Cure for the winter blahs- Pretty Pictures 2

I used to start a lot from seeds. Veggies mainly. It's very rewarding. Slowly, my husband took over the area in the garage I used, so really all I have is a small area in the kitchen.

I don't do them in the house anymore. I use the milk jugs and cold frames. Some are also direct sown.

Polly

I have the Agastache Golden Jubilee. I put it in the year before last. I like the chartreaus foliage with the lavendar blooms..... One thing that I really like about it, is that it is a real bee magnet. I was also reading that the goldfinches love the agastache seeds.

Carolyn, Did you grow that from seed?

That really is beautiful and looks exceptionally nice in front of your Clematis.

That's a crazy/awesome combination. I'm a big fan of deeper burgundies and purples with chartreuse, but I haven't seen it with that light purple. Wow!

Heleboreus foetidus(sp) is trying to bloom.

Must be nice Jo. We got our two foot of snow last night, with another foot to come.

Carolyn, that's a beautiful combo. I'm going to have to do that agastache. Sold!

We didnt get that much snow but are due for another 3 inches.

9-14 here. We really got dumped on. Some of the drifts are waist high. We're getting cleaned out now.

That's a lot of snow!

Common here Mary, we were overdue for it too. That's why we can grow stuff that's only hardy to Z7. We don't have ground freeze, and then get feet of insulating snow on top. I think this is going to be another year the ground won't freeze. It wasn't frozen when we got this snow, so unless it melts or we get sub zero temps, which is unusual, we won't freeze.

same here.I planted Asiatics in mid November.
Just a crust freezes here no deep freeze.

I was thinking how good it was for the plants. Right now we've got a lot of mud from those last 2 snow melts. We only got 2 inches on Wed, but that 18" from the prior week had just then totally melted. Do you never get heaving? Do you have any problems with Iris rot?

Boy, I sure learned what frost heaving was last year.

Me too. I never had it that bad before.

No heaving ever, and no iris rot, but we're on sand.

Katie - I like the darker purples and burgandys too and I do think those colors would be great. Last year I put in Clematis Negritianka (sp?) to the right of the pink clem (Clematis Comtesse Bouchard). I am hoping the dark dusky purple of the C. Negrtianka is showcased by the lighter colors in that area, when she is bigger...

Mary - I did not grow the A. Golden Jubilee from seed. I bought that plant - I really liked the colors, plus if I can help to draw the bees, I do try to do that. However, the picture I have attached of the Giant White Agastache, I did grow from seed. I received the seeds about 5 or 6 years ago in a trade and wintersowed them. I just love this plant!

We had horrible problems last year from the heaving. I lost several heuchera last winter as a result of the heaving. I am hoping this year is more normal in the way of winters. I put in quite a few heuchs last spring/summer and do not want to lose any of them.

Carolyn, I lost a lot of Heuchera too last year due to heaving. Then the spring deluge drowned some. Then the July/August drought killed some more. It was a bad year for Heuchera in these parts.

Those snow storms in March seemed to cause most of the heaving, especially to young shrubs. I see your Herbstonne behind the white Agastache. I planted it for the first time this summer and it grew over four feet in 3 months.

just bought lilies
I cant believe it,spending and its only Jan2.

I haven't even been looking at the co ops. Have to take it easy this year...... I have found that if I even go and just 'look' to see what they have on the co ops, my fingers end up placing orders of their own free will!

There are only 2 co-ops that interest me.I got burned last year with Koi
RD and Caladiums are my faves.

Heaving was a problem in some unmulched areas here last winter too. We don't keep any regular snow cover, but the soil typically doesn't freeze very deep, and not at all in thickly mulched areas. Bearded Iris aversion to mulch makes that a pain.

I have been in many co-ops and never been burned. But, I'm like Carolyn. Too easy to order.

I got burned with koi last year too, however, I am always looking for new dahlias and I will always do business with Bleek, regardless of whether he is in a co op or not. The service that Bleek and Ingrid provide is A1.

