Ella, my lisianthus are blooming. They are a variety of colors, purple, purple with white and a pink. Love them. Last time I tried growing them, they didn't turn out well, but these from seed and the very hot weather have made them just beautiful this year. thanks for the seed from the piggy swap!!!
My pink snapdragons you sent bloomed late and have not been liking this hot weather, maybe when it cools off they will do better.
Ugh, I didn't water yesterday cause we were supposed to get big rains ... not a drop, missed us by just a few miles. I got the sprinkler on now........
Seed Swap & Chat #58
We were suppose to get thunderstorms last night but the chances were just 30% so I went ahead and watered a bit when it's 30% we never get any rain but it rain a little before I went to bed thank goodness! I'll take anything I can get at this point!
How is your red milkweed doing Toofew, I put my penstemons in the garage last night getting ready to transplant them just don't want to plant them as hot as it is and as small as they stilll are wish they had been out in the rain last night I got a few things transplanted before dark but didn't get those and a few dianthus I was going to put in a pot I only had six dianthus germinate out of this package I had, my milkweed is getting ready to bloom on one of them :)
Earlier like a week ago I had this fuzzy black and white worm hatch out on my milkweed and they were all over it just gave me the creeps! Munching like crazy I put a glove on and smashed all of them! Now I have three big cats on it :) I saw my first Monarch yesterday on the butterfly bush mostly what I have had all over the place is the black swallowtails and the tiger swallowtails they are everywhere this year and this big yellow one that is black stripped and a light yellow all kinds of them :) I can tell my milkweed patch is gone with only seeing one Monarch so far.
Lea, the 3 milkweed plants are doing great. Haven't seen any monarchs yet though.
On our vacation we did a lot of walking and in one spot there was a lot of milkweed and a few monarchs, then a few steps past the milkweed I saw a monarch on a horsetail. It didn't move when I bent down to look at it and low and behold there was its chrysalis hooked to a horsetail. It must have just been born and was drying its wings. Wish I'd had my camera.
kl, we give you permission to do sneak seed snatching on your vacation. Didn't you cross your fingers when you promised not to collect any? And after all, what are vacations for?
I collected some lupine seeds from the community garden today. I think they were originally russell hybrids, but lots that reseeded have reverted to the original blue/purple. If there's any interest in them, I can collect lots more.
Lea, hoping for more blooms and seeds of your light-leaved geum.
I did find some plants labeled asclepias incarnata in my garden, but they're only about a foot tall, with no signs of blooming yet. Do these wait til the 2nd year to bloom?
Here are three incarnata milkweeds wonder which one it is:
'Swamp Milkweed'
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/539/
'Cinderella'
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54062/
'Soulmate'
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54061/
My Eos is just a plug right now I won't have blooms until next year :(
Thanks, Lea. I think I have the plain ol no fancy name swamp milkweed.
Well take good care of Eos. Hope to see her next year.
I have some Jupiters Beard(Centranthus ruber Roseus) is this milk weed ???
>>asclepias incarnata in my garden, but they're only about a foot tall, with no signs of blooming yet. Do these wait til the 2nd year to bloom?
In my experience, all perennial Milkweeds are second yr bloomers.
the annuals will obviously blooms first year.
Hugger.... No, it's not a MW. I have some of that too. Pretty flower clusters. IIRC - i got mime from BlueSpiral-- but i'd have to check.
i really didnt think it was .My books are so old.Anyway it is very pretty and getting ready to bloom more.Iam soo trying to introduce new plants to my garden . Thanks Tamara
Huggergirl, Try this German Outfit which has an office in Louisville, KY. It has listings for 81varieties and Campanulas for example. You ought to find lots of new plants to your garden.
gloriag, do you have a link to that place I'm just across the river to that place and never heard of it but then I never go to Louisville they change the express ways all the time and there is always too much traffic :)
Terese, mine is getting a bloom on it but mine is a little taller so yours might bloom yet too seems like my orange milkweeds bloomed the first year too I'll find out here pretty soon I only had one of those to come up from WS and it's about a foot and a half tall so far. I planted four milk jugs and only about one milkweed came up in each jug out of all of them except the cinderella. The ones I have getting ready to bloom are the Asclepias incarnata 'cinderella' I got about nine of those which made me happy sent six of them out to two other people and have already had three cats on them but they are one of the first plants that I planted in the ground :) I had some of those black and white fuzzy worms on them too but they didn't make it he he he. Seems like I planted the Cinderella downstairs. I looked on my spreadsheet but didn't find it must have forgotten to write it down I know at the last I didn't mark anything down so much for record keeping!
