Propagation: Where is everybody?, 1 by gemini_sage

gemini_sage wrote:
Karen, some of all the rudbeckia varieties you sent me are doing well. They were very slow to get started and big enough to set out (I probably needed to feed them more), but once in the garden they've finally taken off. Got blooms on a couple now. I'm wondering if you find any that don't bloom the first season and behave as biennials? Thats what I'm hoping will happen with these, they'll be gorgeous if they bloom after a good year of establishing!

Still have perennials awaiting homes here too. Some were just too small till now to set out earlier, so now I'm waiting for cooler, wetter weather. The toughness of some of these babies amaze me. I have some delphinium and painted daisies awaiting homes that I was very surprised to see recover after being attacked by some kind of caterpillar. The little seedlings only had 2 or 3 true leaves each, when all the leaves were eaten over night. I could still see the stems and leaf stems, so I kept my fingers crossed that the growth bud in the center was intact. I sprayed them, fertilized, and babied, and am so happy now to have some great looking plants to set out.

Seandor, isn't it great to be able to plant multiples of perennials with so little cost! I think about how many I'd have if I was paying $3-10 each for them.

Earlier in spring, I was undecided about how much I was going to like wintersowing annuals- just felt like I was getting such a late start. But now that August is here, a time when I'm usually not very happy with the gardens, I'm sooooo glad I tried all these annuals! So many are in their prime right now, like sunflowers, zinnias, Kiss me over the garden gate, cleome, cosmos, tithonias, and marigolds. I'm used to being left with a garden that's not very colorful in August after most of my lilies (the stars of my early summer garden) have finished, but this year looks very promising for color right through fall!

These are some of my WS 'Custard and Cream' four o clocks. I think I got all custard, and no cream, LOL.