Show me your containers

In Anne Arundel Co, Md. you are very much South of our cold Northcentral, Pa winters.
I have two major issues......the cold and the cotton picking deer. The bear and the turkeys are welcome to come by as they wish. This year there is a huge bear keeping the yadda yadda going like crazy. Reportedly it is over five hundred pounds. My trail camera is all set up but we have yet to see the critter. This is a huge bear last seen about two blocks from where I live.

Everyone's pots are looking great. I still have some of my caladiums and annuals not planted. Plus a boat load of perennials Just not enough gardening time available.

Onewish, that is an incredible amount of pots to take care of. I find it draining just the amount of time required to water them all every day.

Oh.......................I guess we fear only that which we do not know. Respect maybe but no fear of the bears here. Up at our cabin there are always four or five not so far away. One only needs to know that mother bear does not like anyone or anything to get between she and her cubbies. Another bit of wisdom is to know that a bear's butt follows his nose. Food must be properly sheltered not left on the porch or in a tent. You are wise to keep your cat inside when living in coyote's range. We have coyotes and no free roaming cats. I checked......there is no cat being served at the China King. LOL

Updated pic of the begonia basket.

Doc, that's why I worry - our cat IS a roamer :(

Holly, the color of that Begonia is gorgeous and I love how the other plant trails out of the pot! Is it Bacopa?

very nice Holly

Why worry. If you let your cat roam it is in the food chain below coyotes and man. Those facts can not be changed. Cars are not in the food chain but they get a lot of cats. Many drivers will not hit the breaks or swerve the car to miss a cat. Both actions create danger for the driver and others on the road. Cats roaming at night are sometimes shot by mean people. As I may have said before...."coyotes have cleaned up all the cats running wild in our neighborhood". If some mean person shot one the crows will clean it up within a day and the coyote gets the blame.

Good eye RCN, yes it is bacopa. We have used it in a variety of ways over the years, I especially like when we include it in the front of our window boxes and it spills down. Ric

Our pool deck boxes are filling in nicely but I don't think we'll try the begonias again. They aren't as sun tolerant as we believed. Ric

they really are not.... they burn real easy... but the box looks great

ric--

Try the Dragon Wing Begonias. They get downright brilliant in the sun. The blooms get really red and the provides such a nice contrast with the lime-green foliage.
I dig mine up in the Fall--pot them up and keep them in the house all winter. Then prune them back a bit and plant them back outside in my beds...
These are easily available--everywhere-but are in the $3 per pot category.

The DWB can grow quite large--but pinching it back (and rooting the cuttings) works OK.

This one is from 08--I always have a BIG pot of it by the shed. Now--in this location--it gets filtered shade all day long....

Here is another shot from a flower bed that gets long AM sun. I love these in my beds!
Such eye-catchers!

Beautiful Gita! I saw the DW Begonias this spring and passed on them - next year I'm definitely going to grab a few! Which reminds me, with all this crappy weather forcing me inside yesterday I was going through some old catalogs and found this Begonia - 'Skaugum' http://www.thompson-morgan.com/plants1/product/p83976/1/ I was so excited, I thought I had found your unidentified Begonia!!! When I went back and looked at your photo http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=6768163 I realized that yours was much more orange - I tried :(

I've got to get some new pictures of my containers - some of them are doing great and I suspect after all this rain they should be exploding soon, I know the weeds are!

rcn--

I am sure that over in Europe there are many cultivars we never have seen here......
I took SO many flower pictures--and my goal was to post hem all here and get them ID'd. Of course--I never did that......just like everything else I plan to do in my life....It is so much more fum to just sit here and "talk" to everyone on DG....
Seems I live a life of procrastination .....:o( Then, after a while, It becomes irrelevant...

Here is another example----
I picked up and lugged home all kinds of small pieces of driftwood from all the beaches we visited there.....There was quite a few!
My plan was to incorporate them all in a mobile kind of a wall-hanging.....I even bought a small bag od Amber pieces I was going to hang in this mobile from fish line......and, whatever else...

You guessed it! They are all still sitting in a wicker basket--just as I brought them home.

Re the Begonia--I could always e-mail my cousin and ask her the name....she was the groundskeeper for the apartment complex as well as the general manager....

Thanks for trying, though....Gita

Here was another one.....just hanging on a building in a small town where we stopped to have lunch.

Now that looks similar to the other one I plucked out of the catalog! 'Champagne' described as a champagne color with a soft blush of pink. There's quite a few colors shown on this site http://www.botanicgroup.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=begonia

Believe me, you are not alone :) We all have unfinished projects, most of which are wonderful ideas but will we ever see them? Probably not in this lifetime! LOL

rcn--

How about this one on the site you just posted a link to?????

Begonia pendula 'Yellow'. Looks like my ID needed yellow one! Seems it also comes in pink...as seen on this same site.
Click on "English" to read all the descriptions.....

Now you and me both are getting "compulsive" about this.....
I could send you a lot of the other pictures of wildflowers i took for ID. Many of them, probably, exist here too--it is just that I live in a City and in a development and do not get to go traipsing too much around the fields.....
I bet if I posted them on the "Wildflowers" Thread, I would have ID's in a flash-----but as I said in my above post--the "thrill" is now gone--and everything has become "irrelevant".......Sad!

Gita

Pretty--NO? What is it?

This has puzzled me ever since I saw these bouquets. I LOVED these!!!!!

