Lea, I read a trick for Monarda somewhere - cut it back in June, shortest in front and gradually less to middle, to keep the plants tidier looking and blooming longer. The shorter plants in front hide the leggy or mildew of the taller plants behind them. I did it last year and it made a big difference. Mine never flop though, I just don't like the way the bottom looks if left to do as it pleases.
Gardening: Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #32
Lea you did send me more varieties of sedum. Most of those low growing types actually stayed lively looking (just barely) through the winter and yes they are coming into it now. I love them. Thank you so much. I am growing them around the stepping stones and I'll have some to add to the bare stones soon. Did the ones I sent you make it. I think it was Angelina and a blue one you had on your want list. As I recall the names were different but mine looks like the picture.
Thanks everyone who gave advice on pinching back the Jacob. I hope I remember that. Mine got pretty tall last year and did get some mildew. The phlox too. I need to remember that.
I read somewhere that the datura would be smaller if grown in a pot, so that is what I'm going to try. Never grown them before either, but they're so pretty!
Does anyone have a suggestion for what to plant between oriental lilies? I have a row of them, in full sun, and have never planted anything amongst them. They're not very attractive except for the flowers. If I slip a few things in-between I don't think it would bother them, they share the ground with weeds by the end of the summer anyway!
This is the bed, the Lilies come up in front of the bed. I have irises on either side of the lilies, and a few coneflowers in front of those. Mainly, I'm hoping to revitalize this bed with seeds I'm growing now from the swap and the coop. This is full-on hot sun in the summer, but I do have a watering system going. Suggestions welcome!
Kelly, Lilies like having their root zones shaded and cool, making them an excellent choice for an underplanting of annuals or groundcover. Any bushy sun loving annuals would be nice, dwarf zinnias, marigolds, vinca, sun coleus, etc...the sky's the limit!
I am going to plant Hardy Geraniums with mine. After the good suggestions from fellow Dgers. : )
Hey critter! Great article on labels today!
edited to correct spelling. It's still early and not enough coffee yet!
This message was edited Mar 12, 2009 9:13 AM
I grew some in pot over the winter last year and they did stay small only about 18 inches tall so half, and then I planted them outside in last spring by then they had been in pots for over a year and then bloomed all summer which was surprising since they had bloomed in the house all winter
I now have sixteen plants in pots about 4 inches tall each to go out for this summer
I've seen a few b.flys out there. Mostly monarchs. B.flys are still few and far between right now. I did also spot one small blue b.fly.
WIB,
SW
Does anybody grow scabisoa the blue and the pink? I wonderign if they gona get mroe than one bloom. I got some that bloomign away right now with a single bloom and wanna make sure they gona get more before I put em in a basket with other stuff
Scicciarella, you're talking about the Datura right? Did they bloom the first summer in the pot?
Umm, for anyone who was excited about the "purple ruffled petunia" from Lynn from the swap... I have a bloom, and it's White! Guess it crossed or reverted or something. It is a little ruffly :) There are other buds about to open, and they appear to be white also. Let us know what yours do, it will be interesting to see if they all are the same, or vary!
LOL - trying to keep up with y'all really IS like herding cats!
Lea - nearly everything I planted in some 288 cell trays didn't come up - I'm sure it's my fault as I didn't really scrub them before planting....and I think I've got a water issue with them as well. This is the first year I've tried starting seeds in them, so I'll chalk it up to experimentation - the list is too long to put here, it would depress me - LOL!
dryad57 They make Duck calls Moose call Goose calls And on and on
You need to make a Cat call..LOL
buwahahahaha!!
La, was it this one I bet it was sometimes I let it grow and sometimes not, I like to watch the big moths that come to it at night but the stalk is like a trunk to a tree lol I thought the seeds looked like that one it will reseed like crazy too! I have a white one that I like really well that’s a perennial for me think I have some seeds for it somewhere it’s Inoxia and has bigger blooms but just can’ find a spot where I’m happy with it because it gets about 5’ tall too but I really like that one, I had one in my middle bed for about five years then finally it didn’t come back one year doesn’t reseed as bad as the tatula but they are easy to pull out. Other than these two I think the rest of them are smaller like 3’, out of the ones that I've had anyway.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/48971/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/355/
Star if it's the scabisoa butterfly blue that's a perennial it gets lots of flowers on it, I had the blue and the pink, lost my blue one to the wet winter last year. I loved the little blooms on them!
