Well, I've made good use of a rainy morning here! Finally got the last of my WS jugs planted (can you call it Wsowing if its spring already? :) Filled them with dirt in the garage, and then set them out in the driveway to get watered. Then brought them inside to sow and then back out to the deck under the table so they don't drown.
Phew, now how do I avoid housework for the rest of the day?
Gardening: Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #33
it rained all night and now some of the perennials are showing some green poppies are standing up to the sun today, and crocuses are just about to open since the snow finally melted off of them two days ago lol bad spot will move them this summer to get earlier blooms next spring and only only more flat to plant to day but had to get more soil from the garage and its to cold have to let it warm up
then as I looked around in the flats looks like I have to do some transplanting this week end lol babies are outgrowing the space they have
Just wanted to say that my Yvonnes Salvia self seeds every year. A real late bloom when it self seeds but I love the color at the end of the season. Mine didn't get as tall as the picture of Yvonne with her salvia, but I've always been happy with it. Here is a pic of the first year I planted it ... see the tall red in the back.
very very pretty toofew....
Wow, that bed is just Gorgeous too few!
Ok, I've never had a bed that looks like that. Mostly I've grown bulbs and things, plus the few annuals I had good luck with last year. The best success has been with pots on the deck, I guess because I see them every day and am reminded to take care of them. This year, I hope to do better, with all the piggie seeds and others.
When you have plants that self seed, do they come up where you planted them before, or do they tend to come up all over the place?
Toofew, is that alyssum in the front? Does your bed do the same thing every year, or do you plant annuals and change them up a lot?
Right now, I'll I've got figured out is what goes in the front (shade) and what goes in the back (sun). Some things that are best for my pots, and some things that can go anywhere. That's about it. I think I need a better plan soon!
toofewI love yor bed it is so pretty! The salvia look great.
Thanks everyone, but that picture was taken in Sept 2005 at it's nicest. It has never, I repeat never, looked as nice as that again. lol
Klstuart, the Yvonne salvia come up in pretty much the same place when it reseeds. I try to plant the alyssum every year, tried different colors, but the white is the best if I can keep it watered enough. There is a second rim of purple petunias and Dusty Miller. I do change the colors of the petunias (those are the purple ones I tried to keep seeds from), and I always try some new annuals every year. And this year I moved a lot of the perinneals out and am going to plant veggies in the middle since this is my best full sun garden. Keeping the rim of flowers. Hubby is not happy about that.
tcs, You need to get going on those tomatos. I'm with you at needing to start the zinnias and Morning Glories soon. I've got several varieties of each.
toofew, that is a picture perfect flower bed. I would like to do one similar this year.
I need to start a lot more stuff still - but I think I am going to get some more lights if I do. I'm down to 2 open spots for flats, and that is going to fill up quick if I have to keeppotting stuff up! Lea I had the same thing happen, that had happened to yours, to one of my light fixtures from HD. Did you end upbeing able to fix it? Or should I just buy a new one?
Buy a new one Meredith, they don't have those boxes they were talking about for the cheap lights :( I have two stands from garden supply and one of those lights just went out they better have one of those because those weren't cheap lol
toofew, that bed is beautiful, it's a shame to put tomatoes in there :) The alyssum, dusty miller and purple petunias are a beautiful combo! I like that :)
It's cold, windy and spitting snow after tarnado wa rnings last night, a good day to work on seed trays in here :)
Did I mention my orange wallflowers from Maozamom germinated in their WS jugs I think every seed that I sowed came up, just a few days after I planted them and I have one catnip up from Critter so far in a jug :)
Doesn't seem like I have planted that much but between the jugs and seed trays that have come up I have a total of 33 different ones :) Still a lot to go!
Ahhh toofew, your picture is very inspiring. We've never had an area that beautiful. The white border works great to tie it all together.
I didn't plant Critter's catnip yet....thanks for reminding me LeBug :)
Thanks Lea I will have to go get a couple so I can keepsowing seeds. : )
Tcs my Yvonnes have sprouted - I think the heat mat made a difference. If a couplemore come up I would consider it to be very good germination. : ) I've been finding with all my seeds that at least one cell per pack isn't germinating as well as the rest. It's really odd.
I gotta share here to with ya all, my swap buddies.
