I’ve followed a link party for awhile now, called Alphabe-Thursday. I thought that over the winter I would join in whenever possible and put a gardening twist on it by showing plants and flowers that start with the letter of the week. It will be lovely to look through my photo files and choose photos and it will be a great way for me to check out what did and didn’t work in the garden last year. And it will be a great way to beat some winter blahs while dreaming about gardening.
This week the letter is G and I chose gerbera daisies. These are ornamental plants in the sunflower family. The bold colours and size of the blooms (10 to 12 cm. across) make this a popular plant in the garden and also a cut plant for bouquets and vases.
I remember buying these plants in the spring. Home Depot had a buy 2 get one free coupon and I decided to take advantage of it.
I chose orange, yellow and an orangy yellow one. The plants love lots of sunlight and moist soil. In the heat of the summer they would wilt a bit but a good drink of water soon perked them up.
These were potted up in some large clay pots and I was able to move them to various locations in the garden or on the deck. Be sure to remove the spent blooms so that other buds may develop.
The blooms were long lasting and gave me lots of photo opportunities. The pots were blooming well into September.
The meaning of the blooms is innocence, purity and cheerfulness and are the perfect plant to send to cheer someone up. I sure could do with some of these bright yellow blooms now we are into January.
Alphabetical posts
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
More from The Gardener Side
plants … seed info … veggies & herbs … bulbs, corms, tubers
the gardens … garden whimsy … garden printables
