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My gardening neighbor no longer lives next door to me, but when she did she was really into gardening and she was a very good gardener. I would hire her teenage sons to weed in my gardens and we would talk about their mother’s gardens. I was often told, “Our mother’s vegetable gardens are better than yours, but your flower gardens are better than hers.”
She had a greenhouse that she kept going all year long so she always had early tomato plants and loads of other good things. We do not have much winter here in zone 6, but we do get a couple of freezes and she had a wood stove rigged up in her greenhouse some way that they manage to maintain when the temperature dropped below what she wanted.
One time I had an occasion to go and visit her for one reason or another and I spied a pinkish purple tall spidery looking flower and asked her what it was. I had never seen it before and it turned out to be a Cleome which is often called the Spider Flower. She gave me some seeds from her flowers since it was that time of year that the seeds fell to the ground.
I planted them outdoors early the next spring and low and behold this annual grew! I loved the spidery-like flowers of 8 inch balls of blossoms with their long, waving stamen which are held on tall (5 to 6 feet) strong leafy stems. I later discovered the ones she gave me were called Pink Queen and since then I have been able to purchase Violet Queen and Cherry Queen. There is also one called Helen Campbell which is white.
Though very pretty and they do make nice cut flowers provided you condition them in water, their fragrance is sometimes offensive to some people so you may want to consider planting them away from windows or patio areas where people sit close by..
Though tall, they did not need to be staked and even seemed to survive well in our windy part of our gardens. They did not seem to mind our Kentucky clay like soil and they tolerated the drought. Best of all the hummingbirds loved them! Towards the end of summer their lower leaves seemed to droop, but you could compensate for that by putting in some companion plants that would cover that condition.
They seem to look good just about anywhere you plant them and though they are considered annuals they often reseed themselves by simply falling to the ground. Matter of fact when you do plant them in the spring, do not cover them with any soil, just scatter them where you want them, putting the seeds about 12 inches apart and gently press them into the ground. As I said they often reseed themselves because the seeds lie dormant on top of the ground until spring. It is best to use heirloom seeds because hybrid ones do not breed true. Germination takes about 10 days and they seem to be pest free and disease free.
They are true garden beauties and I am really glad to have had this plant introduced to me and the seeds shared by a neighbor.
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books. Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site.”
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