Flowers and Vegetables Can Thrive Where God Plants Them

What Do Plants Need to Thrive?

In order to thrive, plants need just the right conditions. As gardeners, we try to provide them. We prepare the ground, add nutrients to the soil, and plant seeds or transplants, and wait for growth. Yet more and more I'm finding God is much better than I at putting plants where they will grow when he choses. Take this gazania plant, for example.

Although I have beds containing gazanias all around my lawn, none of the individual plants are as big and beautiful as this one. God planted it in my lawn. Normally the plants spread  by runners. But this plant had to have sprouted from a seed carried by the wind. This plant has been thriving in the middle of my lawn for over a year now, and two others have appeared in other parts of the lawn since then.

Gazanias are drought resistant and almost nothing kills them. When I still had a gardener, I made him mow around this plant because I thought it was beautiful. It also inspired me because it bloomed and thrived where there were no others of its kind around it. The ground had not been irrigated for over a year and depended completely on rain most of the time. I sometimes help it a bit now if it's especially hot and dry. The soil got no extra nutrients or cultivating, and there were weedy grasses all around this gazania. Yet it continued to bloom and make beautiful flowers. What God plants, he also seems to take care of.

This gazania inspires me so much I made a greeting card out of it. The inside reads "Bloom where God planted you." We don't all get planted in the best surroundings or get the nurturing we need from those who are supposed to care for or mentor us, but that doesn't mean we can't thrive if God put us there.

Flowers in Lawn: Bloom Where You Are Planted Card
by barbsbooks

g

The Kale and Lamb's Ears God Planted

God has planted a lot of kale and Lamb's Ears in my yard, but not always in my gardens. The kale plant you see above had a lot of children and grandchildren. Many turned up around the garage as second or third generation plants. They were children of the plants that landed across the driveway. This post tells the story of some of this plant's progeny.

Lamb's Ears are even more prolific than kale, if that's possible. If you have one Lamb's Ears plant, you will soon have a yard full. It multiplies faster than rabbits. You can see one clump of Lamb's Ears at the bottom of the photo above. But I didn't plant it. I only planted one of these -- in the corner by the walkway near the porch. Now the plant is everywhere. It jumped the walkway and took over in the flowerbed by the garage. It landed in this corner below. In fact I planted nothing in this section that isn't in a pot. God planted it all.

In the photo above, from left to right, you see Lamb's Ears, a pink grapefruit yarrow in the pot, lemon balm in a pot and some which escaped from the pot, two tall clary sage that God planted, some small euphorbia transplants I brought over from Templeton (in the tiny pot), some iris leaves from some rhizomes I threw in a shallow cardboard box I covered with dirt and forgot about, and more Lamb's Ears sneaking around between the pots at the right end. Those irises I forgot about and never watered or fed, bloom every year. Below, I have a photo of one  in bloom. It was taken two months earlier than the photo above.

Now Lamb's Ears occupies every flower bed.  It's now even beginning to take up residence in what used to be my lawn. 

Lamb's Ears at Other End of Flower Bed in Photo Above. Irises are to the left and you can see a few tiny red buds of newly transplanted red valerian hiding between the Lamb's Ears and the iris leaves. 

More Unexpected Garden Volunteers

In 2013 I planted one mullein I thought was a clary sage because it was mislabeled. ( Borage, mullein, and clary sage look very much alike when young. See my post with their photos.) It grew in the front flower bed. It was the only one I ever planted. I planted one clary sage in a pot not far from it. I planted borage seeds at the other end of the bed and got a plant or two.

This year I was delighted after the rains to find that I not only had numerous clary sage babies, but I also had more mullein plants. One even sprouted in an empty pot and another in front of it. I had thrown the seeds around when the original plant died a couple of years ago. I guess some things take time. I also had my largest borage plant ever spout and thrive and it now has some babies.  I love the way it reseeds. You can see part of it below, with some of its babies at the very bottom of the photo. The bees love it. If you look carefully, you will see one foraging. That pot in front of the borage contains catmint. Some of it has escaped.

The cards below show off some of the plants God has provided for me. Most cards are blank but may have a title identifying the plant inside. You can customize them any way you want and add your own text.

