I would love to be able to grow Japanese Maples in my garden. I'd have them all over my yard, they are so beautiful with their delicate foliage and fall colours! I also wish that Purple Fountain Grass was a perennial here. It would sure be good for the pocketbook!
How about you....what plant is someone growing in a warmer (or colder) zone than you that you would LOVE to be able to grow?
What would you LOVE to be able to grow?
Himalayan blue poppies, tall delphiniums, and lupines I will always covet! Kentucky is such a teaser zone! Too cold in winter for so many things and too hot in summer for so many more! At least we can appreciate the great pics from other DGers. Neal.
I'm with Neal: I want to grow Himalayan blue poppies. I also wish I could have a Poinciana tree. I saw them once about 40 years ago in Trinidad and was immediately inspired to paint a picture of them. That may not sound very impressive, but I've never painted anything in my life, and never wanted to, except for that one time.
Yeah you guys, what I'd do for a patch of Himalayan blue poppies.
Zuzu, I just looked up Poinciana tree and I can see why you were inspired by such a beautiful tree!
I'm going with gemini on the tall delphiniums. It's not so much that they won't grow here, as that I'm tall-plant-impared. I love them, and I kill them. Bummer. Also ditto on the himalayan blue poppies. I would also love to be able to grow jasmine. My mother has it growing on her back patio, and it smells soooooo wonderful.
H O S T A S big hostas, little hostas, blue hostas, golden hostas, H O S TA S H O S T A S H O S T A S!!!!
fancy tulips
ss - I love your comment 'tall plant impaired' LOL
vossner - I feel your pain. I'm so sorry you can't grow hosta. Hmm.........hee hee.... I can ...(ducking and running) ;-)))
LOL - I have a truckload of hostas that I have to move. I do have homes for them, which technically only doubles the work to get them out.
I'd love to grow some of the flowers my dad grew in his garden back in the 50's & 60's... zinnia, glads, cosmos... and the morning glories and moon flowers my mother grew on the trellis he made for her.. oh, and the autumn blooming spoon mums!
Our season is too chilly and short for all of these, but I surely miss them, in spite of the fact that we grow lovely lupines, delphies... and the beautiful blue himalayan poppies!
Weezingreens,
Wow that poppy is stunning! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I'll have to move to beautiful Alaska.
I guess we can't have everything, eh?
I wish we could grow purple Jacaranda trees
http://www.arborwest.com.au/product02_details.asp?CatID=96&ProductID=301&Page=0
Always a stunner in Pasadena, and they would be so stunning here, (and I miss the Jacarandas blooming in our yard in CA...)
Also, pretty tulips (too many critters in our yard) and wouldn't delphiniums be pretty here if it weren't for the humidity? .... (maybe the New Zealand cultivars with make it possible, though...)
I have to say I am envious of all those lovely fruit trees elsewhere. I was watching a movie the other night, and a woman walked out her kitchen door and plucked a lemon from a tree in her yard. I was really impressed!
I sometimes forget that hot summers can be just as restrictive as cool ones... and humidity... you'd think it quite humid here next to the ocean, but I guess we don't get warm enough for humidity.
tabasco - we have spells of high heat and humidity in the summer too, I'm not familiar with the New Zealand delphiniums though, I'll have to look into that.
The Jaracanda trees look like a purple-coloured crabapple in bloom. Cool!
Coconut Palms :)
Meconopsis for me also...way too humid and hot summers for them here. Also Delphiniums and Lupines (oh and orchids would be nice growing outside).....Nautrally I could not them them both!
GreenEyedGuru, If I could grow coconut palms, that would mean I'd be living on a tropical island right? Yeah, I think I could go for that! LOL
....and I'd be sure to grow some orchids outside for when levilya comes to visit!
I'd love to be able to grow plumerias!
When we went to Puerto Rico last year we visited some people who had a house with a huge back yard and orchids in the trees. he collects them - what a beautiful sight. Certainly not anything that I could duplicate here in the blustery north! I grew up in Southeast Asia and we could buy them in the market for 8 stems for the local dollar - less than .50 US. I've loved them ever since. I think that's why I like toad lilies so much - they remind me of orchids.
The tall growing Phlox!!! (P.paniculata???) I have always lusted for it!!!
This has been an eye opener for me! I often think of what I can't grow but this thread has made me appreciate all I can grow. As is often the case, its all a matter of perspective and my glass is,at least, half full.
orange trees
I'm with Weezingreens - citrus trees would be at the top of my list , with mango and avocado close behind.
Pomegranates, citrus trees, crape myrtle, and camelias. Sigh! I feel lucky, too Dave! Lots of lupines and delphineums and tulips here.
We had mango trees in the yard when I was a kid. I love them. Somehow I don't think they would survive here. I wouldn't mind having a lemon tree or two, and a camelia to round it all out.
