CLOSED: MEMPHIS or MISSISSIPPI IN MARCH - In Person Trading?

I'm planning to be in Memphis about mid-March. I was wondering if anyone wanted to meet up or do some in-person trading there. We'll be nursery-hopping in Memphis most of the morning and then we'll be at Homestead Farms in Coldwater MS in the afternoon. We haven't picked a date yet--waiting to see when the weather is nice.

If anyone is interested in hooking up with us sometime in March, let me know. Some of the plants I have to trade are:

Bronze fennel - beautiful bronzy, feathery scented foliage, can cook with it, attracts black swallowtail butterflys

Lavender Physostegia - Obedient Plant, aka False Dragonshead

Lemon Balm - an herb to cook with, lemon scented/flavored

Spice Mint - an unusual mint with an awesome fragrance

Catnip - a wonderful treat that gets your cat drunk and provides you with hours of entertainment. LOL

Blue Louisiana Irises (Iris Hexagona I think) - not your granny's irises. These prefer moist areas, but will tolerate drought too. They often grown near ponds, lakes, ditches, etc.

Blue Louisiana Irises - Little Rock Skies

Daylily - unnamed dark mauve (not red, but not purple either), nice border plant, gets about 12-18" tall with a 4" bloom

Parrots Feather - a green feathery pond plant

I'm interested in trading for butterfly attracting plants, unusual sedums, ornamental grasses, common hardy elephant ears, mints, herbs, veggies, own-root roses (no grafts), and I'm open to other suggestions.

For special trades, you might be able to talk me into digging up a chunk of my variegated Arundo Donax. It's pictured behind the bistro set--the plant that looks like a variegate corn plant. It starts out very white in the spring. As it heats up, yellow stripes replace the white stripes as you can see in the 2nd picture. When it really gets hot, around the end of June or first of July, the plant becomes solid green and looks like bamboo, as seen in the 3rd pic. It even makes the bamboo-like canes. It can get about 12 or more feet tall and spreads pretty quickly.

I don't know what else will be up and about by mid-march. I'll add to the list if I discover other plants popping up. If interested in trading or just meeting up, let me know.

March is here! In two or three weeks, my friends and I are headed to Memphis. Anyone live near enough to meet up with us? You can follow us to the various nurseries and try to beat me to the best plants. I warn ya, though, I pretty quick and grabby! LOL

If you have a date in mind, let me know. We'll be in Memphis sometime between Mar 5 and Mar 24. I'll have to check with my friends and see which day would be best for them. We intend to spend half the day in Memphis and half in Mississippi.

If you can meet with us at either location, let me know. We could have lunch together perhaps.

NancyAnn

What is the white spiky grass in the third picture?

That's actually a variegated Japanese Iris - Iris Ensata Variegata.

Very pretty...your daylilies are beautiful!

Thank you. Daylilies have been my passion for a few years, but I'm moving into hardy hibiscus now. I just can't get enough of them! Of course I still see new daylilies that I'll have to make room for somewhere. LOL

LoL what's the secrets you have found for the hardy hibiscus and daylilies? I have both that either don't bloom much or at all. I'm guessing its the amount of sunlight, so I plan to move both this year. My dls have not been divided in 10 so I think its time. LoL

Anita, I guess the secret is not to care too much. Honestly. I call myself a "lazy" gardener. I'm not really lazy; in fact I have so much to do that I have to prioritize my chores. And babying plants is just not one of my priorities. I plant 'em and forget 'em.

I do have the advantage of being in the south and having longer, hotter summers than you do. And hibs and daylilies seem to thrive in the heat. People have told me that hibs need a lot of water. I've found, however, that they are VERY drought tolerant. I don't water anything except for the first month when I plant it. If we have a drought for 2 months, I MIGHT water once. And still the plants thrive. I do mulch a lot, partly to shade the plant roots and to enrich the soil, but mainly because I like the way it looks. The plants really seem to benefit from it.

Both these plants LOVE sun and need at 6 hrs of direct sunlight daily. My yard is almost all sun, so they don't have a problem in that area. Hibs are late bloomers. Here, they don't even come up out of the ground until around the end of May, so I usually don't see blooms until July or even August. I imagine it would even be later for you.

With the hibs, I'd suggest you look for some that are reported to do well in Zone 5. Then, plant them on a mound. You might plant them on the ground and then mound dirt up around them, like a raised bed. This is what I do with cannas and gingers and things that don't always survive our winters. On these mounds, the soil stays warmer and dryer and heats up quicker as spring approaches. So it can actually make a zone 5 area into a zone 6 area, which might encourage the hibs to sprout earlier and bloom.

If you have a sunny area of your yard that stays warmer in the winter (a warm microclimate), try locating the hibs there. My sis in OH has taken many of my hibs and keeps them on her enclosed patio in containers for the winter. Then she sets the containers out in the spring. Her hibs do very well. If you have something like this, you could try some that way too and see what results you get.

If I don't like the results I get from a plant, I move it. By it's 2nd year in a spot, it should put on some kind of show. If it doesn't, I move it again. Some of my plants have been numerous times until they showed an appreciation for a certain spot. When they find their "home", I don't disturb them again.

Daylilies just need lots of sun, and like us, they need elbow room too. I tend to divide mine about every 3 years. When there are about 15 or 20 fans in a clump, it's time to divide. Then I feel like I'm getting "free" plants--2 for the price of 1. LOL

Check out Plum Crazy pictured below. The foliage is purple/green. The bloom is a beautiful plum color and rippled. It can even grow in zone 4 according to the data. You might find this one and give it a try. It gets about 4 or so feet tall and at least that wide with the Dinnerplate blooms. I've also found it divides itself, unlike some hibs that you have to dig up and saw thru a root mass. When I dug Plum Crazy up last year, it easily separated into individual plants that I replanted in another area of my gardens. I love it when it is that easy! LOL

You might also look for Fireball hib, another zone 4 - 9 hib. This one reaches about 5 or so feet tall for me and is about 6 ft or more wide. It has LOTS of big red dinnerplate blooms on it during the summer. People driving down the highway often stop and ask me what it is. Everyone loves the show it puts on. It might do well for you too.

It has foliage like a Japanese maple too, which is a bonus in my opinion.

Thanks I think the problem with my non blooming hibiscus and daylily is the sunlight or lack of. They are both on the west or north side of my house. The west side is shaded by another house, which is where my hibs are. They will be looking for a new home now. Same for the daylilies. East and south sun from now on. Also, some of my daylilies are in soul that is too rich. I think dls like the clay soil.

Daylilies will grow in any soil. Mine are in rich soil. I've spent years amending the soil, transforming it from red clay to beautiful black rich gold. And they love it! Of course they thrive in red clay too. If you give them lots of sun, they really aren't picky about much else.

If moving them doesn't give you better results, you might try giving them some bloom booster too.

I will have to try the bloom booster. I have dls in my front yard that have only bloomed once in maybe 3 years. They were supposed to be Pandora's dls but the single bloom looks more like a Stella.