Pirl--you're a riot..;0)
Secret Summer/Spring Plants That We Got
:-)
I'm in heaven!
Pat, here's a photo of that campanula I sent you.
Amy, I haven't even had time to look at the wish list! But don't tell me yet. I want to try figuring it out myself. I've just been on the run all week. The Siberians sound dreamy. I'm thinking they'll be great in my veggie filter attached to the pond.
Hoping I can slow down a bit this weekend.
Is that one Campanula Chettle Charm?
Just a note to say thank you again for the wonderful box Kim and to Carmen for hosting this trade. It was a lot of fun! I am doing okay so far, got two more days of treatment. The worst part of the treatment so far is a terrible headache, and random sharp pains, but hopefully this will work! Thanks for the prayers all!
JanetS
Wow! I opened my secret plant trade box today and almost fell over. Packed ever so neatly among dried flower petals (rose, larkspur) were 15 kinds of plants! They are going to fit in nicely since I have a red & yellow themed bed, and a purple/blue/white themed bed. Here's what was in the box:
double white brug cutting
purple/white IB iris
red spider daylily
cerinthe
nigella
lily of the valley
red yarrow
schizanthus
flax lily
toad lily
dark red dianthus
peruvian daffodil (3)
blue ensign morning glory bush
purple foxglove (3)
blue&violet canterbury bells (2)
My secret trade came from sevensisters (Tatyana) in California, and even with the cross-country journey everything came out of the box fresh and green. Even the packaging is lovely and smells wonderful. Best of all, today was my day off and about 75 degrees (has been in the 90's for over a week) so guess how I spent the day? :) All in all, a great day. Thank you Tatyana for giving so generously from your gardens, I really love all the plants.
Eileen
I'm pretty sure it's Campanula takesima, but don't know the cultivar. LOL I don't even remember planting it! I may have had it for years. This is a little odd, but this year I have several plants in the garden that I cannot identify, and cannot remember planting, including a rose that I swear I've never seen before. Either I'm going a bit batty, or last summer passed in more of a daze than I remember.
Aha: the old "What on earth is that?" syndrome. I have it, too.
So glad I'm not alone! Maybe it's just a large 'estrogen moment' LOL. I seem to have plenty of those.
I tried the "yard glove" sample Mudgirl sent me and it works great! I can't believe how clean and soft my hands were even after doing planting! DH says they make some of this for plumbers, but I'm not sure if it is exactly the same stuff. If so, it may be cheaper to buy since it will come in large containers.
Okay, now I am going back to the wish list to work my puzzle~
Amy - here are my guesses! I've narrowed it down on one of them, but the other one I think is Prairie smoke? Is the other one Echinacea 'Ruby Star'?
This message was edited Jul 2, 2005 11:49 AM
Gee whiz! My eggs were scrambled a long time ago so I can only blame myself for not walking around with the recorder going when I finish the planting for the day so I can mark my plans.
MORE PLANTS from DARMADOLL!
Got two more plants from Colleen via a CA nursery--hummingbird sage and lion's mane. Very healthy and well established (in pots of soil no less!)
Well, in case i didn't already feel doted on, i guess now it is official!!!
I hope someday I get to meet my fairy godmother : )
Eileen, glad everything met w/your approval! you probably learned by now there were many foxgloves in your pkg--they should go 1.5' apart so if you don'y have room for all give some away! thought they might be good for your part-shade sections. planted em in the fall so there's a chance they could bloom this year. keeping my fingers crossed that everything survives your zone...I'm sure the peruvian daffodil will need digging (if you are so inclined).
LuLuLocks, thank you for your wonderful trade. I have been trying to get some sedums for a few dry areas that have a western exposure and the plants you sent will do the trick. Sorry about being delayed in shipping. How funny that we both found something to trade and I grow tropicals and subtropicals and you live in RI. I have one small area that is dry and the rest of the yard gets watered 2 times a day for my tropicals. Hope you can use the indoor plants I sent.
I received 2 boxes from MississippiSkie........filled w/ a variety of plants. Thanks! Now I need some help! I've sent her an e-mail looking for more info on them. I can ID a few of them...but some I think might be houseplants...........so I am stumped w/ most of them for now. More details later I hope!
Pixy~
Geum Triflorum - prairie smoke, yes!
The other is not an echinacea...........let's see, it had already bloomed...so I cut off it tall thin bloom stalks--some flowers were white, others - rose. Several of the basal leaves were trashed, so I took those off too. Does this help any? If you want THE NAME......just let me know. It likes sun.........
Yea! Prairie Smoke! I've wanted to try this plant for a long time!
LOL, well 50% isn't bad! Good thing it wasn't a test! Better give me the name so I can get it planted in the right place! I think the leaves were what had me stumped because I had it narrowed down to three, but now I can't find my list with notes. Probably in the greenhouse.
