who wanted pictures of balloon flower border in bloom?

I know I posted this last year, but somebody this spring specifically asked to see this picture, and naturally, I couldn't find last year's picture, and now I can't remember who wanted to see the picture.

The story goes, my darling dear husband found these on sale at Home Depot for $2 each in October or November. Neither of of us had any idea what a balloon flower was, let alone what's appropriate for a border or how much space to allow or sun, shade, sand, loam, clay, you get the idea. He brought me home 20 balloon flowers to line the walk he had just finished building. (Of course, they were dormant. We had no idea what they would look like.)

So the sweet nutty guy plants all 20 balloon flowers. This is what they look like in bloom. They've been blooming for a week or two now. We just dead head them as we walk along.

I think they've gotten taller in the past couple years.... Maybe they're better established, or maybe they need more sun.

carrie,
That might have been me asking. I can't remember either. As a matter of fact, I was just getting ready to ask a question about perennials to plant for lots of color from about now to the end of the summer. My gardens start getting kind of blahhhh about the middle of July. I need more bloom and color. I will address this in another post.

The balloon flowers are very pretty! Can you keep an eye on how long they bloom like that for me? I would be very interested to know the answer to that. And your hubby's walk is very nice and I like the way it curves. I'm a sucker for curved beds!

Sherry

Oh, he was going to make it straight! He was annoyed when I told him it had to curve. But if it's straight, it might as well have a 55mph speed limit sign posted, right?

It wasn't me but I enjoyed the picture any how! Those look awesome! I have one balloon flower and I tried deadheading it the first year but it didn't get any new flowers, so I don't know if I had waited too long. After that I've been scared to try to deadhead it because I want it's seeds! lol So last year I got seeds and started a whole bunch of them, maybe they will look half as pretty as yours : ) Now I can try the deadheading again.

LOL, you understand my poor husband was planting these unknown HD leftovers when the ground was cold and his fingers were cold! Thank you, and I do think deadheading helps.

What a sweet guy you married! My husband's only interest in gardening is taking pictures of the flowers I have planted, fed and watered. ;)

Yes, he's a real sweetie! The only problem is, we have a quarter-acre lot and he wants to plant 20 of something every year!

At least he's not like most DH's I hear about. You know, the ones that complain about the flower beds making 'their' lawns too hard to mow. Or how they don't want their wives ripping out anymore lawn on them. I'd much rather have one that likes to plant 20 of something! (My DH is kinda in between the 2) When your dh is not around you could always dig a couple (of the 20) to trade for something else You'd like. : )

Good point, Meredith. At least my hubby and I are on the same page about grass. He is 100% behind my desire to do away with as much lawn as I can. Every year, the amount of lawn on our quarter acre gets a little smaller. Now, if I could just convince him that the lawn will become smaller, faster if he participates in my projects!

Mine's kinda 50-50 too, really, and he does NOT understand the sleep-creep-leap principle. The balloons are all in a row, so they have room to spread side to side, and down into the lawn if they dare. But he's been known to plant 2 or 3 Monarda in a space that would be small for one, and he doesn't save the tags so it's hard to trade.

Plus I'm not allowed to plant crocus in the lawn (or if I do, he just mows them down with no regard for the ripening foliage)! It's funny, but it took me a long time to figure out to plant crocus between the plants in my perennial beds. (I grew up with crocus in the lawn!)

Did you know you can cut the stems of balloon flowers back in early summer & they will branch out & make more flowers? I discovered that by accident. My plants really never bloomed much (I'd have one long stem per plant with just one flower each - sad). Cutting never hurts the asters or mums, so I decided to give it a shot with the balloon flowers last year & it worked! So I cut even more aggressively this year. They're still not nearly as full as yours Carrie, but they will have way more flowers than they used to! My balloons are starting to pop today :0).

Oh, congrats, lisabees! How early do you cut them back? I was thinking of doing that this year and didn't get around to ACTUALLY thinking of it until too late. I didn't want to cut off the baby flowers!

