Mid-Atlantic
August, 2012
Regional Report
Favorite or New Plant
Mexican Sunflower
These prolific, bright orange beauties are at their peak in my vegetable garden. Others in the second batch I started from seed stand about two feet, buds just forming, waiting to put on a late season show. My first gardening boss, Victoria, introduced me to Tithonia rotundifolia or Mexican sunflower, as an exuberant garden exclamation point. Each annual produces dozens of blossoms on a bushy, 3-foot tall and wide plant.
Tool or Gardening Product
Large Plastic Tubs in Different Colors
Large plastic tubs in different colors, with rope handles, are so handy for hauling, organizing, transplanting. Fill the red one when weeding (rather than heap weeds on the ground to pick up later). Carry small and medium-sized hand-held tools in the blue tub. Fill the green tub with irises, ferns, anything you're transplanting and want to carry to elsewhere. There's simplicity and efficiency in a color-coded system. Less toil and decisions; more time to enjoy the view.
