Growing in Front Garden
Photo taken on May 6, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
In recent blog posts, I was celebrating the beauty of the Sunflower Blossoms in my backyard flower garden. Whilst I didn't plant sunflowers in the front yard, I did put in an impressive gerbera daisy plant. I bought a gallon plant at Lowe's for $12.98. Using Miracle-Gro Potting Mix, I planted the gerbera daisies in the large ceramic plant that housed my African orange and yellow marigolds last year.

Pretty Yellow Gerbera Daisy Growing in Front Garden
Another Pretty Yellow Gerbera Daisy Blossom From My Garden
Photo taken on May 6, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
What was interesting about these two gerbera daisy photos? When I was organizing my flower pictures after downloading them from my camera, I had to do a double-take. You see, I found these photos in my Sunflower Garden folder. I actually, at first glance, thought they were my blooming sunflowers!

Caring for my gerbera daisies, I make sure they have enough water ... they usually tell me by being a bit droopy. I've put them in a sunny location in the front garden so that they get a lot of direct sunlight and then a little indirect sunlight throughout the day. I've also sprinkled a bit of Miracle-Gro Shake'n Feed Bloom Booster Plant Food which I've been using throughout many different flower gardens this year. Honestly? I've had so many blooms coming off that gerbera daisy plant, I really think the Miracle-Gro should get the credit.

What do you think? Love the gerbera daisies? Do you think they are artistic? Love flower art? Would you have thought that these were sunflower blossoms? Look how many gerbera daisies are blooming in that pot!
Yellow daisy bushes and yellow gerbera daisy plant
Yellow Daisy Bushes and Yellow Gerbera Daisy Plant
Photo taken on May 6, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
Here's a view of the little garden that is along the sidewalk to my front door. The yellow gerbera daisy plant is on the right. To the left, are two yellow daisy bushes which come back from the ground each year. This year, they got some bloom booster plant food. In this garden area, I've added black mulch which contrasts quite nicely with the light gray that I painted the concrete sidewalk. The decorative lighting adds a romantic feel.

Update! I have now captured a few more pictures of those pretty yellow gerbera daisies. Right before we had a soaker rain.

Another Pretty Yellow Gerbera Daisy
It's Another Pretty Yellow Gerbera Daisy
Photo taken on May 19, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
Take a closer look at the three singular yellow gerbera daisy photos, which I have already shared, up above. You'll notice how each one of those has a different blossom center! Amazing that you can get that out of the same gerbera daisy plant.

Three Pretty Yellow Gerbera Daisy Blossoms
Three Pretty Yellow Gerbera Daisy Blossoms
Photo taken on May 19, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
Oh boy, but I sure do love the latest photos, especially the three-some. It's a sunny delight!

Yellow Gerbera Daisy Plant in Ceramic Pot
Yellow Gerbera Daisy Plant in Ceramic Pot
Photo taken on May 19, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
And, one final look at the yellow gerbera daisy plant in that ceramic pot. I wished that I had started to count the number of blossoms that I have gotten from this plant. I am very satisfied with the quality of this plant that I purchased from Lowe's. I'm thinking that such a plant would be a perfect gift of flowers for mom or the lady in your life. Say it with gerbera daisy flowers! She loves me, she love me not.

My Sunflower Blossoms are Blooming

On March 2, 2013, I started with 3 different packages of Burpee Sunflower Seeds and a Burpee Seed Starting Kit of 25 cells. Every sunflower seed that I selected to plant had the potential of achieving some 7 feet in height! In addition, I selected a variety of sunflowers to achieve a variety of sunflower blossoms.

3 packets of Burpee Sunflower Seeds
Del Sol Hybrid (Pollenless) Classic Cut Flower 5-7 feet - $1.89
Summer Evening Mix Warm Colors 6-7 feet - $1.09
Summer Cutting Garden Mix for Vases and Blooms 5-7 feet - $1.69
What I found interesting is that the "not so tall" sunflower plants produced the first blossoms of the season. Once that first sunflower blossomed, a lot of the other sunflower plants started blooming. Check out the sunflower pictures from my flower garden ...