I've got to get ready to go to town and the PO :)
AW! So that "purple ruffled petunia" probably reverted back is what happened :( Oh well those white one will go with my red ones lol I gotta get outta here and yes Robin they are talking away I hate to go to town lol You all will be gone when I get back lol Hey I can plant the white ones in my moon garden :)
I've already seen 2 butterflies! A cabbage white and one of those tiny blue-silver ones. It seems awfully early for them. Now its cold again, I think the high today is 35F.
Lea I am the exact same way. I had a white one (I have no idea where it came from since I didn't even HAVE any white dat seeds) that some how came up where I thought I planted a lantana last year. LOL! But it turned out to be that white datura and I really did like it. But it was planted at the edge of the deck which is right by the driveway and it kept getting run over. It didn't kill it by any means but it grew so big that it was really in the way. I planted 2 of the lavenders out front and they just took over...and weren't nearly as pretty IMHO as the white. Ironically I had scads of seeds for the lavender but I don't think I saved a single one of the white seeds.
Does anybody know if annual phlox likes to be planted deeper than it germinates? I recall having this same problem last year with them flopping all over the place. I've pinched their 3rd set of true leaves but I don't know if that will help or not.
I always put all my seedlings a little deeper, everything I transfer to bigger pots since lots are really tiny when they germinate I pick them and put maybe five or six to a 3 inch pot when they get big enough they all get there own pot
I scattered some datura seeds near my driveway. It was from the one I grew last year - I kept it in a hanging basket -just in case of my little one -I was nervous because they are so poisonous and she was just a tot. If any kid would eat one by accident it would be this one. She is brazin. : ) She ate an acorn, and I think she licked a few lily bulbs! I had to call poison control twice! I think she will be better this year. Let me tell you summer bebies are at the worst age their second summer~ About that Datura in the basket - it didn't do well so if I were to grow one again it would be in something bigger. It maybe didn'thave enough sun either. I only got two flowers from it.
Can I ask everyone what they think about the fact that dianthus and lavendar prefer lime soils? I have them growing in pro mix which is acidic from the peat - right? So is their something I can do like mix something into the pro mix to try to make them happy? Out of all my seedlings they look the worst they are all floppy and leggy! Help Me PLease : )
This message was edited Mar 12, 2009 5:11 PM
OK --- here is my observation of Blue Flax.... we were talking about these a week or so ago ... the other day when i was doing some too early spring clean up ... pulling out the old Cornflowers.... i noticed there was Blue Flax all in that bed. And - knowing i did not have any blue flowers last year... they much have come in the same mix as the Red Flax, but they did not bloom last year, meaning they are probably a second year bloomer.
they have a very distinct ferny like fine foliage... so they were quite obvious out there amongst the mud and dead plants.
Isn't it so exciting when you see your plants coming up after their first winter! I have 50 new varities that should bloom this year! But first they have to make it through the winter!! : )
some flax are bi annuals
Meridith, what ya usin for a fertilizer for your dianthus and lavender. If ya using miracle grow, make it weak solution for now and everytimeya water them us e the miracle grow then afetr abotu every four times of miracle grow just giv e clear water to to wash otu the excess salts til ya get them planted where ya want them. They eb good to go then. : )
Cool. Thansk for scabiosa help. Ya got blue buuterfly and the pink mist and got yellow from somebody from the piggy swap . This my first real tiem of growign them so didnt knwo what to expect.
Thanks Star Good tips for fertilizing! : ) I do think I should cut back a little on fertilizer but when you say halfstrength which formula is it half of? They don't have a specific seedling formula - they should!! I have used miracle grow a couple times but I got a new one - schultz it seems to be working really good on most of the stuff. All the other plants are fine just these ones are floppy so I still would like a good concoction for a starting mix. I figure it's worth a shot to see if it makes them happier. Maybe I can find some of those lime chips like someone uses in their lavendar bed and try mixing a small amount into thepro mix? Wasn't it Seandor?
Didn't someone post one a while back? Can't remember and I never have good luck with the search feature here on dg. I sent you some Blue Butterfly - I thought they'd be doubles, but when I search them it says they arte a hybrid of Scabiosa caucasiasothey might wind up looking like those.Oops if they don't work out lmk and I'll send you something to make up for it. : ) Here is a link to a pic of some http://www.rockwallgardens.com/Gardens.html - You have to scroll down about 9 pics on the right and they are with the purple coneflowers. : ) Still pretty anyway.
Oops forgot the link ;)
This message was edited Mar 12, 2009 6:43 PM
Hey y'all I just posted on another forum, but I thought it might be helpful to someone so I'm going to throw it in here too.
