Nadia Knows Gardens

I KNOW THAT CREATING + GROWING = INSPIRED LIVING!

Lavender and Sweet Peas and Patron- A Perfect Blend March 19, 2010

Filed under: Flowers, Living Healthy, Photography — nadiaqh @ 7:07 AM
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Last years pink sweet peas 2009

Last year - 2009 Pink Sweet Peas in a Recycled Patron Bottle

◊      ♥     ◊     ♥     ◊     ♥     ◊     ♥     ◊     ♥     ◊     ♥     ◊     ♥     ◊     ♥     ◊     ♥     ◊     ♥     ◊     ♥     ◊

Last year one of my most popular blogs was about the ease of arranging Sweet Pea flowers in a recycled Patron Tequilla bottle. I’ve received a lot of feedback since that posting from friends and readers that are now hooked on the idea of trying all sorts of different containers and bottles to show off their flowers. Last year’s Heirloom Sweet Peas were purchased from Burpee seeds. This year I am growing Sweet Peas from rareseeds.com in purple heirloom and they are blooming just as well. Sweet Peas in a are still one of my favorite flowers arrangements because of the simplicity, beauty and fragrance. The recycled mini Patron bottle with decorative glass stones at the bottom really add dimension and character to the whole presentation. I wish you could smell these flowers… they are a slice of heaven.

* Renee’s Seeds has a great growing guide for sweet peas. Check it out here in on this link to Sweet Pea growing guide.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

“gardens inspire me… simplicity is best~”

This year March 2010 - Heirloom Purple Sweet Peas from rareseeds.com. mixed with Lavender flowers.

 

Double Delight Rose March 12, 2010

Filed under: Flowers, Photography — nadiaqh @ 8:08 AM
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I’m excited to share this first bloom of my “Double Delight” rose today. In the past my rose gardening was a failure due to mildew from San Diego’s lingering morning fog and excess water on the leaves. Despite my past failure I decided last month to buy three varieties of rose bushes and plant them in containers instead of on the lawn. For the microclimate here in San Diego this is proving to be a far better method for growing roses and is working beautifully. It’s not hard to guess that I am in LOVE with being a rose gardener now. The fragrance is phenomenal, the form exquisite and the color romantic. This is nature at its best.

Here is a little information on the Double Delight:

First Bloom: Double Delight Rose

→ USDA zone 7b-10b

→ Hybrid Tea

→ Registration name: Andeli

→ Height: 3-5′    Width: 2-5′

→ Container Friendly Rose

It’s not too late to buy one of these rose bushes at your local nursery. For an incredible old-fashioned cut flower this one is a winner!

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Create – Grow – Enjoy

(Thank you Kris for your love of roses and inspiring me to give it another try!)

 

Freesias and Chihuahuas March 9, 2010

Filed under: Chihuahuas and Pets, Flowers, Photography — nadiaqh @ 10:50 PM
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY:

March Blooming Freesia and Chihuahuas in the Garden!

Freesia bulbs are a native to South Africa and are perennial bulb flowers from the Iris family (Iridaceae). They are very easy to grow and have a light sweet fragrance. This is a great cutting flower for flower arrangements.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

♥ Create – Grow – Inspire ♥


 

Rainbow of Colors in Bloom February 17, 2010

Filed under: Cactus, Flowers, Garden Fruits, Photography, Succulents — nadiaqh @ 12:30 PM
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There are some popular garden blogs on the internet this month all showing their colors in bloom.  I’ve enjoyed my new garden blogger friends and their photos from other parts of the country where trees are capped with snow and their gardens are in blankets of white.  Capturing photos of garden color is a bit more of a challenge for them in these winter months and it gives me an appreciation for San Diego’s year-round gardening.

I’m joining in on the celebration of color this month with my rainbow theme of colorful blooms in my garden. These photos were all taken with a macro lens digital camera yesterday in the afternoon.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Create – Grow – Be Inspired!

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet Blossoms.

Red Blossoms on Crown of Thorns

Orange Nasturtium Bloom

Yellow Succulent Bloom- (This succulent got a little beat up by hail two weeks ago)

Green-Lime Succulent Blooms

Blue Blooms on Rosemary

Violet Color on the Lilac Vine

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Bookmark Garden Project- The gift that keeps giving! February 1, 2010

Filed under: Flowers, Garden Projects — nadiaqh @ 1:11 AM
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MAKING  BOOKMARK  GIFTS

-from your garden flowers, herbs or leaves-

From the Garden to a Bookmark

1. Grow some great flowers, herbs or choose leaves from your garden.

2. Press the flower petals, leaves or herbs in-between newspaper in a heavy book, or a flower press for a week. Plant clippings should be completely dried out before going on to the next step.

3. Use Cardstock paper to create a bookmark. Add the pressed flowers around the bookmark paper. I used a tiny bit of glue-stick to tack the petals in place.

4. Laminate them (I went to Kinko’s and used their machine).

5. Cut bookmark out from lamination leaving a little plastic space (a few centimeters)  between the paper and the cut edge of the lamination.

6. Use Photos, stickers, quotes or even decorative paper to create the bookmark.

The sunflower petals in this photo were seeds that I gave to a friend in July because we share the same birthday.  She planted the seeds on her patio in containers and they grew beautifully. She then created a bouquet from the flowers and gave me that bouquet on Thanksgiving Day. A month later I dried the petals from that bouquet and used them to make bookmarks and gave one to her for Christmas.

This sunflower went from seed gift to flower gift to bookmark gift, now that’s recycling!

* Valentine’s Day is coming up and I bet some red bookmarks with dried flowers would look great!