My first official Sunflower Blossoms appeared on April 28, 2013:

the first yellow sunflower blossom of the seasonthe first yellow sunflower blossom of the season

It was around April 28th, at the time that I noticed my first blossoms, that I also noticed something else! Somebody or something was eating the leaves on my sunflower plants. I had my suspicions, but I had no evidence until one day. I had taken a series of photographs after measuring the growth. As I pulled my sunflower photos into Photoshop, I spied something extra. Take a look and see if you see it too!

Pretty yellow sunflower blossom with a green grasshopper
A Pretty Sunflower Blossom with a Grasshopper!
Photo taken on April 30, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
Oh boy! It is a little green grasshopper. Funny, I haven't seen a lot of grasshoppers over the years here in Jacksonville, Florida. Just when I opt to plant sunflowers, they show up! I hear the locust are due to appear soon. Wonder if they like sunflower plants and leaves? When I was sprinkling the sunflower plants with water this past week, I did see some crazy-looking black winged insect that I've not identified yet. Maybe that is also eating the sunflower plants' leaves?

A Bashful Sunflower Blossom Yawning
A Bashful Sunflower Blossom Yawning
Photo taken on May 9, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
I've never thought of sunflower blossoms as being bashful upon blooming. However, looking at this particular blossom, it appears to be yawning or doing a peek-a-boo. Do you see it?

An Artistic Yellow Sunflower Blossom
An Artistic Yellow Sunflower Blossom
Photo taken on May 11, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
Sunflower blossoms are truly amazing works of art by Mother Nature. It is a blooming miracle how we start with that little sunflower seed and achieve a 5-7 foot plant that produces such a fascinating blossom.

Two Pretty Yellow Sunflower Blossoms Side by Sid
Two Pretty Yellow Sunflower Blossoms Side by Side
Photo taken on May 15, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
I think those two sunflower blossoms are pretty as a picture ... wow, those came from my garden!

A Pretty Yellow Sunflower Blossom Slightly Different From the Rest
A Pretty Yellow Sunflower Blossom Slightly Different From the Rest
Photo taken on May 15, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
It was on May 15th that I noticed my first slightly different sunflower blossom. Check the sunflower pictures above and below, which appear to be from the Burpee Sunflower Seeds for Summer Cutting Garden Mix for Vases and Blooms.

A Pretty Yellow Sunflower Blossom Slightly Different From the Rest
Another Pretty Sunflower Blossom Slightly Different From the Rest
Photo taken on May 15, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
The difference can be seen in the center of the sunflower blossom which is a bit more "delicate" than the typical sunflower blossom.

And, finally, for this showing we have one more sunflower picture to share!

the first Autumn Beauty Sunflower Blossom
A Pretty Sunflower Blossom Very Different From the Rest
This is the first Autumn Beauty Sunflower Blossom
Photo taken on May 18, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
The latest variation of sunflower blossom is from the Sunflower Seeds for Summer Evening Mix Warm Colors. That particular sunflower plant attained 64 inches this morning. There is a taller plant, coming in at 74 inches today which looks like it will be this variation of sunflower blossom.

Update: I happened to capture another shot of the Warm Color Sunflower Blossom!

Pretty Warm Color Autumn Beauty Sunflower Blossom
Pretty Warm Color Autumn Beauty Sunflower Blossom
Photo taken on May 19, 2013 by JaguarJulie Ann Brady
Want to join me in the fun of growing your very own Sunflower Garden? You've seen the seeds that I used for my garden, why not try some for yourself? You can find a variety of Burpee Sunflower Seeds on Amazon. Also, I confidently recommend you try Burpee Eco-friendly Seed Starting 25 Pellet Greenhouse Kit. That kit worked great for sunflowers, but I can well imagine you could start any type of seed indoors with a little help from Burpee. I went Burpee all the way.

Oh, with a little help from Miracle-Gro of course. I've used Miracle-Gro Potting Mix, Miracle-Gro Shake'n Feed Bloom Booster Plant Food and Miracle-Gro Garden Soil For Flowers and Vegetable. Add a little miracle to your growing -- your sunflowers will thank you for it!

P.S. Follow along on our amazing sunflower journey as we Celebrate the Sunflower Buds and Backs!