oops! forgot the pic!
Martha
Please Share Pics of your Favorite Containers for 2006!
a favorite container this year.....this used to be under my beautiful ficus tree..But alas I did not move it in this past winter. and it froze....I cut the tree off and it is putting out from the bottom...meanwhile I still have this....I love it.
Gardenmart,
Tell me about keeping geraniums from getting leggy. Mine started out fabulous, but have gone all twiggy and straggly, not full and lush like they started out.
How much water do they need? I may be overwatering them. Fertilizing every 2 wks. with Osmocote, and everything else is growing like gangbusters. But the geraniums are turning pitiful... Help, please. Thanks.
Every two weeks with osamcote? This is a time release fertilizer. you only need to put it on once every three months. You are probably over nitrogenizing them and making them too leggy. I prune. you can too. cut them back a little and no more osmacote till october. geraniums are on the succulent side of things and they don't need quite as much water as other plants, though you guys having been having the high heat turned on so I don't know about your watering conditions down there.
Mine get leggy from being inside all winter. my sunroom is bright, but still not like outside. In the spring, I prune them, root as many cuttings as I can and give them new osmacote. those new plants I make go to my garden club plant sale. then, I just water as necessary on their plant shelf outside all summer. I have a mixture of nifty colored bedding geraniums, minis and scenteds. they nearly all have to be pruned so they fit back in the house in the fall. I don't think I have any geraniums in the ground at all this year. they are all in containers of one sort or another. Hope this helps you out!
Martha
Here's my favorite group of the moment. The delphiniums are just going bonkers.
Thanks Gardenmart,
I got the Oscomote advice from a master gardener. So far, nothing else in the garden is suffering like the geraniums, so I don't think it's the fertilizer, in their case. I'll try pruning and then cutting back on the watering to see what happens. I have a pink begonia that could be entered into a contest!
Great! Good luck to you!
Martha
I love everyone's containers. You're all a bunch of show-offs :0)
Shirley, that's a beautiful plant! It's so full and lush.
Here's one of my favorites. Every year the water garden changes. I think it looks better this year than it ever has.
A group shot of the west side of my balcony.
Another group shot of the north facing side.
Gymgirl, it's probably the heat and maybe too much sun that's making your geraniums look leggy. Mine always look peaked this time of year. You can trim them back and just stick the ends in potting soil or into the gound and they'll root. They need more water this time of year and will get sun scorch on the leaves if in full sun, but when cooler weather finally gets here, they'll perk back up. I usually cut mine back in September. Hope this helps.
Rev, I love your 'group shot'. Do these guys spend the winter inside and the summer outside? They look so happy.
xxxx,
Carrie
No indoors for these containers. The water garden would be hard to keep going inside. Most of these are perennials and are left outside, with the exception of the impatiens.
Thank goodness someone from Texas can give you advice about watering Gymgirl. I just don't have experience with the blazing hot temps you get down there on a regular basis. We usually have a few ultra hot days here in MA but not too many. I water my containers daily in the morning and sometimes in the evening when it is so very hot. The heat has backed off now, so it isn't so bad.
Martha
Martha - did you hear the news that they're planning for US to have a heat wave next!
xxxxxx, Carrie [Milton, S. Shore]
Tobee here is a favorite.shirley
Shirley, that's lovely! Looks like a mimosa, but I'm sure it's not.
Carrie, what did you hear about a heat wave for the U.S.? We're in one right now! Is there another one coming???
Well, Carrie,
I have my watering wand, my oscillating sprinkler and time on my hands as I am home recuperating. I keep a watering watch on all my containers anyway so I am as ready as I will ever be for the hot hot hot. The chair containers in my pic don't get sun all day, either. so I get somewhat of a break.
Martha
No, Shirley, my fault. I meant us, Martha and me, we're both from Massachusetts, we're supposed to get your heat wave here on the east coast.
x, C
revclaus.... It is not a mimosa, it is a Flamboyant. They are a cousin to the mimosa. I don't know if they spread as readily. They bloom in colors of yellow and red and I 've seen them in full bloom in the Keys, Cocoa beach, and old growth specimens on Captiva Island. I was told they were the national tree of Cuba and profuse there but research showed the Royal Palm as the national tree. This is a miniature cultivar that we are going to use as a container planting in our tropical garden (we are in a temperate zone).
gus'smama/shirleyt's daughter
Flamboyant tree, Flame Tree, Royal Poinciana, and other nicknames is a tropical tree originally from Madagascar. Its botanical name is Delonix Regia. Puerto Rico celebrates it with a Flamboyant fesival every year (or they used to).
Here is a close up of the blooms.
Goodoldbake has out done himself again this year, http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/632031/
I have loved looking at all of your containers, they are beautifull.
