My impatient seeds FINALLY arrived and now I find out I should have planted them in February. So, the local nursery has 6-packs of pansies on sale for $1.49. I bought six 6-packs yesterday (they looked very nice). I think I will buy another six 6-packs today.
Then I will plant all 72 pansies in the front triangle garden. I expect they may blossum until July 1 when I can replace them with Impatients.
What do you think? Originally, I was going to use the front garden as a place to put all the sun-perennials from the backyard that aren't getting enough sun - but then I read somewhere that the front yard should have lots of visual impact.
Cheers,
Seandor
Pansies, then impatients?
Most Impatiens do best in shade/part shade and will not flower well if in full sun. There are some new varieties out that are supposed to take some sun, so I would check the info on the ones you have.
Check out the "Wave" type Petunias as they have several different types that do well in full sun.
kdcon
I have had impatients every year in the front garden and they THRIVE! It's just that this was the first year I was going to try to do this from seed.
Pansies have also done well. I am just curious about whether the impatients will be okay if they are planted at the end of June rather than the middle of May as I usually do.
I got mine started late last yr., mid March, and they did great but no flowers till end of June. When they started flowering they looked super right up till frost. kdcon
Remember they need warmth and light to germinate, then they can be moved to cooler temps to grow under lites.
Seandor, if your impatience grow well in the same spot, it's a good plan.
Thanks Dave - I like your vote of confidence. I will go buy some more pansies. Should I wait until after the North Easter blows over? How bad to these get in western New England?
According to the WEather Channel there is no frost predicted for my area for the next 10 days. So can I plant the pansies today?
I agree to go with what's worked before so plant your impatiens from seed and then plant them outside in late May, while the pansies are still in bloom. As the pansies sleep for the summer the impatiens will fill out.
I'm a bit on the cautious side with storms so if you buy the pansies today why not just keep them safe in the garage for two days (maybe three) and then plant them?
I will keep them on the front veranda - protected from wind and rain, gets morning sun. These guys were kept outside with a large plastic tarp tent which was rolled down at night.
Seandor, I wouldn't put them threw what we are supposed to be getting due to the wind,etc; but otherwise,they can handle frost. Pansies are tough.
I am going to cancel office hours on Wednesday and plant then. There. I have put in my order for reasonable weather by Wednesday :-)
Then I will take pictures :-)
Make sure the soil isn't soggy when you plant.
Okay - Saturday then - supposed to be sunny with temperatures reaching 60 degrees.
I wish I could just sleep until Saturday and save up all that rest and energy!
I wish I could plant today and not have to grade papers. :-)
I want to thank everyone who convinced me NOT to plant the pansies yesterday.
The triangle garden is virtually a swamp at 5 pm Sunday. I think I will have to wait until Saturday now before it is dry enough to plant.
You got babies!
After we received our Park's order I saw these impatiens and thought they were beautiful. Is anyone growing them?
http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=41489&PrevMainPage=advsearchresults&scChannel=advsearchresults&SearchText=p16.v224;p13.Impatiens&OfferCode=THP
I just love impatiens....I always plant them at the side of my house on this long stretch that barely gets any sun and they grow like wildfire with such beautiful blooms. I can't believe how well they grow and flower in such a dark area. Amazing.
pirl...nice "fuchsia/magenta/cranberry" I ordered something similiar from Parks:
Impatiens Super Elfin Paradise :
http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=3448&PrevMainPage=textsearchresults&scChannel=Text%20Search&SearchText=impatients&OfferCode=T1H
We should compare notes in August.
That's another beautiful impatiens, David_Paul.
Long ago we had cleared a huge area of lawn for a garden but while we were making plans I planted 530 impatiens in huge drifts of red, white, pink and lavender. It was so beautiful and neighbors would stop to comment on it.
One morning, while we were having our coffee on the enclosed porch, two young "ladies" passed - one who was a weekend person and the other, her guest. The weekender said, "Wait until you see how nice this garden is" and the other, seeing the display, replied, "Typically suburban", with her nose in the air. They couldn't see us on the porch but did hear my comment to the nasty one.
I love the impatiets because even a newbie like me can make something look good with them. I thought I was ambitious planting 90 plus. How long does it take to plant 530 - a week?
It was a nasty day in late May when I planted and I did half one day and half the next. Impatiens do make a big splash when planted in drifts.
You must have been exhausted - and sunburned. I have to plant everything early in the morning - can't take the heat here.
I meant nasty as in cold, not heat. I can work up to around 80 or 85 but then I need to be in the shade.
oh - well, you have more endurance than I have - anything much passed 72 degrees and I am generally inside - especially if it is humid. :-)
I am absolutely agog that you could plant so many plants in two days! I would love to see pictures of it. . . . Did you ever repeat that, pirl?
That was in 1992 and I didn't have a digital camera until a few years ago. I didn't repeat it because we changed it to a daylily garden.
This is a view from our bedroom towards a portion of the former impatiens garden.
Wow! That is a huge garden bed. It looks lovely - I see daylilies and coneflowers. I can see the appeal of perennials. Planting 500 + annuals would be daunting to tackle every year
A lot less work than deadheading!
right - you don't have to deadhead daylilies - correct?
YES! We stopped counting at 20,000 deadheads last year.
No deadheading for impatiens.
I always clipped the impatients - you mean I don't have to do it? What a newbie I am!
You can if they get too leggy - a lot depends on the variety and the sun/shade factor.
Wow Pirl. I though it was a big deal to deadhead over 100 "wet willies" from my daylilies in a day. I can't imagine trying to do yours. No wonder you don't have repeat bloomers, you must be too exhausted after 20,001.
Actually, that is my least favorite part about daylilies, aerobic deadheading!
During mid July when it's 1,500 to 2,000 a day it's back breaking. I start around 5:30 to 6 AM and, if it's raining, I go back to sleep! Some days we just don't do it, especially if it was raining early and then the sun comes out and the humidity starts wearing us down.
Absolutely, without a doubt, Cold Harbor has the worst of the old "dish rags".
dish rags = wet willies??
Where are you going with this Dave47?
Cold Harbor's deadheads are the worst of the "dish rags" - the kind of thing mother's used to use to wash dishes. Are these the "wet willies" to you, Dave?
Umm, maybe we should clarify. We are both talking about mushy, spent daylily blossoms, right?
Yes, Dave. As you'd expect, we add them all to the compost. I looked but must have deleted the photos of the bins piled with deadheads.