This beauty is a Russel Lupine seedling, with a droplet sitting in the middle of its secondary leaf. There are about ten seedlings and I am amazed at their tenacity. Bugs have gobbled up some of their leaves but they have continued to grow and overcome the damage. Very resiliant little babies!

Raised Bed Garden, 1 Month Update: The Good
It's about 4 weeks now that my garden has been in, and there are lots of things growing, and lots of things not growing! :D My biggest plants are the many Maximillian Sunflower seedling starts I put in on the first day, and the "False Sunnies" I put in that day are all getting much larger too. I had some Cosmos seedlings and a pair of Morning Glory seedlings I put in too, and all of them are doing well. I'm really happy to see that I've gotten some new seedlings popping up that I'd been hoping for!

Over the entire garden, there are poppy seedlings growing like crazy, and it's easy to see the difference between the California poppy type and the more well-known poppy type. I also sprinkled a bunch of "probably dead" Zinnia seeds from the flowers I grew last summer, and I'm pretty sure that there are a bunch of them growing here and there in the bed. I've enjoyed seeing the different species sprout, and must admit that I haven't been surprised at the lack of sprouts in many sections.

Zero seedlings at this point: gazania, love in a mist, red hot poker, blue star sea holly, delphinium, chamomile, foxglove, swamp milkweed, prairie coneflower, rocket larkspur, english daisy, nemesia, tussock bell flower, creeping zinnia, black-eyed susan, petunia, or cardinal flower.

If you think about it...that's $15.00 I poured down the drain at $1.00 per species. Some may yet sprout, we'll have to see. Some may need a season before they sprout. Who knows. It's been an interesting experiment, and in the end, I'm quite happy because in every single section I have glorious, frolicking, happy poppies growing, and all is well! :)

Below are some pictures of new and flourishing seedlings!

This little doll is the only Orange Milkweed seedling that sprouted, but it's looking strong and healthy! I am crazy about this plant so I'm crossing my fingers that it flourishes.

This is a very happy cluster of Dwarf Zinnias, and there are probably 25 seedlings that are going crazy in that section! It's a total party there, and a bunch of poppy seedlings have joined in on the fun as well!

Here is an updated picture to show the secondary leaf for this beautiful Hollyhock! (below is the earlier picture with just two leaves)

This is the first picture I shared of one of the Hollyhock seedlings showing its primary set of leaves.

This Morning Glory is one of many happy seedlings that have popped up in my "Mixed Wildflowers" section.

I'm not positive, but I believe this is a Snapdragon seedling, one of many in its section. There are lots of poppy seedlings too, which are quite similar in appearance, but these are a bit different and continue to look more dissimilar to a poppy seedling, so I believe have lots of Snapdragons which are growing well right now! I'll let you know!

Next: Part 8b—Dreams of a Big Flower Garden, 1-Month Update: The Bad