What Have You Winter Sown So Far? (Page 3)

Awww, Mary I didn't even consider that it was not quite your planting time yet. I could have held your plants longer.

I have tried the poppies (peony). I had good germination but I am worried that I wont get them back next year since they didn't bloom this year. I love the oreiental poppies. I have wsn for 3 years now and I still don't have a single poppy in my garden.

Don't worry about it, Anita. I have around twenty flats to pull in and out, plus 36 dahlia pots. I have another 15 dahlias in smalIer pots as I just received them a week or so ago. I have actually started planting some stuff that I have multiples of in case of a late frost. But I don't see that happening. Also want to be sure the moose have gone back up the hills so they don't eat what I have out front. Backyard is fenced.

Today is just gorgeous - 59F and sunny which for us is nice. Oh, that 59 is in the deep shade on our front porch that faces west. I am trying out planting cabbage, lettuce, basis, and such in with my flowers. Especially where I have tulips and such that will die down in a few weeks. Crocus are pretty much done for. Daffy's are pretty much all blooming and some tulips.

Wow, I would love to see pictures of your dahlias when they bloom

Me too. I have never had so many -- thanks to DG'rs. Many thanks.

I'm like Oberon, I pop in just about every morning before work, and I read and read, but don't have a whole heck of a lot to say either. I don't get into the forums a whole lot in the evenings after work 'cause I'm just too pooped to pop!

I think I've decided to do a VERY minimal amount of Winter Sowing this coming winter 'cause this past one was a real dud. So darned many things did nothing at all and I ended up buying a whole lot of plants after all. =( Not to mention the fact that my biggest bed is really full now, and with the Agastache and Jerusalem Cherries self-seeding, next year I am SURE I won't have ANY room at all for anything new.... at least, not in that bed. I installed 2 Balloon flowers last August, but they pooped out really soon after installation so I figured I killed 'em. Not so! They are back beautifully this year and looking nice and strong, so I think I'll stake 'em up soon so they'll be ready for when they bud and bloom. The afore-mentioned Agastache look like they're on steroids, I think they are taller than I am... I am 5'1". One of 'em self-seeded RIGHT next to the "parent" plant, so it looks like one HUGE FAT one, and both of them are smothered in buds, look like they should bloom any minute now. I can't wait!! =)

As for the driveway-side bed, ... well, I need to clean it out STILL. < =/ But after that's done, I see that I've got oodles of Shasta Daisies to have fun with, and some of those volunteer Dianthus are rearing their pretty little heads... along with some lovely Bachelor Buttons, one of which is blooming now. That poor bed really needs a going-over, but still, I don't think I'll have room for Winter Sown stuff in there either. . Nope, next time around I think I'll just do maybe 10-15 jugs and that's it. I'll have to select very carefully.

Speedie, please, please, please post some pictures of your agastache and balloon flowers. You must feed them good! I got apricot sprite from Fruity but it didn't come back. :-( I think I killed it. For some reason that color agastache is hard to find around here.

I have tried agastache and balloon flowers a few times but no luck. Technically they should work here. Must be my gardening. I love the colors of agastache. I had a deep crimson I was really hoping would survive. No soap.

Howdy dooo!! Okey dokey, it just so happens that I took a couple pics of my Agastache yesterday morning before I headed out to work, so I'll share one of those now, then I'll take a couple of my balloon flowers on my way out to get my truck's oil changed and share those later today. =)

In this pic you can see one of the Agastache in the foreground, it's the smaller of the 2. The other double-fat one is farther back. I'll get better shots in a bit. It was drizzling and semi-dark yesterday morning when I took this pic. < =/
(You don't want to see the other pic that I took, it shows my Jerusalem cherry that I transplanted... and it didn't really like it!) < =(

Wow, Speedie! I don't think I have ever seen agastache that tall. Mine were quite a bit shorter.

Hiya! I had time before I gotta head out so I went out and took the pics.

I am quite certain my Agastache are taller than I am; as I was out there and was trying (unsuccessfully) to get shots of the buds at the tops, I had to look UP... I'd guess they're about 5 1/2 feet tall or so. These ones that I've got are Tooty fruity (sp?), and the foliage smells soooooooo good!! I love to go out and rub them so the air is permeated with the lovely sweet scent.

Anyway, let's see how it goes to post a few pics here.

1: Another one of Agastache, this is the "double-fat" one. Facing the bed, it's to the left of the "smaller" one.

2: The bigger of the 2 Balloon flowers. It's got quite a bit of branching around the bottom, so I'm guessing it'll bush out more as the season progresses. I'll need to get it staked up when I get home today. Beside it is a little pot of something I started from seed, but don't remember now what. ;) To the other side is a larger pot with a Hollyhock started from seed.

3: This is a volunteer Agastache, behind the double-fat one. It's nestled up against the Otto Lyuken. To its left you can see my baby volunteer Euonymus.

