Autumn flowers

I am tolerant of corrections. Van Gogh does mention both flowers in his letters, but I had no memory of the actual paintings (I'm gettin' old, losing estrogen fast). I assume we do agree your fall flower find is marigolds.

SC- You could grow toad lilies in a pot on patio or balcony, you should be able to find them in your area around now.

Well, I went back to that market this evening and ....sigh....of course, the orange flowers that I loved were gone. They must've sold the few bunches that they had. I'm not surprised -- they were gorgeous!

But I talked to the manager about them. He has three or four flower vendors, but he's going to try to figure out which one they came from, and order some more for me! Then I can find out which vendor they came from.

I'm going to try to call some of the nurseries in my area too. The search continues!!

But I'm feeling pretty sure that littlek's first guess was right -- I think they must've been marigolds. They looked bigger than the average marigold though, so maybe they're some kind of extra-large type?



Thanks, Greenie. I meant to ask littlek if it was possible to grow them in a pot. I'll have to check into that too. They would look great on my patio.

argh....this is going to drive me crazy....

This weekend I was looking through a Thompson and Morgan seed catalogue and a huge book I have (over 700 pages) of perennials.

I just KNOW I saw a flower with the common name of Van Gogh in there!

I'll start looking at the seed catalogue, I think it was in there.

Thanks, Chai! It's going to drive me crazy too!

oh damn

well I found the "van gogh" but it was for some kind of groundcover plant, used for its foliage.

heuchera...pretty fugly if you ask me.



oh well, now I can sleep tonight.

aka: coral bells.

Of which I have many, and I vehemently disagree with Chai Tea and consider it a lovely and essential plant. (and very tasty)

so who asked you?

fugly
fugly
fugly

If you were here right now, Chai, I would give you a good backhand and have you spinning across the room.

I agree with Gus (about it's beauty, can't speak to the taste). Heuchera has a wide variety of fine folliage colors. It also has been having plant-sex with Tiarella for some standout Heucherellas.

I thought you were agreeing with my idea of backhanding Chai.

well come on over, I'll be waitin' for ya. The porch light will be on.

I got a kung fu grip and I've been practicing at my rap lessons.



yo.

I think you are Killa Bee, the new participant over at the rap thread.

And I think your stuff is wonderful.

well thanks...that...that means a lot to me. I've been working pretty hard.

I'm going to go write a song about Stray Cat and Van Gogh.
He's going to bring her some really fugly plant and call her his ho.

bye now.

peace out and everything.

The flower mystery is solved!

Friday night, after work, I went back to that market. The manager there had promised to order in some more of the beautiful orange flowers that I loved.

The manager was as good as his word. When I walked into that market on that cold and dreary night, I saw several bunches of those gorgeous flowers, once again with the cryptic sign that said, "Van Gogh." I bought two bouquets of them!

When I was in the check out line, a woman behind said, "What stunning flowers! And what a good idea to buy flowers on a night like this!"

She was right. Just looking at them made me feel good.

The next day, I took one of the bouquets over to a nursery I know of -- where the staff is very knowledgeable about all kinds of flowers and plants. As I was leaving home, one of my neighbors saw me and said, "Those flowers are beautiful! What kind are they?"

"I don't know," I said, "but I'm going to find out!"

When I got to the nursery, I went up to a couple of the staff people there and said, "See these flowers?" They nodded.

"Well," I said, "WHAT KIND ARE THEY!!!????"

And they answered, "THEY ARE ..... (drum roll).....SUNFLOWERS!!!"

Yes, they took a close look at the flowers in my bouquet and said they are a type of sunflower -- but they said they hadn't seen that particular variety before. They guessed that these flowers may have been flown in from California or some other far flung state.

Well, that would explain their name. We all know how much ol' Van Gogh loved sunflowers -- even if he did paint a few marigolds and chyrsanthemums here and there. The man loved his sunflowers!

So now, I've got to continue my research and try to find out where I can order seeds so I can grow these babies here at home.....My work continues!

cool!

sunflowers...that seems so obvious.

Go to the Thompson and Morgan website.

you might not see them right there online, but you could order a free seed catalog. Either that seed or something really similar.

Thanks, Chai Tea! I'll try that!

I've found some of the Sedum spp. foilage to be good to eat raw and tasty in a salad. Before you try it make sure it's a true Sedum. Some of them are bitter. If you have a pet rabbit, they absolutely adore Sedum.

After perusing the Thompson & Morgan site, I found a few varieties of sunflowers that are similar to the Van Gogh flowers I loved!

Here is a hybrid called Double Shine, that has the same sort of texture and color:



Then there is the Titanic which is also very similar:



The Van Gogh flowers didn't have the noticeable green center, but other than that, these flowers are pretty close.

I also found a variety called Teddy Bears:



The great thing about the Teddy Bears is, they only grow about two feet tall -- unlike the usual sunflowers that grow five feet (the Titanic ones grow six feet!). So I think the Teddy Bears would be perfect for planting in a pot for a patio garden.

Thanks, Chai! dj, those sedum flowers are beautiful too! Sigh...I wish I could plant them all!

That's the problem with sunflowers, they grow so tall.
Then they end up looking all spindly and weedy.

They really should be cut at that point for a vase, but then you'd have to get rid of all those scraggly green parts.

The ones that are 2 feet high would be good in that case.