First Daffodils 2010

LOL. I called the "Plant Addiction Hotline" and told them I was a "Plant Pig"............and they hung up on me. How dare them!!!

This is my compromise between jamming things in and seeing lots of mulch. It's a wide bed on a slight slope. I can still walk in that bed if need be.

A different angle of same.

Jon

That's fabulous Jon. It looks great and its just what you described - nice and full but reachable. Nice!

The pictures look really nice. However, that would never last in my yard, I would be putting plants in between your plants in a hurray. I have this compusion to fill up every available space.

Your beds really look great Jon; nice neighborhood too - but I think I have the same compulsion as Rita! LOL

Hey Jon, my 20yr old dd just gave your garden the envious 'stink eye', lol! Very purdy...but I'm with nyrita...I'd be shoving other plants in between. "oink!!"

Thanks. LOL Oh well, I'm outnumbered here. It would take me forever to keep things weeded if I had to separate the plants from the weeds. I guess my style comes from my parents gardening style. I don't find enough stuff I really really like to need to jam the stuff in. Went to three separate nurseries in the past two days and bought a total of one plant ("Tropical White" Canna Lily). See lots of stuff I like, but have to love it to buy it.

Jon, you're a very well behaved gardener! I strive to be like you, but I've just given in to my nature, LOL. Your beds look beautiful! Love the Snapdragons!

Thanks Neal. Like to grow several dozen tall Rocket Snapdragons from seed every fall. One of my favorite cut flowers during our winter growing season. Unfortunately they start dying back in early June down here.

Oink! Yep, count me as part of the herd! I cant have spaces in my garden either - I mean, right now I have a few spaces, but since I care more about having plants than having space, the spaces are quickly disappearing (and it doesn't help that I work in a garden center so I'm always bringing home home half-dead - or mostly dead - perennials to nurse back to life)!

I agree that I have to love it to buy it, but I only have to like it to bring it home as patient.

This message was edited Apr 17, 2010 2:31 PM

LOL. Nope, I have to LOVE it to bring it home. Within the past year, or two, I decided I don't want to spend my time taking care of something I'm only neutral about. Would rather leave a space empty so there's always room for that next "just gotta have plant".

You have more self-control than I!

Deinashaugh Daffs.

Maxine

nicely bright one there Maxine

Count me in on the piggy gardeners! LOL I like it when my flower beds are just a solid mass of color. I tried to do the more controlled, planned, spaced look, but I never liked it when I stood back and looked at the whole. It was nice for photographing specific plants, but it looked. . .skimpy or something. Of course, that was when I bought little baby plants and spaced them as directed. Now that they've matured and multiplied, they would have filled in all the spaces, without all the extras I've added since!

My big problem now is my bulb addiction. There is just no more space in my front beds to squeeze any more bulbs in. Every time I try to dig a hole, I hit two other bulbs. *grin* I had to add a whole new bed in my back yard to accommodate all my "gotta have it" bulbs. Now I'm contemplating stretching the beds in the opposite direction. I started with just a straight line of 24 peonies when we bought the house, added rows and clusters of daffodils and tulips, then made them big rambling curved beds, but that straight line of peonies has remained the back border of the bed. I'll probably get in trouble with DH and my two boys, who like to play baseball in the back yard, but I'd like to make curved beds on the OTHER side of the peonies, too!

Just dropping in to say Hi! and let you know I'm lurking and enjoying all the pics and chatter.

I am committed to not overplanting this year, but so far not so good at it. Oh, well.

I spent the day moving bulbs around 'in the green' and it made me swear that I wouldn't overplant after this. We'll see...!

I bet it all looks great, Angie - you need to post some pics and show us!!!

Lots of Yellow daffs blooming today.

Nice daffodils and tulips, in the background Rita. LOL I know there are people out there that like the spacing between plants. They're just lurking in the background. LOL I can feel their presence. You can still have a mass of color without jamming everything in.

No tulips in my picture :-(( There are more daffs way in the back. If you look in the backround you do see spacing between the plants. But don't let that fool you, those spaces get annuals for lots of summer color.

The daffs pictured are actually in a square bed that I started last year and has almost nothing but a bunch of weeds.

I know we have all ganged up on you LOL!! But really there is no right or wrong way. Just what ever you like.

LOL Dumb me. I quickly looked at your daffodils, in the background, and thought I saw white & yellow tulips. Tulips on the brain, I guess. You'll be getting those annuals in the next month I would guess? Some of my spaces haven't filled in quite yet. There are quite a few Echinacea in there, but most won't be blooming for another 3-4 weeks.

I should have all my annual in before May 10th. Depends on the weather really. Also I buy the flats and then its a big scamble to get everything planted.

