Spring is an unstoppable force in the garden. The things that flower won’t stop flowering. The things that produce food aren’t producing food currently – the tomatoes haven’t blossomed, the squash refuse to grow taller, and the cress has gone to seed. Still, there’s plenty of new plants in the garden, and plenty of greenery to enjoy every morning!
If you have a garden you want to show off, join in by writing your own Six on Saturday post! To find out how to get involved, check out where it all started.
1
The Polka Dot Plant continues yet another week of flowering! It doesn’t seem to want to stop. I’m not sure if the flowers pop up from the same spots over again, or if the pruned stems are coming back as flowering portions. Whatever the case may be, I now have to sweep under the plant regularly to pick up the dropped flowers. Some of the leaves are starting to yellow and drop off, while new stems from the ground are really getting a feel for the space. Maybe it’s time to give it a truly deep pruning, and turn some of the longer stems into propagating cuttings.
2
I finally got my hands on a sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica)! It looks a little scraggly at the moment. I’m hoping that’s just because it was overly poked while it lived in the plant shop, and got plenty tired. With a bit of care and (soon) a new pot, I’m thinking it can grow into a proper little wiggly bush. It takes a lot of effort to resist the temptation to poke the leaves whenever I’m passing by – it’s going to need to grow fast to save itself from me!
3
The wildflowers are only growing around the edge of their pot. I’m not completely sure why, but that’s just what they’ve decided to do. I’m still not sure what kind of wildflowers these will end up being, which is both exciting and a little worrying. If I knew what they were, I might look up how best to care for them. On the other hand, they’re doing pretty well so far (aside from the aforementioned perimeter love), so I don’t really feel the need to do much deep digging.
4
The succulents have survived the latest round of cuttings! I’m putting together a few succulent-filled planter cups for Mothers Day, which used up all my rooted cuttings. The next batch is finally scabbed over and already in the dirt. Hopefully the next stage is a big batch of roots and plenty more happy plants! I have around 30 succulent species at the moment, but only a dozen are in the right stages to take cuttings. One, a round Brazilian cactus, has refused to grow, put out pups, or flower. It confuses me.
5
The olive buds are opening! They’re so much smaller than I expected olive flowers to be, and with a much sturdier shell. I haven’t seen any pollinators hanging around (and the hummingbird population has been pretty quiet as of late…), so I’m crossing my fingers and hoping a friendly bee stops by while I’m out of the home. If every bud on this tree becomes an olive, I’ll have enough to fill one good jar. I can’t wait to eat some home-grown olives! Now to decide… brine or oil…
6
The sunflower seems to have reached its maximum height. I really was expecting some sort of late-stage growth spurt, but no luck. This is the tiniest sunflower I’ve ever seen, and I love it. I only have one other seed of this species, which I’m contemplating planting as soon as this one fades just a little bit more. I’m hoping I can take advantage of the summer season to collect seeds and be prepared for a bushel of sunflowers next year.
Thanks for stopping by! I hope you had a pleasant time checking out the plants. If you’re in the mood for more nature, please stay in touch!
Mindful Foliage 
Good luck with your olives! Our tree was laden with flowers last spring but we had a storm and ended up with two jars! They are curing right now.
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Thanks for stopping by! I’ll tell your story to my olive tree to inspire it.
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Love your mimosa — hope it grows like crazy! And those mystery wildflowers look like something I’m growing but I can’t remember what? Iceland poppies perhaps?
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Thanks for stopping by, Megan! They remind me a bit of California poppies too… but I guess only time will tell. How are your Iceland poppies going?
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They’re seedlings still, but I’m hoping to plant them out in the next week 🙂
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MY 20 year old olive tree has had 1 flower cluster and zero olives. It’s looking really healthy…
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Thanks for stopping by! I hope your olive tree makes up for it this year with more olives than you can eat.
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