nothing seems to want to bloom this season. i water i fertilize and everything and nothing wants to bloom. i think its this heat and lack of natures water.
i have also noticed the lack of birds in the yard. this year has been a strange one.
my garden is not blooming
I've had blooms on lots of plants but none on others..........go figure! The tiny buds on my brugs appear but then they darken and fall off.......it must be the heat.............sure gets to me for sure. We DID have a wonderful harvest from the veg garden.........so much I'm tired of canning/freezing, etc. but I know complaining is bad. We have a good number of birds but we have a large acreage around us and we do put out food and water for them.
The county extension agent suggested I bring in a soil sample for the area in question but I just haven't done it and it is too late and too hot now to bother.
I have very little blooming right now so I will watch this thread with interest. My alstroemeria never stops, the phlox is doing well, the leadwort still blooms a little, toad lilies are still going, blue salvia too ... but no BIG shows of color. I think it is the heat and drought, but mainly the heat.
I feel like I am trying to water the world with a tea cup when I water. We finally just had a really big soaking rain but the ground will suck it up in no time. I don't even like to go outside right now.
The shasta daisies are a gem though - they bloom and bloom without very much water, and in full sun.
I can tell I am really bored because I am actually trying to grow some shasta daisies from seed. I never have much luck with seeds, unless they happen to just fall to the ground and sprout on their own!! LOL. I'm not expecting much, but I have to do something, and it's just too blessed hot to work much outside. But, hey! it's raining right now, with thunderboomers.
I have a couple of late-planted lilies that will probably bloom soon, and a few dahlias that have buds, and tons of wild clitoria all over the wooded area. That's about it. I'm dying to plant something, but I'm afraid anything that gets planted in this heat is doomed.
my roses, all of them completely stopped blooming in mid june! the japs were so devastated that they left packing wwaaaaaaaaaaa! my annuals are toast except in my main flower bed which gets auto watering every other day. my lillys will not be reblooming this season as they have in the past, and well the rest is to sad to talk about.
The baskets and pots on the deck are about all the color I have right now.....The first is Clerodendrum Incisum
and the Angel Wing begonia
bugme - how are you going to take care of the Clerodendrum incisum this winter? I have one and have been debating what to do with it when cold weather comes - basement? garage? living room? I keep seeing zones 9-11 on it. I'd like to keep it alive...
Is this normal, weird or I'm I wrong to think that it's strange to have plants in bloom at a time when they should not. Case in point:
1. Japanese magnolia "saucer magnolia": suppose to bloom in the spring before the leaves set, right? I've been getting those big pink saucer-cup blooms from time to time all summer long with the tree (4' tall) full of foliage.
2. Foxglove: started from seed in early March, transplanted in May, now two out of seven plants have sent up flower stalks and are blooming like crazy. Aren't biennials suppose to grow foliage the first year, bloom the second, set seed and die? What can I expect out of these that are blooming in their few months of life?
3. Daffodils: planted four peruvian daffs in early July and they were blooming on July 17th!
I still have annuals, cannas, garden phlox, and daylilies blooming right now. And then there's those that I loved completely to their deaths.
I think I need to buy a gardening book for beginners.
Deborah :-)
edit: forgot these that are still blooming well: new gold lantana, woody-kind of lantana, blue salvia, and butterfly bushes.
This message was edited Aug 17, 2006 12:19 PM
Sterhill, I have a spot in back of my house where a hydrangea is most unhappy.........too much sun. It will be protected from winter winds and the plan is to plant mine there and mulch it really well. It is a sort of micro-climate area so I think it will survive. If it doesn't, a friend has one and will certainly give me a cutting.
CDawg,,,,,,,I think we've all seen weird things this year. Our first hummer arrived on March 15th and we had several freezes after that.......how he kept warm who knows? Glad you still have daylilies.......mine have been gone for over a month now.
Sharon
Well, I came home today to find my pitiful "Endless Summer" that I thought was dead (it IS half dead) blooming on its one remaining green stem. Response I'm sure to the great rainfall we had last week. My roses (foliage) look horrible, but are blooming nonetheless. My DH brought my son's project car home today and when he walked by the side of the house with the drive gate, he asked me "what are those pretty red and white flowers on that side of the house?" He was talking about the Vinca that have been there for months, but evidently really took off and filled in after the rain. Two daylilies bloomed and several rain lilies popped up. After one solid year here, I am learning which areas get the most sun and shade, what areas need some serious soil amending, and what plants we enjoy the most!
It still amazes me that my gardenias are blossoming. We chopped them back to about 18" tall in March, so that they'd fill in more. Bottoms of the plants were "see through." Walter Reeves recommended it, and it's working pretty well so far. He said not to expect blossoms the year you chop them back, but my darlings are blossoming for me just a little--12 blossoms or so. They're already almost 3' tall, too, and filling in nicely. Sheila
my garden looks dead except my butterfly bruggie. it decided to put on a show since cool weather came through but its supposed to be 90 agian today.
Soup, I can't wait until my gardenias bloom. I just planted them a little after Father's Day, and they have new growth, but no blooms yet. Same with my Tea Olive.
I went through downtown Thomson today, and noticed how awful the garden west of the Depot looks. It's usually a showplace, with beautifully tended seasonal flowers all year long. Right now, the lilies' yukky drying foliage is about all there is, with an occasional bloom in the midst. There are some begonias still on the sides, but, boy, it's looking sad.
