Plant Exchange Blog

It’s a summer day at Plant Exchange Blog. Here we feature plants that grow in the Northern Plains region and people who grow them.

Sometimes great ideas work out. The planter of petunias had a close haircut three weeks ago. Foliage had quite out-proportioned the planter as can happen with container plants this time in the season. Now at the third week in August, you can see blooms are coming back and we’ll enjoy them until October frost.

In the same photo, you see marigold and annual grasses in planters. None of these have been trimmed. Marigolds have been blooming since June and the slow-growing grasses have seed heads. The grasses companion well with the prairie breeze to give movement to the setting.

Short stature sunflowers are showy yellow, proportion well in a planter and are sturdy in windy conditions. We see fields of fields of commercially grown sunflowers especially in northern and western South Dakota. Grown for their oil, a field of sunflowers is striking in appearance. In the morning all the sunflower heads in the field turn east and west in the afternoon. I had forgotten about that special light-sensitivity when I noticed that exactly half the dome of sunflowers had just begun to bloom. The other half had tight blooms, ready, but not open. I turned the planter around and the next day, all the blooms were open.

Bringing what you have in bloom indoors for a bouquet, allows you to enjoy them in detail at the end of a summer day outdoors. Joe Pye weed repeats the mauve cone flower color. Snapdragons last well in the arrangement. The other bouquet has orange California poppies, white Gaura, and golden yarrow. False spirea is the fern-like foliage. Can’t you just see the sunshine?

We hope you enjoy a bit of your summer day too. Thanks for all the “Likes” you send our way. We appreciate the loyal “Followers” who visit us regularly. Happy Summer Day.