Oh!!!!!!!! Oh!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just can't contain myself any longer. I just had an encounter of the bird kind.
I happy than a clam, that is if clams are happy, think they just make people happy who eat them.
Am happier than a yougn pup who all ful of the wiggle s from his head down to the tip of his tail.
Happier than a brand new pair of sneakers beign taken for a walk.
There I was potting away in the gh cuz it freezing and windy as all get out out side. I turned to put one of the trnsplants in the tray and there was a giant.. giant buzzz by my head. I thought oh man. I gonan get it now, cuz have had a big ole wasp behind be all day in gh buzzing away and gettign in my face.
I looked up ready to smack the wasp and dropped my flat of plants to the groudn and stood and starred frozen solid.
Ther e wa s oen of my hummer s back. A beautiful beautiful sparkly kind agreen all over. Usually don't have them that green here and it flew in front of my face and gave me a talking too.
Ya see i been kidna busy these past coupel weeks and havn't gotten the hummer feeders up yet. Well, I not onyl have one up but race d liek a fool into the house and hrrie d and fileld them all and went and hung them up.
I couldn't beliv e how big it was. Huge for a humemr compared to the ones I have had aroudn here for th elast years.
I bought broke my neck tryign to stand on a coupel of milk crate s cuz wa sin such a hurry didn't want to get the ladder for to put them up with.
Then had to go and replant all my pots an dplants, but it sure was worth it to have that beeeeeeeeeeeeea -uuuuuuuutiful baby in th egh with me and talkign to me.
I so happy think I will dance. Now just gott a come up with the right song. : )
I wonder, my Zinnias and small annual salvias are in bloom in the gh wonder if I shoudl pull them out , do the humemr s liek them?
I pulled the columbines all out when the rain started and they all in bloom all over the place. I knwo they liek them.
Very Cool Star!!
was he appreciative of the feeder you hung?
I dont get them here, in IL, only saw one once in 2007. We get a lot of them in the park in Wisc, though last year, i was late getting out the feed too, and they didnt come back.
fascinating creatures.
Yippee Starlight! We got our feeder up last week, but haven't seen our friends yet! Should be soon :)
Star , I'm so excited for you! Must have been a sight when you first noticed what that hummm was lol They like salvias put those blooms out there, anything that is blooming would probably make him/her happy, I'm not sure about zinnias maybe someone else can help you with that one, oh... La :)
Congratulations :)))
Ours love Zinnias! I was surprised because they don't seem like hummer flowers, but they are! I've seen them on hummer a list somewhere recently too.
Will zinnias grow/bloom in dappled shade??
not very well they prefer full sun or most of the day, the ones I had in partial shade got really tall and didnt look very nice and the blooms came very late and small
Ya. I was so happy. : )
I keep about 250 hostas and have abotu 1,000 columbiens and oodles of Cannas and of course hundreds of Daylilies for my hummers, but Other than the columbines, the main food for them in not up and flowerign yet.
Have the pineappel salvias and black an dblue salvia for them too. Didn't know if they liked the little annual Salvias or not.
So wil get them and the Zinnias hot tommorrow. Thank goodness we warmign back up again cuz it 38 right now and I freezing.
I had Zinnia one year in the dappled shade and mine didn't do well at all. They didn't bloom right .
I had some Zinnias on the west side of the house last year, so complete shade until maybe 2pm, and then blazing hot sun for a while. They seemed to like that ok, though they were a little tall. Never can figure out what to plant over there!
you have to look for plants that will take full sun but will also do we in part shade
since only a few hours of sun per day will make full sun plants leggy and less and smaller blooms its so hard to plant in certain areas since they are not really one or the other
Star congrats on your hummer - I am envious-we don't get them until Mother's Day weekend here.
One plant that I have found to do well with only hot blazing afternoon sun is Lychnis coronia (Rose Campion). I have a similar problem spot here -but I haven't found as many plants that do wellas I would like yet.
Last year I grew zinnias in my garden that gets a little bit of shade mid-day and the zinnias did fine there, but it is only shady from about 1pm to 3pm, sun the rest of the day. I think they are definitely best in asmuch sun as you can provide them. :)
Oh goody! I have some Rose Campion coming up from NanniePB that I wintersowed! Now I know where one thing is going at least!