Borage-and-Calendula, Beautiful Borage CardSeven-Spotted Ladybug on Borage Blank CardGreeting Card: Lemon Balm CardMacro Yellow Mullein Flower Card

I Love Having God Increase my Plants

I have not been able to spend the time I wanted to in my garden this year. The abundance of Lamb's Ears helps smoother the weeds that would otherwise take their place. Although I had hoped to plant some annuals this year, it's just not going to happen. I have too many health issues to solve and my biggest job is to keep the weeds down since my gardener quit. Because God provided so many new plant babies to fill my flower beds,  I'm going to have plenty of color during the spring and summer. 

How do you feel about volunteer plants? I've been sharing my plant babies with neighbors since I have more than I can use. I can always pull the surplus plants when I have time to replace them. I still need to plant some thyme I've rooted and some root divisions from some plants in Templeton I brought to the Paso house. So my work is cut out for me. 

Do you have any garden goals for this year?

Wordless Wednesday: Time to Schedule Garden Tasks for October

My Garden Is a Mess

I need to finish pruning kale and thinning Lamb's Ears. © B. Radisavljevic

Decisions to Make about What to Keep

Thin or transplant new seedlings? Depends on whether they turn out to be borage, mullein, or clary sage.
© B. Radisavljevic

Where Shall I Start?

Prune herbs back, trim irises, or thin gazanias? Oh, my!  © B. Radisavljevic

I'd better see if any tree seedlings are lurking under these leaves. © B. Radisavljevic

I think I'd rather look at this than get to work. © B. Radisavljevic

Have You Started or Finished Your Autumn Garden Tasks Yet?

G is For Gazania

Gazanias are simple but lovely flowers. Because they are so common here in California, it's easy to not notice the flowers much during the seasons when taller and more spectacular flowers are in bloom. In winter, though, they shine, and bring bright color to gloomy landscapes. That's why I've chosen it over other flowers to represent the letter "G" in this AtoZchallenge

As you see in the photo above, the bright color of the gazania attracts spiders and insects. In the photo below you see a visiting butterfly. 

There are two types of gazanias -- clumping and trailing. They will both cover the ground and they are about the same height. They both spread, but the trailing spread more quickly with their long running stems. Here's a photo where you can see some of my clumping gazanias growing under a goldenrain tree in my side yard. They are gradually spreading, but still have some space to fill. I'm hoping to get the weeds out and plant some root divisions soon. It's April, and the weeds have sprung up with the recent rains. 

Gazanias are used most often as groundcover and border plants. They are also used as fillers around new perennial shrubs until the shrubs grow enough to be attractions on their own. In the photo below, the gazanias are acting as groundcover in the space beside my driveway up to the boundary of my neighbor's yard. The kale you see on the edge spouted on its own, probably planted by the wind from the mother plant last year. 

In the photo above, you will notice that the flowers are not open. That's because today is cloudy. Gazanias only open in the sun. They close at night and when it is overcast. 

Below you see gazanias filling the space between the edge of the flower bed, surrounding the carnations, and extending almost to the rosemary in the center back. Without the gazanias, which I do need to divide now,  their space would be taken by the weeds like the ones now surrounding the irises. I hope I have time to get at those weeds soon. 

Gazanias don't need much care. They thrive in full sun and can tolerate poor soil. They don't need much water so we can consider them drought-resistant plants. What they can't handle is hard frost. One year almost all my gazanias died when we had an abnormally cold winter and the temperature got down to 12 F. This next photo shows what happened that year. The tops may die back, but most roots survive and revive the plants in warmer weather. 

If it doesn't get that cold in winter, the gazanias just bring a bit of sunshine to mostly dormant flower beds. 

Most of my gazanias have the  coloring of the ones below. Gazanias are available in many colors. I like the sunny ones. 

Sometimes gazanias spread in ways only nature understands. I have told my gardener to just mow around this one.  I just may take out the lawn and replace it with gazanias that don't need mowing or much water. I don't water the lawn anymore anyway now that brown lawns are fashionable during the drought. I will replace it with drought-resistant plants and bark chips as soon as I have the time and money. 

Are you growing gazanias yet? If not, why not pick up some seeds and get them in the ground so they can brighten your garden? Here are some of the available colors. 

 Outsidepride Gazania Red Shades - 100 seeds Outsidepride Gazania Garden Leader Striped Mix - 100 seeds Outsidepride Gazania Kiss Orange - 100 seeds

If you enjoyed this post, please share it. The sharing buttons are just above the comment box at the end of this post. The photo below is especially designed for pinning. 