Carrie - Gorgeous! If you run out of space for "20 of something", please send your dear DH over to me - I have tons of room for quite a few 20s!!!!!! LOL Samantha

I'm actually not even sure when I cut them - I just did it when I realized they were there :0). Definitely before they set buds.

I did cut off one bud a couple weeks ago along with half it's stem, because I found a plant I had missed. I don't know yet how that will work out. They're in the most neglected part of my garden. Now that they're actually looking like something though, I might have to find a more visible place for them!

Oh, thanks, Lisa, that's good to know! Let me know. I like the way they look, almost like little shrubs, while they're growing, don't you?

Mine are a long way from shrub-like, but I do love the flowers!

Today they look very ratty - time for some major deadheading! DH says it doesn't make them produce more flowers, I've never noticed, I just do it automatically.

The spent blooms don't look too bad to me, they kind of look pink. I do dead head them, though.
GardenGate magazine sent a sample issue a while back, and there was an article about deadheading which said they'd rebloom. They do seem to keep making little buds, so I keep after 'em. At least they're easy to do by hand.

They remind me of shrubs too, when they come up in the spring. Like one skinny branch..

OOH, I did a bunch of them tonight - sticky sticky!

Nice picture Clay! They look really nice with those yellow flowers behind them, is that coreopsis?

My general view of deadheading is that it can't hurt, & it just might get you more flowers :0).

No, they're Cosmos sulphureus 'Bright Lights', all self-seeded. Funny you said deadheading can't hurt - I cut my finger REALLY bad last year with the fiskars while deadheading the cosmos. lol They're a lot more work to keep up with than balloon flowers, but they'll bloom until Halloween, easy.

Well geez, I meant it cant hurt the PLANTS :0)!

Hey Carrie!

The person who asked you to post pics was Sherrygirl, from Pasco Washington, in Pam's thread "Finally, blooms in my garden". So you do remember correctly (and they are GORGEOUS).

Donna

Thank you, Donna! Sherry was the FIRST person to post saying "it might have been me...". They are still looking good. A little peaked from up close, but there are still plenty of buds and from the street, I think they look amazing.

Carrie

Platycodon is one of my all time favorite plants in the garden.

Right now my tall blue, double blue, shell pink and dwarf white are blooming The blue dwarf seemed to have bloomed the first this year for some reason.

They are quite easy from seed. Sow in spring when the ground stays 70%, surface sow (need light to germinate) and let mother nature take her course :) (store seed in fridge over winter) The first year they may not flower or the flowers won't be much but the second year they make up for it *lol*

VERY pretty Carrie :)

I always have tons of seeds in the fall. A very well behaved plant in the garden :)

Kim

Thank you Kim. I have one blue dwarf that bloomed first too. The border's looking really tired to me, but maybe from the street it still looks good. So, Sherry, I am attempting to answer your question. They ain't over yet!

Hi Carrie :)

I have been SO bad about enjoying the outside gardens the way I used to. I have twice as many houseplants as I ever have and I just have been so focused on them.

I did notice though that my "speckled" (white and blue spotted) balloon plants are blooming this year :) I only planted them last year so am tickled that they bloomed :) The don't seem to be as "strong" as my others but maybe next year they will be stronger. This year they are real "leaners". I will try to get a picture of the bloom and post it here at some point. I would do it right now but we are getting some really massive rains. The power just came back on *lol*.

Yours still looks beautiful! You gave me a really good idea. I need something to border the front of my bed in the front of my house as the grass just seems to want to creep right into everything. I think I will alternate the dwarf blue and dwarf white and make a "hedge" like border so the grass won't get through. Wow, I'm going to have to start alot of seeds next spring *lol* That will be fun.

Thank you,

Kim

But Kim, do go for the dwarf! Mine flop way too much and since this is a path that is used, we often "pop" the balloons!!!!

Thanks! (I will tell DH.)

Carrie

If anyone is interested, I officially hereby declare that the balloon flower border no longer looks good any closer than 30 feet away, LOL.

Awe, well it was lovely while it lasted. I have dwarf balloons that are looking quite shabby too. Guess we'll have to wait until next year. This is my first year growing them. I heard they are slow to emerge in the spring. Did you notice that?