I still have three to put in the ground but don't remember which ones those are wish I already had them in the ground because they are only about 8" tall in a three inch pot. One was covered in aphids yesterday had to take the hose to it! Found an egg on my orange yesterday too so I hope it hurrys and gets bigger! The ones that I pitched seeds out too are only a few inches tall not quite a foot some are smaller than that and they will probably bloom but they are annuals I think I don't think I pitched my old orange seeds out there I may have, hope I did cause if I did I have quite a few coming up. That was too long ago when I pitched those out there my brain can't remember lol
I just took a walk outside and my orange is starting to get buds on it and the three I have to plant yet are two Red Prairie and one Bloodflower my silky gold didn't come up :( This weather this year really put a hurting on my jugs this year and I didn't plant that many this year!
I transplanted some Pasque Flower from a jug yesterday and have one jug left to transplant of White Balloon flower I can never find a spot where those are happy my blue one is happy where ever I plant it I always have trouble with the white for some reason I have one plant that came back from last year and it just barely blooms it's blooming right now and I have a blue one just a few feet from it and it bloomed it's little head off but neither are a full grown plant they are scrawny looking and this there second year I hope they both look better next year and I don't lose my white one the white ones I've planted before never make it three years for some reason.
I think i had some Silkys germinate.. .but have no idea where they are.
I just got my Aug work sched... i should be able to shoot home twice next month... about the 7th for a few days.. then the end of the month. shall see how that turns out.
Buddy is not doing well. I think he pulled or tore something. Will not put weight on a hind leg. DH is not here... not sure what to do. I'm babying him the best i can... but....... and he's totally lost that sparkle in his eyes.. so i know he's hurting.
My orange milkweed from you Lea is a blooming like crazy! Have seen only one Monarch so far, but keeping fingers crossed that more will discover it! The bees and other butterflies are giving it plenty of attention though!
Cross posted there... and forgot a few things...
Lea I hope Buddy feels better soon!
If anyone has any recommendations for a good small digital camera, mine finally bit the dust here on vacation :-( I DID get a photo of that gorgeous bed I saw though, with my DH's camera. Will have to transfer it after we get home. Travel day today... uggh.
Can anyone tell me how to collect seed from 'Yvonne's Salvia' ? It's the kind with the large tubular flowers, is that a greggii? Anyway, they don't seem to be getting pollinated is my guess, as all the blooms just turn a tan color and fall off. They don't have the little 'cups' that hold the seeds at the base of the flowers like my other salvias...
for me, Yvonnes were tricky. By the time the seeds were 'ripe' to pick, they fall out of the "cup". if they were still in the "cup" they were not ripe yet... i had brown and white seeds.. not many black ones.
on the salvia forum, some said they did the 'stocking' thing and put stockings over the cups to catch some that would fall out. but i do recall getting at least 4 seeds per 'cup'. I did have some Greggii last year... can't recalll if i got any seeds.
happy travels... and sorry, no help on a quick cheap digicam.
well, Bud was up eatign some kibble and drinking a bit.... he is moving about more than yesterday, but still not putting much weight on the back leg.
Thanks for the info, tcs. I also do believe that my orange milkweed (tuberosa) bloomed the 1st year. I'm really happy to have these others from all you piggies, as they're some of my favorites.
Lea, thanks for mentioning pasque flower. I just noticed the other day that mine are finally growing in their ws carton. I had bought plants at least twice before, and they died both times, so I was reluctant to try again. What do they like (or not like) to keep them alive?