I guess then, i'm looking for a plant that can do well with little sun, but the hummers like. Yes, i have a lot of hostas [not 250 like Star] but they do not bloom long, or early. Guess i can do a Google.
columbines do great in the shade and bloom early and the hummers love them, and if you dead head them they will will bloom till late spring to early summer and will provide many blooms for our little friends
I did plant a bunch of WS'ed Columbines last Sept. I'm hoping they bloom this year.
Burrrr it's 29 degrees out there should be some kind of rule that when it gets to be 70 one day it can't get any colder only warmer from there on! lol
Star if your annual salvias are blooming in the greenhouse and on tables where they can reach them the little hummer should like them, I remember Suzy saying they don't like shorter plants closer to the ground, they like the taller plants better keeping away from preditors, that's why I took a bunch of my columbines up and sent them to Fairy :) I'm only growing taller ones now with spurs for them. As far as I know these are the first flowers that the hummers hit when they come, so I know when they are in bloom the hummers are here if I see them or not and put my feeders out. My columbines aren't even budding here yet :(
I have a new columbine for this year 'firecracker' it's suppose to be yellow and red, can't wait to see the blooms :)
I have plumonarias blooming for now and my basket of golds are getting ready too but both of those are too close to the ground for the hummers, next year I should have some hellebores blooming :) Just had to throw that in lol They will be too short and will probably bloom earlier? I don't know if I can wait for another year on those lol
The next flowers to bloom for me will be the perennial candytuft and snow in summer then the columbines and other flowers start to take off outside. I think that's how it is anyway, I always think I will remember but I just barely do lol The hummers seem to like my candytuft that are in the big pot that hangs over the side with my shrub but it's about three feet off of the ground.
I have some columbines in pots that I didn't get in the ground last year and so far they aren't coming up so they are starting to worry me :( The ones in the ground are about half way up, usually the ones in pots are coming up by now, I may have lost those.
tcs, the great blue lobelia and red cardinalis are two that can take dappled shade and of course some of the columbines :) Some Coral bells, the hummers like those too.
I can't remember when the coral bells bloom but it's early :) My hummers are always all over them.
thanks Lea. I think i got a Heuchera last year. I'll have to find the image of my 'finds'. OH - yes, it was Silver Scrolls.
But i need more. I have a few Astilbes too. I think i WS'ed some Red Cardinal ... i'll have to check my notes.
OH and tell me about it... it's 26° -- but gonna be 50 today.
Like everyone else already mentioned -Coral Bells (make sure they are red flowered- they won't go to the white ones - at least they don't here)(Spigelia marilandica Indian Pinks, (there was just an article about these recently) Foxgloves, Fire Pinks (Silene virginica), LObelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower), Monarda didyma Red, Chelone - Turtlehead, Weigela, Bleeding Hearts hmmm that's all's I can think of now - I am sure I will think of more after I post. lol
the sun is trying to come out but still pretty dark and rain finally stopped that is a plus
hummers love morning glories that is why I am growing them inside this year so they will go out and be blooming right away since they already have buds
IT is still dark and raining here. Tcs needs plants that don't need a lot of sun and good for hummers. Here morning glories don'tgrow unless they have lots of sun. :(
I can't beleive I didn't already say thisone - Scarlet Monkeyflower! lol I only sent seeds to the piggy swap - ya think I would have thought of that one. : )
hummers also like geraniums and they will do well in partial shade and bonus they come in red
Tcs -if you want shrubs and vines Rhodies or Azaelas are a good choice. Then for a vine - Coral Honeysuckle (I am not recommending the invasive japanese one - the native one) http://davesgarden.com/tools/journal/showimage.php?eid=188547
Also for a small tree the Red Buckeye is supposed to be a fav. - I am still waiting for mine to bloom - I planted it in 2006!