I've lost more seedlings at transplant than I ever have in the past and I think I've finally figured out what's been happening. I've been transplanting into Miracle Grow which is what I've always used, but apparently this last bag I bought was more peaty than usual. That doesn't seem possible, I'm sure they use a formula so it shouldn't vary from batch to batch. But my soil has definitely been holding more moisture than I think it should...even with light waterings. I bought some perlite to mix in with it and REtransplanted a lot of the seedlings that have been so sickly and it seems to be helping.
So my lesson of the year is to make sure I have good drainage for the precious babes.
Meridith. I make abatch up the fertilizer up accordign to directions and then cut it in half with water. Oh and forgot to tell ya Dianthus are floppy too.
some babies are just like that the worst one are the plants like wave petunias and nolanas which are also actually short trailing vine dont expect them to stand up ok
now that is why some plants need to be pinched back on the third set of leaves you pinch that one off and then the bilateral growth comes in and make the plant more stayble I do not worry about it I just rotate the flats each day so the plant has to lean the other way to get to the sun by doing that it makes the stem stronger and you can also use a small fan a couple of hours per day and that will make a big difference will also help with the dampening off and making the plants so much stronger
have not lost anything yet and I transplanted about four hundred babies already lol that is why I am running out of room mmmmmmmmmm maybe the thing is that as soon as I see any babies I pick them out so they dont get to wet
I use MG if I'm in a pinch for soil for pots but don't like it because of the peat there is no way I would use it for seedlings but that's just me, I like my soiless mix then when I pot them up to a bigger pot outside if I'm not going to plant them right away I use compost in with the soiless and that's what I use for pots.
Speaking of pots have you all seen the 'pot shots'? They are so cute and useful lol It's like someone put plant food granules in shot glasses and molded them to put in your pots to feed your plants, I just had to get some at Wally World today lol The price under them was 2.50 though and when I went thru the line and looked at the receipt they were 4.97 I know better not to look at the price better, always in a hurry but I still think it's a cool idea I won't be getting anymore but there are16 in there haven't read how many to what size yet :)
http://www.scotts.com/smg/catalog/productTemplate.jsp?tabs=general&proId=prod10290004&itemId=cat50116&id=cat50020
Ok, I'm going to get caught up for the day lol
Star and Lynn, your seeds are on the way ;-P
for now things are good if I dont end up planting myself into a corner I will survive hahahah
La I have some Inoxia seeds if you want them, plenty I was going to pitch a bunch out in the field I would love to get those going up there.
It’s been a while since I’ve tried to grow annual phlox downstairs but seems like it flopped for me too, I finally just started throwing seeds where I wanted it to come up and now it reseeds it’s self, fixed that lol I don’t like growing snaps in the house either I’m doing it Suzy’s way this year putting them in seed trays germinating them then sticking them out in my big lots greenhouse. The first year I grew snaps it was a total mess with them flopping everywhere! Not a pretty site and I had like five big trays of them! lol
I’m getting worried about my new variegated holly that I bought last fall, the leaves are all brown and uky looking, I potted it up to a nice size pot for the winter my black hills spruce looks good didn’t think hollies were suppose to turn brown in the winter my big tree doesn’t but it’s not the same kind.
Oh Neal, it’s so cold for those babies yet maybe they will hide somewhere or maybe they are just passing thru.
Lynn, my purple and white ruffled petunias are coming up now and my red ones, if they turn out white they will still be pretty with the red :) I bet the purple and white ones were pretty though!
I’m still waiting on my dusty miller, I love that stuff and never get any more than one or two plants, what is my problem with dusty miller? It’s not too wet seems just right and just barely put a little soil on it. I planted it 3-08 so maybe it’s just not ready to come up but I don’t look to get more than one or two out of a whole seed tray :(
Meredith, I made a note to cut my JC back in June, thanks :)
Robin, I’ve grown nemesia for a long time and had that problem last year lost it all! I have a few seeds of the bicolor red and white salvia that I’m sowing if I get a few seedlings out of them I’ll share. I’m hoping mine out front reseed for me this year. I had one purple and white salvia that I got in with my other salvia seeds last year I tried to save some seeds from that one but think I got them mixed up with some others wish me luck on those, I wish you luck on the rest of your seeds!
Meredith, usually potting mixes with a lot of peat have additives to make the mix a neutral ph, especially the well known, reliable brands. I grew several Dianthus at my last home, where the soil was on the acid side and they did just fine.
La, I've seen bags of MG potting soil vary quite a bit from each other, some more peaty, some more barky and twiggy.