Guardians, is this your first tea olive? They are one of my favorite shrubs and I've found you will usually smell them before you can even see the blooms......they are so tiny.
Oooh, I love tea olives, too. They do smell so nice. We put in 3 of them in the spring, and have babied them through the drought. I think they're rooted well enough now. We're leaving town (again!) tomorrow, and I sure hope it rains while we're gone. Guardians, your gardenia may not bloom this year, but that's okay--roots are more important, especially this year, don't you think? Sheila
Oh, absolutely, I never really expected blooms this year on my tea olive and gardenias, since I just planted them in June. I am just really babying them, too. I look forward to blooms next year, though, everyone tells me how wonderful the frangrance is. The tea olive is my first, but if McCorkle's has a fall sale this year you can bet I will be buying lots more. All the plants I got from them look really healthy. The only things that look a little sickly are my hydrangeas, but I think even they will make it, from the looks of the bloom on the one that is half dead, LOL. It's a wonder anything is thriving in this heat and drought.
Well, wouldn't you know. This morning I went out on the deck with Sammie before church, and low and behold, there are little bitty blooms on my Tea Olive. They don't seem to have much fragrance until I pulled off a tiny blossom and smushed it between my fingers and the perfume was delightful. I put my nose up to the plant and couldn't smell a thing, though.
Now, if the gardenias would bloom I would be tickled pink!!
My favorite 'weed' is blooming now. It is a small flowered white clematis that has naturalized in the south. It has a sweet fragrance and fills the bed where it rambles with a froth of blooms. As soon as it quits blooming I will ruthlessly pull it up and out for it seeds prolificaly.
Beth
I so wanted a tea olive for my garden, but they grow over 20', and very wide, so I had to pass. :-( Anybody know of dwarf tea olives?
Yesterday I went out in the garden to see what is blooming and here is my ilst:
daylilies (Stellas in bloom, and another couple in bud, but I'm not sure of their names)
firespike (just beginning)
toad lilies
impatience
cleome
blue & black salvia
red salvia
Autumn Joy sedum
anemone (The pink one that blooms in August. September Charm will bloom next month)
tardiva hydrangea
Endless Summer hydrangea
Butterfly bushes (white and pink)
Butterfly weed (orange and red/yellow)
yarrow
crepe myrtle
Turks Cap
hardy hibiscus
3 different dahlias
Double Knockout roses (full bloom)
Black eyed susan (prolific spreaders)
purple Homestead verbena
4 o'clocks
melampodium
the tall Brazilian verbena
alostromera
society garlic
white and purple phlox
daisies (for 2 months now they have been blooming)
Purple Beauty Berries are in bloom, although the flowers are insignificant. But, gorgeous berries will follow.
This is summer. Isn't this when we are supposed to have flowers? lol Actually, I am one of those 12 month flower nuts. I like them all year round, and am so happy to live in Georgia.
This message was edited Aug 23, 2006 7:41 AM
Holy cow pins, how many acres do you have in Decatur? :)
Can you recommend a good book for 12 month flowering in Georgia? I'm a transplant to Ga with a back yard work-in-progress and a budget that will fill a thimble...LOL.
Thanks,
~Sunny
gosh i wish i had that many things blooming. wow
Thanks for the compliments. I have a total of 1/3 acre here in Decatur. I don't have "drifts" of all my plants, but there are usually at least 2-3 of each kind. I'm sure there are several books on 12 month flowering in Georgia. One book that I have is Southern Gardens, Southern Gardening by William Lanier Hunt. It does not have hardly any pictures, but is a wealth of information.
Most of my flowering plants are either self seeding or just really hardy perennials. I'm not big on annuals, but if the mood strikes I will plant some pansies in the fall.
Hineni - I love the way you put that; it states my situation perfectly!(Except that I've been in GA for 20 years and only moved here from SC!!) But THIS yard is new to me,and I learn something new every day on DG. My problem is I want everything. And I want it now. They say gardening teaches patience; -----well, I'm still waiting!!! Pins, how long have you been "living in this yard?" I can't wait 'til my yard looks like some I see on this forum. With all the help I've received here, it will be so much easier. The traded plants and seeds, too, will help my pocketbook! But then, there's the co-ops. (Heck, I would be spending money at the garden center or eBay if it wasn't the co-ops!)
Seven years ago my back yard was a sea of brown. They put in a subdivision in the property in back of my house and had to come through my yard for the sewer pipes. I had 2 trees only. Plant trades have helped tremendously for me. I'll dmail you tomorrow and let you know of a couple that are coming up this October. They are great!
Hmm, my gardenia's are starting to flower for a secong time this year. My tea olives haven't done anythng lately but they usually bloom with a change in the air pressure. A hurricane comes close and out come the flowers. Have a few things in bloom right now here's a pic.
Pic? What pic?!? I'm dying to see your tea olive. Is it in a place where you can enjoy the fragrance? How tall is it, and how old? I still want one, but I just can't find a spot for such a large shrub.
Pins, I have a tea olive planted right at the base of my deck for the fragrance. I still think it could be bottled and sold!! If it gets too big I'll just keep it trimmed. Next time it blooms I'll take a pic. Hope you're feeling better.
I wish I had a deck like yours. What a great spot to plant it near.
Thanks for asking about my health. I'm feeling much better. Let's just hope it holds after the next infusion on Wednesday. lol