My roses are so happy now, cooler temps, JB's are (mostly ) gone, yay!
Garden Shots 3-Let's see your late summer combos!
I was wondering the same thing about my mandevilla vine, I was thinking of cutting it way down and bringing it inside now? I hate to lose it but last year I brought it in and it was pretty messy.
Fall is my favorite season
Japanese anemones and daisies with chrysanthemums getting ready to bloom!
Gorgeous gardens, peonyposygirl!
Thanks gemini_sage, I know they're still filling in but between getting inspired by this thread and then hitting the fantastic clearance sales right now, there gonna be getting there next year lol! How can I pass up 50% and more off? Really now - that just wouldn't be right! :)
Love those clearance sales! I had great luck with fall planting of lots of perennials and shrubs from clearance wracks. You'll have an awesome display next year.
I've been doing that most of the summer -- just didn't have the budget to do otherwise. It has worked out well for this first-year digger. I just made my first attempt at a color combo (better late than never). The zinnias were $1 on clearance 6 weeks ago or so. Even though they're annuals, I just had to go for a splash of contrast with these asters (just planted them today). I'm sure I'll get better at this with time, but wanted to share my first shot at it.
Orange and purple is one of my favorite color combos :-)
Meeeeeeeee to!
Peach or orange...lavender and purple... toss in a splash of Shasta daisies and it's reaaaaally pretty!
Oh, that really sounds nice. I killed my shasta daisy earlier this summer, but don't know what I did wrong.....
Oh dang... that's a disappointment! That is usually NOT the case with Shasta's. They are hardy souls. I saw a planted mound many moons ago and I didn't have a camera with me. So.. I stopped and sketched it...LOL Shasta's are dang hardy, but they don't like to be too wet. Over the years I have phased out the standard Shasta's and gone to the Becky Shasta's. The wind and rain does NOT blow them over or lay them down. They are amazing, and our coastal winds sure give them a run for their money too! They were the 2003 perennial plant of the year - http://www.perennialplant.org/ppy/03ppy.htm
The driveway mound I mentioned above was purple iris, Shasta daisies, lavender mounds, and CA poppies alllllllll over. It was just stunning!
This was my mound of the Becky's when the clump was 2 years old. They are prolific bloomers and also hold their blooms for weeks...and I mean WEEKS. It's one of three (in the ground plants I have) that have managed to thrive in spite of the VERY AGGRESSIVE roots from the Cedar trees it's planted near. Daisies have roots from *ell just like the Cedars...
This message was edited Sep 6, 2009 8:36 AM
Those are simply gorgeous! Mine were Snowcaps. I'll bet I watered them too much. I'll be looking for Beckies next time!
I often watch for plants that bloom at the same time...and that helps me pick my group settings. This is not my liatris plant, but mine looks just like this. It's p-o-u-r-i-n-g rain at the moment so a photo taking session is out...lol Too bad too as I have some gorgeous peach color roses blooming near it and it would be a nice picture to illustrate my love for the peach/purple color marriage. (see link - http://www.pma-us.net/Van/HPSP08-09_Liatris_Spicata.jpg )
Liatris likes a bit more water then daisies, but they bed up WELL together provided both are planted in an area that has ample drainage.
When I moved here I had NOOOOOOO IDEA about the lay of the land and the zone was totally different then the one I had just moved from. I drove around the next spring/summer with camera in hand photographing yards all over (I do annual garden tours too). It helped me to learn what bloomed at what times etc.
Just have fun...and as the others have said - SHOP THOSE FALL SALES!
This message was edited Sep 6, 2009 8:54 AM
Ha!
Let me rephrase that... I have MORE then 3 plants in the ground....lolol, but in the area near our giant Cedar trees the war is on with their pushy HOGGY ROOTS. Their water feeder roots create masses of loofah like balls that completely took OVER the beds I tried to put in. So... I put stuff in pots now...but the Becky's, one Rhoddy, and one lavender plant are all that are "in the ground" under the edges of these monstrous trees. They keep the house shaded WELL in the summer...so they are forgiven....lol...and I just work around them.
I have purple iris -- lots of it. It's something my mother had around here for 50 years or more. What would you plant with them, for color interest?
Keeping in mind that iris foliage is not the prettiest once the blooms are history...so ... again... Becky daisies (behind them - no shading)... CA poppies... Calandula (pot marigolds as they are also known - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendula_officinalis).. I have a corner of iris right now that I'm going to revamp come spring. I won't move the iris, but I think I'm going to sprinkle in medium height marigold (seeds) into the bed. I want something easy, self sufficient, but colorful. I just moved the iris bed last year, and it's doing much better in the sloped area. I think I have a photo of the iris...lemme peek...
hmmmmmm.sec.....