Here is a dahlia that I received from my MIL. It is Princess de Suede

I need to clearify.
I am new to DG and last year was new to co-ops. I am sure there are some fantastic ones.
If I had half a brain I would have been on the look out for an Amarillis one because I love them.I tend to take baby steps when I'm involved with anything new.
Sorry if some here were offended.

Jo Ann -

I am not offended....

I know that Bleek had something going with Amaryllis before Christmas, as I am on his mailing list, so I do get an email from him when they have something new.

I looked and he has some left, although quite a bit of his varieties are sold out. http://www.eflowergarden.com/SearchResult.aspx?KeyWords=amaryllis I also see these are a bit pricey, however I know they were running a group buy and there was a co op...

One other thing - if you have any issues at all, just let him know and he will take care of it.

Its always good to have a recomendation.
If I had known the backstory with Koi I never would have gotten involved.
He was just overwhelmed ,thats not good for anybody.
I have co-ops on my forums list now and check from time to time to see if anything looks promising.
Classifieds also.Bill will list Caladiums there.

I doubt anyone was offended by that, Jo Ann. It's just your experience. No one would be offended by our Jo Ann, anyway.

I did the amaryllis co-op, and apprently there are some wrong named ones. But the ones I got are lovely, and I really don't care what their names are. I got Lemon Lime, and it's gorgeous. That was not the Bleek co-op.

But the best co-op I was in, for me, was one of the worst one for many. It was a hibiscus co-op. I paid very little for 6 of the Cajun hibiscuses, and they all turned out true to name, and are absolutely gorgeous.

POLLY!!
This is Daves,I really cant let myself go.

LOL, Jo Ann. It would be fun to see though.

Jo Ann

another vendor that I have really liked in the past is starlight1153. Ella is great and she has the tissue culture plants.

I bought from her and received these plants from her last Summer. She had explicit instructions on how to take care of tissue culture plants and when we received our plants, she wanted us all to post pictures of what we received so she knew that everything we ordered arrived in tip top shape. She is also very accessible. I have all the new 2010 introductions for the heucheras and some of the newer echinacea coming in the Spring from her. I can't wait!

I have heard great things about Ella. I will watch for her sales or co-ops.

I just have to tell all of you how much I've enjoyed all your beautiful flowers as I've read through your two threads this evening. What a great group you are! Being in Texas I don't get an opportunity to grow a lot of the plants and flowers ya'll do as the heat and humidity just kills them off. Thank you for sharing your gardens with me.

Happy 2010 to all of you............

Here are some pix of my garden ,hope they arent repeats

It will be reds today.NOID Dahlia and Watermelon coleus

Jan, thanks for reviving this thread! I can't believe I'd forgotten about it, Lord knows I've still got the winter blahs! Wishing you a wonderful 2010 too :-)

Gen, I love those monochromatic groupings! I've always wanted to do a garden of all red shades, with lots of red foliages and blooms.

I love to make color arrangements.
How are your poppies comming?
It was your garden of poppies in with Lilies that made me take off last year.

Oh, there are scads of Poppy seedlings out there right now- I'm so excited! I think I'm even seeing some P.somniferum types out there overwintering? Odd to me, because last year...well, I guess it was year before last (fall of 08) I had lots of somniferum seedlings that all perished with the first hard freeze. Plenty more showed back up in spring to replace them, but that had me thinking they wouldn't behave the same as Shirley Poppies (that produce fall seedlings that overwinter). The '08 batch that froze were still tiny when it happened, so maybe that was why? That was also a drought year, so could be the seeds didn't have enough moisture to germinate till it was too late to develop enough to overwinter.

The California Poppies on the other hand, appear to have all diminished in the cold weather, which I kind of expected.

This combo came out better than planned- I love how the colors are reversed in the Lily and Daylily.

I sowed some somnifer's in October and the warm November germinated them, they are holding their own as of 2 days ago,snow covering today.
They are hardy little things.
That Lily DL combo is just wonderful.
Did Pirl see it?