May flowers...& why I garden.

Ahhh he looks great, Gita!!! Good job!!! I'm ready to pot yours up another size or so. I know you can put a small Datura in a huge pot and they don't seem to mind. Is it the same with Brugs or do they like to be moved up gradually? ALL my brugs are going outdoors this weekend...deck first and then to their summer "locations" through out the yard. Ohhhh I can't wait!!! Got started much too late last summer with the Brugs - they bloomed when they were brought IN for the fall/winter...LOL

Yes, Chantelle---

Mine have always had the greatest bloom flush also in late october--when the weather is getting "iffy".....Remember last October's pictures of me 'butchering" the huge Maya and saying that there were about a 100 bloom buds all over every cutting I had to cut off?
Not fair!
"Bruggie" (Shirley from IA) was my mentor and hand-holder all through my first couple of years growing my Brugs...She is some lady!

I usually put the Brug cuttings in about a 3 gal., black pot with some holes cut out on it's sides (for any roots to grow through) and then half-bury this pot in a bigger, Patio pot.
This makes it easier when you are digging up the Brug to bring inside--as all you need to bring in is the 3gal. inner pot. Cut off any roots that have grown through the holes and put the pot in a plastic bag to keep them moist.....That's it!

Because of their HUGE leaves--my big pots often blow over--so I try to choose a 'squattier" pot rather than a tapered pot as the big pot.....Sometimes I have to put bricks on top of the pot to keep it from blowing over---it can be frustrating!

Mine have been outside now for several weeks.....Watch the sun in the beginning....

Please keep sending pictures of how yours are doing.....OK?

Gita

Gita, Yes I am struggling with the DG Journal. I've made a few posts and like the idea but then when I go back I have trouble remembering how it works so I put my notes in a book or somewhere till I get back to working on the Journal, which hasn't happened yet. LOL
Love the color on this honeysuckle.

Siberian Iris

Bearded Iris

With regard to pots blowing over... I saw a great suggestion in a book I was paging through last year (a Reader's Digest garden guide maybe?)... Take a piece of rebar and drive it down through the drainage hole into the dirt, pinning the pot to the ground. Not so good if you like to move your pots around a lot of course, but it won't blow over!

Gita, That Foxglove and those Iris are beautiful. Such a gorgeous blue. I also like the shape of that Coleus leaf.

Holly, those are such gorgeous colors on each of those flowers. Each one is prettier than the next.

Holly--WOW on that maroon Honeysuckle! My Store manager would love it! I dug up and gave him the two American H.S. that I got from Jill. I just do not have the space for that.

Could I have a small cutting I could root for him? Is it big enough for you to take a cutting?
Does it stay the maroon color when fully open? Do you have a picture?

Questions....questions.......Gita

Ok Folks, Here are some Memorial Day Blooms

Anemone Mona Lisa

Poppy, "Beauty of Livermere"

Oriental Poppy, "Allegro"

stormy--

My digital camera would NEVER pick up reds like yours! Red just seems the one color that is finicky to photograph...Sometimes, blues are too...
What camera do you use?
The one I use the most is the small Polaroid one--a real "cheapie" as far as cameras go.
The older one (and bigger one) is a Kodak easy Share....

My Poppy hasn't bloomed yet...it is showing buds....

Gita

Gita, I have two of them, one a small pocket digital that I usually keep in my pocket while in the garden. For these, I took my better one out. It is a Sony DSC-H50. It takes much better shots.

Stormy - oh, the poppies! Colors are fabulous - I have 2 cameras as well, a larger, Panasonic Lumix z50 that I love, but, just "had" to buy a smaller camera for "garden-picture-taking" - my reasoning was the Lumix was too big to casually carry around ^_^ Canon G9 - now I'm drooling after a SLR, maybe this fall when I have the fishtank set up the way I want it ^_^

I just realized I've been oohing & aahing over the photos on this thread but haven't posted to say so!

Becky, I love your collection of vines. Maybe I'll try some pots around the deck this year of things that can grow up onto/into the railings...

Critter, that would be so pretty - one thing I found is that the larger vines make it through winter in pots (well mulched), the smaller (& cheaper from Bluestone) ones need to be in the ground - I lost a bunch this year - Brushwood and Joy Creek has a fabulous selection

I just don't have enough places to really put vining things. I'm thinking JMGs in pots around the deck... and I'm giving some thought to putting something along the back of the little deck bed where I put bananas and other "lift in fall" goodies. Clematis wouldn't mind the shade from the bananas... but I'm not sure clematis fits with the "tropical" look of that bed. Maybe I'll try a coral honeysuckle or hardy passionflower and see if they can handle the shade, at least get one going on the outer corner post behind the little witch hazel. :-)

Ah, there are several tropical vines that would look (and smell) awesome - Rangoon Creeper is one - http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/31530/ or a jasmine or two ^ _^ Snail vine - http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53274/ - or the scarlet runner bean you gave me seeds for?

