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Welcome to my Western Pennsylvania garden. Join me on a "Walk Down the Garden Path".

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Coffee Bean, Rose, and more Volunteers!

Look at what I saw while walking around the garden (in between weeding, of course).

Remember the Coffee Blooms ? Here's the first bean I've found. I guess I'll be able to make a baby doll teacup sized coffee.



Here is a pretty pink rose in bloom, with several more buds. This poor rose was once the queen of this bed, but now the Coneflower has taken over and the rose often gets lost and overlooked - not today though!



And look at this brave sunflower. It grew in a pot with a young maple that is waiting to be planted. And it did grow out horizontally like this.



And here is a Cleome a.k.a. Spider flower. We had one last year and it self-seeded, yeah! I found two in the bed where it was last year and one growing in another bed. Here it is early in the day, and then in the evening.



And my last volunteer for today is this Oregano plant. When we first moved into this house, six years ago, I brought an oregano plant in a container from my apartment. Prior to living in a container on the apartment balcony, it lived in the ground at my old house, where I grew it from seed. The second or third year we lived here, I planted the oregano in the back of the vegetable garden where it grows quite nicely. Before it found that home, however, it dropped it's seed, here in the crack of a stairwell and it comes back year after year. How it ever grew to begin with, and how it comes back year after year, amazes me. You see, there is no dirt. Right now there are some dead leaves/grasses covering the base and I have to make sure it's watered almost every day, but somehow it survives and thrives here, just growing out of a crack in the stair.

9 comments:

tina said...

That is great you got a bean! Let us know how it progresses. The rose is a beauty. Next year you will TONS of spider flowers. I like them very much but all the volunteers can be annoying. Collect the seeds if you want to spread them around. They are workhorses for sure. I love volunteers.

Cindy said...

I think there are a few more tiny beans, but just that one large one. I've never been too good at saving seeds, but it may be worth a try so I can grow them where I want them.

tina said...

It will be neat to see it progress. My friend down the road from me just bought a coffee plant. I told her what you had said about it not liking direct sun. I will let her know about your bean. The cleomes don't even require you to save seeds. Just pluck the ripened seed pods (the long skinny dried things and sprinkle them where you want them next year. You can do this in the fall even. Good luck!

DP Nguyen said...

Haha! Yay for your coffee bean. How exciting! And I love oregano as well. I used to make spaghetti with the fresh oregano that grew in my grandmom's garden. She planted it many, many (over 20 years ago, i think), and it survived for that long and continued to come back. How crazy, is that? But the blooms are pretty.

Cindy said...

Tina ~ thank you for the info. I will do that in the fall. I guess even if I don't, chances are I will get them next year, since I did get them this year and I didn't do anything last year!

DP ~ Mmmm, fresh oregano in spaghetti, that sounds delicious. I love how the oregano flowers bring lots of bees to the garden.

Eve said...

I love the oregano plant and it's tale of struggle. I would be thrilled have a coffee bean. I guess they roast them when they get ripe. I wonder how you tell when they are ripe? I just realized I am woefully ignorant about coffee beans. LOL


I love it when things voluteer in my yard. I found a little yellow flower, just as perky as can be in the lantana bed yesterday.

Cindy said...

Eve - I'm not sure about the coffee bean, how to tell when it's ripe. I guess I should do some research. I was just thrilled to have one.
What a pleasant surprise, your little yellow flower!

Rich said...

Cindy,
What a great garden. I have flowers from mom's (your grammy Thaler's) garden including spider plants. She really liked them and you'll never have to worry about next year's crop coming up.
Other flowers from the farm that I rooted from clippings are a snowball bush, red rose bush, and a red wiegelia.
Your prettiest flower, though, is Lillian. Thanks for the note, and we'll see you, John and Lillian sometime. Have fun at the shore!
Uncle Rich and Aunt Margaret

Cindy said...

Uncle Rich & Aunt Margaret ~ Welcome! I am so excited that you stopped by. I remember Grammy having the spider plants in the garden. One year she gave me seeds but I think I didn't get them planted or they got lost travelling or something. And you gave me an idea that the next time I am there I should take some clippings and try to root them. I may do just that. ~Cindy