First Blooms Of 2011

Here are some photos of this years first blooms. Echinacea "Pink Double Delight" next to Dianthus "First Love" and Sweet William "Amazon Neon Cherry"

Echinacea "Heavenly Dream"

Echinacea "Sundown". Always one of the first to bloom every year.

Echinacea "Crazy Pink"

Echinacea "Harvest Moon"

And a couple Rudbeckias that have returned in 2011. This is one Rudbeckia "Cherry Brandy" plant. It's humongous this year and the flower color is much improved.

And lastly is Rudbeckia "Prairie Sun". The plant is a little bit funky looking in form but lots of new growth is coming along.

Jon

Just beautiful!! Now I really have spring fever. It will be late June before I see a blossom.
The sun is out today after our cold spell with snow and wind. Guess it is time to start cleaning beds and see who is still living.

I have those two Redbeckia just sprouting in my greenhouse. Had them last year and just loved them. Sometimes Cherry Brandy comes back for me. We shall see this year.

Thanks much. Another sunny, breezy day with temps in the upper 70's. That's about the norm for early March. March and April are the best months for flower color outside. All the annuals grown for winter color are still blooming and you also have some perennials waking up and adding even more color. Once we get to May all the cooler weather winter flowers begin to die, so you have to replace them with heat loving things.

Most of the Rudbeckias have come back this year for me. That's usually not the norm. My favorite new Rudbeckia last year was "Cappuccino". It's come back and should be blooming soon.

I have "Cappuccino' in the greenhouse growing as well as the others mentioned. This will be my first year growing that one. Good to hear you liked it.

You'll like it. Large blooms with superb coloration.

As I sit at the office looking at your lovely photo's and thinking of the 4' of snow covering my gardens I'm just soooo envious, not so much of your 70 degrees but at the beauty you have before you...thanks for sharring!

So glad you posted these pictures. I received seeds of Cherry Brandy and am so excited to see how they will turn out. Sundown looks so pretty - I might have to try that one.

Thanks for sharing with us! What height do your cherry brandies reach? In the pic it looks like a very short and mounded plant. Curious, because I have 20 of them to put in this year. (started from seed 6 wks ago)

Cherry Brandy height is listed at 24", but mine have generally been 12-18". Mine may be shorter because I'm growing them in Zone 10 and they're recommended for Zones 5-8. Quite a few of my Echinaceas are slightly smaller/shorter for the same reason......I think.

Quite a few people have not been very pleased with Echinacea "Sundown. It's been the best/one of the best performers for me every year since it was purchased in 2007.

Jon - How are the new varieties doing for you from last year?

My 'Hot Summer', 'Hot Papaya' and 'Flame Thrower' are all coming back. I'm happy that these are returning!

'Meringue' has never returned a second year for me. I will not be buying that one again.

Not all the new ones from last year have come back. I'll have to take a look and see which ones haven't. The back yard, that remains damp, seems to have quite a few that haven't returned. The front yard seems good though. I know all three that you just mentioned have come back. Hot Papaya hasn't put out any obvious new growth yet, but it managed to put out a couple blooms in Feb.

Meringue is on it's way back for me here in SW Ohio. We had a terrible drought here last year and then such a bad winter that I almost fell over a few days ago when i saw it starting to pop up. Last year was my first year for it and I did baby it some because of the heat/drought. I really did not expect it to come back so it was a nice surprise to see it.

My first white coneflower has started to bloom today

Very very nice. Good to see Echie season has begun in TX as well. Only one white one is blooming here as of now. This is Echinacea "Milkshake" this morning with some "Blue Mirror" Delphiniums are some reseeded "Cosmic Orange" Cosmos way in the background.

Last year I wrote and asked for advise on deviding my Purple coneflower and I did as suggested and so this year will have seven planters full of echies

Oh yes. I remember you asking grits. and I definitely remember that photo from last summer in OK.

Now did y'all know that we have lots of the white ones that grow wild here in SE Oklahoma but unlike the hybrid ones the blooming period is pretty brief and is around Memorial Day as I recall..Shoot knew I should have sent a new pic so here is another

I didn't know there were wild white ones grits. Interesting how we all have something special that grows in the wild in our neck of the woods. Both pictures are beautiful and there's no harm in posting one a second time. I just remember that photo because I remember you in it and the height of those coneflowers.

Those are awesome everyone!!! Sure do hope I have luck with mine. I am beginning to wonder....

