Sunflowers and lupins�

2001-02-22

Checked out the area behind the house last night. Some of my blue lupins are coming up! I'm so excited. Apparently they need some sort of special bacteria to grow and I was afraid they would never start. I hardly ever go out in back of the house, that's why it's mostly wildflowers. They don't need much maintenance. I sprinkle the seeds around, put down a layer of mulch and walk away.

I put down a bunch of sunflower seeds and am hoping for a flower screen this year. The back of the house faces a public walkway for our complex and it seems like way too much trouble to fence in a strip of land four feet wide. I sorted the seeds out of the bird food, much cheaper than buying seed packs, if not so many colors.

Mostly I seem to end up pulling up Japanese elm seedlings. There are several of them along the walkway and in the fall there is a rain of the little papery brown seeds. The seeds sprout by the hundreds every year. I've got a couple bonsai that started a 'accidental' sprouts in pots that were already occupied.

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