I highly recommend using organza bags for those hard to collect seeds. I included one with a lot of your piggy seeds last winter. You can get them pretty cheap on Ebay, and they come in lots of sizes. I'll try to remember to find the vendor I bought them from and do a link.
Can you let me get in on the trade when it happens? I have lots of flowers, and I do try to get varieties that are somewhat unusual.
That said, my gardens are a mess with weeds. They require constant
weeding. I am making one now which will have the plants planted among the weeds. At least they are mature plants that I am putting in, so I think they will have half a chance. As of right now on the weeds, wild flowers, and
grass covered slope above the back driveway (I started yesterday,) I have planted a large number of irises, 8 double Shasta, 6 Pink Parasol
echinacea, 2 Blue Fortune agastache, one double rudbeckia, 2 or 3 ligularia, several phlox (blue which I grew from cuttings and about 26 or so iris. These come from stock in the earlier
gardens. I want to put more if there is room. Since the slope is natural, I have lots of natural poison oak too. I have all kinds of unplanted seedlings to put out. I will add Olympia verbascum and some hollyhocks for sure along with the (fingers crossed) some of the
tall cream foxgloves which I have from proliferations. Except the iris,
all of these are seedlings are from 2008 which bloomed in 2009 and 2010.
I also have the started seedlings of Russell lupine, the Blue Governor, and the Blue Gallery. I may be able to squeeze them in too, but probably not.
The link to the German firm in Louisville is www.jelitto.com- it is international. They do have eighty-one types of campanula, I love campanulas as long as they are blue, but 81??!!
I am 68 finishing out my life here. I moved here at Thanksgiving 2007 so I have to act fast to be fairly assured of seeing my babies bloom!
I really don't have time to plan beds yet so they are crazy quilt. I can dig and transfer some later.
Terese he might be alright just recuperating from his fall or what ever I hate when something happens to my animals on a Sat. after the vet closes they only work a half a day on Sat., then I worry all weekend! Glad he's eating a bit and at least he is drinking :) I'm clueless about cats hate the waiting and see game!
Terese doesn't that drive you crazy going back and forth it would me lol
Kelly I didn't think I had any Monarchs either but three cats got on my milkweeds some how lol I did see one yesterday. I saw a milkweed plant out in the back of my house on the hill by the back door a while back it's bloomed already and has seeds forming but I don't know what kind it is so I'm not saving seeds from it I'm sure I had old seeds and just pitched them back there it's kind of wild in that area anyway lol I've only weeded once around the yard this year too busy in the beds when I can finally get out so I don't worry about the back lol
Kelly just a hint here, sometimes it's easier for me later in the season to collect from my salvias it's like the first seeds are just trial runs? I have been getting some off of the coral nymph and very few from the Navajo none on my black & blue, patens, snow nymph, forest fire and I'm having the same problem with the subrotundo but I know those will be easier later :) I haven't even planted my victoria blues yet I only got one seedling from that one and the other is white for some reason I've never had any white and still have some patens to get in the ground I don't think I'm every going to get all of my plants in the ground! I have to be in the mood to collect victoria blue seeds they are such a pain for me lol
Sharon I have so many taller plants around my pasque flower I bet they would grow in the shade or in morning sun plantfiles says full sun but there is no way mine gets it I have knapweed on one side and maltese cross on the other side of them it just happened that way and I can't move them because they have that darn taproot! I can’t believe they are still alive lol
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/81426/
I forgot to collect seeds from them this year and I was going to try and do them by colors for a change lol
I have that bag I forgot about it I have the ones that I think Lynn made too :) I found some stockings the other day out in the back of my garage no telling how long they have been out there they are probably dry rotted by now lol
gloriag, every one is welcomed in the swap it's not usually until later this fall just keep watching the thread :) That gives everyone time to collect and clean the seeds.
