My first gardening love has always been flowers. As a matter of fact, for many years, except for a few tomatoes, peppers and a handful of herbs, I didn't even have a vegetable garden. However, now that I have a lot more sun and space than I did at our old property in Fairfax, I've turned my attention more and more in the last few years to growing vegetables.
I've neglected my flowers. Badly.
So, this year I decided to try to remedy that and I planted a row of flowers in the vegetable garden too. The idea was that I would use it as a cutting garden and, in addition to giving me extra flowers to cut and bring into the house, it would also make the garden look a bit more civilized and pretty. So, I went through my bulk of flower seed (much of which was pretty old!) and planted a row of flower seed in the vegetable garden. Mostly I just planted what seed I had on hand - zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers (my favorite!), amaranth, black eyed susan, and marigolds. But, I've also allowed some of the artichokes and dill to flower too.
Because of the flowers, my vegetable garden is a lot prettier this year! And, although I have been cutting some of the flowers and bringing them into the house, I am enjoying them even more in the garden. Here are a few that are blooming today ...
Join the Conversation!