General Discussion & Chat: THE GARAGE CAFE - JANUARY 2011, 1 by amorecuore

amorecuore wrote:
Nice Dianthus photo Blossom. I remember you going through this dying cycle with things inside the house last winter also. You were just content/happy that you were getting some blooms on plants in the office last winter. It's gotta be tough to sustain plants for many months inside the house, even under grow lights, particularly if many of them are truly annuals.

The "Russell Hybrid" Lupines don't work down here because they're cooler weather perennials. There's no way I can get those types to survive during our long hot and humid tropical summers. It's just too hot for too long. The one pictures above is a quick maturing annual type of Lupine. I had a feeling I could get them to grow and bloom all during the cooler winter months. It seems like that theory/hunch is working out since its still mid winter and they're already beginning to bloom.

From what I've read most Sweet Peas need the long daylight hours of spring and summer to do well. I read about the "Winter Sunshine" varieties being daylength neutral and being good choices for warmer climates during the shorter days of winter. I was referred to Owl's Acre Sweet Peas (www.lathyrus.com) and decided to buy the seeds from them. It's a website entirely devoted to Sweet Peas. They sell a very very very large variety of Sweet Pea seeds.

Here's a photo of one of my "Fruit Punch Mix" Stock (Mattiola) plants blooming this morning. The seeds came from Plants Of Distinction (www.plantsofdistinction.co.uk) in England. This website sells lots of unique and different flower seeds. Picked this particular variety of Stock because they list it as an "all weather all season" variety of Stock. I'm trying a couple other varieties of Stock and they are not performing anywhere near the performance of the 'Fruit Punch Mix" variety.

I'm beginning to believe that on some types of flowers the specific variety that you chose to grow in your conditions can make a big difference. Down here in South Florida I'm doing better with varieties that are listed as quick maturing and having higher heat tolerance.