{"id":2546,"date":"2011-06-05T11:36:37","date_gmt":"2011-06-05T17:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=2546"},"modified":"2014-04-10T18:07:09","modified_gmt":"2014-04-11T00:07:09","slug":"know-your-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/know-your-volunteers\/","title":{"rendered":"Know How to Recognize Your Garden Flower Volunteers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring in southwest Idaho brings an exciting wave of green to our yards.<\/strong>\u00a0 One challenge for me is to separate the weeds from the desirable volunteer seedlings.<\/span>\u00a0 These volunteers reseed and establish in unexpected places, teaching me along the way about which conditions they prefer and what time of year I can actually plant my own seeds.\u00a0 They tend to be much smaller than the weeds and\/or their first leaves are often different than the full grown plants that I’m used to seeing for 99% of the growing season. Even after weeding, I must often thin the masses of volunteers.\u00a0 Sometimes, depending on the plant, I can transplant a few for design reasons, but mostly I just leave them where they are, enjoying the casual air they give the gardens.<\/p>\n

Here are a few pictures of volunteers I have had this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Balsam impatiens<\/strong> (above) reseed prolifically, but pull easily.\u00a0 They bloom in the heat of summer on up the stalks of 3-4 foot plants.\u00a0 Here is a picture of them in my front flower garden last year (Middle back, dark pink and purplish flowers).\u00a0 Most of this garden gets full sun up until the evening.\u00a0 I don’t think the balsam impatiens are quite in full bloom yet and none of the lighter pink shades are there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Below is a volunteer bleeding heart<\/strong> left to grow for now amongst my freshly planted nasturtiums.\u00a0 This is an example of something that has never in 15 years volunteered for me before.\u00a0 This year I have a couple of volunteers.\u00a0 It can’t stay there for long, so the plan is to let another family adopt it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, is the crimson rambler morning glory<\/strong> volunteer.\u00a0 They need to be thinned as soon as they begin to appear and they NEED something to climb or they will smother the rest of the plants, but they are also easy to pull and reward me with a profusion of dark pink blooms in the heat of summer.\u00a0 These will be allowed to climb the rock wall just to the left of the pot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The heavenly blue morning glory<\/strong> does not reseed as heavily and the vines are not as jungle-like, but they are always reliable.\u00a0 The seedlings are fun, with their blue veins.\u00a0 The first leaves remind me of drawings of teeth with roots showing.\u00a0 In the picture below you can also see volunteer petunias that I was surprised with this year.\u00a0 These were petunias<\/strong> that I had grown from seed myself the previous year.\u00a0 It seems that volunteers are most likely from plants I have grown from seed myself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here are the blooming heavenly blue morning glories just beginning their summer climb; and petunias in a pot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I started \u00a0rudbeckia<\/strong> in my greenhouse last year, thinking it was a tender annual.\u00a0 I was pleased when the plants not only survived our harsh winter, but scattered volunteers about their bases.\u00a0 Their yellow blossoms are a delicate yellow.\u00a0 Volunteers in the second photo.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The rudbeckia seedling is in the center with it’s fuzzy leaves.\u00a0 To give some perspective on size, the round white paper like elm tree seeds are about 1\/4 inch diameter.\u00a0 The succulent seedlings are portulaca, or moss rose.<\/strong>\u00a0 They are teeny tiny when they first sprout.\u00a0 I have grown they from seed, but they do reseed easily from plants I have purchased at the nursery, too.\u00a0 They are some of the last volunteers to appear, but they are fast growing and well worth the masses of heat loving crepe paper flowers.\u00a0 Below (last year) they are just taking off and still need to be thinned.\u00a0 They stay very low to the ground, so fill nicely under other plants and like to grow along the hot cement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The volunteer larkspur<\/strong> below is unusually isolated.\u00a0 Notice that the first leaves are roundish, while the true leaves have a feathery look to them.\u00a0 These volunteers also fall into the category of prolifically reseeding, but easy to pull.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a bunch of them full grown and in bloom.\u00a0 They are the tall purple and white flowers:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first leaves of the annual four o’clock<\/strong> are plump propellers that are fairly obvious.\u00a0 They will grow into a bush like shape, so definitely need to be thinned.\u00a0 The trumpet shaped blooms are abundant.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The foliage of the perennial horned poppy<\/strong>, as seen in the young, two inch across, volunteers below, is soon to be graced with cheerful orange blooms.\u00a0 Keep these\u00a0 under control early.\u00a0 I have been able to transplant them if I take a sufficient clump of soil with it and don’t disturb the roots.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is what happens if you don’t thin your double shirley poppies<\/strong> at an earlier stage, but I plan on doing it soon.\u00a0 This is one kind of flower that I have only had from volunteers for years.\u00a0 I eagerly await the blooms.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One plant turned up with the white edges and I saved seed from it, but have yet to propagate it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Lastly, here are some ubiquitous hollyhock<\/strong> volunteers, looking innocent at the moment.\u00a0 I have already thinned huge numbers of these, which grow into beautiful giants.\u00a0 It is best to get these while they are small, before the root system has developed.\u00a0 My jalapeno plant wouldn’t stand a chance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is nothing quite like hollyhocks along a fence.\u00a0 Now, you’ll have to excuse me.\u00a0 I need to go ruthlessly thin some volunteers.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spring in southwest Idaho brings an exciting wave of green to our yards.\u00a0 One challenge for me is to separate the weeds from the desirable volunteer seedlings.\u00a0 These volunteers reseed and establish in unexpected places, teaching me along the way about which conditions they prefer and what time of year I can actually plant my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2546"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}