My cutting garden brings joy, surprise, and frustration (at times). The joy is a seed germinating into a lovely and colorful flower. The surprise is that I never know what is going to reseed on its own. The frustration is about what does not bloom and, as always, the weeding that is endless.

The Dahlias are struggling a little as only half of the tubers are growing, but I know I will love every single pink blooming one of them.

With it now mid-summer, I’m sitting and taking in the cutting garden. My reflection of it is that it is filling in, though lacking just the same. Fortunately though, it’s growing, and what surrounds the garden makes it look full and grand.

MY OBSERVATIONS
The Orange Oriental Poppy has bloomed and hopefully reseeded again for next year. It’s not the best flower for cutting, but it is lovely in the garden just the same.

To my surprise, the Hollyhock reseeded itself after I did not see it bloom last year. This year, the leaves have yellowed and the Japanese beetles had a feeding frenzy with them. The flowers are deep, rich and luscious, and their grand vertical stems add another level of height to the garden.

In the center of the garden I did something different this year: I planted a variety of seeds to create a small garden for our grandson, Easton, which is aptly named Easton’s Garden. It is a variety of seeds from Botanical Interest called ‘Save the Bees’, as we always want to take care of our bees. The sunflowers were the first to grow and grow. Cosmos are coming, as well as the Borage, which is a favorite of the bees and mine. Some Zinnias are popping up adding to the ones I planted in front of his garden along with the Calendula.

The Dahlias are struggling a little as only half of the tubers are growing, but I know I will love every single pink blooming one of them.

The sweet peas, I purchased this year from our local garden center, Mettowee Mill Nursery. I planted them early, but some didn’t make it due to the lack of rain and watering, but, I may actually have some flowers yet this summer.

The morning glories have finally started to arrive and they too may have yet something to show for themselves.

Other flowers are coming in beautifully like the Calendula, the ‘Cutting Garden’ Zinnias, and the Bachelor Buttons.

The frustration is that there were three areas of seeds planted and they never did germinate. So, early in July I planted more seeds, and they also never came to fruition.

The biggest surprise of all were the “spiky” flowers that were supposed to take 70-90 days to germinate. Somehow their seeds got spread around in some of the rows of flowers that didn’t grow, so they are helping to fill the void.

All in all, my 21’ x 12’ cutting garden take a lot of work to plan, prep and to keep up with its continual care, but it brings lots of joy, surprise and some frustration along the way. With that said, it does bring a smile to my face and gratitude to my heart for what it brings to my life.

Share with me below: What brings you joy in your garden?

FEATURED GARDEN
My Cutting Garden. Photographed in My Backyard.

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