That is right Mitch, it takes them two years to reach the blooming stage, and after they bloom they are finished. But if you plant some every year, you will have continuous bloom. Since they drop a lot of seed they plant themselves for you.
Did the temperature get over 30 at your house today?
Ours has stayed below freezing since yesterday afternoon.
Josephine.
Gardening with Texas Native Plants & Wildflowers, Part 10.
We hit 31 for about an hour 4-5. Still cold but at least it stayed close to 30 here the whole time. The smooth sumac is good to 25ish so I hope it stayed ok! Our little lime tree is still green near the stem so we hope that non native made it ok.
Our high here in Houston was 38 and with mounting some garden art and starting to build some shutters I right near froze my ...... off.
WHERE"S SUMMER ?? ;o)
Kip
PS: Josephine, Amelia and I will call you Sunday around noon or meet you at the talk.
O.k. Kip, we are looking forward to it.
Josephine.
Since we had watered the plants well before the freeze came, and it was a wet freeze, it looks like most things made it without damage. So far I have only checked the front as I came home this evening. The daisies, pestemon foliage looked good. I didn't check the Yarrow, but sure hope it made it.
Hope everyone else has good luck with things bouncing back. I guess Spring will get here again before long to stay.
My plants were O.K. too, although they stayed frozen for a very long time.
I guess they are pretty hardy.
I checked some Comfrey plants this afternoon and they were still viable too!
Mine did well too and everything made it through - even the lily sprouts! I was so pleased, and was worried about the duration of 24 and 25 degrees really trashing everything, but that didnt happen. I have some peonies that have budded and all came through except a couple. I tend to plant a lot of "northern" stuff so I guess it should take this in stride!
Thanks Mitch, would be nice to meet you too. Will be interesting to exchange ideas with all of our different tastes and gardening styles.
Alright Steve - how do you have Peonies here in North Texas? I was told they would not grow here - was offered some of my MILs but did not take any yet not thinking they would grow here and I would hate to see them die off.
I have Peonies coming up already. Mine do good because I totally ignore them and don't really care. I'm learning that this is the secret. The more I want it and baby it the more difficult it is! I've told this story before, but... last year I needed a spot so I dug up a Peony and threw it in a pot and put it on the porch. I felt guilty trashing it so I just left it and felt guilty enough to water it occassionally. All winter it sat in a pot barely covered in dirt and barely any water but when Spring came I felt bad for it again so I replanted it and it grew and bloomed! Go figure!
Yes, plants are mysterious, what works one time doesn't work the next, I wish they could tell us what they need, dont you?
I sure do Josephine.... I sure do. I know they want to grow - now I am going to have to try one... why are they not Native?
Well Mitch I guess it's just another myth. I was told lots of things that were common up north would not grow here in North Texas when I moved here, and in almost 5 years of gardening down here I am finding that to be false. A lot of the problem here is not the climate, it's the soil - it is heavy and dense and does not breathe or drain well. A few raised beds and loam soil and that problem seems to be disappearing. Peonies take awhile and generally do not produce well the first season, and I don't think they'll every be as effortless here as they were up in the Midwest. The singles and early bloomers are better fits for the south than the doubles and lates. I also do lots of daffodils and hyacinths and they return really well for me year after year. Tulips are about the only thing I treat as an annual. I even found some lilac varieties I planted last year that are supposed to do well in southern states - I'll keep you posted on how they do this spring! I guess if I'm told I can't do something, I go out of my way to prove I can!
I have some peonies ready to pop right now, and lots more starting to come up all over the place. I had several bloom last year in their 2nd and 3rd year, also. I guess my efforts for two or three years of waiting are paying off.
Here's one from last year that finally bloomed...had been in the ground a couple of years
This message was edited Feb 22, 2006 5:50 PM
Here's another poofy one - and they said the doubles wouldn't bloom here
Steve, those sure are beautiful, I love peonies, they are so soft and buttery, and so gentle looking, congratulations on you sucess!.
Josephine.
Then of course there are tree peonies - this would did bloom 1st year, did not bloom 2nd, did bloom 3rd, and we'll see what happens this year! This plant produces the most spectacular flower I have ever seen - and HUGE too!
Thanks Josephine! :-)
Just Gorgeous Steve!
Steve - I am with you and think a lot of our issues here are the soil. Everywhere I plant my Daylilies I am fixing the soil or building a raised bed - learned that lesson the hard way. Let me know if you get a liliac to make it my wife loves them from her grandfathers farm up in North OK...
There were several small segments on The Victory Garden today - weekend projects - that had to do with creating small habitats/shelters for different critters in our yards. I was so disappointed when I followed their directions to check out the website for details. The website only gives a description of the episode!
Anyway, I hope I've remembered everything - a salamander high-rise made of sticks & twigs, a bumble bee home from a mouse nest and clay pot, a mason bee home from 4x4 post, and they mentioned bird and bat houses. They all looked like almost garden art (to me, but I have a rather loose definition of garden art, lol), and they can help towards a backyard habitat certification. I'll post pictures of any that I make. (Don't think I'll find a mouse's nest for the bumble bee home.)
Mary that will be great, it will be good to give the little critters a home, and make it look good at the same time.
