Teddy's plants

It is very easily explained - they are two different cultivars even though they are close in color.

The fuzz is called a beard.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness even in a garden. Either put them in your compost or trash.

Will it hurt them if I just leave them on? I have a lot of neighbors that have Irises and they just leave them be, which would be the best thing to do?

Please don't leave the deadheads on the plant. It looks awful and does not benefit the plants nor does it look good in photos. The best thing is to remove them.

Always aim for the highest standard of gardening and don't follow what lazy gardeners do.

If the darker of the irises is on the same plant as the other burgundy one you posted, then it's like all strands of hair not being the exact same color on your head. There are variations.

When the new irises look darker, sometimes it is because the older ones have faded somewhat. It happens to me a lot where there is a lot of sun.

Always take off those irises that are finished. They take away the beauty of your new blooms, and you don't need to make new pods. They are just plain gooey and are among the ugliest of spent blooms.

I think those burgundy irises are a gold mine find. See how many plants you have, and ask your neighbor if they need to be divided and spread out. (Don't do this yourself.)

What other finds are growing in your yard? LIlacs? Peonies? Roses? The former resident must have been a gardener.

Nothing is coming up that I did not plant, as far as I know the last resident was not a gardener. You were right, as soon as they completely opened up, they were the same color as the others, now I have 5 by the lattice, because they are all the same color, do you want to see them in a group or not? I agree that when the blooms are done they look icky, so I will take off the ones that are done. There are a few that did not bloom this year and they did not grow as tall as the others, any idea why not?

In your opening post to this thread you said you understood they may have to take a year off - that's what they're doing. They are establishing their roots now.

My concern is with the height. Is it a difference of two or three inches or a vast difference? Did you get these irises from a neighbor or were they on the property? The shorter ones just might be a dwarf iris or an intermediate iris - they come in different heights. Are the shorter ones all in one group?

well, first things first, no they are not all in one group, there are 3 by the lattice and one by the iron pole, they were all given to me by the same person and all planted the same time. I will take a picture and show you the difference.

Use a ruler in the photo, please. Thanks.

I'll be back later.

they are a full 3 inches shorter than the others.My hubby saw a hummer checking out my Irises today. They are out in force, he heard one next to his ear but when he turned around it was gone.

here is what the three at the lattice look like.

We'll just have to wait and see them next year but they definitely are irises.

Happy Memorial Day everyone, got a surprise when I went out and looked at my Rose bush and this is what I found. And you are going to love the next one.

My Rose bush is really getting ready to show off all her summer glory, if you want me to, I will continue to take pictures until she blooms with the roses, I think they are tea roses but not really sure, I know they are not the regular size ones, but not sure just how small they will be.

How long after this bud will the rose come on, I am not familiar with growing roses so I hope this is not it, Can someone help me with some information on this question, maybe pirl?

A few days. They generally open gradually but in hot weather open faster. After bloom cut off the remaining stub.

Looks like a lovely species rose
http://davesgarden.com/guides/terms/go/3425/ or possibly http://www.rdrop.com/~paul/modern/index.html

This message was edited May 30, 2011 12:56 PM

A friend of mine brought me a couple of Rose of Sharon and I just planted it in the back, I dug the hole and put the plant in the hole, put in some dirt and water, then filled it in the rest of the way with dirt and then watered it real good. It is in full sunlight and already leafed out, it should be okay shouldn't it? Hopefully I did not do anything wrong, I have 2 already from this person and they are leafing out really good, will they grow and bloom this year? How much water should I give it, or should I just wait on the water for awhile? And should I put any kind of plant food on it, or just water? It is taller than I am.

As long as it had been in full sun and your friend didn't take it from shade or part shade, and as long as it had a great set of roots, you should be fine. Water it often during the next week. The tiny root hairs have probably been disturbed and they are the ones that take up the water so the plant needs time to adjust. You did mulch it very well, didn't you?

I can't tell you for sure that it will bloom or not but moving such a large plant this late in the season is not the best idea.

Do not feed it yet!

I did not mulch it at all, I have never mulched anything that I have grown, due to money problems I can't afford to buy any right now, is there anything else I can use that is around the house? I have not mulched anything at all, and so far everything is doing okay. It is not taller than I am, I was wrong about it, would you like me to take a picture of it and show you how tall it is? I also have another one he brought me and I will try to get it planted tonight when it cools down some, I don't need to have heatstroke planted my precious babies.

No mulch means the soil gets hotter. Shred some leaves or look for alternatives. If you're going to be serious about gardening then it's worth the $2.98 for a bag of pine chips. Ask at your nursery if they sell broken bags cheaper. Then $1.50 is perfect.

Mulch also helps hold in water, so if you can invest in some mulch you will probably save a little on your water bill. And it helps reduce weeds too. So I agree it's well worth the investment.

My hubby found what my Rose bush is called, it is a multiflora rose, the little white flowers ARE the roses, they do not have roses like I was thinking of. So disappointment number one, so far that is the only plant I am disappointed in. But the flowers are pretty, I will take more pictures when more blooms come on if you want. Stay cool everyone it is supposed to get really hot today, but I will let you in on a secret, I LOVED working in the ground yesterday, I never thought I would like doing that, but when you plant something and worry about it and it grows and blooms you kind of feel proud, you know what I mean?

Is there any plant that I have planted that is not invasive?

Were there particular things you are worried about? Most of the things you've talked about (iris, rose of sharon, cosmos) etc are definitely not invasive. The multiflora rose can be a problem, but that's only one plant so I wouldn't jump from there to worrying that everything you planted is invasive.

