Swap Q&A

I also answered on your other Post, Brent--the link above.
I have grown this before and so I gave some details to you all.

Gita

Susan? or Holly? passion vines have perked up. How heavy are they? I was thinking of using my rabbit fence around the garden as part of support this year, plus some extra tall stakes.
I think you can also see that critter's corydalis and columbine are growing, corydalis especially looks perfectly fresh, green and lush- I'm impressed.

Brent,

I meant to add that the Balloon Flower I had many years ago was quite established in my now "yukky" bed. My Yukky bed is the one in the back corner that is anywhere from 4'-8' from my greedy, full sized Silver Maple. The bed is full of roots. I cannot even dig into it. Never retains any moisture. Not friendly to plants. So, it is "yukky".
What I am growing there now is really hardy, drought tolerant Perennials. I will put your 2 Money Plants there.

Anyway, my clump of Balloon Flowers used to be at the back of it. It was getting stressed, so I dug it up and moved it to my side bed. I was shocked to find that below the plant was this grapefruit-sized, round, white "ball"! I can only imagine it was the main "root" or reservoir for this plant.

It did OK for a few years where I moved it, but then it slowly petered out. I believe I grew a bunch of new plants from seed as well and planted them in the same spot. They never thrived for me, as they were shaded and crowded by a large clump of Irises. So I lost them two years later. This time I planted yours more to the front in front of my Clematis.

Anyway--I wanted to tell you that your 4" pots of this plant were well rooted. Small, white roots were all the way to the bottom. I hope they are the blue ones.....:o)

Gita

I meant to post a picture of my "yukky" bed. I already did on the haves/wants, but here it is again. See that huge maple trunk??? The roots are all through my lawn as well and I am always tripping on them and stepping on them. Ouch!

I'm glad your corydalis is doing well... a couple extras that I dug up for my MIL look good also, and the ones that popped up in the front bed and got left alone are really taking off now.

All my columbines had a lot of leaf miners this year, even the seedlings, but I don't think that will set them back for long. Looking at the ones I have here (which went into bigger pots than those cell packs), I'm thinking the ones I brought to the swap might be ready to up-pot soon. Last year, I wintersowed columbine seeds into quart containers and just let them "grow on" in those containers until fall, then up-potted them into trade gallons in early spring (probably should've done that in late fall), and now they are ready to plant out. Several of them bloomed this spring, and I'm sure they'll put on a good show for me next year.

So I'm thinking that the columbines in those cell packs could probably go into quart containers for the summer/fall once they've filled their cells with roots. I used 32 oz deli containers, and I'm thinking something fairly deep (like a 32 oz yoghurt container) would be best for the columbines, plenty of room for roots and enough potting mix to help them stay moist.... even a 16 oz plastic cup (with holes for drainage) might be better for them than a standard short nursery pot.

Gita, that maple is definitely a challenge. I remember your telling me about the whisky barrel planter you tried to use, and how the maple roots grew up through the drainage hole and filled the entire planter! I'm thinking that containers would still be good, but you'd need to set them down on top of some big rocks or concrete pieces... it's more of a challenge to keep containers watered, but with those maple roots your in-ground conditions are pretty dry too.

Hey, Brent? The cute little 'Blue Bird' hydrangea that you gave me opened up a bloom today! But -- surprise! -- it's not blue. It's a very pretty pale pink and white flower. I know that hydrangeas can change their color according to the pH of the soil... is it acidic soil that makes them pink? If so, maybe it's blooming pink because it's in a peat based potting mix. ?

Whatever the color, I love it! Oh, and just to check... I think you said to overwinter it in maybe a gallon pot and plant it out in the garden next spring. ? Thanks!

Brent -- re 'Blue Bird' -- when you say to overwinter in a pot, do you mean we should bring it indoors?

No, I'm pretty sure he's talking about putting the pot in a protected place outside... I overwinter pots against the south foundation, with some mulch thrown around them for good measure.

