spring 2012 flowers

thanks themoonhowl, I didn't buy it but I would love to have it year after year if that is possible.

My Rose of Sharon bushes are getting greenery on them, remember the ones I told you that a friend gave me that looked dead? Well, I went out and checked, the one has greenery on it but the other one don't, maybe it just has to get going, hopefully they all will have leaves on them this year.

Sounds like things are beginning to take off there. Remember to give plants a chance to revive from the winter before you worry overmuch. It takes some plants longer than others to wake up and break dormancy. Most of all, take time to enjoy each plant as they return. That is the reward for patience.


Happy Spring
Moon

thank you themoonhowl, it is really greening up around here, and it is warm too.

My mums bloomed last fall, then died back only to grow leaves in spring. Was it the sun? The leaves were up, and the flowers shriveled. I am not sure of the cause. My Verbenas are blooming now, the evergreen kind with purple blooms. I want to post a photo of my tulip lily later.

Photos. Two of the tulip and one of My blooming arugala.

I don't know about CA, but here mums only bloom in the fall they are not everblooming, so in the spring there will just be leaves and no flowers

Same thing happens in CA, they are fall bloomers here too.

We are lucky here, The mums bloom in March/April, I cut them back some and they bloom again in October/November up til first frost.

This orange/bronze and yellow striped "daisy" type mum and the Clara Curtis Daisy Mum are both going strong now

As you can see, things are really growing good here, 1. Tiger Lilies,2.Mystery plant,3.Sedum,4.Naked Lady plant, I LOVE this multiple picture feature, when should I plant my Morning Glory outside?

You need to start gradually moving the MG toward the sun...bright light outside for a couple days, early morning sun for a couple days and then gradually over two or three days into full sun. If the night time temps are consistently above 40 degrees, you can leave the MG outside overnight. So, in 10days to 2 weeks it should be ready for a sunny spot in the garden.

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/news/news.cfm?newsid=5580

thanks themoonhowl.

You are welcome....check out this Iris and Clara Curtis daisy Chrysanthemum that are blooming now.

Is it safe to start bringing my amaryllis outside? The leaves are very long and only get 2-3 hours of direct sun a day due to my house's location.

Which amaryllis do you have? There are a number of different things that go by the common name amaryllis but I think most of them are hardy in zone 8 so you probably could have left them outdoors year round and they would have been fine. If it's been indoors though you'll need to harden it off to outdoor light/temperatures (expose it a little more each day to both colder temps and higher light levels) but you could certainly start that process now.

I believe it is the 'Susan' Amaryllis. I am not sure because it is more red than pink.

You aint gonna believe this, I just took my geraniums out of where they spent the winter and they are growing on the tips of the dead ones! They are white and have small white flowers on the tops of them, here are some pictures of them, what do I do now?

Teddy, those are not flowers. Those are new leaves that have no Chlorophyll. If you give it some light, they will turn green. Do not put it in direct sun, but place it outside in the shade. The leaves manufacture chlorophyll from exposure to sunlight. They will start greening up even in the shade. each day, move the plant a little bit closer to brighter light over the next week. You should have green leaves in just a few days.

Thank you themoonhowl, that was great to hear, I did not want to have to throw it away. Those are the flowers from my dad's funeral and they are in a pot so I can enjoy them year after year. That is the way they were ordered from the florist. I may have to wait a couple of days before I put them outside, it is not supposed to be real warm until at least Tuesday, tomorrow it is supposed to be in just the 50's, the low 50's, and sunny, is that ok or should I wait until Tuesday when it is supposed to be in the 60's, which do you think? And do I take anything that looks dead off? There are dead leaves, should I get rid of them or just leave them alone?

You can move it out in the day time...today...just keep it in the shade. Wait til it starts greening up before you cut any dead off...that way you don't accidentally cut away ant new growth. It can stay out as long as the night temperatures stay above about 42 degrees. Ortherwise bring it in at night and back out in the morning.

The one naked lady bulb that had its leaves in the winter is starting to make leaves again! Is that normal? I went out and looked and there is a little green leaf starting to emerge from it, and the other ones are doing good too. I thought they only made leaves once and then bloomed in a couple of months, maybe it got confused because I planted it in the ground and this screwy weather has it more mixed up.