I will start by going tomorrow and get some impatients which I plant every year. They are the earliest I put out. It is still to cold for other annuals like cosmos, zinnia and snapdragons. Those spaces in the backround get Marigolds each year.

I'll bet many people were tempted to try to start early this spring with all the warm weather. The last few days was a reminder that there still can be colder weather.

Impatiens are used everywhere down here during the winter. They'll begin to die back in another month or so and then they're typically replaced with tropical vinca which thrives in our summer heat. Right now the common plant you see lots of in South Florida are Caladiums. They are everywhere and many mass plantings of them. I've noticed they seem to be popular up North in the summer, as well as Mandevilla and garden variety tropical hibiscus. It always interests me to see which tropicals are for sale up North as annuals.

If there are spaces in my gardens, it isn't my fault! The critters ate my plants! One sunny day and the weeding has only begun. Snow is predicted for tonight or tomorrow.

Evelyn, beautiful daffs. You must be sick of the snow by now :-((

Thanks, Rita...and yes I am still waiting for spring. Sometimes we have winter, then summer!

Yes, those are beautiful daffodils. Daffodil envy here in South Florida. Did chill some over the winter and see foliage now. Will they bloom? I have my doubts.

Amorecuore, I love how your flower beds look. I just wouldn't have the self-control to achieve it in my own garden! :) My two boys are getting flower-crazy, too, and just cannot believe it when I say no to a plant they want. I've tried to explain color schemes and light needs and soil preferences, and it all goes right in one ear and out the other. They each get several containers and they share a big half-whiskey barrel (sans the whiskey, of course), and they each have their own special plants in the flower beds and the veggie garden, too. One boy is into roses, and the other is into clematis. They've learned a lot! I usually try to stand back and let them plant what they want, but there are just times I have to say no (and then feel guilty about the plants I'm buying. LOL)

Steve, we're still working out the quirks with the new computer set-up. For some reason, it will let us download pics from the camera, but won't let me post them, either here or on Facebook. It will also let us print in color from one computer, but not the other. We're working on it! My patience is running thin about now. I can't access any of our old pictures, or my huge recipe file. Guess I should have printed the recipes all out and put in a binder or something, but it's much easier to just pull them up when I want them! They're lurking somewhere on an old hard drive that is no longer attached to the network.

Angie

Well, it has been snowing for most of the day and now it is clearing...again, but I heard that there may be more...

Evelyn_inthegarden, What is the name of that lovely daffodil you posted? The pink and white daff.


I have been trying to find a nice pink daffodil. I had Replete this year, but it never changed to a real nice pink from the peach.

Thanks Angie. I can relate to that scenario you have with your sons. I have a younger brother who lives on the west coast of Florida and bought his first house a year ago. He picked up an interest in gardening last June and is now very passionate about it. He just came over to Ft Lauderdale last week for a 3 day visit to go to some hockey and baseball games and to go to the plant nurseries I like. He thinks the nurseries here, on the east coast, are so much better and we have a much wider variety of things. The funny thing is our tastes in flowers are quite different and he's not too familiar with all the different plants that are out there yet. He's not interested in colors that go together. He's interested in getting as many diffferent colors as possible into a flower bed. I also go over to visit him every couple of months to go to sporting events, in Tampa, and stay at his house. I try to give him help with what plants to plant where, without pushing my tastes on him. Some of the common mistakes are planting spreading plants right next to upright plants. I'd see spreading petunias just a few inches away from dianthus or marigolds. I'd explain how those petunias are going to overtake everything in quick time. I guess he's just making the mistakes we all made when we first started gardening.

Hi all. Another wonderous spring bulbous season for everyone this year I see. Although the snowdrops and early crocus are past, the show is just starting here.

One of my new daffs. planted last fall.

Preocouis [spelling on that one] right spelling preococious daff

Maxine

This message was edited Apr 23, 2010 4:28 PM

One of my new daffs. planted last fall.

Preocouis [spelling on that one]

Maxine

Flower_addictnc ~ do you mean this one? If so, gosh, I will try and check my records to see...

evelyn_inthegarden,

yes, that daffodil. It is beautiful! I would love to add it to my collection next year!

Evelyn and Maxine, those are wonderful shots of your daffodils - thanks for sharing them!

Today I sent in a collection of some of my current Narcissus blooms to the bookstore I use to own for them to use as a display for the Nantucket Daffodil Festival which is this weekend. It got to be a rather big flower arrangement and kind of silly. They got a kick out of it. They said they would love some if I had a few to spare. I only clipped a couple from some clumps and none from many. I guess I have a lot. I hope some people are inspired by the variety of cultivars that are available.

I am putting together a labeled album of all mine, as I just can't keep up with the garden and the posting of pictures this time of the year. But I sure love seeing everyone else's. Thanks. Patti

Oh my gosh Patti, are those all from your garden?? That is phenomenal!!