We met up with Kipper2 and Amelia2 at the Neal Sperry garden show today.
We attended two lectures together.
We also ran into Sharon Stownes from Mansfield and her husband.
It was all very nice, and a beautiful sunny day too.
Josephine.
This message was edited Feb 26, 2006 5:08 PM
Oh, how neat! I always hear that it's a great show. Did you take any pictures? Which lectures did you sit in on?
Beleive or not I forgot my camera, arrrrrrrggggg.
We attende the lectures for Earth friendly landscaping, and gardening with herbs.
They were both very nice.
Sounds like good lectures. I love to go to those things. My favorite nursery (Arbor Gate, in Tomball) has them every Spring and Fall. I've learned so much from going to those, and they stress natives to everyone.
I was on the Backyard Wildlife Habitat website earlier (http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/index.cfm ) to look around, and was able to send off for my certification online! I don't know why I didn't send mine in much earlier - I already had everything required, just never got around to writing it all down and sending it in.
Next will be the Texas Wildscapes certification. That one I keep holding off because my garden keeps changing - some things don't work, so I pull them or try them in a different spot, and then I've been given other things at swaps. I try to emphasize natives, but I do have plants that aren't natives, so I don't know what to do about listing everything in my yard. My garden will never be "finished" - I suspect I'll be experimenting for the rest of my life. So... what do you suggest?
Okay, now I think I'm getting everything confused. What are your certifications? It is the Texas Wildscapes that requires a certain percentage native plants, right? But your backyard habitat, is it the Texas Backyard Habitat? Is that different from the one by the National Wildlife Federation?
And I also want to get certified as a Monarch waystation.
Mary!!!! I am so excited for you. The National Wildlife Federation is different from Texas and I don't have that one, the one I have is the Texas Backyard Habitat Urban Program which is part of the Texas Wildscapes, but on a smaller scale.
It really isin't very difficult, and you probably already have the majority of what you need.
What I recomend to do is, get a notebook and make two columns. Native and Non Native. Go out in your yard and list the names of the plants in the aprppiate column.
Not the quantity of each plant, but the type of plant.
If you have at least an equal number or greater ot Native than non natives then you are probably ready.
Here is the link, check it out,
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/wildscapes/certification/index.phtml
I bet it will work out just great, let me know.
Josephine.
Josephine, what about annuals? Do I list those? I do think I have over 50% natives, and I know I have the other requirements, I just wonder about things like the cool-season annuals I plant just for some color in winter, and then stuff like my butterfly cafes (I have several pots around the yard with fennel, parsley & rue. While they serve to support butterflies, they aren't natives, and I think they may be considered annuals.)
I'm sure I'm making this more difficult than necessary (wringing my hands).
:-)
The native annuals count too, and as far as the pots that you might have for the butterflies I don't think it matters, but you might try to build those with natives.
Oh, and don't forget to count your trees too, those are very important.
Take a flying leap, Mary, you won't regret it.
Love, Josephine.
Hey guys, look at what showed up in our flower bed!
It is St. Rosa of Lima, made especially for us by our dear Mitch.
Doesn't she look beautiful? It will be even better when the plants are blooming, that is our refurbished flower bed which I think is going to do great.
And here is our Angel, sitting on our new seat, we are going to have some good coffee breaks on that seat.
How pretty! Good job, Mitch!
Josephine, I've been meaning to ask you how the slope is looking now. It must be starting to green up a little.
Yes it is Mary, but not much to show yet, we are probably two weeks behind
you guys climate wise, or maybe even more.
(blushing)
Aw, Mitch! :-)
I was excited to see my Blackfoot Daisy starting to bloom today. And my Guara is getting ready to burst into bloom, too. And thank goodness the Yellow Bells are finally starting to put on some more leaves (after that last, bad freeze, I was beginning to think I'd lost it!)
I have some exciting personal news (sorry to digress from this thread, but I can't help it.) On or about August 27th I'm going to be a grandmother! I'm trying to figure out how to work in a little garden area just for the little one to play in, to get his/her fingers into the dirt, and to eventually do some planting him/herself. Oh, happy day!
:-)
Congratulations! Mary, I suppose this is your first grandchild, what an amazing thing it is to see a child that came out of your child, it is pretty special.
Josephine.
Congrats Mary!! Now you have to decide what to be called LOL! Nana, Meema, Gran, Granny, Grandma....????
I am not a grandma, but I am a great aunt to my niece's boy and nephew's girl. Just call me Aunt Sheshe LOL!
Mary that is great news! Congrats!!
When you plant their garden just remember they love to eat the dirt and anything around them soooo be very careful what you plant in there - anything there is open game for food!
Thanks guys! Yes, this is the first, from my only child, Adam. I have already decided I want to be called "Buela", a shortened form of abuela (Spanish for grandmother.) I figure a tiny one just learning to talk can't handle all the syllables, so I've dropped the a, then we'll see how the word gets mangled in a sweet way to it's final version, lol.
Mitch, yes, I'll be very careful about what is planted. Thankfully, being an organic gardener means I don't have to worry about chemicals in the soil. My philosophy is that every child should be allowed to eat a "healthy" amount of dirt.
I am sooo excited! This will be a native plant lover in training!
So I guess that they live close to you? So excited for you!