Indicator plants

Jim McKenney jamesamckenney@verizon.net
Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:49:38 PST
Leo, I often let a weed or two persist in pots to act as a drought indicator. 

I grow almost everything else you mentioned (except Chenopodium berlandieri)  at my community garden plot. Although I've known about it almost all my gardening life, I grew mignonette last year for the first time. It's nothing to look at, but I hope I'm never without it in season going forward, The Eschscholzia, Phacelia and Linaria are typical burn-out annuals here: if started late they amount to nothing, if started early the sometimes give weeks of bloom. In either case, by July they are calling it quits. 

I like the idea of combining bulbs with annuals if only because most bulbs have a very fleeting garden presence, yet the annuals sometimes go on for months. Yet when the time comes to handle the bulbs, the annuals are often declining, and there's no pain in pulling them out and going in for the bulbs. 

Jim McKenney

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