FIRST FLOWERS OF LATE SUMMER 2015

I have what I THINK is a BB salvia, spreads well, in its warm bed (at least 8). Coleup gave me a small plant, by the following spring it had run along the wall a couple feet. And it has tubers. I took a bunch up this spring, which is when I discovered the tubers, moved them to a regular bed, where it wasn't happy, and the original patch has refilled.

HaHa Sally, it was a B&B salvia when I gave it to you!

Ok,super, I wasn't sure!!!! You've told me before. The tubers were a big surprise!

Well we'll see if mine survives. I doubt it but maybe we'll have a warm winter. Where the one plant is might be warmer and I throw a couple inches of shredded leaves over that bed in the fall so maybe that will help it. If not, no biggie.

When does BB salvia bloom for your all?

I got the pineapple sage partly for the hummers, but it's pretty much useless if it waits until November to bloom!

omg, ssg, my BB Salvia blooms ALL summer long, and still blooming.
Salvia farinaea blooms all summer too, and can be hardy.

Yeah my BB is still blooming. This is the first year I ever had one. You guys are always talking about it so I bought a couple for myself. It's a decent plant.

Oh, goodness.

I really need to get a BB salvia next year! Especially since a crocosmia (supposedly a hummingbird magnet) has corms/roots that are irresistible to the voles. Mine were gobbled up this year.

I missed it - what is the BB acronym for the BB salvia that you guys are raving about?

Black and Blue

So that's what keeps happening to the crocosmia I plant! I thought I just wasn't getting them into good spots or something. I do have voles out there.

First time I had a B&B Salvia (3 yrs. ago) it did come back the following summer--late!
BUT--I had put a plastic garden fencing around it and had filled it half way with dried leaves.

The next year--it did not come back. I struggle the same way with my Cardinal Flower.
They DO seem to come back--but it takes forever. Usually my neighbor has a bunch
of overwintered new tiny clumps of it for me.

End of this summer I bought all those annuals and perennials for $1 and $2 at
Md. Flower and Foliage. Got 3 B&B and they were considered annuals by them,
so I only paid $1. They are still in bloom. Hope they will make it through the winter.

My two Purple Cone Flowers I got ($2) are still blooming . The two white Cone Flowers
I got at my HD on clearance ($3) shriveled up in no time. So much for that!
Just another example why I DO NOT buy too many plants at my HD.

Jill--
My two Crocosmias bloomed this summer for the 1st time having skipped
a year since I planted the bulbs. Hoping they will multiply and have a
better bloom cluster this coming summer. They were over 3' tall!

I do not know if I have voles....can't say I havenot seen any obvious damage on plants.
Maybe I should sprinkle some mouse bait in that area ???

Here are some of my "die hards'...

1--B&B Salvia and lLantana in corner of my YUK bed

2--B&B in the AC bed

3--Purple Cone Flower still blooming away. SO glad to have these!

4--My two brugs--still hauling away with the blooms.

5--My small, white, late-blooming Mum. I LOVE, LOVE this one. Cuttings root easily.

This message was edited Nov 2, 2015 4:23 PM

Some more---

1--The remaining, bottom half of my GIANT Amaranth that broke in half
in the wind storm. These remaining bloom clusters are doing well.

2--Dr. Seuss Brug--last week.

3--Self-seeded "Lady in Red Salvia" still blooming.

4--Last Rose of summer--"Proud Land"

5--Here is my baby "Beef Steak Begonia" which has "evolved" OK from a "preemie"
stage of almost nothing. It is on it's way. By the Seed Swap--it will be big enough
to gift it to someone.

I love those self seeded salvias. They pop up anywhere they please. I sowed those seeds you gave me directly in the bed so I'm sure I'll have them next year too. Much to my surprise, I had pink and a red salvia volunteers this season. It took them a while to come up; perhaps July. Once they did though, they took off and have all bloomed successfully, even the ones that volunteered in less than ideal situations.

Lovely rose, Gita. I'm surprised mine are still blooming, as well.

This time of the year is when my backyard gets the most shadow. The sun is low in the sky but the large shade trees in my neighborhood still have most of their leaves. It's great for picture taking!

1 Citrus, still outside and ripening. I got a bad infestation of mites/ scales last winter so I'm going to keep these outside as long as possible.

2 Ninebark. Gorgeous color for 3 seasons and then lovely bark in the winter.

3 Crape myrtle having a wonderful fall season.

4 Knock out rose still blooming.

5 Does anyone know what this is? Are the blooms going to open up any more?

This message was edited Nov 3, 2015 11:45 AM

Nice Crape! Our KO rose hasn't been KO'd yet either ;-) and are still blooming nice.

Gita, you gave me a small start of your white mum a couple years ago, it has increased in size each year, pretty good size now. I really need to put some supports around it, it flops over because it has so many blooms.

Robin--I have one clump of these little Mums--and it is all flopped also.

Try pinching the tops off in early summer to keep it bushier.
PLEASE do not throw the pinched off tops away. Stick them somewhere else.
They root easily. You can stick them right in another bed.
I love this little Mum! Always blooms late when all others are done.

