I'll bet that some come through for a quick snack even if you don't see them. Ours love monarda too.. isn't that what we call Bee Balm?
jo
P.S. I lurk on this board because DD and DGS live in Helena Mt, and it's fascinating to see the differences between the zone 3s and zone 7s!
Welcome GeorgiaJo. I lurk on a couple of deep south forums so I can enjoy the early bulbs while I'm still a deep freeze. Yupper Monardo is bee balm.
I lurk on the Montana thread because a lot of what is talked about here applies where I live in New Mexico!
Paj I'm an adoptee too! I think this is a great thread for alot of us.
Dahlianut,
Are those painted daisies (the red ones) by the shed? Do they reseed as much as Shasta daisies? They're beautiful, I always love them when i see them in gardens, but i never seem to see them for sale. Maybe I'm looking under the wrong name.
Hi, GeogiaJo, I'm in Helena, too. Not very high, but very, very dry.
Dahlia, I think your honeysuckle is gorgeous. Here's a clematis suggestion. I'm afraid my picture isn't very good. Her name is Betty Balfour, and she's a wee bit bluer than a Jackmanii.
Upfor. yupper those are painted daisies. They don't reseed for me. I grew them from seed and they return every year. They are floppy but the colour is worth it. They also get mildew later in the summer so I cut them back after they flower. I will look for the Betty Balfour picante. Very pretty colour.
Hi Picante!
We're going to be in Helena for DD's wedding in September (we'll be there Sept 8 until the 15th). What sort of plants will we be seeing?
Dahlia - again, that's just a gorgeous blend of plants. I keep looking at the picture!
You all are so friendly on this board.
jo
Your DD is getting married! Well, the Russian sage and echinacea should be blooming, and possibly some daylilies and anemones. There is a lack of creative gardening here. The most common landscaping plants are probably honeysuckles, viburnums, arborvitaes decimated by deer, crabapples, basically anything drought-tolerant that likes alkaline soil. We'll be harvesting our grapes and plums. In the mountains everything will probably be dry. Hopefully the forest fire season should be over or nearly. And the weather should be spectacular, God willing and the Yellowstone caldera doesn't blow up. ;-)
Is there a caldera in Yellowstone? I didn't know that. We have one here near Los Alamos -- actually the world's largest. We used to think it was extinct. They now tell us that it is dormant -- whatever that means.
Don't worry Georgia Jo, the west is no where near as dangerous as it sounds. We just tell stories to keep the flatlanders away!
You ask about a caldera in Yellowstone? How about a super volcano that is actually roughly due to blow again? The park does not publicize it much, but a couple of years ago they had to close off an area because the bulge was increasing so rapidly at the time.
If it blows, I will be gone quickly, the rest of you would join me soon.
Actually, I was there a couple of weeks ago. Mohanji is dedicated to Agnihotra, which is a fire ceremony that promotes peace and healing, so a group of us took him to the edge of the caldera and he performed a major fire ceremony.
And it still has not blown up, so all is well...
mulch where is this volcano? In Yellowstone?
You mean it could kill people in New Mexico? Wow! Hope it holds its fire!
It is in Yellowstone and if it blew it could kill most of the people throughout the wind pattern carrying ash, which could be much of the midwest and west. Added to that, the massive amount of ash would likely ruin crops all over the world due to lack of sunlight, a problem that could persist for quite a long time. This would be a planetary event.
We like the caldera to stay quiet.
OMG that is too scary!!!!
Wow! Kind of like Krakatoa or Pompeii. Yes. We want it to stay quiet.
Way beyond Krakatoa. Ash would clog all the rivers on the continent, the planet would have a nuclear winter, only caused by ash, not fallout. Crops would fail, as Mulch said. It would solve the overpopulation problem immediately.
So it's up to the fire gods, I suppose, and I'm glad you did a ceremony, Mulch. It'll blow any time in the next 60,000 years, according to my book. Bozeman & Livingston & Ennis residents will go straight to heaven without passing Go.
See now... You've just reassured me that the West is "nowhere near as dangerous as it sounds"... and then tell all those stories about volcanoes! Oh well... here we have smog and droughts and terrible daily commutes in heavy traffic... So it's always something.
We are looking forward to our week in Helena. We have decided to stay in town at the Park Plaza right on the pedestrian mall. DH had open heart surgery just six weeks ago but has promised he'll be able to walk the easy mile to the History Museum and other sights.