I know that is the many colors of yarrow somehow put into one bouquet---but HOW did they get them all together to look like ONE, big bloom? This was outside a HUGE Cemetery--where flowers are sold to be taken to grave sites.
I asked how these can be grown (thinking they were all ONE flower) -and got a typical, evasive answer---"AHHH---ONLY in one's garden!".....

I was sent a packet of seeds of the multi-colored yarrow after i got home--but only 3 of them germinated and I have NO idea where they are now??? People there are NOT going to divulge their "secrets"!
It is their livelihood to create--and to sell.....

That's pretty nifty, Gita. It almost looks like multicolored Hydrangea.

coleus (yes I know, I'll pinch those flowers ) and an angel wing begonia behind it

jen---

I presume that AWB is the one I gave you at Hollie's? Pretty foliage--NO?

I have a suggestion--as it is still early in the season....

Cut off the leafy tops, about 5'-6" long, or so, and root them either in water or right into a pot with potting mix. You may want to remove a couple of the bottom leaves to expose some leaf- "nubs" for the roots to come from--it is OK. These root easily...
I have also noticed that many of the cuttings root straight out of the bottom of the cut stem--never mind the "nubs"....

Remove any unnecessary lengths of the remaining stems leaving short stems above the soil level--but make sure there are some "eyes" left on the stems for new stems and leaves to grow from.
There is enough season left for the bottoms to sprout new tops and then you can pot all of the rooted cuttings AND the new-growth bottom into, say--an 8" pot and by the time you bring it in for the winter--you will have a nice, bushy plant. Repeat this in the late Spring as needed.....

Do not be afraid! I have done this procedure for at least 25 or more years--always cutting back and rooting the tops to make more plants to share. Always cutting down the bare stems and allowing the "Mama" to re-grow. ALL from the original plant!!! ...whenever it was that I first got it.....

I usually do this in the early Summer--as i am about to put it outside, but you do not want to waste the time NOW allowing the plant to grow tall and leggy at this time...Just get the snips out and DO IT!!!

These stems can grow to 3' or more if you never cut them back. The Begonia is just NOT all that attractive with all these bare stems and only leaves at the top--as would be the result. You want bushy! Every Summer!

Gita

Thanks, Gita!

Gita.........that's the one you gave me. It is branching out and growing nicely. When it desides to bloom it is going to be showtime on the Gipe property. Thanks it is a bute.
I'll take pix of it when it happens.

BUMP! Containers have jumped and it's time for an update :) Remember this one? http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6767180 Coleus 'Lancelot' has really taken off! The Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' has grown but not as many flowers because the container doesn't get enough sun in this spot. The Begonia that used to be on the bottom of the plant stand to the right had to be moved - it got too big! (next picture)

I thought this pot was going to be large enough for this Begonia but now I'm not so sure!

The Plectranthus in this one http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6767192 has swallowed the Coleus!

A different view of the pot - the Sweet Potato Vine is finally starting to trail over the edges.

Holly, if you're looking, I posted this one for you so you could see my one splash of color - the New Guinea Impatiens in the background. Nothing compared to the bright color in your border but they've done so well here I'm planting more next year!

Stromanthes and the other pot with the still unidentified plant are happy too! I realized after looking at the photo posted on 07/02 http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6767195 there's supposed to be another plant in that pot, I'll have to investigate today and see if it's still there!

My first "Ice" container http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6767198 is kind of a disappointment :( The Oxalis has continued to wither away, the blue Fescue is barely visible and the tall Alternanthera is just "different", not sure if I like it. Probably a lot of the problem is because we had to "smoosh" all the containers to make room for flooring contractors going in and out the past three weeks, a long story but I'll have pictures soon to post on the Summer Projects thread :)

Second "Ice" container has done better :) http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6767200 A couple of weeks ago I thought it needed something to spice it up a little and added a Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' that I hadn't planted anywhere yet! The fountain on the front deck has been a perfect spot to "root" cuttings this summer! I've already planted at least a half dozen cuttings from the Coleus 'Lancelot' in the gardens and there are a few more ready :)

I had to move the Ice container in front of the 'Fire' container http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6767220 to protect it from the flooring crew. It's tough to get a good picture because the Canna has grown so tall! I'm still waiting for the Coleus and Salvia to fill out the back of the pot after pinching them back a couple of weeks ago. I planted the Begonia 'Bonfire' in this container because our other pot bloomed all summer last year. This one has been taking its sweet time but I'm finally seeing flowers and it will look much better once there's a little color in there!

I've still got to take some pictures of the succulents that were planted in the deck planter, there's a couple that are flowering and I love the flowers! Anyone else have updates to show the progress of your containers?

I really like that Plectranthus RCN

rcn, onewish1- I have that Plectranthus too. Its one tough plant. My two front door pots that get shade till lunch then some strong midday sun, are fine, with ladygardeners Chocolate Drop coleus, wax begonias, a Plec and a Pelargonium. The Coleus has grown super well, must stop thinking of Coleus as shade =only plants.
onewish-- that is nice

thank you Sally

Nice onewish :) I MUST stop thinking of only foliage, all those bright colors are beautiful!

thank you Rcn

onewish, I just realized looking back at all the photos in this thread, is THIS http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6775080 the same container back in May? WOW!

opposite view... but yes

Then a double WOW is in order :) Incredible!

LOL... thanks