Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream
Ooh, I like this one!
Just had my first flower on Tangerine Dream and its beautiful. This baby doesn't need a year or two to get started. I know these are not the right kind of leaves but this flower is actually sticking his neck out to get some sun because my tomato vine got bigger than expected. :/
I just bought this one a few days ago! It's got one little bloom that opened up right in the middle of the plant at the bottom, just on top of the dirt in the pot! I can't wait to see some more blooms on top where they should be! Have any of you grown it from seed? I was thinking of collecting the seeds and seeing if I could get them to grow. I know they might not come true from seed, but it would be fun to try! I never have luck growing things from seed, but I've heard that Coneflower is easy to grow.
Natalie
That's right ! It might not be true from seed, but it would be good practice and fun to grow. I Bet they would be pretty anyway.
I have some purple coneflower too, but I don't know the exact name. I'll have to check. I think they are beautiful, and wouldn't mind a strange hybrid of some sort!
I've never collected the seeds before. I have always dead-headed them right away because I didn't want them to reseed. Now I need to know how to collect the seeds on the purple ones because I love them and want more. Is it obvious when they are ready? I've got a few that I haven't cut off, but I'm not sure when to harvest the seeds. Can anyone give me some advice?
Thanks, Natalie
Last year after the flower withered I cut it off and inside the center of the flower is nothing but seeds. Just deadhead into bag and even from one flower you will have about fifty! Just get them before the birds do, haha. :)
Thanks virginiarose. Was the outside dead looking, where the petals were? I don't want to cut one off too soon, and I know it's a race with the birds! I had one last year that I missed and it was super brown and dry, but all I ended up getting was poked!
Natalie
The flower was very dead, the birds have not noticed it yet. Probably because I still have a feeder out, they are not used to working for seeds. :(
Anyway, these little pointed things are the seeds. I had grabbed the flower head from the side and it just fell apart and I was amazed at all the seeds.
The purple coneflower will multiply by itself !! I had one flower on mine last year and this year there are 50 flowers !!
If you are worried about the birds getting it then just go ahead and cut it off. You can stick it in an envelope and it will dry out.
This is the purple coneflower, second year.
Go to guides and information and click search plants and put this in 'Eastern Purple Coneflower' You will see pictures of the seed heads and how big they are. Be sure to put the commas at the top. These are the plain 'eastern purple coneflower' , not pink poodle or magnus or anything.
Thanks virginiarose, I'll take a look at that. I just checked the tag on mine, and it's Prairie Splendor. The tag calls it a deep rose, but I always think of it as purple. Now that I've seen the tag, it looks way more deep rose than purple!
The color isn't really this light in person.
Natalie
WOW, pretty!
I did look up the seed collecting thing and it said to wait for the seeds to dry on the plant. I guess you could tie a bag around them but you see how big mine got in one year and you can dig it up and divide the root ball. My root ball is so big I am sure I will get four new plants for next year!
Mine haven't grown as fast as I expected, but this year the plants are huge! We had a super wet spring, and I think that helped. I can't wait to try them from seed! I keep hearing that they reseed bad, so I've been really good about cutting off the spent blooms. Now I can't wait for them to go to seed so that I can plant them in other spots. I think that this one would look so nice next to Tangerine Dream! The nursery that I got Tangerine Dream from had a few others that I hadn't seen before. I think I need to go shopping!
Natalie
I hear you ! I got five new plants this past spring and all did pretty good except 'Big sky sundown' he seems to be getting off to a bad start but I heard the some take a couple of years to get going good. The ones that are doing good are 'Pow Wow berry 'and 'Pow Wow White' ,' Tangerine Dream',' Red Knee High' and 'Maui Sunshine.''
The picture is 'Maui Sunshine' the petal's are not as full as it should be, but I really think it will be a stunner next year! :)
Red Knee High was not really red, it was a bright purple, similar to the Pow Wow Berry but the color faded quickly and I was a little disappointed, but we'll see.
I can't remember the names of the ones that the local garden center had for sale, but I'll keep these in mind if they have them.
I think Maui Sunshine looks good with skinny petals! Some of my Prairie Splendor looks like that when it first opens, and I think it's cute! It's kind of a tease, telling me to hang in there because it will get better! It always gets better! I may have to pick up another Tangerine Dream too, because it's beautiful! Especially after seeing to picture here!
Natalie
Look at the thread above 'Tangerine Dream' it's called 'Now Cheesier' and wow !! That's going to be my next coneflower !!
virginiarose, I decided to go back to the nursery that I got Tangerine Dream from, to see what else they had, and I picked up Tomato Soup and Amazing Dream! It was a terrible temptation to get more Tangerine Dream, but I'm totally out of room! Hopefully the two I got have nice blooms!