I would have no idea how to plan my beds I'm not artsy at all lol My beds are just a collage! This year I did try and put all of one color together but now I'm out of space and just sticking plants in lol I need to start planting on the other side of the house where I just took a piece of carpet up so far all I have over there is three morning glories climbing a cedar limb I stuck in I need to get some of these darn plants out of my pots and get them in the ground like my victoria blue and salvia patens and still more annuals that I haven't gotten in the ground yet LOL
My beds are always full of weeds I pull weeds almost every day early in the morning and late in the evening! I've went thru two jugs of weed killer so far this year and refuse to buy anymore LOL
I road out in the country to the next town to get some tomatoes and saw a box turtle on the road! I had to stop and pick it up so I brought it home and let it loose in my wild bird garden lol They must be getting extinct around here I hardly ever see them anymore not like I used to so if I do see one on the road I have to save it! I know there are freaks out there that try and hit them when they see them :(
Lea, both times I had the pasque flower in part-shade, as I thought that's what it wanted. Maybe I should try it in sun this time? (max 6 hours is my full sun area).
Isn't it funny how we can grow a plant and it will do good in one sun for like for me and not for you. Really mine gets sun pretty much all day until the maltese cross gets tall and the knapweed gets to growing by the time it flowers it's almost in the shade but it does well there still, now I'm worried about planting these seedlings lol I was just going to go ahead and plant them in morning sun since they didn't get much where they are. This is why it takes me forever to get any planting done well a part of it I can never decide where to put the plants! LOL
You probably have enough seedlings to experiment :)
I probably do have enough seedlings to experiment, but they're still very small.
Did you say they have a taproot? Then should I plant them directly in the ground instead of potting them first? They're still in a wintersow milk gallon bottom right now.
I know what you mean about where to plant stuff, but I figure it's better to get them in the ground anywhere if I can't find the perfect place. And the perfect place often isn't the perfect place after all, and plants have to be moved later - if they're still alive, that is.
I recently bought a "burning hearts" dicentra that I just loved. I thought I put it in the perfect place - in the front of the bed, in part-shade, and fairly close to other dicentras that love where they are. Well it died within a month. (or please tell me these go dormant, as the spectabilis does). Don't have any idea why. (If anyone can collect seeds of this one, I'll be eternally grateful.!!!)
They didn't seem to have that root but sometimes seedlings are like that when I transplant to a 3" pot they will probably get one in there, I don't plan on planting mine until fall these are still small I don't want to take a chance of Sophera breaking them off or some critter eating them lol
I just planted some Jack Flash because I remember them staying so small for so long in a pot a couple of years ago so this time I just went ahead and planted them that's new for me lol I had some that were suppose to bloom last year and lost them in the weeds :(
I transplanted some to 3" pots a while back and I don't think they liked all the rain we had but they are doing better since we hit that dry spell. The ones I just transplanted were in a jug and they were still the same size as the other ones but healthier looking for some reason.
kl,I have a panisonic Lumix 10xop zoom I really love it
Sharon I have a dicentra just one lost all of my other ones and I checked the flowers the other day and it doesn't look like it is making seeds the plant is full of spent blooms but no seeds??? First time I've see that :( They hardly ever reseed for me. Since that one is is the same family it probably just went dormant, I bought a couple of roots at wall mart and they have been in a pot since spring not sure which one it was just said 'bleeding heart' I emptied the pots out the other day because they never came up and the roots were still healthy so I'm leaving them until next year to see what I get so I'm thinking yours probably went dormant :)
No one here has ever had any trouble with your cone flowers? I have a bug on mine or something the blooms keep keeling over about three inches below the flower, does anyone know anything about that I hate starting a thread lol They have a little line around where they drop off before breaking about a 1/4" wide. I thought Sophera was breaking them off chasing butterflies but she was in the house all day the other day and it was still happening! I have no idea how to deal with this!
Lea, this is the dicentra I'm talking about that either died or went dormant:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/182066/
I think it's a pretty new cultivar. It's smaller and more delicate looking than the others I have. I love both the leaves and the flowers.
I've had trouble trying to find seeds on my other dicentras too, and they don't seem to reseed, though they spread all too quickly.