I overwintered a ton of pots last year with great success. But, we ended up carrying most of the pots under shelter during the repeated snow/ice/rain storms in the spring because I noticed many pots has a 1" layer of ice/water trapped on them. Any plant that needed good winter drainage didn't make it! (Luckily, I do try to avoid those so didn't have too many losses.) But I would just make that caution to check your pots during the winter. Some people recommend tilting pots, so accumulating water will drain off faster.

Sally,
Not to heavy, as mine has climbed a tree or string up to the trellis... This one I gave you is a purple and is suppose to bear fruit... I have two diffrent ones here that do not... Mine looks better also Sally... I was given this the day before the swap... Come up every year here for me and is in full sun all day. Oh ants are suppose to be ok if you see them on it... Does something for the vine but at this min. I cant remember...
Susan

Re the Hydrangeas...if you really wanted to play it safe you could overwinter them in a garage or a cool basement but I generally cannot be bothered with that type of thing. I might plant some in the ground or I might put them in 1 gallon pots and leave them in a protected spot outside. If you have a spot ready that you can keep watered over the summer you could probably stick them in the ground now.

History...I had attempted to root 12 cuttings and they all took. That was pretty late in the fall. I had posted about it over on the Hydrangea forum (http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/650938/). I started the cuttings in September and they stayed outside all last winter sunk about 3" into mulch. 8 of the 12 survived the winter, 1 died this spring, and I gave away 4 at the swap so I still have 3 of my own to play with.

More History...I had purchased 3 of these Hydrangeas as one-gallon plants. I paid something like $3.50 each at Meadows Farms. I think they were unsold merchandise that sat around all winter. They were very small when I planted them but they grew pretty fast. This was during this same shopping trip that I purchased the PeeGee Hydrangea that I gave to Becky at a swap back in 2005.

- Brent

Fun & informative thread about the cuttings -- thanks!

Do you have any ideas about the pink and white bloom on my little 'Blue Bird' plant? Is it a potting mix pH issue? Has your parent plant bloomed? I'm curious!

Jill,

Acid soil makes Hydrangias blue. Alkaline--pink. Often you can see shades of both on the same plant.

To get really blue flowers, water them with Aluminum Sulphate. I don't know when, or how often, or at what time frame in the season, but I would think you could start in early Spring.

Just using something like Holy Tone does not seem to be enough.

Heres picture of my "Endless Summer: Hydrangia in full bloom. I had hoped it would bloom bluer also, but I have not done what I am suggesting to you either. Have to buy some of that Sulphate.

Gita

Here's my 21/2 year old "Kopper King" Perennial Hibiscus. It is HUGE!
I cannot believe how well and fast this is growing! Must like the spot.
The blooms are so pretty!
This only came out about 3 years ago. A "new kid" on the block. I bought 2 at HD at hr 50% off end of season sale in early fall of 2005.

Here's a picture of it. No buds yet, but soon, I know. It is almost 4' tall now.

The Clematis behind it is also new from last year. Very pale lavender. I think it was called "Proteus". Too lazy to go outside and look.

Gita

Here's what this Hibiscus' bloom looks like. If you ever see it, it is worth acquiring. I am hoping I will have a lot of seeds from this beauty this fall. Last Fall it only had ONE seed pod and I got about 6 seeds out of it.
The stems are reddish brown and the leaves also have a bronzish tint to them--hence the name. A truly handsome plant!

If we have another Swap, I will have a lot of seedlings.

One more-----

Thanks, Gita -- I can never remember which way the pH/color thing goes with hydrangeas! Now I'm more curious than ever about why my new little one is blooming pink.... :-)

'Kopper King' is a lovely hibiscus! I've got one in my garden too... and just after I chopped it off last fall I read about doing dormant cuttings with the old stalks... may have to give that a try this fall! I'm not sure if it's likely to come true from seed, but I'm sure you'd get a pretty plant either way.

Hostas!

??