Lea, a lot of the variegated Hollies aren't as hardy as green leaved. You have it in a pot? What kind of protection does it get?
I just read something interesting on the Wintersowing forum. A member in zone 6 WS Osteospermum and already has some germinating. Have any of you WS them?
Morning All! I was poking around the web this morning, and ran across this article on when to pick various kinds of flowers and how to treat them to make them last as long as possible. Thought it might interest some of you! http://oldhousegardens.com/Bulbs-As-Cut-Flowers.asp
Neal, funny you should mention the Osteo. I didn't WS any of them, but planted some white ones under lights. They all germinated, but boy do they flop! I must have given all my seeds for the purple ones away, so I'm hoping I get some reseeding in the garden.
I had a nice surprise yesterday! I was ready to toss my Bright Light Hosta seeds since its been 1 1/2 months and this is my 3rd time trying Hosta. I'm so happy, I have quite a few popping up! It will be so interesting to see if I get any variegation.
Anyone ever try the Purple smoke tree [Cotinus coggygria] from seeds? Got some in a trade and I'm hoping for results.
Question ... when are the zone 5/6 people putting Preen on your gardens? I can't remember when I did it last year, but all I do remember is I did it too late. LOL
Thanks for the inform on cutting back Jacob Kline. I'll be using it this spring too.
They aren't too aggressive for me or floppy, but do get just a little mildew. Here's a night time picture of my Jacob Kline.
LeaBug, then pot shot s are just anopther gimic on the market. personalyl, I wouldn't us ethem. they want you to put downin pots which means you have a whole concentrate d bit of fertilizer right next to yoru root s which could burn them. Second the nitrogen in the mi is gona break down fater than any of the other chemicals. With them buried you not gonna be abel to easily grab the prills and pinch to see what is still not disolve d and what is.
I use the vitimix. same as osmocote and lots cheaper by far half the price. Just put a litle scoop next to outsoid eof pots and then evry month especially in sumemr time can check to see what is breakign down and what is not. Most of them feeds that say 6 months andninemonths dont last anyways cuz the sun and heat breaks them down alot faster.
Someboidy made a cute marketing idea, but I wouldnt trust it. Not with my babies.
Wouldn't it be nice if Osteospermum reseeded! I was really surprised to hear of them being up so early wintersown, I may have to try some next year.
toofew, I don't use Preen because I have too many self seeding plants in the garden (and I quit using chemicals for the most part too), but I'd think about now is the time to start using it. I'm seeing a lot of peppergrass, wild lamium, chick weed, wild onion, and ground ivy germinating, so you could probably nip those pests in the bud before they start. Just remember not to use it where you are wanting self seeding from your ornamentals.
Glad to hear someone else saying their Osteo is floppy. I was just looking this morning, and worrying that I'd done something wrong. They look so pitiful, and I've only got 3 of them germinated, so I really want them to live!
I have a bunch of stuff flopping this morning! I just pinched back some salvias hopefully they will still bloom. They are a tender perennial type so I have no idea if they would even bloom the first year anyway. So pinching them back is taking a chance on them. :)
Neal, I'll be out there today. It's only supposed to get into the 30's today... burrrrr, but lots nicer on the weekend, but I'm working this weekend. I only have my annual Rudbeckia and Ageratum Leilani Blue that I let reseed, and they come up through the preen. I'll be sure to not put it where I put the Osteo. last year.
KL, I hope the Osteo does well for us. Mine are only about a week old, but I hope they firm up soon.
Oh Star, I did think those Pot Shots were so cute but if you think I should return them I will, I'm not much on plant foods, I use a lot of just compost tea and the Osmocote in my containers, I just started planting containers a couple of years ago and started out with Miracle Grow and trying to get away from that so I'll look for some vitimix and see if we have it here :) I still have quite a bit of the osmocote left from last year though to go thru first I bought one of those big containers of it last year :)
I have no idea when I'm feeding my annuals I just go thru the motions and hope for the best lol I'm too new at it, annuals are new to me and to tell you the truth they are an awful lot of trouble give me my perennials any day! lol
Toofew, I hope my stand of JC looks like that this summer, that is beautiful!
You know after hearing about WS the Osteo, I have something coming up in one of my pots that it was in last year, I'm wondering now if it's the wild violets or the Osteo, time will tell. With those being an annual never thought about WS them.
Neal, I just figured the holly was really hardy and left the pot outside not much protection at all, just left it with the rest of my trees, do you think I lost it :(
La, I think my red verbena from last year is reseeding too? It's kind of early for those but it sure looks like it!