Spring 2011 - What's blooming in your garden?

LOL Dem! Um, you wouldn't think so...they would be under 5ft of snow right now...

Just breathtaking. Never take that view for granted!

Pixie - That is stunning! WOW! I'm in Florida ... and snow isn't in our vocabulary. I would sure love to see snow as a visitor, though! I bet it is so quiet out there, too! It's noisy here with traffic and sirens. Do you see a lot of deer and other wildlife?

Yes it's very quiet and I see fox, deer, moose, rabbit, eagles....to say I am blessed is an understatement :)

Nice!!!!

Beautiful Eagle. :-)

What MGs do you each grow? I bet they would do well in your zones in the Summer!

This is I have some old seeds that I found :

Flaked Shibori "Raspberry-Red"
Flaked Shibori Blue-Purple Mix
'Gray Morning Mist'
'Matsukaze'
Hutsu Arashi


and the new ones are:
* Indigo blue
* Fukamizo
* Hanafubuki (HAMA NO FUBUKI (HAMAFUBUKI)
* Ao-kasumi ~ ('Kai no Kasumi' ?)
* Ao-kuruma shibori
* Beni-shiro shibori
* Haneguruma
* Keiryu (means Mountain Stream)
* Edomurasai
Rare Yellow Morning Glory ipomoea ochracea
Sazanami
Heian
FUJI NO BENI
HAMA NO MURASAKI
AKATSUKI NO TSUYU

This message was edited Mar 2, 2011 9:06 PM

pixie - You have some nice cultivars to grow this year! What is Heian aka Thui? Never heard of it. Any photos online of blooms?

I had some nice Japanese ones last year that I got from Virginia, very pretty was as you know weather last spring was not conducive to seeds, very wet and chilly. also just received some seeds from Lake Mary Gardens, blues and doubles.

LOL, sorry was distracted by puppies, Grey morn mist, a blue and a red shibori, the usual.

It should say just Heian
Sorry for the confusion.

This message was edited Mar 2, 2011 9:07 PM

It's this one....not my picture this is seller eddiedewayne picture

pixie - Beautiful photo from eddiedewayne. Sounds like you grow quite a variety, too. I am trying new ones every year. There seems to be an endless variety of JMGs around if you can figure out where to get them from. :-)

dem - I look forward to seeing yours and everyone else's vines and blooms this year. When do you start planting your seeds?

I, personally, like making crosses. I've had a lot of fun hand-pollinating blooms with pollen from another vine. Sometimes I get some really neat crosses. The down side is that you might get something really neat, but seeds from that new vine often don't come true with the next generation. But it's always a surprise to see what two different vines will create which certainly keeps my interest. :-)

I would caution against Oxalis here, Becky. I have some and it will quickly take over a bed. They are charming little flowers, but very invasive. Have you ever grown Phlox during the winter here? Mine have done beautifully even during our freezes. Die out when it gets hot, though.

I start planting this week, have been slowly getting things in order. Very anxious! Since I was home last year, I had the time to start even my annuals and approx 99% of my pots and borders ! started from seed. No damping off issues, really high germination rates, I was giving away eggplant, pepper, tomato and bean plants to perfect strangers! Felt good though.

Teresa - Thanks for the warning about the Oxalis. I was thinking of maybe growing some in a container. The heat here plays havoc with them though, so I don't know how successful I could grow them. I've tried growing Phlox for 3 years in a row and they just can't handle the heat of summer. They don't come back either after winter. Go figure. I think I need to stick with drought and heat tolerant plants. LOL! Your photos of yours are gorgeous! Do you grow them in a partially shady spot or in full sun?

dem - Wow! Sounds like you are certainly doing something right with veggie plants. You definitely have a green thumb! I managed to get two different tomato plants, 4 cucumber plants, and 4 sweet green pepper plants planted into containers yesterday. Also a strawberry plant. I have many more veggie and fruit plants I need to harden off outside, but it won't be until next week when I have off from work for Spring Break. :-) I am thinking about growing some watermelon in my hot front garden. I kept having issues with growing them last year because the fruit kept bursting. Apparently, too much watering! I tend to overwater everything! LOL!

Here is a photo of a Sunflower getting ready to open.

Here is the Sunflower bloom! What a welcome sight! I've never grown Sunflowers before though I've always meant to. My sunflowers are volunteers courtesy of the birds and squirrels. LOL!