Does anyone know what kind of plant this is? It smells sweet. I thought it was maybe Alyssum, the fellow who brought it up did not know what it was.

I think the flower is lilac,if it is where I planted it is not a good location, I planted it in the same area as the Irises around the iron pole. My Cosmos is growing like mad, I was going to get a picture but it got too late and dark, so I will get one tomorrow. If it is Lilac I will dig it back up and and give it to someone else, I don't have a place to put it that it won't mess up something else. I have a acquaintance that wants a Lilac so I will give it to him. I had not noticed my Cosmos and then I went around and looked and wow they have shot up big.

I am new not only to this forum, but to gardening. My mother had such a green thumb, but I definitely did not inherit it. I am trying hard to learn, and thank God for the Internet that allows me to search for things! Yesterday I brought home 2 Cosmos flowers to add to my yard, which is in the very early stages of landscaping. I'm a first-time homeowner of 10 months; when I moved in here the back yard was all brick and river rock. The photo below shows the Cosmos when I first planted them YESTERDAY (May 30) at about 11:30 a.m. I read the description that came with the plant, asked nursery personnel and looked it up on the Internet before I planted them. (Imagine all the dirt in the photo was layers of river rock last summer!). The next post will show what I found today at about 2:00 p.m.

Today at 2:00 p.m. I am in Zone 8A per the USDA thingie (I told you I'm new) but I typically see zone 9.. (I'm in Tucson).

I used Miracle Gro for plants in the pots. Was that the mistake? They had mostly sun all day (that part of the yard gets shade only in the mornings.

What in the world went so wrong so quickly?

omchodoy

way too hot. get a large bucket with several holes in the bottom and put right next to your tree and keep the bucket full of water.

If you have an umbrella that you could put up over the tree to get it shade from the afternoon sun until it gets adjusted to its new home that would be so helpful for it.

Move your others pots out of sun until they are settled in their pots.

My opinion is too much sun for early transplants.

You will be fine.

Jan

Thx Jan. Actually the tree has been there about 2 months, and I'm not too terribly concerned about that...it's a Chilean Mesquite which is about as desert / drought tolerant as you can get...I water it every other day (watered daily for 2 weeks and then cut back, as instructed. Even the nursery personnel here in Tucson say to plant it in full sun. My biggest concern is that I waited too long, but less than a month before I planted we'd had a couple of hard freezes so I don't think that's going to be a problem. Once established it should get water only once a week or so. They say NOT to put this tree on a drip system.). The flowers tick me off...they were thriving in full sun right off the Lowe's parking lot yesterday and today they're dead. Is it too late to move them and hope for a comeback? or should I just chalk it up to experience and start over?

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep my eye on this forum. I suspect I'll give all the more experienced gardeners a run for their money!

Since you transplanted the cosmos from their original containers into the new pots, you likely disturbed the roots in the process which can cause transplant shock. I would keep them somewhere more shaded until their roots get going again, then adjust them gradually to the sunny location.

Agree that your cosmos is suffering from transplant shock. It is really hard for plants to maintain their blooms and foliage and resettle their roots. And even harder for them in full sun. I know it is hard, but at this time of year it is better for the plants to go for the ones with few open flowers, or cut a bouquet of the blooms and pot the plants . Less stress on the plants. And as Ecrane says, give them a few days in a shadier area to acclimate themselves.

Someone else found my page, oh well, here is a picture of my Cosmos, how much bigger do they have to get before they bloom?

Just planted this Rose of Sharon the other day, do you think it will be okay?

The Rose of Sharon is probably just suffering a bit from transplant shock--if your weather is hot right now and it gets a lot of sun you might try to rig up some shade for it to protect it from the sun until it gets its roots going a little bit.

It gets quite a bit of shade where it is, just a bit of sun in the afternoon,I found out the one part of having flowers that I don't especially like, and that is pulling weeds. I just weeded the bed where the Irises, Cosmos and Morning Glories are, there is one plant that is growing there but I have no idea whether it is a weed or flower, the lady who lived here before us was visiting and I asked her if she had planted anything and she said no. I will show you what it is and maybe you can tell me what it is, there sure was a lot of clover in the bed. But I could not use the weedeater there, it was too close to the plants. But it looks so much better, I am kind of proud of it. I just need something around it to set it off, but not too sure what that is going to be. Is this a weed or flower?

This is my cleaned out flower beds, I have not gotten to the one next to the fence, the way my knees feel, may wait until tomorrow to do that. I think I did a good job, the end results are pretty., I pity the people who have a large flower bed, the size I have is okay by me, in the one by the lattice, Irises, Rose of Sharon, Morning Glories, and Cosmos, further along the side of the house is the Stonecrop Sedum which I also cleaned out. By the fence on the other side of the house is Rose of Sharon and by the iron pole is Irises and a Lilac start. So I have enough flowers. I will have to start saying no when people ask me if I want more flowers, I have no where else to put them!

This is the Stonecrop Sedum bed, nothing else in there but that, I cleaned out both beds and then I watered them, the Sedum was looking a little dry.

I have a lot of Rose of Sharon seedlings that I am going to pull up, if I just toss them in the backyard would they grow, I would let them grow where they are, but I have got 5 Rose of Sharon bushes started already, the one I told you I thought was dead has no green on it and if you bend it, it will break, so do I pull it up or leave it alone. I also have the one my friend brought me, he is the one that just brought me some more. So I thought I would pull the seedlings and throw them in the backyard. So let me know if they will grow or just decompose.

How tall will my Cosmos get? The package says up to four feet, but the Burpee web page says 34 inches. They are pretty now, but I thought hummingbirds liked the Cosmos or was I misinformed?