Just getting this post in under the wire with less than an hour to spare before sundown, joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden with a vase of flowers cut from my garden. The flowers themselves were cut 12 hours ago, and I did take a few photos then, but wanted to also give them time in the vase and take an additional few shots. I wanted to see if they perked up a bit. It’s been so dry here (so dry = drought) that even though I water my small Zinnia patch they still look a bit stunted. And these keeled Garlic – Allium carinatum – look pretty good from a distance (with NO watering at all!!), but when you get up close and personal they’re definitively begging for moisture. So here are two photos of today’s vase – on the left taken at 7:22 a.m., on the right taken 6:02 p.m. The photo on top was also taken in the evening. Can you tell the difference?


Have a great week everyone!!

The primary difference seem to be only the lighting at two different times of day. Are the flowers more hydrated in the second picture?
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Lighting yes…I think the Allium may be happier, and a bit more open…but hard to tell
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That’s a very pretty Zinnia patch! I’m hoping you get some rain, soon!
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Thanks Alice! No rain for the next two weeks in the forecast…😮💨
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Sorry about your drought, Chris, it breaks a gardener’s heart. Your allium definitely perked up with the drink of water!
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Thanks Eliza…I’m at the point where I choose between keeping the six red maple whips I planted this spring alive or watering tomatoes…
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💔
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I love the mix of colors in the top photo, but what I noticed particularly about the evening vase photo was that patch of what seem to be sunflowers in the background. Whatever they are, they – and the grasses around them – sure enough seem a little thirsty as well. Two more weeks before rain? Let’s hope this is one time the forecasters are wrong!
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I wish they were sunflowers…unfortunately either chipmunks or rabbits decapitated all my sunflowers this spring. What you’re seeing is a ring of prairie coneflower – Ratibida pinnata – surrounding the well. They’re quite drought tolerant but even so, this year have topped out at about four feet instead of the usual five to six feet. Happy They’re there for the bees though!
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I very rarely allow myself time to condition blooms for my vases before I put them together, but yours certainly suggests it pays off for the allium – the zinnias just look joyous anyway! And I am heartened by your zinnia patch which definitely is ‘small’ – but so healthy looking! Thanks for joining us and fingers crossed for rain before the two weeks is out. It took a while here, but the garden has been glad of any showers it has had, however light
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Thanks Cathy! I was really pleased by the germination in the Zinnia patch back in June, and how they were relatively untouched by slugs or earwigs. I think that may be the one and only silver lining to our drought!
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Oh dear, I am sorry you still haven’t had a break in the weather. It is so disheartening for a gardener, isn’t it. But your zinnia patch looks lovely – a splash of colour in your parched garden. The cut zinnias also look so cheerful and are proving they are sunlovers! And I think the Alliums may look a bit happer in the second photo too. Our forecasts have been so wrong recently, I can only hope yours are wrong too and you get some refreshing rain soon.
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Thanks Cathy! You’re right about weather forecasts! Fingers crossed over here!!
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