You Southeasterners amaze me every spring. You've got blooms already! Up here in the Pacific Northwest, the biggest E. I've got is about a five-inch ball of leaves. Some others (barely surviving the wet, cool spring -- just broke 60 degrees for the second time last weekend) are just wee lumps with micro-signs of growth. Keeping my fingers crossed for 'em...

Oooops -- I posted the wrong picture! Here are some returning Echinaceas in a container...

Thats what mine look like too. Sure enjoy the pictures and can hardly wait. Have some larger ones that were plugs last year in pots that over wintered in the greenhouse. Have been cutting off blooms so the plants get bigger. One is 'Strawberry shortcake' really want to see that one bloom. My dreams my come true this summer.

If you have time keep the pictures coming for us that have to wait a bit longer.

My 3 expensive double pinks that I bought last year seem to have not survived the PNW winter.......probably going to avoid the new types until they are more tried and tested for now on.

All your plants and coneflowers will quickly catch up. You have the long daylight hours of June & July when things grow at a very rapid pace. Since its closer to the equator here, our hours of daylight do not vary as much and growth is at a more steady pace. Latest sunset is 8:15 in June and earliest sunset is 6:00PM in Dec.

Here's a picture of Echinaceas "Milkshake" & "Sundown" this morning.

Jon

Spectacular blooms.

Thanks. In the 5 years I've been growing coneflowers down here I've noticed the varieties with double/pom pom type blooms seem to be slightly less likely to return from year to year. Not sure why that is, but it's something I have noticed every single year since 2008.

Jon your gardens must look amazing !!!! I am green with good envy. If it wasn't because were I live is a lease I would have my gardens full of plants. I would love to see your gardens someday. Daylilies, echinaceas ( I just got 3 purpureas) hibiscus and the rest of your beautiful plants. Amazing growing.

Wow, thanks Roly. Try to control myself and keep everything/total plants within manageable limits. At one time I had a bit too much to maintain and it became a little overwhelming. Now its much more manageable. Glad to have things like echinaceas and Daylilies blooming right now. At you are well aware of May is the toughest time to keep things looking nice and colorful in South Florida. All those winter annuals start dying and there's all that extra space very suddenly. You're always welcome up here in Plantation. I'm near Sawgrass Mills Mall and Flamingo Road Nursery is very close by. They've been getting in a larger variety of flowering annuals/perennials in the last couple years. They've had and still have some very interesting flowers I don't see at other places.

I like Plantation so much more than Miami. I had to go up to Sawgrass a couple of times for some training at our store. I will definetely take you up on your offer. I just don't know when. I might make it a Butterfly World/ Jon's house kind of day since I've been wanting to go to Butterfly world for some time. I know what I'm doing on my vacation next month.

This is 'Hot Lava' one of my new plug plants from last year. I cut all the blossoms off last year, per the instructions on this forum. Just about killed me! It made it through the winter and is twice the size!! I be having blooms come June! Oh maybe July! if the weather doesn't change

This is 'Meringue'. Looking good for the PNW

Looking good in the Pacific Northwest. You can grow so many things there we can only look at pictures of here in South Florida. Plucking the short buds off is something that I do as well. You would think all the Echinaceas would go into their spring rapid growth rate at the same time here, but they don't. Some are just starting now whereas others did so a month or more ago.

Been to Butterfly World out here west of Ft Lauderdale once, but it was many many years ago. It is a popular place to visit. Roly, I didn't realize, until recently, that the Sawgrass Mills Mall is the second most frequently visited place in all of Florida by tourists (behind Disney World of course).

We went to Disney World in Aug. 2005. I almost melted being a native from the PNW.
Sadly didn't get of the Disney property.
Boy can you guys get the rain!! Every afternoon around 2-3 the hose turns on.

Orlando can be brutal in July and August. It's always several degrees warmer there than it is down here. Its right in the middle from the east coast to the west coast. That means the seabreezes from both coasts have far less influence on moderating the high temperatures. Summer thunderstorms tend to form inland from the seabreeze and then move east or west depending on the wind direction. That makes the middle of the state (Orlando) much rainier compared to closer to either coast. Summer weather is unique here. There are no cold fronts or warm fronts. It's all based on heating of the day, rising daytime air, as it warms, to produce clouds and then wind direction to determine which direction the thunderstorms will move. It takes all those dynamics a few hours to kick in each day. That's why the mornings are sunny and the afternoons can be rainy.