I do enjoy beautiful flowers & ornamental plants but at this very early stage of my garden, I am concentrating mainly on the veggie side of things. That doesn’t mean that I’m completely ignoring flowers, but simply that I’ll only be growing a few for specific purposes or because I happened to have the seeds lying around.
This year’s list includes alyssum (to help with pollination…hopefully), marigolds (for the tomato beds, just like
last year), sunflowers (for their seeds), chamomile (for tea), and nasturtiums (just because I love them). I also have several packets of “freebies” obtained from various sources over the past couple of years including love-in-a-mist, four o'clocks, daisies and a wildflower mix. Some of these may be too old now, but I figure I’ll try some seeds from each, just to see what happens.
This past summer, I happened to be in St. Catharine’s with my daughter & took the opportunity to visit Stokes. I had been meaning to buy a soil thermometer for a long time & they had a digital one that I had my eye on. I don’t purchase their vegetable seeds as I find their offerings too commercial & their vegetable seed is often treated as well (although they are non-GMO). I must say, however, that they have an incredible selection of ornamentals (none of which are treated). In their store, they only had a small portion of their seeds on display (which was still quite a selection), so I told my daughter that she could take her pick. This is what she chose:
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Ultra Rose Star Petunia
Photo Source: Stokes
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