Sunflower Bouquet

This was truly THE GARDEN GIFT THAT KEPT ON GIVING! :)

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Create – Grow – Inspire

Saving and Drying the Flower Pedals

 

PIG PLANTER with Euphorbia Splendens January 29, 2010

Filed under: Flowers, Photography, Succulents, euphorbia — nadiaqh @ 1:11 AM
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PIG PLANTER

If you are looking for a nice upright flowering and drought tolerant plant to put into a container, this one is a gem! My pig planter pictured here is potted with a “Crown of Thorns” plant, botanical name: Euphorbia splendens. I purchased this pig planter in Old Town San Diego at a pottery shop filled with mexican pottery and ceramics.

The Euphorbia splendens plant is very low maintenance and mine flowers most of the year. The variety of colors range from coral, red, and pink to yellow and white. It’s also a great plant for propagating when it gets too large, just cut off the extended stalk and allow it to dry for a few days, then add rooting hormone to the end of the stalk and plant in cactus mix. This a good potted plant and also a great landscaping plant.

* Origin: Madagascar

* Temperatures: Ideally 62° to 85° degrees Farenheit, but tolerates cooler temperatures in the winter. It hailed three times in San Diego last week and it still looks o.k!

* Water –  Once per week and keep dry between watering.

* Negatives – This plant has a milky sap that is a skin and eye irritant. Wear Gloves!

– Follow this link to another wordpress  photography blog titled “Decent Exposure” for an amazing photo of this flowering euphorbia.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Create – Grow – Inspire

 

Narcissus- Paperwhites & Marbles January 26, 2010

Filed under: Flowers, Garden Projects, Photography — nadiaqh @ 1:11 AM
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Narcissus In Full Bloom 1/25/2010

Every January I plant Paperwhite Bulbs indoors and by forcing the blooms I have beautiful fragrant flowers to bring in the New Year. I started this about 10 years ago to entice my kids into the pleasures of indoor gardening. We loved to watch the amazing process of an ugly onion looking bulb turn into a color burst of green stalks shooting up into the air and delivering silky white heavenly scented flowers. My children thought the best part of the project was using marbles for the foundational base, it also added beauty to the clear vase as we awaited the flowers to grow. 

Narcissus- Macro Lens

It only takes a few weeks for the blooms to emerge and by then the marbles are almost completely covered by roots and the visual focus moves from the marbles to the white trumpeted flowers with a soft yellow center. We all look forward to this little tradition we share each year and even though my kids are teenagers they still show appreciation for blooming bulbs indoors. I have to admit that the flowers this year are so pungent that it did not mix well with the smell of our dinner tonight. I think I will move them into the living room!  

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com 

Create – Grow – Be Inspired! 

Antique Marble Collection and Narcissus Bulbs

Setting bulbs on marbles to create a foundation for the roots to grow around.

Add some water to the bottom part of the bulbs and they are ready to grow.

 

San Pedro Cactus- Echinopsis Pachanoi January 21, 2010

Filed under: Cactus, Flowers, Photography — nadiaqh @ 1:11 AM
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San Diego had a day full of rain today and as I went out to the garden to get some carrots I noticed that there was a first bloom from my San Pedro Cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi). I watched a documentary on T.V.  a few weeks ago about Peruvian religious customs where the San Pedro cactus has been used for 3,000 years as a hallucinogen for religious divination and other healing methods.

San Pedro Cactus Exotic Flower Bloom- January 2010

This flower that bloomed today was about 9 inches in diameter and had a very light and sweet flower scent (only detectable by inserting my nose into the flower!).  The San Pedro is a columnar cactus that can reach up to 15 feet tall. It has grown very well in my San Diego cactus garden situated on a hill with great drainage and very little watering. The San Pedro also grows well in containers with a cactus mix type of soil. The flower bloom only lasts a few days and is so beautiful juxtaposed to the thorny cactus it bursted out from.

San Pedro Cactus in a San Diego Cactus Garden- Echinopsis Pachanoi

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

Create – Grow – Enjoy

san pedro hiding in the background

 

Nasturtium Sandwich January 19, 2010

Filed under: Cooking, Flowers, Living Healthy — nadiaqh @ 1:11 AM
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I read on another WordPress blog about using Nasturtium leaves and flowers to make sandwiches. Since I have so much growing in my garden I thought  ”why not?”. I used some whole grain bread, mayo (I am a big fan of mayo and I use a lot!), grey poupon, swiss cheese, local and fresh tomato slices, avocado, my herb seasoned sea salt, nasturtium leaves and flowers. I think it was definitely the prettiest sandwich I have ever made with the bright orange flowers poking out of the sides. Now my Nasturtium plants can feed my bearded dragons and my lunch cravings too.

Nasturtium Sandwich

It turned out tasting pretty good, but not fantastic. Nasturtium leaves are very peppery tasting and it was a good contrast next to the swiss cheese, but there was a very “green/grassy” taste to it. The last few days I’ve used some of the leaves and flowers to brighten up my dinner salads where I think the peppery taste is a better fit. The flowers  are a nice colorful addition to a winter-time meal.

Thank you for visiting my garden blog: www.nadiaknows.com

* Create – Grow – Inspire *

Eating Nasturtium

Pretty Flower Sandwich

 

New Nasturtium Blooms January 9, 2010

Filed under: Flowers, Garden Design, Photography — nadiaqh @ 10:10 AM
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Remember I planted Nasturtium “here and there” in my  garden in December? Here is a photo I took this morning of the “Spitfire” Nasturtium from Renee’s Garden Seeds blooming away on this sunny Saturday morning in January. I love the color orange when it’s in a natural setting surrounded by green foliage. Have a great weekend!

Orange Nasturtium "Spitfire"