What's Growing - Part 11

Wow Al! You still have a lot of garden left.
Aly (Andrea?), Mine is the same as Al's. (T. Miyazaki Hybrids) from Bluestone

Unfortunately nap, it's not my cosmo, its Al's. I too have been eyeing that one and wondering what colors it comes in and where he got it. (hint) BTW Al, those are great shots and beautiful flowers!
Gram ~ Your pictures were...er...interesting. I threw out my banana chips.

I threw out my rhino horn.

Al, if Nancy says you're a nice guy, that's good enough for me LOL. If you find that you have left over tubers in the spring that you can spare, I would love to take some off your hands (for postage? I don't think I have anything I could trade yet). I would also be interested in some double-click seed. I didn't think I would have a place for cosmos, but dh has just come up with a wonderful plan for a perennial bed where he wants 'lots of color'. sounds like a good place for cosmos to me.

Gram, You checking referrences now?
I think Anita will vouch for me.

Oops, sorry I gave the wrong credit on the cosmos. I guess I was reading your mind, pixie.

Dave - I'm extending your credit limit to $5 with your clear record.

The Double Click are :white,pink and red.
I got mine from Jung's.

Nancy - I didn't recognize it, I knew you had that one too.

Gram - I'm getting closer to putting all my dahlias from this year in my diary. You could make preferences out of it.

Good Lord, we've set a record for posts. I'm up having a walk around after the cat woke me up. You guys have been postin- fools today. Or maybe its because I've been so busy I haven't read for a couple days. I love Tricyrtis and I wait every year for them. the dahlias are still going pretty strong at my house. I have an unnamed white that is full, Bluesette is just starting to wind down, the Bishop series are in full bloom - covered with blooms, My Otto's Thrill that broke is in good shape - both the broken stalk that has grown roots and the original tubers - but won't bloom. They sure took a long time getting going this year.

Aconitums are blooming, chelone is just starting to end, some of the Lobelias have rebloomed, Johnny Jump Ups are re-blooming, the butterfly bushes still have some flowers on, the Verbena bonariensis is strong, the Hypericum Albury Purple - good shrub BTW, still putting out a couple weak ones, I even have phlox still - don't know why they were so late this year. Mums and asters of course, cosmos,

I decided that even tho I love wintersowing, I am not going to do many perennnials this year - just annuals because they are really still blooming and look good and they serve a great purpose till frost. slap my hands if I buy any more perennials. My beds are full to bursting now and I can hardly stand to remove things. I dug out 2 huge garbage bags full of Imperata - the Japanese Blood Grass. Great stuff but in decent mulch that rots in a year it spreads like crazy.

I'm doing mostly annuals too [wintersowing]. I'm thinking this weekend might be the last for the dahlias? Our avg first frost date is 10/15. Funny how so many of the plants have started kicking in again - nasturtium, zinnia, dahlias.

I bought the grandaughter's Halloween costumes this weekend....they tried them on last night. Here's Hunter as a Princess....and I must say what a beautiful princess! I'm a bit biased!

And Miss Hayden makes a great Tinker Belle! Unfortunately for her Mom...she didn't want to take it off to go to bed! LOL

Now I need a costume, any idea's? I have been a "Pixie" (go figure), a witch (my kids thought it was normal) and a Corpse Bride.
Anybody got any good costume photos they would like to share? Maybe I should start a forum for costume pictures! That might be fun and keep us from thinking about all the pretty flowers going to sleep for the winter.

Pixie, you get a flower costume... how about if you dress as a Sunflower??? Or you could get an old jacket and staple some pictures of all the flowers you want and be your walking wish list or you can just be a "walking catalogue"... not scary... just odd...

Pixie, Raggedy Ann is always fun. flowered dress, white apron (red felt 'I Love You' heart), red/white striped tube socks, I made a red wig from a red knit hat and hooked some red yarn into it just like fringe. the makeup is easy.

forgot to say that the girl's costumes suit them perfectly :0) (hmm, Tinkerbell's a little 'pixie')

This message was edited Oct 11, 2006 4:51 PM

Al, let me know when you have the dahlias in your diary and I'll take a look (wouldn't mind looking at them again anyway...so pretty). but I haven't seen one yet that I DON'T like.

Thanks for the idea's!
I pulled up my dahlia's today........NOW WHAT DO I DO??????? I put them in the mud room to let the rest of the dirt dry so I can brush it off and to keep them safe from the frost., but im lost after that. Help! Please?