I was just repotting some of them to bring down to NC next week for my MIL... I know the 4 that I have from Happy (thanks!), but I just can't remember who gave me 3 other beauties, or what they are... my apologies for my faulty memory!

They were in green nursery pots (4 inch and 6 inch azalea pots, maybe), and the dirt in the pots had a red tone to it. One had both white and light green variegation, and the other two had pale green edges. I'd love to know how big they'll get so I know where to plant them, and I'd also love to know who to thank for them!

I suspect that the 'Blue Bird' Hydrangeas will bloom blue in the typical slightly acidic Mid-Atlantic soil. The parent's blooms were a bit of a mix of blue and pink last year, but it was a new bed in 2005 so I am not sure what it will settle out to be. The two of my potted plants that are blooming are quite pink. The parent is at my old house that I now maintain as a rental.

Edit: I meant to add that those daylilies sound like they may have come from Ruby and John. They had several daylilies and I think I got three from them.

- Brent

This message was edited Jun 17, 2007 9:58 PM

Huh. It'll be interesting to see what happens with this little one after it gets planted out. Thanks for letting me know you've got a couple of pink blooming babies also... it'll be fun to see how they do down the line!

A year or two ago I amended my soil out front with too much organic matter at a ph of neutral. Consequently, my beautiful blue lacecapped hydrangeas turned a putrid pink last year. I immediately started dumping aluminum sulphate on the plant ... and all winter long I dumped my spent coffee grounds around it. Today I can report that it is blooming a beautiful blue once again. Phew.

Btw, these were not a normal pink ... they were most ugly.

I guessed "ugly" from your use of the phrase "putrid pink" LOL. Brent's little hydrangea is blooming a delicate shell pink and white, very sweet!

I just thought I'd try to clarify things ... this was neither delicate, shell, white, nor sweet. Have I made myself clear?

I'm glad the coffee grounds etc. worked.... otherwise, I have a feeling this plant would've been composted! LOL

or swapped. :~|

I don't think she liked that pink. LOL Wrightie, is your hydrangea planted next to your foundation? The leaching from concrete foundations can make the soil there alkaline.

Hah! Good luck swapping a "putrid pink" hydrangea after your descriptions!

So.... does anybody know who brought those lovely hostas in the green pots?

Nope, Hart. It's not next to the foundation. I bring in a lot of leafmould each year, so I know that I have dramatically changed the composition of my originally acidic and clay soil. Now I'm more careful to give my "acid lovers" a regular fix of what they crave. Guess that makes me an enabler. :~)

I managed to track down this picture taken 6/22/2006. Blue? Pink? Purple? I have read that hydrangeas and take a few years to transition between blue and pink.

- Brent

Ooooh, that's pretty! Of course, it's very pretty in pink also! Now I'm really intrigued by this plant baby... :-)

So, hostas-- I got one also, I think I remember it on Holly's table. The red clay dirt is distinctive
I only remember hydrangeas as big BLUE blooms- we had one. In my neighborhood, they would have been in very clay, un amended soil, Catonsville MD. saw my first pink one on Solomon's Island, --probably next to one of those oyster shells driveways.
wrightie, I cut the kiwi into promising looking pieces and put it in water. It's holding on, but last night something caroused thru it and some is missing....and other parts got pulled out of the water...a setback.

Sorry guys, I have been very busy and not watching much on the threads, Yep, that's my red clay. And you may find a lot of cinders in some of the pots, those came from the hosta planted out near the road. Since I depended so much on help from others to get ready for the swap I couldn't be toooo picky. I remember distinctly saying something to Ric about about the cinders in one of the pots and he just gave me "The Look". LOL
I also remember pulling weeds out of the variegated grass even as I was handing it to Brent.
I got such wonderful plants from everyone.

my hosta looks fine and no cinders : )

I didn't find any cinders either, LOL.

Thanks for your Dmail... it's good to know how big those hostas will get so I know where to place them! :-)