PLANT ADDICTS CHAT #5

Haahahahaaa Sally, you are tooo funny!! < =P

Joyanna shared the $1 pink wave petunias we "scored" at Lowes with our neighbors today. I was so proud of her, confidently traipsing up each front walk, ringing the doorbell, and holding out a pot with a "This is for you -- Happy Mother's Day!"

Gee, you're sly SallyG!

Aaaawwww Jill, how sweet!!! That must have been a double Mama's Day treat for you! =)

I know just how to pounce on that "Why did I take all these plants??" after swap self doubts...

Very nice Jill!!

Tradescantia has reached critical mass here. Plan now if you will want any blue, pink or white spiderwort, T virginiana/hybrids in the future. Otherwise, my extra will go in the woods somewhere.

Sally, I love the tradescantia and would love to have some when you are thinning out. All three of those colors would be welcome!

I thought you might, Terri! OK I will try to keep the colors IDed and save some.

I planted one blue Spiderwort in my YUK bed near the Mockorange shrub
in the corner. Also a Goldenrod. So far--I don't see anything coming up there.

Maybe I just don't know what to look for?
Haven't really had tome to examine all my beds. Today--I am free to go out there
and attend to a few things. Really, really need to pot up some stuff as well
as plant some things...

Yesterday--in my Mother's Day Workshop over 80 children stopped
by my table and planted a flower in a pot for their Moms.

Work tomorrow and Wed. Then i am off until Sunday. PHEW! Gita

Sally, I would take an assortment, too.

I went by the William Paca Gardens annual Mothers Day plant sale yesterday and picked up some Bloodroot, Allegheny Spurge, and two PawPaw trees!

Saw this 'colonial' front yard near there filled completely with about twenty different Hostas that make a pattern . Sorry you can't see it very well from the pic. Last year the clumps were all just touching. Not sure how one plans such a display or gets so lucky with whimsy. Other such postage stamp shady front yards featured astilbe flanking a big hydrangea on one side and astilbe with blooming bearded iris stems showy above it. And almost every colonial house door along King George and Prince George Streets was adorned with a May Day basket, an Annapolis tradition.

That sounds like fun Gita. I bet it was neat to work with all the kids.

Oh Gita, I'm so glad your workshop was so well attended. Mommies just can't help but smile when their child gives a flower...such sweetness you help happen!

Sally, I'd happily take spiderwort off your hands as well... no need to keep colors separate for me, love them all, and they'd look pretty clumping together as well as separately.

Great score, Coleup! I've had no luck with mail order pawpaws, can't find them around here, and no luck (yet) sprouting seeds either. I think there might be a trip to Edible Landscaping (VA) or Nolin River (KY) nursery in my future... I've been thinking that I want to "hold out" for Peterson Pawpaws or one of the named varieties, but I might need to be less picky LOL.

Critter, I know that you have wanted PawPaw trees for your 'back forty' and for fruit,so the named varieties like Petersons make sense. I got the two seed grown because the price is right ($8)and they can be growing while I look for a named variety. As blurb from U MD points out, one needs two . I'm going for a wild one and a named variety. Ace Outback has PawPaws but they are currently $39 ( good size) but not 'named'. Mine will live in pots this year and you ae welcome to one if eithr of us can find 'named'! My thinking on this may be really off...but I have two other local sources to check out, plus a source for seeds. Same article copied below points out why growing from seeds may have failed previously
"Asimina triloba

Wouldn’t you know America’s largest native fruit would be exceptional? The green or yellow pawpaw fruit, ripening in September-October, has the startling flavor of bananas, plus undertones of vanilla, pineapple and mango. The 1-2 ½” mauvey-purple flowers start female and then go male. And germinating seedlings are killed by direct sunlight, yet later enjoy sun. Pawpaws grow to about 25 feet, with large leaves that turn clear yellow foliage in fall. In the wild, these understory trees form thickets, but in home landscapes lawnmowers stop that. Plant in slightly acid, well-drained soil. Because they are not self-fertile, purchase two plants, either two seed grown or two different grafted varieties. Named varieties produce the best fruit quality."

The Paca sale also had pomagranite trees. Lady said she grew it for the flowers.

I've recently read that pawpaw seeds need to be kept moist, or they won't germinate. I WS'd some, and no sign of a sprout, but the seeds were definitely dried. If I go to a specialty nursery, I'll let you know!

Recently read up on growing pomegranates because "my" kindergarten kids planted seeds as a lark. The flowers are brilliant red, very beautiful!

How long did it take the pomegranates to begin blooming?

Pawpaw has a reputation for being hard to start at home. the ones I know in local woods, and there are a lot when you know where to look, are in river bottoms and moist woods. Well shaded. I always forget to get there in season for ripe fruit. Or, I know they do bloom, but not sure they fruit.

OK will see what I can do with spiderwort mass production. They are beginning to bloom now. Gita, they look like thin daylily clumps; rather, clumps of daylilies with unusually thin leaves.

Good to know more about local pawpaws, thanks!

I think pomegranates need 3-5 years to start blooming and fruiting, although any info about container plants seems to focus on the dwarf variety 'Nana'. I'm not under any illusion that there will be 18 sixth-graders with blooming pomegranate trees at home...

Right now I'm just hoping I killed off the mold on the seeds. LOL

BTW, wyldeflwr posted a thread on this forum, looking for good nurseries down around Luray Caverns... I know about Weber's in Winchester and about Harper's (concrete), also Edible Landscaping is down that way but further south... if anybody knows of other places in the Shenendoah area, please post on her thread!

Thank you for the heads-up Jill, will take a peek at her thread and see what I can come up with for her.

Well, I did it again yesterday. I just HAD to! I was in the greenhouse watering (always dangerous) when those beautiful Columbines started talking to me again. So, I decided that I just HAD to bring one home. .... and a Bleeding Heart. ... and some new annuals for my hanging basket. =) Got a 4-cell pack of Salvia, don't remember now if it's Red Hot Mama or Flare. Also a 6-cell pack of annual Verbena, different colours. (purple, pink/white eye, white,... others). Oh yeah, and I also "rescued" 3 more Alyssum. =)

First pic: The Columbine. These are the last of her blooms.. for now. She's one of the Biedermeier Mix. I realized yesterday that, even though pink is my favourite colour, the only pink I have growing is my Paeony. Had to fix that. :)

Hence, Pic 2: The Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart. She's not blooming yet, but I look forward to it! =)

These babies are gonna all get installed today; these 2, all the babies for the hanging basket, and the 1 Hydrangea that I rescued from work 2 years ago. Can't believe how that thing keeps coming back, even in her little pot. Time to put her in the ground beside the "shady benches" today. Wheeee!! =)

very nice, Speedie!
pretty dry out there! need to water, but no time this morning. Iris are flopping.

It's so dry out there. My raised beds were dusty just an inch below the surface.

I like those Biedermeier columbines, speedie!

Time for a new thread, moving to here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1394212/

Oh, I forgot to brag about one of new acquisitions. We got a Jakobsen Mugo Pine, I would guess it is 10-12 years old. Now all I have to do is find the perfect place to display it. We picked it up after the York show at wholesale cost. I was ecstatic. We have picked up new varieties and types of plants this way for years. Here's a link with a good description.
http://www.kiginursery.com/dwarf-miniatures/pinus-mugo-jakobsen-dwarf-mugo-pine/

Love mugs pines. SCORE!!!

Pssssst, Jan! We're over here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1394212/

Psssst, speediebean:

Thank you kindly, I do enjoy learning something new. :)