My Sweet William

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, with a mom who had the greenest of thumbs! She had these flowers that smelled like carnations, I loved them so much, they were my favorites! Fast forward many moons....
I met this man on the internet 7 years ago. He swept me off my hippie feet and made me a southern belle. Now, here I am in zone 7 of South Carolina with the worst news ever! I can marry a sweet William, but I can't grow one? Is this true?
Mom passed away in 03. Who can I turn to in my time of need?
QuEsTiOn? Can one grow Sweet Williams in the sub tropical south on the Carolinas?

PS Like my buttlefly shaped lilac?

Are'nt Sweet Williams alSo called phlox? If so they grow from Z3 to Z8.

I found sweet williams and they are a phlox and will grow in Z8.

Hi, I live in Piedmont too. Yes you can grow Sweet William here. It is growing in my front yard. Welcome to Piedmont. Smokey

I think the Sweet William that DLynne is looking for is Dianthus barbatus. In plantfiles it says it grows to zone8b and is fragrant.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/190/

This is the sweet williams I have and they are hardy here in zone 7. Dianthus Barbatus They reseed and come back. The new babies won't bloom until the next year.

Someone clear this up for me, please. I always thought sweet williams and dianthus was the same thing. Is there a sweet william that is a phlox. Is there a sweet william that is just a sweet william and none of the above. Thanks for educating a dumb ole red-neck.

Where is the moonhowl when I need her?

There is a variety of tall phlox named Sweet William. The plants called Sweet Williams are a species of Dianthus, dianthus barbatus. The two are not related.

Thanks Moon. Jo's got a pile of Sweet William (dianthus) but no Sweet William (phlox). At least she did have before the white flies killed about everything in the yard. Now the mosquitoes are after me. If I could just get the mosquitoes to attack the white flies ...uhm....

I consistently mix up sweet william with sweet woodruff...so you guys are ahead of me..I READ 'sweet william' but THINK sweet woodruff every time. Is that early senility or what?

That's why i have to go find a link with a picture Lynnie. grin...Don't think it is senility (that's my story....grin) as much as just a referencing glitch...I will look at a plant and say oh, that is such and such, the whole time my brain is saying....DUH, no its not....grin

Very Welcome Jim....I am amazed at the sheer tenacity of my Confederate Rose out there....every two weeks I go out and try to pick the ladybugs and assassin bugs off so I can spray the clouds of white flies....seems like the same number of all three are there everytime....think I might be making a tiny bit of headway as the CR is setting a few buds, but surely looks sad....

I've had a CR for twenty years and never seen a bloom on it. Cut it down this year and have dosed with round up all the year. Toughest son of a gun I ever saw.

They do seem to have a will to live, don't they? grin

well anything with that much will deserves to live, no?

They are gorgeous when they bloom too. I take a picture if this one hangs on to its blooms.

I have a Confederate Rose that a client of mine propagated for me. Early in the summer, it was just a stick in a pot of soil, It had only 1 leaf. I took it home, waited about a week and put it in the ground. mulched around it and watered it. Now, in October, it has about 8 leaves and I noticed yesterday it has four blooms on it. I am thoroughly amazed!!!

Hey Jim, my Confederate Rose finally bloomed....white flies and all....grin

Here is a close up of it while white.

Beautiful, Moon. I finally gave up on mine after 15 years. Still trying to kill the roots. Heartyest sucker I ever saw.

Thanks Jim. How are the tomatoes and clematis doing?

Clematis is doing great. Checked it todat, It is loading up with new runners. The tomatoes are terrible. I did something wrong and have no idea how to correct it. Think it was the lime the guy told me to put in the hay. Read some posts on hay bale gardening and couldn't find one that recommended that. Always next year.

Sorry to hear about the tomatoes....neat idea though. Glad the Clematis is hanging in there. Those daylilies should bloom for ya this coming summer.

They are looking good, too. Can hardly wait to see them bloom.

that's too bad about those tomatoes, Jim...maybe you can get a nice ripe tomato pie out of them? *grin*
We've had frost all week and that African basil is still blooming...I haven't put mums out there yet.

I counted four tomatoes on eight plants and they look retarted. Oh well, guess I'll pass on that ripe tomato pie. Must sacrifice, don't you know!!!

I put my sweet basil in the green house along with all Jo's potted plants. Got some Genovese Basil, TexasRoses sent me seed of. Will start them in a few days.

Our weather finally cleared for a few days. Temp down to 39 tonight. Guess fall has finally arrived.

We've been wanting to set some pansys but none look worth a flip. Maybe this coming week.