My other dicentras look more like this:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56972/
I managed to save seeds from my Dicentra spectabilis 'alba' white bleeding heart this year. After the blooms fell off, they left skinny green seed pods, like small lettuce seed pods.They are in a bag drying, but I'll list them for the next piggy swap!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55670/
I had to bring my hummingbird feeder inside. The yellow jackets were taking it over. I am allergic to stings, so I do not want to encourage yellow jackets. Does anyone have any tips for keeping them away from the feeder? I was planning to wait a few days and put the feeder up in the back garden. I may have to get one of those trap jars the next time I am out , but I don't want to trap any honey or bumble bees. In the meantime, the hummingbirds are visiting my morning glories, lilies, sages and other blooms. They also visit the trumpet vines hanging over the back fence. A new neighbor put up two hummingbird feeders this week. She claims to not have bees or wasps, yet.
GardenQuilts, if you put up a trap from what I read on here it only attracts them. Here’s a tip: Do you have any yellow on your H. feeder? Take red finger nail polish and paint over it give it a good coat mine shows thru if it isn’t coated a couple of times, another one is to just take it down for a couple of hours and the wasp forget it’s there then you can put it back up again if it’s a really pretty one and you want it in the front yard I like mine out there so I can see them from the windows :) taking it down for a couple of hours really works but in a few days they might be back sometimes they are here and sometimes it works :) Maybe for more than a couple of hours I think I took mine down for about four hours but they say a couple.
I gave up trying to get bleeding heart seeds to germinate but I always WS them maybe they should be sown down stairs under lights after a chill of course. Don’t even know if I will try them again I’ve wasted soo many seeds for several years!
Sharon that burning heart is so pretty! Wait for it to come up next year be sure and mark it one of those had comments on them turning brown in June I hope it just went dormant! I love the foliage on that one too! The leaves to the other one looks like mine but the pink hearts fade really fast I know it’s not the same one though I hope I can remember to transplant mine to my new shade garden this fall I’ve got so many plants to transplant this fall I may not get around to it.
I finally got my other three milkweeds in the ground a while ago and my lavender from Toofew ‘Provence Blue’ that made it in five inch pots over the winter from last year thank goodness I didn’t lose them! I got my last plant of Coral Nymph in the ground too lol I hope to get my victora blues in but it’s like 92 out there and there not telling what the heat index is I had sweat dripping in my eyes the whole time I was planting. Tony helped me put the last of my cardboard down over the darn grass that came up in my mini shade garden where I’m going to put my astilbes and some hosta that I dug up I had that whole area clean and with the heat I couldn’t get it planted when it was cool it was too wet from all the rain to dig.
It IS brutal out there. I can only stand brief periods in the shade. I'm trying to turn over my entire weed patch of a shady back yard - the part that isn't gardens, and am putting landscape fabric over it, and probably peastone over that. I have enough to do without having to weed the grass that isn't there, and besides it's really ugly.
GQ, I have one of those albas that I got at a roundup. I like it except that it goes dormant too early.
Lea, that "burning hearts" is absolutely one of my favorites. I really hope it just went dormant. I paid a lot for it because I couldn't resist when I saw it.
And - my delight of the day - hooray - My very first belamcanda chinesis grown from seed that survived long enough to make a flower - flowered today!!!! And it's gorgeous!!!! Maybe there's hope that I can grow them, though we'll see if it survives the winter.
Great for you Sharon was it from my seeds? I pitched a few out in the side yard and a couple are about four inches high that's the only two I'm going to let stay I think I pitched the ones that are orange what color is this one? I'm guessing it's in the ground I know mine would have bloomed by now if I had them in a pot but don't look for flowers from them this year too much shade from other plants around them.
Why don't you put some shade hosta in that area I wish I had more shade!
Lea, it's likely from your seeds, but, sorry, I didn't keep good enough track to know for sure. It's the orange speckled one - my favorite!!! Wish I could send you some of my shade, though it helps on days like this. Is it me you're suggesting hostas to? I'm getting close to full up, and have my 3 or 4 token hostas for variety. I don't like them enough to have many more, but I'll have to say this for them - they're very well behaved and do add some color interest and variety.
Here's my total mess of a back yard, starting to put down the landscape fabric. I'm not sure if the pic will be big enough to see.