Here's apic of my first coral bell (I think they are called Firefly) that bloomed from plants I started from seed 3 years ago now. Only 2 plants bloomed their second year - hopefully the rest will this year. Hopefully I'll be able to save the seeds for a swap next year. http://davesgarden.com/tools/blog/viewimage.php?did=55208
Also I hate to say it because we all talked a lot of people out of them - but Obedient Plants - I have a particular one that thrives in the shade. I think they are a different species called Narrow Leaved Obedient plant. I got some from my neighbor. : )
OMG! I just saw my first tick!!! I let Max outside, let him back in and went to take a drink of my coffee and it was on my coffee cup after I had pet him! Gross!!! I was wanting to work on my bird garden the other day and there are always a lot of ticks in there and decided not to get in it because of that but thinking it was too early for the ticks to be out, I guess not :(
I forgot about the bleeding hearts blooming early too Meredith :) Mine aren't even up yet I hope I didn't lose those too!
tcs, I have several 'caramel' coral bells up if they do well I'll send you a couple this fall, it'll take them that long to get any size on them lol It takes those forever to grow from seed! I just grew them to see if they will look like the momma plant :) I had so many seedlings of the palace purple and velvet knight last year that I just planted those everywhere lol I'll save some seeds for you this year off of the coral bells if you want me to but some are hard to catch I tried to save a bu nch of seeds for another person on here last year and didn't end up with as many as I thought I would for some reason, some of them have oodles of seed and others you are blessed if you just get a few lol
I've got another plant getting ready to bloom in the shade but can't think of what it is, think it has green flowers? Oh, oh lol It's Lady's Mantle, it's kind of low too but I've seen the hummers on it before.
And isn't Bergenia suppose to bloom in early spring? I've had one plant planted for a few years now and I haven't had one bloom from it! It's about 15" around now but no blooms :( I got two from Fairy's coop and planted two from seed last year so I'm wondering when those are going to bloom, they are kind of small yet so don't really expect them to until next year if they do, they are in a different bed that gets more sun the one I've had for a while only gets sun from about 12 on but it gets full sun in the winter. This one won't bloom in shade tcs sorry :) I'd just like to know if I'm going to get a bloom off of it eventually lol Maybe I need to move it but I really hate to take the chance of losing it, I do love the foliage!
canterburry bells will takea lot ofshade
tcs, Jacob's Ladder they can take shade, I have some seeds to the blue ones somewhere I just saw them the other day but there is no telling where they are now lol If I find them I can send them to you :) Not sure about WS them, I always just started them under lights or out in the early spring after the last frost while it's still raining a bit, like spring WS.
Sorry about the space bar at the last of my last post, I'm having 'space bar' issues too lol
I know how that is! lol
here is list of shade plants for hummers
Plant these flowers, bulbs, trees, shrubs, vines and tropical plants to attract hummingbirds to your backyard.
Annuals
Fuchsia (Fuchsia hybrida)
Impatiens (Impatiens wallerana)
Monkey Flower (Mimulus hybridus)
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
Nicotiana (Nicotiana alata)
Pentas (Pentas lanceolata)
Shrimp plant (Justicia sp.)
Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus)
Wax Begonia (B. semperflorens)
Perennials
Ajuga (Ajuga reptans)
Bleeding Heart (Dicentra sp.)
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
Columbine (Aquilegia sp.)
Coral Bells (Heuchera sp.)
Daylily (Hemerocallis varieties)
Foxglove (Digitalis sp.)
Hostas (Hosta sp.)
Lupines (Lupinus sp.)
Monarda (Monarda didyma)
Penstemon (Penstemon sp.)
Phlox (Phlox sp.)
Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia uvaria)
Toad-lily (Tricyrtis hirta)
Bulbs
Alstroemeria (Alstroemeria sp.)
Tuberous Begonia (B. tuberosa)
Montbretia (Crocosmia sp.)
Trees
Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin)
Red-flowering Buckeye (Aesculus pavia)
Red Horsechestnut (Aesculus carnea)
Redbud (Cercis canadensis)
Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Shrubs
Abelia (Abelia grandiflora)
Azaleas (Rhododendron sp.)
Beautybush (Kolkwitzia amabilis)
Butterfly Bush (Buddleia davidii)
Cape Honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis)
Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa)
Honeysuckle (Lonicera sp.)
Lilac (Syringa vulgaris)
Red-Flowering Currant (Ribes sanguineum)
Rhododendron (Rhododendron sp.)
Weigelia (Weigelia florida)
Vines
Trumpet Creeper Vine (Campsis radicans)
Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens