My Girls Are Covered in Flowers and Blooms!

I have six window boxes full of my pretty girls, and they have all been covered in blooms and then flowers for a couple of weeks now. I normally don't get blooms or flowers until July, but this year I started watering them early, in my mud room. Since they can't take cold temperatures, and definitely no frost or freezing, I wait each year until I'm certain those weather ailments have passed, so it's anywhere from mid to late April before I bring them outside and start watering them. This year, I started in March.

I was curious to see how an early start affected the arrival of flowers … and I was rewarded with a profuse display two to three weeks earlier than I've ever had them. Now, I have to see if the wane before normal, which is generally sometime in September. If they don't start showing signs of distress in August, I may bring them up even earlier next year. I'm not in any hurry for summer to be over, so I'm more than willing to be patient and wait.

They prefer morning sun and afternoon/evening shade. With the exception of the ones outside my kitchen window, my girls get more afternoon sun than they should, but they still do exceptionally well. The only sign that they are getting too much sun is some gold flecks on the leaves.

I've had these flowers for a couple of decades now. I've divided them to make more and gave away more pots of these beauties than I can count. I adore these flowers!