I have a few more bloomers to show you--they are just loving this cooler,
yet warm, weather.

1--Marigolds! These taller ones just have not stopped blooming yet.
I have pulled many of them up so I could clean out the bed. This one is
right under my KO Rose bush.

2--BES Vine--finally blooming to some degree. It is climbing my shed roof.

3--A close-up of this pretty little bloomer....

4-My Trop. MW in the big pot. One of the taller stems is starting to bloom-again.

5--The many cuttings I took of the tropical MW doing nicely under my lights.
Every one of them has put out new growths. I could take a few more???
The plants are not even close to dying yet... Again--the white stuff is cracked egg-shells
to discourage Gnats from going into the soil.

all looks good.
I have plenty of tropical MW for myself.

Pretty!!

My tropical milkweed was too beat up for cuttings or even for feeding monarchs... but I have seeds for starting more... will get some going under lights this year for an earlier start. I bet those cuttings will do great -- in fact, you may be taking cuttings of cuttings by March!

WHAT or WHO beat up your MW?

I now have 16 cuttings growing. Plenty to share by Seed swap. They all are growing.

If I have to separate and re-pot each cutting--I have NO idea where i will put them.

I always do this to myself...G.

Gita, I'll happily take some cuttings off your hands at the seed party. I often end up with more cuttings or seedlings than intended, but they usually find homes... love our swaps for that!

My MW got some sort of fungus, didn't quite look like powdery mildew, leaves got all yellow and splotchy. We did have a lot of rain, so that was probably a factor. I hope the hardy ones come back, but I'll be winter sowing more, anyway.

Jill, this effected some of my swamp Milkweed this year. Advise is to cut stems as near to ground as possible and to cleanup and remove all debris and dispose of as spores rest on soil and splash up on plant. Spores also airborne but good sun and air circulation is a deterrent. I am removing top layer of soil or laying down fresh mulch. Upon emergence late spring I will cut back any affected stems so new growth can be free of same. Makes the leaves (IMHO) unusable for caterpillar feeding.

http://www.mymonarchguide.com/2007/08/milkweed-leaf-problems.html

yes, that sounds like my Swamp Milkweed this year too. Thanks for the remedy advice, coleup.

Evidently Milkweed is suseptable to Cucumber Mosaic Virus which is that mottled look with leaves yellowish with darker veining.

I suppose as more people use milkweed in their gardens that there will be a burgeoning of how to successfully cultivate this 'weed' of the family Aesclepias, The Healer!

Very few blooms left.

Euphorbia Diamond Frost.

Confused Daffodil leaves.

Coleus refused to die so I had to pull it up.

Bell flower. Campanula 'Elizabeth' from David. Everything I've read says it blooms in the summer or early spring.

Such a pretty camellia. If this one dies, I'm not ever getting another one. Or so she says ...

So she says..haha I have not tried Camellia yet.
we still haven't seen total frost here either.

National arboretum has Fatsia japonica growing and blooming by the Bonsai areas, a bit protected by buildings and trees but still, I wonder if it is fully hardy there/ here?

Nicotiana Only the Lonely is still blooming though frost wilted most of the Salvia and marigolds nearby.

That Camellia is so pretty! Is there some way you can protect it during the winter?

there are some little pansies just starting to bloom in my front yard- other than that, the most colorful item is the stack of bagged mulch which looks like it will be there till Thursday at least.

Ha ha Sally! I had about 5 bags of mulch until yesterday, when I finally had time and decided the mulch would probably work better if I cut open the bags and spread it around plants ; - )

Yes I'm thinking about protecting this camellia this winter. I think the others died because they were in poor soil.

SS--Did you take some cuttings of the "Inky Fingers" Coleus? Hope so!

I have never seen this one for sale anywhere around here. It is unique and pretty.

Go get some cuttings from what you pulled up! They root very easily.
All you need is a couple to have a 'ground cover' of them by end of summer...
I have a 6" pot of these cuttings just so I don;t lose them.

G.

Sally, could you please catch some seeds from your Nicotiana if you get a chance? I grew that one from your seeds once before and loved it, thought it might reseed but it didn't, and the following year I direct sowed the remaining seeds and I guess they got eaten. So... no seeds in my stash, but your post reminded me that I'd like to try it again!

I seem to remember 'Only the Lonely' has a lovely scent.. and I also like to have a patch of Nicotiana as a place to move any tomato hornworms I might find... I love hummingbird moths but am not willing to sacrifice tomato plants to them, LOL.

I'd think about trying a spray of "Wilt-Pruf" on camelias, japanese hollies, any other "evergreen" that might be temperamental about hardiness... sometimes it's the winter wind that's a problem.

sure, critter; it makes millions of dust-like seeds, and I seem to have a few new plants each year, somewhere in the yard.

Thanks! A pinch should do me. My initial pack from you was so generous that I shared it with a bunch of other folks.. :-)

lol, like I said- millions!

Gita, I have never been able to keep coleus cuttings alive, so I've stopped trying. One less thing to worry about!

Critter, Wilt-Pruf is a good idea for this camellia.