I hate Alkaline Soil. (Some days.) Some of you would die if you thought of spring without Dogwoods, Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and summer's hydrangeas. Welcome to CO.
I also can't grow Gunnera. Again, acid is the golden key. And please, nobody suggest I try to change my soil pH; I might be dumb enough to try. (FYI: It's a slippery-pole thing, but one never stays at the top.)
Do any of you in acid soil ever 'lust' for alkaline-loving plants?
But, I do have a wild idea about dogwoods...
sstateham, could you try growing Bletilla orchids?
Below is the perfectly natural combination of Orienpet Lilies and a young palm.
Rather acidic soil here, James. The only actual 'soil' available around here is in the woodlands, so if we bring it into our domestic beds, it's usually pretty acidic. I've got moss and violets growing in everything, including my yard these days, so I'd say my soil is due for some sweetening.
Yes, I lust after less acidic soil, but I can adjust the pH a bit by adding wood ashes, etc. There are so many issues for me, that this issue just gets heaped on the rest. Our summers are cool and wet, so I grow in raised beds for better drainage and warmer soil. Our season is short, so almost all bedding plants and veggies must be started indoors under lights.
However, I can grow the coveted Himalayan Blue Poppy, delphinium, campanula, dianthus, aquilegia, etc... anything from zones 3-5 that love cool moist summers. Most 'bog plants' will grow in my raised beds just fine. As much as I lust after some of the beautiful brugs and hybrid roses, etc, that I see on the threads here at Dave's, I still have to appreciate what I can grow.
Pretty shots! I'll check out the Bletilla orchids
Seems like Alaska here this morning. Windchill of -2. Ahh, the joys of northern Illinois. I never did get all my daff bulbs in, either. I guess I'll be potting them up in the garage.
James - where is Clifton? I started life in Denver and was back there every summer through high school. So long ago it seems like a past life.
Lilacs and peonies. They always grew in my grandmother's yard and I'd love to have some in my garden.
We all want want what we can't have. I'd love to grow lemons, limes and olives. If I ever get a big enough green house, and a method to keep it heated and lighted all winter long, I'm going to do it!
I am so very lucky living here in the fertile, temperate Pacific Northwest....there is so little that won't grow here...I will say that one thing I see now and again that always blows my mind is a shed, garage or wall covered in Bougainvillea in full bloom. It is breathtaking and just so vibrant, and vivid. It is often used as an annual here...but that is never the same as the vines that grow where they are perennial and spread, and grow and take over an outbuilding... :-) Spectacular!
Jamie
About this time of year I would love to grow anything at all other than a snow bank. It's been snowing on top of snow here, and we have about a foot so far accumulated in the yard.
There are a lot of things that I would love to have, and I'll second Jamie on the Bougainvillea.
HA! I commiserate with you, sstateham. Anything blooming in iceland (here) would be miraculous!
Jaracanda trees and lots of tropicals!
I'd like to be able to grow money on trees! LOL I'd even settle for $1's and $5's!
Honestly, I don't know that there is anything I want to grow that I don't already grow but my biggest dream would be able to leave all my semi tropical plants in the ground year round! I'll never give up all my big leaved ears, bananas, cannas and brugs but it sure would be nice if I didn't have to drag them all in!
For the joy you bring me with your great humor, I wish you a "tropical spell" n Lynchburg, OH.
Money trees! LOL Badseed, that was so funny!
Sandy
Hey Sandy, what garden plots and plans are going on with you these cold, short days?
Hi Neil! Well, I'm just plotting and planning Christmas right now. LOL But then I'll be plotting how to winter sow all these seeds I ordered. Then I'll be planning some new beds for next year. How about you?
Sandy
I've done all the Christmas planning I'm going to; the country ham is glazed and in the oven and I just finished the fudge, so it's back to planning for spring. The "hill of my discontent" will definitely get some attention, but I'm still formulating ideas for (and dreading) that. I'm planning a new island bed dedicated to fruity tones, apricot, peach, mango, melon, and salmon(fruity and fishy I guess, LOL). It's one of my sunnier areas (yippee!) and I'm trying to decide on roses first. I'm hoping this bed will tie the whole front yard together with a cottage garden feel. One island at a time it's turning into a big garden with meandering paths through it (a step closer to no grass!).
Neal.
Merry Christmas Neal!
Your island sounds lovely, and warm. We were given a 'Peace' rose for a wedding present, it didn't last the summer though so I can't say as I'd recommend it! Could just be I'm "rose-impaired" LOL.
I wish cannas and purple fountain grass were perennials here, and I would love to grow a Tai Haku cherry tree and mexican orange blossom shrub (choisya ternata).
Will have to content myself with the beautiful Hawthorne trees (Crataegus species) and abundance of viburnums we can grow here.