This is my seventh post for the 2016 AtoZchallenge, a Blogging Challenge for the month of April, 2016. My theme is plants, since this is a gardening blog.  Here are links to the other posts if you missed them.

A is for Apple Blossoms
B is for Bottlebrush
C is for Carnations
D is for Daisy

E is for Elderberry
F is for Flowers

Related articles

• What Blooms in November?

What Blooms in November?

Red Pansy Face in November

It's always interesting when planning a garden to know what blooms when. I'm gradually trying to show the photos of plants in bloom month by month in my neighborhood in Paso Robles, California. Our climate is fairly mild, but we do sometimes go below 20 degrees F. in winter. We get into the triple digits on some spring and summer days. This post will show you what's been blooming here in this month of November. The photo shows a pansy in bloom. Pansies add a lot of color in fall and winter, and sometimes last until spring.

Some plants that typically bloom in summer still have a few flowers left, along with some that dried on the plant. Here are a couple of those.

Lingering Butterfly Bush Flowers in November

Lingering Hyssop Flowers in November

Some of these flowers are really herb flowers and perform for many months. The hyssop above has been in bloom since June, but it had many more flowers then. The sages also bloom over a long period, as does the rosemary. I love rosemary in winter because you can cut it and bring it in for fragrant holiday greenery. It also helps the bees through the winter.

One Variety of Cherry Sage, © B. Radisavljevic

Hot Lips Sage

Rosemary in Bloom

Some flowers I depend upon to brighten my garden year round. One of these is calendula, which you see in bloom below.  To its left is Lamb's Ears, with its contrasting gray leaves. To its right, you see gazanias. Behind is star jasmine with the dark green leaves. It, like the Lamb's Ears, has stopped blooming, as has the browning remains of a Euphorbia plant (also known as gopher plant.), which has greenish-yellow flowers in summer.  The lighter green plant surrounding the dying Euphorbia is rue. It has never bloomed for me yet.

Calendula in Bloom

Gazanias in Bloom

Some flowers just linger into winter.

Mums and Calendula

Miniature Chrysanthemums in November

Cecile Brunner Climbing Rose in November

A Neighbor's Roses in November

Gazanias, a Blooming Ground Cover, in November

Scabiosa (Pincushion Flowers) Hiding Between Hyssop
And Hollyhock Leaf in November

Jupiter's Beard in November. I was not able to identify this until
today, but it blooms for several months out of the year. I see it all
over town and I want some, even though it is invasive. 

These flowers belong to others and are blooming today on November 27, 2015. I'm not sure how long they have been blooming.

Mystery Plant belonging to My Neighbor. Click to enlarge and
see it more clearly. The pink flowers in the back are roses.
The blue is the back of a light.

Society Garlic in Bloom in November, Next to Browning Rose Plant
Click to enlarge. The flowers are small. Red roses are blooming
in back by the fence. 

Snapdragons in Bloom in November. Behind to the left are poppy
seedlings and to the right are young scabiosa plants.

I hope this helps you plan next year's garden or decide what you might want to transplant now for immediate color. Maybe a neighbor is even cleaning out plants she would be willing to share. Rosemary is easy to root in water. I had one plant in the back yard and roots three more plants for the front yard. It should be easy to find someone who will let out take a few cuttings. I just put it in water and it roots enough to plant within two or three weeks.

What are your favorite winter flowers? I somehow missed posting my photos of petunias and hibiscus that I've seen around the county, but I don't have any growing in my own yard now. I did have a petunia growing in November last year. I saw the hibiscus in Santa Maria in a planter at Trader Joe's.

Here are two more colorful shrubs that give you red berries for winter.

Holly Berries in November, © B. Radisavljevic

Pyracantha (Firethorn), © B. Radisavljevic

The cotoneaster shrub is similar in looks to the pyracantha, but has no thorns. I decided to make a blank greeting card out of one of the photos I took of cotoneaster.

Red Cotoneaster Berries: Holiday season Greeting Card by barbsbooks
Browse Cotoneaster Cards online at Zazzle.com

Here's a matching postage stamp.

Holiday Postage Stamp: Red Cotoneaster Berries
Check out more USPS postal stamps online at Zazzle.

Related Links:
This Butterfly Bush Shows How Nature Adapts