Mid-Atlantic Gardening: End of summer blooms, 1 by typwc

typwc wrote:
SSG, I never noticed the smell on my Guac before, but this plant is in a place where the hot humid air sort of hangs on hot days. The smells get sort of "stuck" there, maybe that's why I noticed it? If you ever take cuttings of that Limelight and have extras, or if it ever layers on the ground, I'd really love to have one of those one day.
The first year I tried growing SFs, I lost 2 seed packets worth to slugs before I realized it was slugs.... The second year, as soon as I started to see the dirt getting pushed up by the dear little cotyledons, I put canning jars over them to protect them till they got a few true leaves and were no longer tasty to slugs. I still lost some but not many. Year 3 I bought slug-bait and I have never looked back. I don't use many chemicals in my yard but I will use slug-bait forever as long as I am direct sowing seeds or growing hostas, and as long as I don't have a dog.
Here's one from last year. I don't know what variety, it was part of a mix.
Gita, I think 6' is pretty petite for a sunflower?! I planted some at my work and they are (NO JOKE) 10-12' tall. Velvet Queen is very well behaved. The leaves are not so wide so it would go nicely in the back of a flower bed. I don't mind if I don't beat the birds to the seeds. For me, that's half of the fun of growing SFs.