Grrrrrrrrrrr either too far away or tooooo close... but....you get the drift.
I'll put taller plants to the fence (probably divide some of my dark orange crocosmia) and let the iris do their thing with the seeded marigolds coming up in the mix as the iris blooms are done. That's actually a larger area then it looks. It's sloped down so the photo is deceiving.
This message was edited Sep 6, 2009 9:26 AM
Oh, your iris are stunning! I hope mine will do as well after being moved. Thanks for the pics.
Highmtn - love the iris photos! I just planted those for the first time this summer and I'm wondering if you had any tips. I had heard they like their rhizomes in the sun and I'm hoping I planted them at the right depth? Thanks!
Siberian Wallflower, or perhaps English Wallflower may be a good partner for your purple Iris- here they bloom at the same time, and are a nice orange color.
Thanks. I don't think I've seen them around here. I looked on the internet and they are really striking. I'll be on the lookout for them.
peonyrosegirl....
Here's a little "jingle" about planting iris. "They should look like swans swimming away from you when planted. Just barely able to see their backs in the dirt". Planting them too deep is a bad thing! Years ago I had a landscaper cut x's in my weed cloth and poke the tubers UNDER the cloth and cover them back up...HE WAS SO WRONG! They had fungus and all sorts of rot problems within one year (black spot foliage etc). I gave them one chance to recover. I scooped back the top bark, ripped out yards of that cloth (I KNEW IT WAS KEEPING THEM TOO WET)...and replanted much more shallow. They came back like gang busters the following year. In Idaho...where some iris were neglected for years they are growing out of the ground on top of the older tubers and still blooming. Better TOOOO shallow then too deep.
Here's a couple tutorials that might help you...
A little film clip -
http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Plant-and-Split-Iris-Bulbs-18630109
And...just still pictures - but good ones
http://gardentenders.com/topics/1044
It's hard for me to give toooo much advice about your iris because I don't know your zone habits at all! We have some fair humidity here, but not the blistering heat like some of you have.
The wall flowers would be nice too. You must make sure (what ever filler you pick) that they can still still get decent air flow through them if you have much humidity.
Hope that helped.
Highmtn - thanks for the help, that video was perfect!
I looked and looked for some good color combos and couldn't find a one.
The things blooming all seem to be too far apart to complement each other.
Only thing I could find are these in my kitchen, and they look good with my wallpaper.
Now that's a color combo! Those are really pretty!
Peonyrose..
You're welcome!
Gardengus...
Daisies go with EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING as far as I'm concerned. They could sure smell better...lol, but... I love their look.
Just a small spot in a large bed, but these two -- despite their thirst differences -- seem to have hit it off well all summer. Looks more like Easter morning than Labor Day, huh?
What is that pink and white??????????????? Love it.... the stems look like Portulacha (sp). That's a darling color combo...
It is 'Giant Jewel' Portulaca. It was on a clearance table for 99 cents a few months ago. Had I known it would be such a darling little dearie, I'd have cleared the table of them!
Very pretty, Maybe you can collect some seed, they start rather easy.
Someone told me all I had to do was break off pieces and stick them in dirt. Do you know if there's any truth to that?
I have never done that but it is worth a try. They look like a succulent and I know that works with succulents.
My old neighbor in Idaho used to collect the seeds from her portulaca. In spring she'd fill an egg carton with potting soil...sprinkle the seeds in and give away alllllllll the babies as they sprouted. They grow easily and her place was *ell hot too. REALLY PRETTY PRETTY vibrant blooms.
Well, I really want to try something -- would LOVE to have this darling around next year to smile at!
I knew a lady growing up who had an iron cauldron full of Portulaca on her porch every year. She just allowed the seeds to fall in the soil of the container, and each spring seedlings would show up and fill the pot again. For a special one like yours, I'd save some back to be sure.
When is the best time to harvest the seeds? Do I need to dry them out for a while or just stick them somewhere cool as-is? I'm sorry I'm not more knowledgeable about this sort of thing. I'm new at gardening. Thanks for bearing with me and helping me learn.
Keep an eye on the growth tips where blooms are being produced, you should see some pods developing- they smooth, and slightly pointed, green at first, then ripen to brown when they're ripe to harvest. You may see some that have already burst open and released their seed. If you catch them when they're brown and before they open, you can place a container underneath while you break open the pod to catch the little black seeds that spill out.
This site has a good pic of the pods:
http://theseedsite.co.uk/db18.html