Bec, I'm overcoming my vine aversion as I have to do something to cover up this hideous fence my neighbor installed. I've been collecting some now, hence my vine questions. There were nice shrubs planted along here but her fence people dug them up and disposed of them, MY shrubs. It's 250' long and 6' high.

Ohhhhhh, I'd go nuts! Hardy jasmines, clems, roses, honeysuckle, chocolate vines & if you really want something to take over, a silver lace vine will never fail in that job :-)

Bec, i've ordered some. The silver lace has white blooms. i need color. I picked up this Madevilla at Lowes. I never saw a red one before. It's not hardy, but will look nice for the summer.

Absolutely! Love the color!!!!! Just keep it in a big pot and bring it inside for the winter ^_^ Yeah, good point on the silver lace, I have a wood fence so you can see it - (and boy can you see it) ^_^

At least it's a white fence... I seem to remember a thread from a while back where somebody's neighbor installed one that was some hideous peach/orange hue. It's huge and stark now, but once you start softening it up it'll be a nice backdrop to show off your plantings, I think. I'm sorry about the shrubs.

Bec, good point about the runner beans! I think it's too late now to start my V. caracalla seeds (should have done them in Jan/Feb), but I do need to get runner beans started. Last year, a runner bean shared the trellis with my little coral honeysuckle, but this year that plant is not so little!

Love in a Puff is a vine I really love for fast growth and pretty foliage... the leaves are delicate enough to mix well with other vines, and I love the little japanese lantern looking "puffs" and their cute seeds. I've had it reseed, but not in a problematic way.

Critter, Is it perennial?

Nope, Love in a Puff is an annual, but it grows quickly (12-15 feet isn't unusual in a season) and should send up a few volunteers in its place next year. I usually pick most of the seed pods in fall; I don't know how much reseeding it would do otherwise.

I'm having a problem coming up with places to put containers and vines that need full sun...puppy digs in all of them. Doesn't help putting rocks in them either he takes out the rocks and plays with them. ugh

Gorgeous iris, Stormy. And those columbines! Those first two Barlow ones especially, they're breathtaking. And Gita's blue one. Wow.

Gita, that coleus is fantastic. It looks like a totally different plant. Did you get them at HD?

I want some red oriental poppies. I have some orange ones but no reds.

I have a bunch of photos to post but I'm going to do them in another thread because Chantell wants to see my peonies and iris and I don't know if she's checking this thread.

Okay, here's some other stuff. Honeysuckle with some wisteria buds.

Carolina spicebush

Kamtschaticum sedum blooming like crazy.

This eensy little veronica grows wild in the yard. The flowers are actually pale blue and the whole plant is about 2 or 3 inches tall. Critter, you got some of this from me last year.

The clematis again. I really hope nobody needs that ladder soon. LOL There's some dutch iris blooming below it and a peony with buds.

I love the ladder decorations!!! Hmmm...now to go ISO of this other thread you speak of!!! ^_^

Hart, Very Beautiful. Is that Honeysuckle really aggressive? I did not order any Honeysuckle because I keep reading how hard it is for everyone to get rid of it.

You need to put that ladder over in the garden objects thread!!!

I don't think this kind of honeysuckle is invasive at all, Stormy. Mine is growing in a big planter box Marshall made as part of the pergola he built me for my birthday a few years ago along with a climbing rose and the American wisteria. None of them seem to be taking over the box.

The ladder is what you might call lazy man didn't put the ladder away unintentional garden art. LOL

hart--

No--I bought this Sun Coleus at a small, local Greenhouse near me....It is, actually, a Florist--but they have a greenhouse and also sell wonderful plants--in GREAT condition--and at a reasonable price.....They grow all their own.....That's why!

I don't know the name of it......but it is all speckled in all colors of oranges and reds and yellows and greens, and.....etc....And, as I said, the picture doea not do justice to it whan it comes to the colors.....

Maybe I should let this one go to seed....I just have NO idea of how to grow Coleus from seed! I also have such a limited seed-growing set-up.....

I will take a picture of it with my other digital camera and see if the color is better....
Wait just a minute!......:o) This is much better!



Gita

Thanks, Hart.

Gita, that color is beautiful, but I also think the leaf shape is very dramatic.

Gita, it's probably a hybrid and you'd just get mutts from the seeds. But did you know you can overwinter coleus inside for the winter? Just dig the entire plant up and pot it or take cuttings and root them. With the cuttings, you can make yourself a bunch of additional plants.

That's really, really pretty. It looks like some totally new exotic plant instead of a coleus.

Ok, I'll put a Honeysuckle on my shopping list.

I do like that little veronica... there may still be a bit of it out in my bed, have to check more closely... but the pussytoes have really taken over in that corner! (They bloomed this year, too -- so cute!)