Pixy~Verbascum "Southern Charm" is your last mystery.
Now for the Prairie Smoke--I noticed that Plantfiles only lists it hearty to zone5.....normally I would not have sent something outside your zone...but you had it on your list so I figured you had a plan for it. Hope it lasts for you, such a charming plant - always makes me grin. As a spring bloomer, probably only second to the pasque flower with their goofy Seuss-like seed heads. It is possible, possible that the one I sent you could bloom white--I have white and purple together--just many more purple than white. Do you have red by way? I added them last year........really a treat.
OK--here's the list from my Secret Trader, MississippiSkies:
Foxglove, light lilac color
Oxalysis
Purple verbena
Calla lily---think I sent a white one
Miniature gardenia
Butterfly Weed
lantana - yellow & fuschia blooms
yellow iris
A small "century" plant---cactus of some sort (aloe?)
Small hosta
ivy looking plant is a shade plant that is glossy & looks like fatsia
blue mantle vine--perennial thunbergia with cobalt blue flowers
Wow!
They all sound great!!
How might I become a "swapper"? I am new to D.G.. So all of this seems new to me. I would LOVE to swap with a friend but do not to whom I could be matched nor what would be the theme for the plants. I read where there was just an iris swap, then saw a day lily swap, I think. It sounds like so much fun and a way to get new plants in your garden. Will appreciate any and all answers.
seedy1 (Shirley)
Yea! Verbascum 'Southern Charm'! I know just where it needs to go!
The Prairie Smoke will have no problem here. Zone 8 is actually warmer than zone 5. We get below freezing only rarely, and then not for very long. It should do fine as long as I don't overwater it!
I don't have any color at all, didn't even realize that it came in purple and white! The only ones I've seen are a pinkish color. Maybe that's the red? I just like them because of the Dr. Seuss looking 'hair'! LOL We both thought the same thing about them. They remind me of Thing 1 and Thing 2 from the Cat in the Hat!.
Shirley, if you check the plant trading forum or the seed trading forum, you'll see a link to the Trading Primer at the top of the page. That will give you a general idea of what trading is about. There is also a round robin forum.
Swaps like this one are generally announced with a deadline for signing up. Just keep your eyes open and jump into the next one that appeals to you!
Although I didn't participate in this secret swap, I've had a ball doing seed trades and a few plant trades since signing up in January! Please feel free to Dmail me if there's anything I can help you with to get started. Maybe we can put together a trade of our own!
BTW, it's been great fun following this thread and reading of everyone's delight with their surprise boxes of plants!
I agree that it's been fun and informative, too. There were so many plants that I ended up looking up, just because of it. I loved it, and Carmen (pins), of course for hosting it!
Pixy~I meant the Pasque flowers.....when I said it might bloom white...and the comment about the red too---whoops, didn't mean to be confusing..sometimes it just happens to me naturally!
I'd love to know how the Prairie Smoke does for you--maybe it is one of those plants that needs the freeze..........(hope not) in order to continue...goodness knows we have plenty of that here!
RDT,
I just found this thread and noticed that way back in June you had asked about growing poppies, specifically Oriental Poppies, and more specifically, 'Royal Wedding'. I have this one and it is a really pretty plant. If you've recently planted it though, don't be discouraged because it will become dormant during the summer months, the leaves will turn brown and ugly and you may think it's dead. With the cooler weather of autumn it will start to perk up again and should put on fresh new leaves. It's very hardy so the winter won't hurt it at all, then in the springtime you should see the tall stalks with buds that will open to beautiful white with black centered flowers. Keep it on the dry side if possible and try not to keep it where the ground stays extremely wet. I love my poppies and you will too. Best of luck with yours.
sharvis, I ended up placing mine in a pot. it never has developed new stems since I rec. it. I will let it sit like you said.
Have you ever traded it or any poppy? I was wondering if they need to be mailed in its dirt instead of bareroot. thans for answering my question. Linda
Mail order nurseries do not ship with soil. Peat moss, maybe, but not soil or even a mix like ProMix.
Linda,
No, I've never traded one. I bought mine, both 'Royal Wedding' and 'Beauty of Livermere' from online nurseries and they were sent to me in little pots, but I would expect that they would grow just fine as long as they had roots that didn't dry out too much. Like pirl said, some nurseries ship them bareroot. This isn't their best time of year so it may look kind of pitiful right now. Don't give up on it just yet though cause it may do fine next year. I believe that fall is the best time to plant it in the ground if you plan to do that. I've heard that spring planted poppies rarely bloom the first year. Because it doesn't look particularly attractive after the bloom, it's helpful to plant something in front that will sort of cover the browning foliage.