It may be a bloom spike starting to come up...when they first start pushing up from the center of the bulb, they look like leaves...after a few days they start looking like a bloom spike.

yea!!!!!

been outside doing the one thing about gardening that is not my favorite, weeding and trimming, got a new pair of grass trimmers to get close to the plants and gave it a workout. Although I pooped out before I got to the Sedum row, it was the most workout that I have had in a while :)! It does look better, do you remember when I told you about the Rose of Sharon plants that my friend gave me? I had 3, two of them have greenery on them, the one around back did not do anything, it had no greenery on it and so I left it, well, today the neighbor who normally mows the grass did not notice it and cut it down to the root, so I pulled it up and it did not have any roots on it at all, so I just threw it away, at least the other two are doing well. Going to have a well deserved cup of coffee and rest, I think I deserve it even if no one else does, Hoppy Easter everyone!

These are the things that the Geraniums are in under the dirt, as you can tell they are starting to come out, should I do anything to them like transfer them to another pot that has more potting soil in it, or what should I do? It is getting more greenery on it so I know it is still healthy, I just don't want to screw it up, it got quite a bit of sunshine and fresh air today and I cleaned out all the dead needles from the soil and found some more green. But I don't know if I should cut the long leaves from the fern that is in there, I am not sure what or why it is in there but they are there.

I have got 3 of my Morning Glory seeds soaking to put in a pot to get them started for this summer. They are the red ones that I grew on the trellis, and I wanted to see if the starts would work better than the seeds. Going to go around the yard and see where I can put them that they would be in the full sun, I will have to put something around them so the neighbor won't mow them down. I was thinking of putting bricks around the Irises and the Sedum and I think there is enough to go all the way down and also around the Morning Glories at the back fence. They will like climbing the fence, it will make that unsightly fence look pretty. I had some wood pieces gave to me but they are falling apart and I don't think they will work. Wish me luck! So that is why I am going to put bricks around them.

Teddy, instead of using pots for your seeds, use biodegradable containers like paper towel and toilet paper rolls. You can cut them to the right depth and put them directly in the ground when the seedling is ready. that way you don't disturb the new roots when you transplant them.

http://www.rd.com/home/gardening-secrets-for-starting-seeds/

I planted 3 of my red mg seeds yesterday and have the flourescent light on them because of course still too cold for them to be in the ground. My other plants got a good drink this morning, we had several storms pass through and gave them some water, I went to the page you posted themoonhowl and put them in one of the margarine tubs that had the naked lady plants in. So here is hoping that they decide to grow for me.

should I put a baggie over the tub to simulate a greenhouse or not?

It wouldn't hurt to do so, just make sure things don't get too wet. Glad the link helped you.

Would Morning glories grow where we dumped our ashes from the pellet stove? I would like them to go up the tree in front and would like to know if it would be worth the trouble.

MG's need full sun so getting them to grow up a tree is an unlikely thing...they automatically grow towards the light. The ashes probably wouldn't be a good medium for them anyway.


Have a Happy Easter, Teddy.

My neighbor gave me this rose, I hope it won't be hard to grow.

Peace should be relatively easy. Here is some info on how to care for it.

http://gardening.about.com/od/rose1/a/HybridTeas.htm

These are my neighbor's Irises, I think they are blooming a little early, don't you? I guess it don't really matter, they are still beautiful.

I think my Geraniums are dying, the one that had the greenery on it is turning black and the others don't even have green on them. I scraped them a little on the stem and it was brown and no green, what should I do? I was thinking of taking them out of the pot and putting the rose in it instead. That way I could move the pot where the rose will get the most sun. The only thing that has green on it is the ferns that were in the pot with the Geraniums. So what should I do?

Have they been outside during a frost? Could be cold damage. Otherwise if they've been indoors then black most likely means too much water. If they were outside and got cold damaged I'd leave them alone for a bit and see if they come back, frost often damages leaves without killing the plant.

went ahead and planted the rose, will let you know of progress.

After a couple or so weeks, once it has settled in, you can fertilize it and it should do well for you.

how long after it has settled in will I see new growth? Does it need to get good root growth before the new leaves come on?