I'll keep my eyes open for Picante's suggestions..."russian sage and echinacea should be blooming, and possibly some daylilies and anemones...."
Right now, in nw Georgia, we have oriental lilies blooming and scenting the air from all directions . Wish you could experience it with us!
jo
I envy the oriental lilies. They are so beautiful and fragrant but don't do much after the first year here. I suspect they, too, love acid soil.
Hello! I'm finally done with my move. Yeah! What the stats on everyone's garden? I've got everything I brought with me in the ground or in a container. The weather here is fabulous and everything is green. What a change from Butte! Night and day. Let me know how your gardening is going.
Good to hear Northern Seasons. Moving is so stressful. How did your Master Gardeners exam go? These are a few of my favs right now of the basic tried and true for Cowtown. Lady's mantle with raindrops cuz YEAH! we finally got a good drink.
Gold flame spirea
and Maltese Cross.
Congrats, Northern, and now you have to change your profile so it says "Bozone". Hey, I was in Butte for the Nat. Folk Festival, and wowee, we just about dried up and blew away! Even Helena is more humid.
But.. it was a fantastic festival. I don't believe I've ever danced Latin, Bulgarian and French Canadian all in one weekend before. There were some exceptional musicians there. "Le Vent du Nord" from Quebec was a huge hit.
Congrats, mulch, you seem to have found some stuff the deer don't eat! At least I hope they haven't eaten them since you posted. You have to grow plants the deer don't like -- like nicotiniana.
This is soooooooo my fav for our zone. It usually starts blooming at the begining of July but late this year like everything else sigh. knatia. It looks like scabosia but doesn't flop and will bloom till frost. One of my favs for our zone.
ok anyone having weird blooming timing this year. This is all happing together and some shoud be way past and some future. Do you think it was because of our cold spring? Look I have forget me nots at the same time as asiatic lilies. Salivia which should be past with campanula "blue chip". Is anyone else getting weird combos? Thanks. Here's an example
Love that knatia. I had never heard of it before. And I see you have lilies at last! Congratulations. Good thing you photographed all of those flowers together -- they are so pretty and if it isn't likely to happen again, you can frame this picture and remember it.
paj those are the 'cancun'. They and the orange pixies are the only ones that don't seem to care that there is no heat and sun.
Anyone have any luck with the black-eyed susan vines? I tried them once in shade and they didn't do well. I've put a new planter on the east side of the greenhouse and thought I'd try them there again next year but I'm wondering if they are like ipomoea and like it hot? Thanks.
Hello fellow threaders! I'm still trying to get my own internet service. Hopefully, I'll have something going by next weekend. I no longer have my own garden, only containers now and a few spots in my landlord's garden. I've planted a few things this summer in it but I hate to get too crazy and then get cut off. I have bulbs coming from one of the bulb co-ops I participated in earlier this summer. Can't wait until they get here. I'll post photos of what I do have soon. Take care all!
Dahlianut: I tried black-eyed susan vines this year on a bamboo teepee in a 5 gallon pot in full sun, and the results were mediocre. The vines have gotten 18-24 inches long with a smattering of small flowers. Meanwhile, a local nursery has the same pots with lush, beautiful foliage all the way to the top of the teepee, just covered with blossoms, in the greenhouse. I suspect that you're right - they like a lot more heat than we had in my back yard this year.
Heat? I hardly had heat in the greenhouse this summer! Still have live pea plants in there, which is unheard of at this time of year.
Drat! I thought that might be the case. Thanks jayne_a.
My sugar snap peas are not only alive, they are still producing and still flowering!
Just got my bulbs from the Fall Bulb Co-op I participated in here at DG. I'll be planting black tulips, apricot daffodils, checker lilies (Frittillaria) and a variety of Snowdrops (Galanthus). Can't wait!
I haven't had much luck with frittillaria and galanthus. I don't think I have good enough drainage in the bed I put them in sigh. I'm going to try this again, this time in the desert bed next fall. This is a big lily (asiatics and LA hybrids) and alllium year for me. Also putting in more chinadoxa, pushkinia and hyacinthoides.
Last year I planted 6 frittillaria. One bloomed. This year I planted 10 in a different place. Hopefully they will do better than the others. All of my yard is a desert!
LOL paj, mine too but this bed is one of the driest. Perhaps I should call it the Kalahari bed ^_^
Thanks for the heads-up on drainage. In Butte, drainage was no problem--lots of sandy soil but here in Bozeman it's clay, clay, clay. I'm off to plant the bulbs!
