Blooms in the Garden in August

Spring evokes, at least in me, thoughts of brilliant green new leaves and multi-colored blooms around the garden and yard.  The late days of summer evoke thoughts of dull, tired, sun-baked landscape.  But that is not always so.  Let's take a look at some things that are blooming in the garden.  Below is a row of buckwheat that I planted.  Although I love buckwheat pancakes, we're not going to harvest this row.  Buckwheat is known for sending down deep roots that pull up minerals.  Now that they've bloomed, I'll cover them up as a 'green manure' and will hopefully see the benefits in the spring when I plant something over them.

Blooming Buckwheat

Next in the garden are some Arikara Sunflowers.  These are a native American heirloom.  I had originally planted them back in 2010.  I saved some seeds from the first harvest 9 years ago and planted about 20 of them this year.  I was amazed to find that after almost a decade of storage, I got 100% germination!  These sunflowers grow 10 feet tall and follow the sun.  I'll save more seeds this year.

Decade-old seeds and 100% germination!

The pollinators love these flowers.  It is hard to see, but in the photo below there is a bee in the center right of the flower in the foreground.  I'll likely harvest the heads before they dry and birds get them.  I don't want birds to get into a habit of coming into our garden to eat!

Last year I planted a row of zinnias in the holes of the cinderblock edging that borders the garden.  They grew tall and spindly as the soil was not too good in the cinderblocks.  I let the flowers dry on the heads last year and collected a BUNCH of seeds that I stored in an old vitamin container.  This year I planted a full row of zinnias between the blackeyed peas and the buckwheat.  The soil is rich and the zinnias are giving us a feast for our eyes.  Check out all the multi-colored blooms!:

Zinnias

Here is a muted pink one...

And a bright pink one lined with miniature yellow blooms around the center...

This row is really attracting the butterflies.  The zoom-in didn't work well, but in the photo below, you can pick out a big butterfly in the center left, about to land on a pink zinnia.

I've never been a real big fan of flowers in the garden, but I'm starting to enjoy them.  I always prefer growing things I can eat!  Without further ado, here is the beautiful flower of something you CAN eat - OKRA!

I planted them late this year due to the weather, but they are 8 feet tall now and I've been harvesting every day.  We will be harvesting lots and lots of okra for the next four months or until the freeze knocks them out.