Tag: annuals
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Cosmos bipinnatus
Some plants just seem to give you “the finger”… When I think about how I coddled and cuddled my little cosmos seedlings last spring and summer, padding them with mulch, hovering over them with the watering can – and still the tiny little spindly things just wanted to die throughout the summer before finally putting out…
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Alcea Rosea
Alcea rosea (Hollyhocks in English or Rose trémière in French) are another example for plants that – in my experience – grow best if left alone to do their thing. They like to sow themselves where they please and need nothing besides maybe some support against the wind in their quest for the sky. Not…
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Eschscholzia californica
As I keep saying: I don’t really like orange or yellow flowers. But there are some lifelong favorite exceptions like Calendula officinalis or Eschscholzia californica. You just have to love these totally uncomplicated flowers with their deeply luminous orange color and their silky petals. I also love their “cooler” cream-white shades though. Eschscholzia californica or…
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Calendula
I don’t really like “hot” colors in flowers, like yellow, orange, or red. But there are some I can’t resist. Among them is Calendula officinalis or Marigold – one of my alltime favorites. Marigold thrives in a Mediterranean Garden When we first arrived here I tossed a package of calendula seeds in the vegetable garden and…
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Nigella damascena
One of my absolute favorites because it is sooo easy to grow and because it is sooo pretty. In late summer or early spring I just toss the seeds wherever I want to fill up an empty spot and throughout May and June I fill up my camera with pictures of these lovely lacy flowers……
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Antirrhinum
I always judged Snapdragons to be a bit of a stuffy, boring flower for stuffy, bourgoeis gardens. How unjust I was – and how wrong. Since they kept popping up in my garden uninvited I have learned that Antirrhinum are a Mediterranean native and very drought-tolerant. They can be annuals or short-lived perennials that grow…