ACRYLIC FLOWER

Best Flowers to Grow and Cut

Distinguished plantsman and gardening writer David Joyce makes his choice of the best flowers – beautiful, distinctive and easy to cultivate – for the garden and for arrangements. 250 first-choice plants, all illustrated and over a thousand plants in all are described together with growing instructions and advice on how to make original and striking displays in the garden and the house throughout the year. The information is suitable for all sizes and styles of garden, and all gardeners, whether experienced or novice. It also highlights flowers that are suitable for cutting and suggests how best to use the garden as a source of material for the house, featuring striking close-up photography illustrating the unique characteristics of flower features.

I was mowing the lawn at the top of our garden when I noticed a patch of tiny lilac flowers that looked just perfect miniatures of something I wouldn't mind growing in our borders. The following day my friend, Jeff, told me they were weeds called Speedwell which reminded me of the book 'Watership Down' as one of the rabbits is called Speedwell and of that old adage that 'a weed is just a flower in the wrong place.'
I digress, so beautiful did I find this tiny flower that I thought I would take a picture of it and then present to my wife for her pleasure. I do not have a macro lens so decided the best way to get a half decent picture of it was to place it on a flower I could focus on, hence the stunning Alstroemeria. I thought it came out rather well.
Having taken the picture I made a cup of coffee and took both it and the tiny flower to my wife who was working from home in her study that day. She was on the sofa with our Bichon, Button, in the middle of a conference call when I entered the room. I walked up to her and handed her both items and smiled and mouthed the words "I Love You." She smiled back and without looking at the flower handed it to Button who ate it..... I was, like the flower, crushed.

Flower name, Plumbago, thanks to Mang Maning...

Plumbago auriculata is a tender perennial that has lovely flowers of blue. There is a white form which mixes well in plantings with the blue. The plumbago blooms non-stop from summer until first frost. It seems to have no diseases or pests -- even deer and other varmints will not eat it in some neighborhoods. Although it blooms best in full sun, the plumbago can take considerable shade and still have an abundance of blooms. It will keep your yard full of butterflies all summer. In South Texas , the plumbago is an evergreen that will reach two to three feet high and three to four feet wide. It should be cut to the ground every fall or winter. Plumbago will flower profusely after being cut back or after a growth flush, as it bears flowers on new wood. Plumbago should be pruned heavily to keep it neat and within bounds and to make it bushy to maximize the number of flowers. It is fast growing, drought resistant and will grow in any soil but will perform best if planted and mulched heavily.

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