more plants from Teddy

Be sure to mix it with the native soil.

This message was edited Sep 10, 2011 6:32 PM

okay

Is there anything else I should put the potting soil around?

Yep, you guessed it, another bud is opening on my Rose of Sharon bush, do you think it will get real big, or do you think it will stay small, if it grows into a tree, we are going to have BIG problems digging it up and trying to find room to plant it somewhere else. Since it is blooming now, I am going to guess that it is going to stay small, what do you think?

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!!! We must not forget the sacrifice that the men and women made on that fateful day 10 years ago, we must not forget the men and women who lost loved ones on that day. Men who lost wives, wives who lost husbands, parents who lost children and children who lost parents. We can't cry hard enough to ease the pain, and I just want to say thank you to those brave firefighters and policemen and women who died in service of their country to try to save victims in those towers and in that field in Pennsylvania. God took a lot of his children home with him because he was in those two towers and he was also in that plane that crashed, he did not turn away when his children called to him. Sorry did not mean to preach, I just think it should be said, don't forget and always remember.

Blooming has nothing to do with it. This is a young plant. Plants grow into trees over several seasons. If the stems turn woody as a bush, then so be it. If it has one or even 2 main stems, it will probably grow like a tree. It takes a long time for a tree to actually form a woody trunk with bark. Stop obsessing and hope you stay in this house to see it grow into adulthood. I don't know enough except from the experience of having a rose of sharon tree in the home where I grew up. A word to the wise: it needs FULL SUN. The growth, even without leaves as I recall is rather attractive.

If you really want to know how it will grow, ask the person who gave it to you about its parentage.

Plants that require full sun require a MINIMUM of SIX hours of direct sunlight. ALL DAY SUN is a MINIMUM of EIGHT hours. Plants that bloom generally have different requirements than foliage plants. Unless the plants are rebloomers, they will need trimming and will probably become somewhat unattractive if they are perennials. Considering how much shade you have, you might be happier with foliage plants which bloom, but the blooms are fairly insignificant. Early perennials tend to have nicer, more colorful flowers because they bloom before the deciduous shade trees develop leaves.

You will learn more by patiently watching what is working in your yard than posting a stem or flower for someone who has never seen your yard. Even the best gardeners and farmers have failures of something every year no matter how lovingly they have tended. Please go to the other forums and READ what others have posted and learn from their experiences. None of us really know what your yard is like even from the picture unless we visit in person. If you become a subscriber, you will be able to post on all forums.

Now that it is starting to get cooler, watch the evening temps and don't forget to take in your geraniums for the winter, and find a nice, sunny window for them. Patience is a sign of maturity, and we all learn along the way. Assess your yard to see what will grow there best. Late in the winter you can sow some seeds to transplant early in the season just after your last frost date. You can also start some bulbs indoors if it is warm enough in your house. Other bulbs go in the ground now, and once planted will bloom each year. Also look into native plants for your area that come up each year very early with very little encouragement.

I guess we cross-posted.

If you lived anywhere in the NY area, you would know that there are thousands who risked life, limb and lungs in rescue efforts. Many died trying and many more have since died as a result of the toxins they were exposed to and many are slowly dying as a result of that disaster and are receiving little or no assistance of any kind. These heroes are slowly living painful deaths and are still proud of their service. Do not forget them and their families!

My husband and I will never forget!

More pink ones, they are so pretty, and to think I used to not like pink but these are so pretty you can't help but like them.

My live forever plants are blooming now, this is just the beginning, wait until further in the season, then you will see a explosion of color.

This is one of my babies, the only one that is blooming right now, the person who gave it to me said it could grow as tall as a tree if I did not keep it trimmed. So after it blooms all that it is going to, I will cut it down to about 2 inches and watch next spring as it sprouts up again. It is a Rose of Sharon bush.

The Rose of Sharon buds are opening faster this time, as you can see in this pic, this one is just about ready to bloom and the bud above it is splitting now.

I was thinking of digging up my Cosmos and throwing them away, or should I just cut them down? They have never bloomed and I don't think they ever will, I could wait until spring and when they start coming up again(if they do), just move the seedlings somewhere where they get more sun. I would like to have the blooms because they are so pretty, but I will have to move the seedlings, going to put more MG where the lattice is, they are blooming quite well, even in the shade. What is your opinion?

it's close...

The Cosmos won't come back. They're annuals. I would leave them until the weather kills them. You never know. And I would also watch for seeds to form from the flowers you DID get. When they turn black and start to flare out, you can harvest them for next year in a sunnier place.

thanks kwanjin, here is a picture for you. As you can see right above the one that has bloomed, there are two more starting to split. They are so pretty,and I don't think it too nearly as long to bloom as the first one did, or maybe I have more patience with them.