Natalie
Tomato Soup is beautiful but I heard it is slow getting started. It's good you will get him in the ground this year and maybe by next year you will have some really nice flowers. I also have Amazing Dream on order with yahoo co-op.Besides that I have daydream, Phoenix, Secret Joy , and Secret Passion. These are just liners but hopefully next year they will have some roots and do well.
Yahoo co=op.... tell me more!
OK, I got this information from a man named Frankjim on the Hosta forum and his instructions were First you need a yahoo email address to join a yahoo group. Once you have that then do a search on the internet for "BnP Co-op Buying yahoo group", that will give you a link to the group. Once at the group you can request to join the group. If you are not signed into yahoo it will ask you to sign in before it will let you request to join the group. Once your join request is approved you are in. Look in the files section for the rules, contact information, list of running co-ops, etc.perfect and I did join and ordered hostas. You can see the Hostas on my thread called 'Mail order experiences' under the hosta forum. Here is Copy of the instructions, let me know when you get in and I will tell you what you need to know about setting up your file.
First you need a yahoo email address to join a yahoo group. Once you have that then do a search on the internet for "BnP Co-op Buying yahoo group", that will give you a link to the group. Once at the group you can request to join the group. If you are not signed into yahoo it will ask you to sign in before it will let you request to join the group. Once your join request is approved you are in. Look in the files section for the rules, contact information, list of running co-ops, etc.
virginiarose, thanks for letting me know about Tomato Soup. I almost passed it up, but they had a really nice plant with lots of buds, so I took a chance on it. After my experience with Prairie Splendor, I realize that they do take time to get settled in and do their thing!
I had a plant in the garden that I couldn't remember planting, and was surprised when it started to open a few days ago, and it's a white coneflower! I remember now that I bought it last fall without a tag on it, and it was a beauty! I'm glad it is starting to bloom, because I would have forgotten all about buying it! I thought it was something that had reseeded!
Natalie
Well Natalie, I was just on the 'Now Cheesier' thread and this person was explaining why so many of these plants do not make it past the first year or die after they bloom, its because of the single stalk. They are weaker than the multiple stem and will not make it through the winter. If you have any single stalk like I do then please remember to deadhead or prune them so they will branch out at the bottom, it could save the plant!! I love 'Tomato Soup' the flowers are huge and red , great addition to any perennial bed !!
virginiarose, I saw that too, and then forgot to ask if there was a "fix" for the problem! Thanks so much for letting me know! When I was looking at the plant at the nursery, I did notice that it had single stalks, but only because I had read something on that other thread about it! Normally, I wouldn't have noticed that. I decided to get it anyway and take a chance. I will take your advice and deadhead and prune! I want it to survive! I'm also a big fan of mulching, so I'll be sure to give it some extra mulch this fall. I've got a couple of other plants listed as "tender perennial" in my zone, and with extra mulch they've made it through the winter okay. I actually did a test - mulched one a ton, and not the other, and the one without the extra mulch didn't make it. I learned my lesson!
Natalie
I hear you ! Lesson learned. :) I will do the same.
I have tried to deadhead to keep a single stem mac n cheese alive last year and it only added more leaves along the stem by the end of the year instead of the base... then didn't make it to the next year. I had other mac n cheese that have good basal branching and they survived.
So i just now try to avoid them at the stores
Nevermore, you are smarter than I am by avoiding them! I wish I had that kind of strength!
Natalie
Well, I was reading a lot about coneflowers and I posted on the other thread, that there might be a problem with the PH in our soil and maybe we need to get it tested. I read that one coneflower would die if the PH was low. That would explain why some coneflowers do well in one yard and die in another. You have different things around that will raise or lower the PH in your soil. I am going to take a sample to the cooperative extension. Also you can have your soil tested at any nursery. I just happen to live three blocks away from the Va. Cooperative Extension. They diagnosed a tree problem last month and its all free. If you don't feel like changing your PH just buy coneflowers that like your conditions. It's listed on the plantfiles, what kind of PH they need.
Adjusting The pH
When the pH is less than 7.0, you will need to raise it. The soil pH can be raised by adding lime to the soil. When the pH is more than 7.0, you will need to lower it. The soil pH can be lowered by adding sulfur (gypsum, cottonseed meal) to the soil. Regardless of what you are adding to the soil, use a lawn spreader to apply the material evenly. If you have to adjust by more than a full number, do it over a couple of applications. The exception to this is if you have a new lawn, you can till the proper amount of material into the soil before seeding or sodding. Note that lime takes time to act, so don't expect results for the a few months.
Read more: How to change the pH of your soil | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2203203_change-ph-soil.html#ixzz1TOk...