Creamy And Yellow, Making Me Mellow

Hollyhocks in the butterfly garden. Norfolk Botanical Gardens
(Click picture to enlarge)

"Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul." ~ Luther Burbank

I planted hollyhock this spring and they grew amazingly well... for a time. Then the other plants kept growing and the hollyhocks languished at the back of the bed, seemingly frozen in time. Now, I read that many varieties planted in the spring and through the summer will grow but not flower until the following year. These were in the botanical garden and it looked as if the bees and butterflies were really enjoying them... as are the tiny ants. Perhaps mine will do something next year.... another surprise package, as I have forgotten the colors they are supposed to be already. I do hope mine have this color mixed in somewhere!

This weekend we took down the flexible composite edging that I put around the flower beds when I started them last fall. We rented a bed edger that digs a shallow trench with one side at a 45 degree angle and went around the sunroom and deck and patio beds. We practiced on the beds out by the preserve as these are not that important and it was a good thing too. Home Depot had a video showing how to use it and yet, as with many do it yourself projects, it was both harder and easier than we expected. Harder in the fact that you had to pull and keep a lever pressed down at the same time as you are backing up and trying to stay even and not knock down the raised bed soil that is there; easier in that it really did a good job and took a lot less time than we thought. We did learn that you shouldn't re-trench a bed that has already had the process done... such as, around the trees. This thing will cut through roots... I could have used it last fall to lay out the beds in the first place. Anyway, after we did the trench, I went back and shaped the sides to slope down and then we mulched the sides and gently soaked them so the mulch wouldn't run down. So far, so good.

Now if only my hollyhocks were flowering as this one..... creamy yellow hollyhocks making me "mellow" on this Monday.

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