Pulled up all the verbena by the carport that the white flies killed. Set three big pots of red mums and two red knockouts that we had in pots. Looks real good.

the mums & roses sound pretty! I had purple verbena, I thought it was a perennial when I planted it, it wasn't cheap, I was miffed when I realized it was an annual. I loved it. I put wishbone flower there this year and it takes care of itself and looks good, too. My knockouts are still blooming too! I have pansies around the African basil, those are still blooming too. Nobody told them it's almost November. I don't see any seed on that African basil.

It's cold & rainy here...need the rain for my new pine trees. I wanted to get more in, but life had other plans. I haven't been able to get any fall yard work done. I still need to get mulch or hay or straw down....the boulders are still sitting in a pile in the yard...ugh. It's just gonna be ugly in the Spring.

Verbena, or at least most of it, Iis perennial. Most of it was purple but had some red. I don't know if any will come back from the damage the white flies did. It is like all gardening, a wait and see game. My yard work is way behind. We go 23 straight days of rain. Something like 20 inchs. Sun is shining today and supposed to be like this until Thursday and then the rain will be back. If I don't get to it it will still be here this spring.

I believe mine was purple homestead verbena, not hardy to my zone....it was in my even dumber gardening days *grin* live & learn. It was at the same time I planted 3 different clematis around my mailbox....
Didn't realize till I went out there that it's 38 degrees! A few degrees colder & we'd be getting quite a bit of snow! that would sure solve my problem of the boulders and the huge pile of debris my husband dragged & left....probably animals hibernating in it by now.

Sounds like you have your work cut out for you. I can hardly wait to see what you do with the boulders. It just takes time and a lot of work to get things like you want them. If your like me, then you won't be satisfied. Do one thing and see a hundred more you want to do.

yeah that's pretty much me, Jim! For the winter I have a hundred things to do inside....if I can just find the time to do it!

I'll tell you how I do it, pick out one thing that needs doing and stay with it until it's finished. Ignore everything else.

I want to remodel my bedroom, if I could get a few uneventful weeks I could do it! I refinished my stairs in the spring, took me forever to get it done.

I'm a klutz when it comes to things like that. I'm a good painter but hard to get me started. Jo wants the living room painted but so far I've out fumbled her. Sooner or later I've got it to do. I'd rather work in the yard or garden.

Got two purple roses rooting for a friend. Another friend has a rose that has little purple flowers about the size of a quarter and I'm going to make cuttings and root them for us. It is the kind of rose that makes canes that cascade kind of like a lady banks. Never seen one of these before.

oooh Jim those sound pretty! Pics? I bought a purple rose once, turned out to be mislabelled, it was red. I tossed it lol That was a few years ago, I'd never do that now.
It was supposed to be an intrigue rose.

I'm NOT a good painter, I go at it like frosting a cake and apparently that's the wrong approach lol but I make up in enthusiasm what I lack in skill ;)

The good thing about latex paint is that it always dries flat. Just get it covered. A lesson my dad taught me about painting is you can't paint with a dry brush. Keep plenty of paint on it.

The purple rose is pretty when it blooms but it only blooms one time and is through. I wish I had pictures of the tiny little purple roses the lady has. That thing is beautiful and hers' bloomed all summer. I have no idea what the name of it is.

I like to root roses. They are so easy. Only thing is a hy-brid won't root true. It has to be a native rose. All the minature roses root true. I used to have a bunch of them but some disease got in them and killed them off. I stick with the Knock-Out roses now. Some one told me they root true but I haven't tried it with them. If I can get caught up, I might just try a couple.

Got to go for now.

I think knock outs are not grafted, so they should root true, right? can you believe mine are STILL blooming out there? We've had over a week of frost! And the William Baffin has pretty orange hips on it. I can't wait till that one starts climbing the trellis. I really have to get my fall yard work done....my father in law is going home today so I need to make sure that goes smoothly. I made him some split pea soup yesterday. Gotta make sure he eats. You do lots of visiting, don't you? You know how people get depressed sometimes after an accident or illness.

Been doing that stuff for the last 30 years. Depression is hard to ward off. Something happens when you have a serious injury or experience. You probably know the name for it. After I had my bad heart attack and by-pass surgery, my family said my personality changed. I can't see it but they can. Hope your father in law does well. I will put him on my prayer list.

Jim maybe you didn't get enough oxygen during the operation *grin*

lol just kidding....thank you for the prayers, FIL is a eucharistic minister and I know he'd appreciate them.

Thanks Lynnie. I hope he does really good. It takes determination plus the help of the good Lord to come back. He can do it. With a daughter in law like you to root him on, he can't lose.

thanks Jim that's sweet!