Strawflowers/Camera Fun on a Windy Day

I have been resting my knee, which is finally starting to heal after my fall on it 2 weeks ago. I've really felt sorry for myself that I couldn't garden. Today, I was able to go out and do some deadheading and picture taking.

In the colander are the strawflowers that I was able to harvest for drying today. It is best to pick them while the center is still closed tightly, because they open more while drying. Some of these may open enough for the center to show, and then they may shed. I don't usually keep any stem on them. I place them in baskets or glass dishes to have flowers in the house. I also sometimes mix them with other dried flowers and give them as gifts. Click here to see the post I did last fall, where I talked more about growing them.

I normally do a good job keeping up picking the flowers I like to dry, including statice. This year, I have been enjoying the blooms in the garden, and taking longer to get them picked. In the past, if I saw someone post a photo like the next one, I would ask them if they knew those could be picked to dry, and that it should be done before they opened like this. Even though my words would be encouraging and polite, in my mind, I would think they didn't know how to grow these, and that they were being negligent. Do you grow strawflowers? Do you dry them?

For some reason, I had my camera set differently, and when I went to turn on the macro feature, the camera told me to hold down the button for super macro. I have read parts of the manual to my camera, which I got last December, but when I've gone to try the super macro, I couldn't figure it out. Well, now I know how! Yippee! Now, I need to learn which situations warrant its use. In the mean time, every one of the following photos were taken using super macro. It was sunny, and quite windy, but I clicked away anyway!

I saw lots of skippers on the statice, which would also normally be picked before now, and verbena bonariensis.

I'm glad to see the skippers enjoy the statice, and have been content letting it look pretty in the garden. Do you grow statice? Do you dry it or just let it mature on the plant?

I sometimes dry verbena, too. I think the skipper is as pretty as the flower.

Go, super macro, go! You can see the segments on the critter's antennae. Now do you know what it is? I sure have seen a lot of them this year.

My pineapple sage is finally starting to bloom.

Here's a closer view of skullcap blooms.

You can see what looks like tiny yellow blooms in the center of the aster.

Sidetracked by Strawflowers

It did get down to 32 degrees two nights ago, but the only plants that were noticeably damaged were the coleuses.  It was nice out today after work, so I went out to see what needed to be done.  I decided I don't like Sweet Annie, so I cut it way back so it won't reseed.  I noticed I need to "harvest" my strawflowers, but thought I should take some photos first.  

This is how I operate.  In the house, I will start cleaning in one room, then if I need to move something to another room, something will catch my attention, and I'll attend to that.  Maybe I'll get the original thing done, but there's just as good a chance I won't.

So, I took my camera out, but the memory card was not in it.  I came in, and DH asked if I wanted to try his camera.  He knows I want a new camera, and if, by chance, I like his, then he could get a new one instead.  LOL

So, I took lots of pics of my strawflowers, and then of the ones I have already harvested over the summer.  I grow other flowers for drying, too.  I grow  Helichrysums, and have also grown Bracteantha.  They are annuals here in zone 5b.  The information given for them says to let them dry between waterings, but I've found that they wilt if they get dry.  When in pots, they do not always recover after wilting, either.  This is the second year that I have grown them in the ground.  The ones I grew last year, I grew from seed, and they were a taller variety.  They took longer to reach blooming size, so I didn't get a huge harvest.  These are from the only local nursery that sells them as seedlings in 6 packs.

I've started with close ups, then shown the plants they are growing on.  (Yes, they are still on them, because I did not get them picked.)  There are also some plants that I don't have larger flowers pictured from.  Oh, and by the way, once they open all the way, they won't dry well.  Also, I have to watch for ants, because they either eat the flowers, or have something to do with what is eating them.  I do manage to get a good harvest, though. 

There are two plants here, with an annual Helianthis (Sneezeweed) blooming.  They are yellow flowers on the left, and the red/pink to the left of the blanket flower.




The white ones didn't photograph well.  They are on the left of this clump of three plants, which I thought when planting were two plants.