That's all I'll post for now, as posting pics has been a bit troublesome lately. Gotta head out the door now, but I'll share the rest of the pics when I get back. =)

Sorry I didn't get back here last night... long story short, I've got swelling/puffy/redness problems with my right eye, so I spent the afternoon/evening with warm compresses on it and didn't get back in here.

Anyway, a few more pics of that bed... where did I leave off??

1: This is the smaller Balloon flower. Neither one of them is budding yet, but I am really looking forward to blooms on these babies!

2: Dave, looking a bit frightened that the Sedum is going to eat 'im! < =D

That's about it, really. I'm hoping we get some sunshine soon, 'cause I can't wait to see all the buds open up on the Agastache.

Speedie,

YOur plants look really healthy. What do you feed them?

Well, firstly, when I install them I use compost to back-fill the holes, then I use Dr. Earth "Life" fertilizer on just about everything, except the Laurels, and for that I use Dr. Earth for acid-loving plants. I really love the Dr. Earth stuff, it makes my plants sing to me! =)

Those are beautiful speedi. You will have to show us in bloom pics when that happens! I have tried 2 years running to grow balloon plants. They start out well, then disappear. lol I tried to ws them this year. I need to go take a peek and see if any of the containers I have yet to transplant are them.

I went to a local nursery that specializes in rare and hard to find plants along with ones that are pretty much a staple around here. She had balloon flowers so I bought one, along with a trillium I have been looking for for a couple of years, a Rote Glocke, and a funny looking plant with one leaf and a single stem about 5" tall with the tiniest bell like flower in white. She has more shade stuff than sun but those are the most interesting to me.

I bought some trillium root last year and it did the same as the astilbe and others that I bought..........not a trace of them last year or this year. :-(

Trillium really needs cool and moist. Somehow I just don't see that for your area. Same with Astilbe. Even here it has to be in a shady moist area to grow well.

I've been eying up the Astilbe at work for 3 years now, there are so many varieties that I want, but just haven't had the guts to try one (nor the conditions). Now that I've got my shady container garden area out back, and I've got 3 pots left that I haven't filled, I think now might be JUST the time to try one. Or 2. ;) Those pots that DH bought for me have the little dishes built into the bottoms, so I'm finding moisture to NOT be a problem... I might just have to bite the bullet and come home with 1 (or 2) today. Do they do ok in containers? Would a 1 gallon size container be big enough?

I had them in my shade garden, but they still did not come up. And it was an extremely HOT summer last year. One day was 114* in the shade! They should not sell things here that will not grow in our climate!!!! Nuff said

Lowe's brings stuff up here labeled 'perennial good to -10' all the time. That is NOT a perennial in Anchorage. Even 'good to -20' is a crap shoot and yet up they come. Caveat Emptor is the name of the plant buying game there. Otherwise go to the local nurseries. They order from outside but are more careful about what they label perennial.

Hey Speedie - things look great. I think we need an update on the new container gardening thread you started....

About your Agastache - I have been amazed by the size of mine also. I took the seeds from a 'Black Adder' when I worked at a botanic garden in MA. First of all, they're supposed to be sterile. Of course, since it's a hybrid x it won't come true from seed either. SO.

It's a cross between A. foeniculum and A. rugosum. Neither of the parent plants are supposed to be more than 3'-5' either.

The first year from seed the plants were at least 10'. I have never seen anything like it in full sun - I was shocked, but not appalled!!! In the shade they are still 6'-7'+ tall.

I don't "feed" them. I have examined the volunteer seedlings and I believe the plants more closely resemble the A. foeniculum, so I can't account for the size.

I also have some balloon flower and Court (BF) said yesterday that it was his "new early favorite." Every year I plant some new things he doesn't know, and he's been fascinated with the buds. The first bloom opened today.

Other things still in WS milkjug trays:

coreposis tinctoria 'Rouletta'
veronicastrum virginianum Culver's Root
Salvia uglinosa/Tall Purple Bog Sage
Euphorbia marginata
Verbena hastata
Salvia x 'Rose Queen'
Eryngium yuccifolium Rattlesnake Master
Baptisia (do these bloom first year from seed? I read "not")
Amsonia
Lupine (not a first year bloomer either)
Jupiter's Beard red valerian (?)
Balsam - touch me not

I am direct sowing some things, but have also started random containers of other things that either did not germinate the first time or germinated sporadically/not much.

I hate the heat, supposed to be 90, I have jeans and a black long sleeved cotton blouse on. I supposed it's time to get back out there to water what I planted yesterday. Watered this morning before the sun/heat came up, but you can't be too careful at this point in the game.

Good luck everybody, and have a splendid weekend. :)

A.

I have two baptisia Purple Smoke that have been in the ground for three years (course, I moved them once) and while they grow still no flowers. also quince in the ground at least four years and no flowers. This may be their last year. I could put azalea there and get blooms the first year.