This is where those volunteer Sunflowers are growing! Right under my bird feeder area. :-)

My crossvine is blooming now, too!

As is most all my rose bushes. This is "Blush" roses.

Some of my poppy plants are getting ready to bloom! The foliage reminds me of lettuce! :-)

Lovely blooms Becky.

Phlox is what I grow during the winter here, Becky. They are gorgeous and withstand freezes. Mine are in full sun. In the summers I grow Zinnias and all those things that like heat.

Love that rose Becky, very delicate looking. Poppies are another favorite of mine....I get a little carried away with the seeds. :)
Do you and gardenpom grow agastache? I would think it would do well for you and it attracts hummingbirds. I just bought 2 news ones that are hardy here...'Heatwave' and 'Apache Sunset'. Hoping to attract more hummers.

Apache Sunset is beautiful and I have been tempted, but I had some once and it did not do well for me.

I bought some plugs on ebay, took a chance and they were good sized, 4 of them for $7.99. This is what one looked like, all had nice roots, about 4 inch plugs with nice green tops.

Those are nice. I've never used E-Bay.

Teresa - I never thought of growing phlox in winter. I didn't know they were winter hardy! Are they perennials or annuals?

pixie - I tried growing agastache here and it seemed to do really well, but then within about a week time, completely died. I have no reason why that happened. I haven't grown it since. I also love poppies and have had good luck with them. I wished I had more garden beds to grow more, but I sprinkled seeds in all my empty containers and they are coming up everywhere! :-) I want to try CA poppies this year. I've heard they will grow all season. Have you grown them?

It's annual Phlox. I got cheap packets at Dollar store and that's the best grower. I did not know they were winter hardy till two years ago when we had those horrible freezes. I thought they would all die, but they kept right on blooming. I grew different varieties this past winter, but they did not do as well as the cheap seeds. I got some more of them for next winter.

Oh! That is too funny, Teresa! The cheap Dollar Store Phlox seeds did the best! I will definitely look for any packets when I go to the DS in the future. Sounds like a great deal! Thanks for sharing that info with me! :-) :-) :-)

My Old Blush climbing roses are blooming on my cattle panel arbor. I love these climbing roses. Old fashioned romantic roses! I have only imagined this in my dreams and in magazines. :-)

The 3-tiered daylily bed is showing some major growth from all the plants including the Black n Blue Salvia in the very middle of that raised bed. Can't wait to see the blooms this year!

I really love these cheerful Sunflower blooms. I can't believe that I have never grown sunflower plants before! I have a baggie of mixed SF seeds which I think I am going to grow. These plants are just beautiful! The size of those blooms are amazing! I've been sheltered too much to not grow these mammoth plants!

A container full of poppies! :-)

I need to let my g kids plant some sunflower sds. They would love the
Mammoth sized plants.

Oh sunflowers are fun and they make you smile. My grandaughters love helping me plant them and get the biggest kick out of them when they grow taller then they are!
Not sure if this will work but here are some pictures of sunflowers my DGD & I grew last summer. Give it a second and it should open to a collage of them.
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d6a4d304d6a51324d7a42384e5451774e4459344e54513d0d0a&sb=1

This message was edited Mar 9, 2011 12:05 PM

pixie,, you have a very nice selection to grow. I've not heard of Fukamiso before, did the seller have a photo of it by chance? Will look forward to seeing your photos this year.. thanks for posting here.

Becky, me too, I've got a ton of sunflower seeds for this year. You will not believe what happened a couple of years ago with sunflowers here, they reseeded and I was shocked, the were annuals. The seeds survived in the soil here. It may happen to you also. There is a little tiny worm that develops in the sunflower's leaves and they eat the whole plant and finally kill the plant, so keep an eye out for those, I get them every year. If I can, I'll find out the name of those worms. I called the extension service here and I've forgotten what they were called.

Does anyone else get these worms on them? Maybe it has something to do with the nearby orchards here.

My first bloom and there are alot of buds so will soon have a full trellis!!!

Beautiful color!

Well Gourd, im not sure now...i've gone to the sellers page and it seems they have removed the page/closed auction all together. Now im guessing because someone complained as to the name/authenticity of said seeds? Anyways it doesn't matter because I copied down the info and the picture into my files. This is the picture the seller had listed as 'Fukamiso'