On this lovely sunny Sunday morning, I spent time in my garden, repotting annuals in some of my clay containers, completed the planting of my new Mango tree, and then searched for flowers for IAVOM. Some of the Zinnias were leaning a bit so I decided to cut them and add flowers from the native pollinator garden near the vegetables in the Potager garden. The silverplate goblet, a remnant from my mother’s household, was selected as the vase for this week.
The Zinnias have not grown more than 8 inches tall and I have cut them with short stems to see if the plants would grow taller. This made the plants branch out and produce more shorter stemmed flowers – which works well with the goblet. I cut the leaning flowers, puzzled, until I realized fire ants had moved into the Zinnia flowers – weighting them down with the beginnings of an imported sand nest. I shook them off quickly and remain unscathed despite my ant encounter.
Joining the Zinnias from the native pollinator garden are in purple, a Mexican Sage (Salvia leucanthemum) not native but the bees love it. In blue with long green stems, our native Porterweed; in peach, native Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) and in orange and red, the native Gallardias (Gallardia pulchella). The herb Dill has already started to go to seed (planted for me and the butterflies to eat)- so there is a Dill flower at the top.
The native pollinator garden was started to attract the fantastic butterflies we have in Florida, an added bonus, and unconsidered by the gardener – the native pollinators will help keep the bad bugs out of the nearby Potager. And it works, I have not sprayed the first bug in the garden and only recently threw some tomatoes away that tomato worms had gotten into. 
Here is the work in progress Potager, behind is the native pollinator garden. I think I cut most of the flowers off for the vase. I am planting the dwarf Mango and fruit trees where I am standing, hopefully considering the sun angles properly! I planted the last of the vegetable seeds for the season, Zucchini, pole beans, radishes and green onions about a week ago. We should have Salads and green vegetables until May and then the garden will be put to sleep for the summer. Here is my garden to table lunch salad, mostly grown by me.
If you are wondering about the Hairy Potter, that would be me. I am well known for my abundant tresses – causing more than one exhausted hairdresser to ask after cutting my hair “Do I really have to dry it”.
Happy Gardening.
The Shrub Queen 
Ooh, I am loving that lush zingy green in your garden! We’re in very early spring, so I am feeling a little yellow and etiolated!
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Thanks, sounds like you need some sunshine and compost!
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It’s very cold here again today so your hot coloured flowers warmed me, thank you. A clever idea to grow the flowering natives near the veg for pest control and beauty all in one.
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Hope it warms up soon, it is a nice consequence to have beneficial insects.
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Your lunch looks delicious and I know it tastes better when you grow it yourself. Hairdressers always hated drying my hair too when I let it grow as long as possible. It was never my favorite job either. Now it is shorter and hairdryers are better, so not so many complaints now.
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Lunch was good, I wanted to tell you, another gardener recommended not thinning the lettuce and just continually cutting off the side leaves instead of the whole head, this has worked well on Salad Bowl and I am trying it with Giant Romaine. Maybe I should try that on my hair, for some reason nobody wants to thin it!
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I was just thinking about thinning a row that just came up. I’ll give it a second thought. I did have a hairdresser that would thin my hair in the front. I am guessing my hair is thinning on its own now.
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I left one set of Romaine alone and thinned the other. My husband went through a number of hair people he did not like and bought a Flowbee. I have been cutting his hair and considering doing mine! My hair as it greyed got straighter and there may be less but not much.
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Vase and lunch are both tasty looking. Love the view of the garden and your hair story. Too funny!
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Thank you.
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Lovely arrangement! And I have to admit to a little jealousy what with living in Michigan and having snow on the ground! God bless!
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Thank you, I’ll be jealous this summer when you are madly gardening and it is too hot to go outside here.
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Oh such a good title, Amy, and now we can picture you a little better too! Your goblet of fire is bubbling over – the zinnias and gaillardia are glowing and the long green stems are most effective – is that the porterweed? Interesting to read about the success of your potager too
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Thanks, Cathy, the long green stems are Porterweed.there are cobalt blue flowers at the base. I have been enjoying the vegetables.
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That’s good to know – your lunch certainly looked appetising!
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Great title, great post – full of much needed sunshine!
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Thank you, sun we have,just no rain.
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I thoroughly enjoyed the play on words and your bright vase that would have flowers from my summer garden. And to see your Potager was indeed delightful as well! Thanks for the shot of gardening joy!
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Thank you, I will enjoy summer twice when I see yours.
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Lovely varied post to accompany those flowers. Is that a pawpaw tree in the bed? Lovely lunch…bon apetit.
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Thank you, I think you are asking about the Papaya, big leaves,two trunks.
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I love the title and your description of yourself as a hairy potter. Your potager is so wonderfully productive. How satisfying eating your lunch from your garden. I got my vegetable seed order today, I went a little mad and goodness knows where I will put it all.
Such a lovely, bright arrangement. Your garden must be paradise with warm sun and lots of colourful flowers.
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Thank you, I have a lot of different vegetables in there. A learning experience as always, Found out, nobody likes Chinese Cabbage-it’s hairy.
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Oh yuck, hairy cabbage sounds revolting.
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It is, and I am not a big fan of cabbage.
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Fire ants – yikes! I’ve got plenty of ants (so many thank I sometimes dunk my cut flowers in water before arranging them) but, thus far, no fire ants. Your arrangement is a lovely kaleidoscope of color this week and your lunch salad looks scrumptious (even as, this time, I’ve already eaten lunch before reading your post).
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Thank you, I rinse flowers ,sometimes as well. A problem with the veggie garden is I tend to eat it while picking.
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So colourful. Just what I needed to see on a grey day
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Sending sunny thoughts your way
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Well, Hairey Potter – thank you for this post and the gorgeous floral arrangement. Hope you’re doing well. And where did you find space for a mango tree?
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Thank you, Cynthia – it is a Dwarf Mango that fruits at 4-6 feet tall . I had so much room left I just came home with a Jaboticaba, do you know that one?
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No, I don’t. Is that a flower or a non-flowering plant or what?
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It’s a tropical fruit tree that bears a grape like fruit on its trunk. I think they are more common in South America.
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Wow. Never heard of it. Sounds very interesting. Are the fruit sweet?
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Yes. It’s like grapes. A pretty plant as well.
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Amelia, in addition to the flowers, I always enjoy your secondary touches…nice goblet, although I would have had trouble defining one
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