I never noticed the stripes on the pods on this Rose of Sharon, but they are trying their best to bloom too, I hope they can, but it is getting to be awfully chilly at night, I have not watered them because they got rain last night. I tried to get some good pictures of the buds and it seems like I said before they are not taking as long as they used to to bloom, or maybe it is me. I am not going to have Cosmos next spring, I don't have enough space where they can get more sun, so I am going to stick to Rose of Sharon, Naked Ladies, Sedum, and Morning Glories and see what happens. I also have a few Tiger Lilies in the back yard, I don't know if they will grow or not, got some Miracle-Gro Potting Soil so I can put it around things if I need to.

Since it has gotten cooler(40's at night and 70's or less during the day), should I stop watering my plants? And should I take my Geraniums in for the winter? I have a small Morning Glory, would it be wise to dig it up and put it in the house, I have a small flower pot that it will fit in. What do you think?

If it's not raining, plants will still need water even if it's cold (and 70 during the day really isn't cold). They won't need to be watered as often as when it's 90 degrees out, but you'll still need to water them. As far as bringing things in for the winter, 40's at night should still be OK but as it starts to get into the 30's I'd definitely bring them in and definitely by the time you get frost they definitely need to be inside.

thanks ecrane3. What about my little Morning Glory?

Same for it if you want to dig it up and bring it in. I've never tried to overwinter one indoors so I don't know how they do, but if you leave it outside it'll die for sure over the winter so there's no harm in trying. Just make sure you use potting mix in the pot not the garden soil you dig up with it--garden soil doesn't drain well enough to use in pots.

thank you ecrane3, thank goodness I have that bag of potting soil my friend gave me.

You won't believe this, I was out looking at my Cosmos and I pulled one up because it was broke and was looking at the others and this is what I found! Here are a couple more pics of them, yep, those are buds at the top of the RATHER LARGE plants!!!!

here is another one, excuse the blue nail polish, I had to bend the plant down a little to get the pic.

last one, I can't believe they are actually getting ready to bloom this late, them and my Rose of Sharon are both blooming later, have you got any idea why? Not complaining, just hope they will bloom before frost.

Weather & growing conditions can affect blooming, and so can the time when you started your seeds or planted your plants. If you started your cosmos seeds a little on the late side or if they're getting a little more shade than ideal, that could make them a little late to bloom. And I seem to remember that at least some of your rose of sharon plants were ones you got from your neighbor and transplanted this year, so they likely took some time to get their roots established before they decided it was time to bloom.

The Rose of Sharon is the one I have had for 2 years, the Cosmos is getting more shade than they are supposed to, that is why I did not think they were going to bloom at all. It is a good thing I checked before pulling them up,and they did get more rain when we had a thunderstorm yesterday. I guess it all comes down to patience, it always comes down to that. I just ignored them and stopped obsessing about them and look what happened, I guess I was over-caring too much, they pretty much care for themselves. So when I stopped trying to grow them and let them go, this is the result. According to the package I wrote on it that I planted them on March 21,2011, but like you said weather and growing conditions affected them. And of course the shade did not help. But I hope they bloom before the frost kills them, does anyone know when the first frost date is?

Here is a link for average frost dates in Ohio.

http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/oh.html

If I am not wrong there are 3 buds on this one plant, I did not know that there could be more than one bud on one plant. Would it be a good idea to put a thin layer of potting soil around the Irises, Morning Glories, 2 Naked Ladies, and Cosmos plants? I think I am going to put a wire that goes from one side of the lattice to the other and that will help the plants to stay upright and not fall over when they bloom, if they bloom. It has been raining and it is supposed to rain for the next few days will that delay the blooming? Any advice or suggestions would be helpful from the expert folks here on this wonderful page.

another of my Cosmos plants have broken in half, should I just pull it up or try to anchor it to the lattice?

My hubby brought me some nylon string which is very tough, so I went out and tied it to one end of the lattice and tied the other end to the lattice on the far side, I picked up the broken plant and tied it up too, I thought the rain would delay the blooming, but while I was out there, it looked like the one bud was getting bigger, so maybe they like the rain.

This plant broke but did not break all the way, so I leaned it against some of the others in hopes that it won't die.

This is my tied back plants, I did not tie them real tight because they need room to move. I even tied the really tall one that is taller than I am, I even think it is getting ready to have a bud. Don't know yet, but how do you think I did, it won't hurt the plants and it will help support them, let me know if you think I did a good thing or a bad thing.

Did I upset my friends here? I usually get some response to my pics, but nothing. Please tell me what I did or said that was wrong, I like the advice that I get from the experts here, they have helped me a great deal.

I just checked my Naked Lady that I dug up and replanted with Miracle-Gro potting soil has greenery on it, is that normal? I took a picture to show what I mean, it looks like it might be trying to grow, I thought they went into dormancy when the blooms faded. Help me, I am very confused. Should I cover the top more.