Sidney
Wow, those were incredible sugarweed. Thanks for the link.
If he only sold Mail order.
Sidney
My plant combo idea/friend (Brett) pot.
Some of my containers...
AuntB, your coleus is a lot like mine. It's beautiful. Do you know what all the varieties are? And I suspect you have some other things in the planter. You have a lot of beautiful containers. Do your tropicals come in for the winter or are they winter hardy where you are?
AuntB,
I love the look of your plantline. Everything's so organized, and those ferns are sure healthy! Thanks for the pics.
Linda
I can't remember the varieties, it may still be on the marker if I stuck it in the pot. I'll look tonight and see. Most come in in the winter..... some go in the basement and stay almost dormant, some go to work with me, if the light is okay for them and some go in the dining/livingroom.... It's a jungle! lol This is my first year for these ferns. I have boston ferns hanging on my front porch, but the ferns in the pic grow more upright and can be in sun or shade.... I just love them. I'll try to overwinter, but they weren't very expensive if they don't make it. Definately on my list for next year.. I did lay a few more patio blocks and tidy up before taking the pic, thanks so much. We had an above ground pool for years, and I took it out last spring (05) and finally did something with it... the fern at the bottom of pic is in full sun!
AuntB, the Boston fern is in the SUN??? That's amazing! Maybe that's what I should do with my Boston fern inside which is languishing for lack of light.
Looks like you've done a great job with the former pool site. I really like your yard.
AuntB,
You have a satellite dish in your yard! Did you see the post where someone painted their dish canary yellow and painted a smiley face on it? I believe it's someone in the coleus forum. How about a giant sunflower or black eyed susan?
rev, NO don't put your boston fern in the sun. Those ferns are Kimberly Queen, snagged em' at Lowe's for $7. They will be part of my jungle forever, easy care and very rugged. Thanks for the compliment- my yard is a continuing project- probably never finish. Keep my mind busy in winter... gym girl- yep, the monster is still there, I thought about making it into a gazebo or fountain. And also considered making a sunflower out of it..... Guess I'll think about that this winter, too!
My 2 other Kimberley Q's.
So the monster ferns are Kimberly Queens, and were they that big when you, er, snagged them? Did you repot them? I think I need them. We're into the monster jungle look too, only this year it's represented by one lonely tropical hibiscus.... :-( Sorry it's blurry... my fault for trying to be artistic!
xxxxxx, Carrie
This message was edited Aug 3, 2006 2:42 PM
My monster jungle pic. This was taken on 5/13/06. I've been fertilizing every two weeks with Osmosote, and things have grown more. Keep in mind, this is a Canon Powershot 520 that compensates for the poor camera operator. The colors are not exactly as vivid as portrayed, although pretty close.
One more side view...
AuntB,
I notice you have plants sitting on the concrete pavers. What Does this help to do? I remember reading about drainage and not staining the patio, and something else (aeration for the roots?)
It makes everything look so polished in your display, too.
Wow, GG, that's some monster of a jungle! I noticed those concrete pavers too, and if only just for the more polished look, I'm gonna try it.....
xxxxxxx, Carrie
Oooo love yours too! That yellow chair is the greatest! The pavers just keep the pots (and me) out of the mud... and the plants cover the bare area between the lattice and the pavers and the pots stay pretty clean after it rains (if it rains!) ... I bought the ferns in like a gal pot, and did pot them up bigger, but they have grown tremendously. Next time I will plant them in even bigger pots as I'm sure they would fill it up... I love them! Like where were they all my life? Need to research on wintering them over.. hope I can just keep watered in the basement. I have 4 tropical hibiscus right now. I keep them up on the deck cause I enjoy seeing their blooms when I look out. And 4 passiflora, caladiums and EEs, hosta.... annuals, voodoo lilies, bulbs, etc. I'm crazed! But the ferns are undoubtedly my best find this season! GG what is the variegated plant on the right side of the pic? some kind of bird in paradise? I've seen those leaves somewhere before.
AuntB
That's a variegated GINGER plant on YOUR left looking at the chair. Your correct about the Bird of Paradise. It's on your right, looking at the chair.
Before I knew what I was doing, I unpotted that Bird to divide it. My new husband had it in a pot and it was totally overgrown. Wouldn't you know when I dumped it out and cut through it with a knife, THERE WAS THE BIRD INSIDE! If I had left it alone, it would have bloomed this spring! The plant is about 3 years old, and he commented on how it had never bloomed. Of course, I told him the truth, and I'm praying there was more than one in there not far behind...
Wow! What a beautiful collection!
My favorite container this year was one I prepared to decorate a friend's wedding reception. The containers that we hauled from my yard for the reception filled a U-Haul van, but this is the one that really brightens my day.
