A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 42 – Marigold

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“Guerrilla Campaign” – Summer 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA

“A Plant a Day till Spring” will highlight one plant a day, starting on the winter solstice (December 21, 2013)… And ending on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2014)… If all goes to plan I will be starting with old Snowdrop photos from 2013… And ending with new photos of Snowdrops in 2014…

Some of my first childhood garden-related memories are of Marigolds. There used to be a large Weeping Willow in the front yard of my parents house… One night during a storm it was blown over… Now I don’t know what your family does after a big old tree falls in your yard… But my parents through a party… Basically “inside” the tree… And then a few days later it was removed… We were left with a large garden in our front yard…

Our front yard garden was different every year… But one year always sticks out in my head… My mom had filled it with Marigolds… And this particular year they flourished… At some point during the summer… My brother and I noticed some strange noises coming from the garden… Upon closer inspection we discovered a momma rabbit and her bunnies… My brother and I watched them grow for a few weeks… Then the momma got sick of us and moved them somewhere else… For some reason… The smell of Marigolds takes me right back to those bunnies… Takes me to that garden… And reminds me of our Weeping Willow…

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Marigolds are one of my go-to plants… They can withstand drought once established… They are a tough plant and will grow without support… And they repel many insects… Though they seem to attract slugs around here…

Marigolds are often available on the cheap… I buy them late in the season and use them to plug holes in my ornamental beds… I plant them with my tomatoes and peppers… Hell… I plant them anywhere I can fit them in my veggie beds… I like to surround the bases of fruit trees with them… Honestly… Plant them everywhere… This is a beneficial plant…

Propagation by seed is done by broadcasting… Although some of the fancier varieties are sterile… Many varieties have easily accessible seeds… Simply wait for the flower head to dry… Grab the stem in one hand and the petals in the other and pull them apart… At the base of every petal will be a small black seed… Throw them in a paper bag and save them for next year… Now all you have to do is throw them over prepared soil after the soil has warmed a bit in the spring…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagetes

New To writing and never had to cite sources before… These “Plant a Day Till Spring” posts are simply intended to kill time until spring when I start writing more… My source (where applicable) is Wikipedia.org… The photography is all my own… And I am adding my own information…

This website and all of the information presented within is provided free by the author… Me… It is my sole opinion and is not representative of anyone other than myself… Although this website is free… I sell prints of my photography here – www.society6.com/chriscondello – or you can contact me directly with questions at – c.condello@hotmail.com – Although it isn’t a requirement… It helps…

Remember to tip… My Bitcoin digital wallet address is – 1JsKwa3vYgy4LZjNk4YmPEHFJNjPt2wDJj

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A Plant A Day Till Spring – Day 22 – Astilbe

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“White Astilbe” – Summer 2013 – Chicks in the Hood – Pittsburgh, PA

“A Plant a Day till Spring” will highlight one plant a day, starting on the winter solstice (December 21, 2013)… And ending on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2014)… If all goes to plan I will be starting with old Snowdrop photos from 2013… And ending with new photos of Snowdrops in 2014…

I thought I had more photographs of this plant as it is one of my favorites… Many bloom in almost “neon” colors… The lighter varieties literally glow in the shade… Astilbe also adds interest in the winter… Prune the foliage in the fall… But leave the dried flowers… They will add interest to the garden right up till spring when they are removed to allow for the new growth… Anyway… Happy Saturday everyone… It was -10 degrees here 5 days ago… And it is 50 degrees today… That’s Pittsburgh for yah…

Astilbe is a genus of rhizomatous flowering plants within the family Saxifragaceae… Native to mountain ravines and woodland in Asia and North America… Some species are commonly known as false goat’s beard and false spirea…

These hardy herbaceous perennials are cultivated by gardeners for their large often fern-like foliage and feathery plumes of flowers… They are widely adapted to shade and water-logged conditions… They are particularly associated with water feature planting… They also tolerate clay soils…

plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello

New To writing and never had to site sources before… These “Plant a Day Till Spring” posts are simply intended to kill time until spring… My source is Wikipedia.org… The photography is all my own… And I am adding my own information… But much of this is just related from the web…

This website and all of the information presented within is provided free by the author… Me… It is my sole opinion and is not representative of anyone other than myself… Although this website is free… I sell prints of my photography here – www.society6.com/chriscondello – or you can contact me directly with questions at – c.condello@hotmail.com – Although it isn’t a requirement… It helps…

Remember to tip… My Bitcoin digital wallet address is – 1JsKwa3vYgy4LZjNk4YmPEHFJNjPt2wDJj

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.