Probably my seeds that one is my favorite too, yes I just checked and that was the only thing you got from me last year that was requested :)
Is that all shade back there! That's a perfect spot, where is the mess I wish my back yard looked like that! It's going to look soo nice when you are done :)
I didn't care that much for hosta when I first started getting them and really haven't bought any more for a long time but now they are getting full and now I see what all the hipe is about finally LOL I love my hosta! I like the bigger leaved ones and the vase shaped ones they are my favorite then the mini's are next but I only have two of those, no room for any more unless I got rid of a few that I have :) I would love to have a hosta garden but I like too many other shade plants I'd still fill it up with them lol I'm always trying to squeeze one more in lol
Well thank you, Lea!! Those are some of my very favorites, and I had almost given up on them.
It's almost all much more shade than sun, except the very left side, which is less than half sun, but enough for lilies and daylilies, except at the back.
You didn't see all the milk jugs, pots and junk and weeds? There isn't room to put anything anywhere, and I am hoping to have a few lounge chairs when I'm done, and a sprinkler that will keep me cool while I'm lounging. Add a gin and tonic to that picture, maybe a good book if I can figure out how to keep it dry, and you see the picture that keeps me going in the heat.
Well, maybe hostas will grow on me. Lord knows other things have.
I saw all the junk I have way more than that in a couple of places outside! That's just normal isn't it :) It all really looked neat to me wish I could send you a picture of my side yard in between the house and garage now that's a mess! Maybe I shouldn't even think about a picture of it LOL
I had a new neighbor move in a few years ago when I was selling plants and when they came to check my plants out the lady told me she could see my mess of pots out in the back of my garage I told her not to worry about it in the summer the trees would keep her from seeing it lol I had stacks and stacks of pots out there and plants in pots. She lived about a block away from the back of my house if not further how could she see it that good unless she had a set of binoculars!
Sounds wonderful I hope to do that in my mini shade garden some day under the dogwood :)
:-) I guess that's the good thing about everyone's 6' privacy fences around here. When we moved in I wasn't fond of them, especially since we have 3 yards that border one side of our very long yard, and each one has a different style of fence! But, no one can see my mess unless they're looking for it out of their 2nd story window... in that case they get what they deserve!
Right on, kl.
Lea, by all means send a picture of your side yard. I'd like to feel better about my junk!
Anyway, it isn't as bad as the neighbor's giant plastic kids choo-choo train that's permanently installed right behind my fence.
Sharon, your back yard looks great, well planned out ... at least from far away, lol.
Lea, I'm in love with the large hostas too. But I have some of everything.
I went out to garden this morning and decided to chuck all my daylily plants that I started from seed in 2006 that hadn't bloomed yet. There was a good amount of them, I guess they weren't planted in the best spot, but I did give them an extra year.
It was hard to do, but now I have more space to plant next year. :o)
I'm just in love with my cosmos again this year. These are started from seed that I had collected from last year. They didn't double too well, so I think I'm going to splurge and buy some more of the Double Click BonBons, those were my absolute favs. I have some white lilies in the middle of the pink cosmos and it looks so dainty.
I'm loving the cosmos again this year too! While in Breckenridge I saw some in planters that was less than 1ft tall, with huge flowers! I'm going to have to see what that one is. I also grew the last of my 'sonata' mix this year, and really liked it's more compact form. It was maybe 2.5' tall with large flowers. Just found it completely gone when I came back from vacation, so I'll have to go out and see if I can salvage some seed.
boy Iam soo glad I dont have neibors too close,they too would be saying yea I see all your pots and potting table, truck load of dirt and mulch,oh and the 8ft tall brush pile..and the turtle top car carrier ,it holds most of my pots and flats,and i love it..I see part of my post yesterday was lost.You have inspired me to collect more seed , so I can do some swaping ..Oh I forgot about 2 dead mowers too..good thing I really cant see the mess either..at least all that stuff is behind the shed and the 500 gallon propane tamk,and the popup camper...
I wonder if the altitude would have anything to do with the height ??? We are going out to Denver in sept. Love Breckinridge,beautiful little ski town..and the whole state...