Gram - I'll let you know

Pixie - you can be my kids grand~ma and buy them pumpkins and costumes ;)

the steps I take with my tubers are:
-lift them and hose off all the dirt
-cut off all extra roots,stem to an inch or so
-I divide them in the spring, but if you have more than one stem per plant - I seperate the stems( I store plants with more than one tuber in seperate containers as insurance if one goes bad)
--I soak them in bleach, 1/2 cup for 2 gallons or so, for 15 minutes
-once drip dried they are then soaked in fungicide for 15 minutes, I wanted to switch to shake and bake with sulfur dust but couldn't find any. I think I'm stuck with Benomyl which didn't dissolve well.
I think that was it.
-I then let them dry for 8 hours or so, if they start to crack they are done or cover up until you have time.
-I store them in big pots of peat moss, boxes or vermiculite are acceptable. I make sure they don't touch each other.
- they then go to wherever is cool enough until there attic is cool enough.

I took a lot of photos of mine today as I cut all the flowers before the freeze coming. I gave away a lot to my neighbors and they kept coming back for more.

Thanks for the info Al, im gonna try!
Here's one I can't take credit for...this is my neighbors rose.

my neighbor Romeo

and Razzle

and she just moved in so we weren't formally introduced.

Al, I've been fired as the kid's new grandma??? just because I didn't show up? I'm still circling Menasha with my left signal blinking. I could have brought pumpkins instead of cookies. i'm very hurt (sob~sob), but I will probably feel better if you send me some dahlia tubers in the spring. (that's a gorgeous bouquet...your neighbors are very lucky)

pixie, that rose glows. Hi to the goats :-)

Gram - that was you - I just thought it was senior day at Perkins. Sonny boy was looking at costumes at Walgreens the other day - $20 for plastic!

Pix - I like Razzle, we had a pet goat(amongst others) when I was a kid(not baby goat).

posting pictures of other people's plants now.......what a great idea
Burning Bushes are on the invasive list here, this one was at it's peak today

Wow Al, you're a good dahlia daddy. I just clean mine off and put them in shredded newspaper in cardboard boxes!

Wow Al! You use bleach, fungicide & seperate storage container, all to prevent disease? When I used to have them at my old house, I just stuck them in vermiculite. Is disease common?
You probaly should give the early spring, potting them in the garage instructions too. I found their season was way too brief w/o doing that. (And I could use the refresher)

Dave

Dave - I have gone my what the experts have recommended. Sort of a worse case scenario prevention. Mold would be the major problem, even those steps won't stop it if the conditions are right. If your method is working fine I wouldn't worry about it. I will document some steps futher for you, I did post some potting stuff but not in this forum.

brug's in the garage tonight

What nice neighbors you have, Pixie!

Everyone needs to be nice to Al today.....I just heard the weather man say the "S" word for WI. today and that it was 25 degree's at 7:30 am but felt more like 15 due to the winds. So be nice..his dahlia's are about to go to sleep.

Al, too bad I am not your neighbor or I would be ringing your door bell asking for dahlias, you can't really blame them... too bad you can't ship them to me... can you dry them???? you know I am really new at this so I really don't know much... kiss the dahlias good night for me...

you are good to your dahlias... I decided that I can't plant dahlias yet... too much work... so I will just buy the cheap ones next year at my local nursery or Home Depot (Home Chepot) since my big project for next year is to start my rose garden... so dahlias will come in 2008...

Pixie, what a good friend you are... are your plants sleeping yet??? your neighboors don't eat your flowers right????

Most of them are sleeping with the exception of some very hardy cosmo's and snapdragons. No the goats don't eat my flowers, they have a nice pen they stay in. Even the bunny that roams free doesn't eat the flowers on the stem. He politely waits for the petals to fall to the ground before eating them.

It's a big come down today that's for sure. Especially after making it a month later the last 2 years.
But there's plenty of good fall weather left and things to do outside.

Ohhhhh - that hurts to look at - I can't imagine how you must be feeling.

Oh. that broke my heart also... this is my first official winter after I become addicted to gardening... and I can just imagine...

Pixie, how nice of the bunny... I can't say I saw any around my garden... I planted so many marigolds that I think they didn't get close at all... (well that's what someone told me to do... ) too bad Chip and Dale where not a bit bothered by the smell... they got plenty of cayenne pepper ...you have roses right??? have you protected your roses yet?

Al, do you have to dig the dahlias right away after the first frost/snow??? does the ground get hard quickly? I never noticed before...

Kas - I'll start digging this weekend, within 10 days or so is ideal. I have heard of people drying the flowers, but have never done it.

So Al, is there hope for my dahlia tubers then?? This is what happened while I was at work today. But I called my husband and told him to go out and cut anything that was not ruined. I'll show you that picture soon. This is the view just before dark out my dining room window.

Nancy - I might have concerns about your pots freezing solid - well, maybe too much. Could you move them inside somewhere until you lift the tubers?

Yup, right now. I just checked the temp and it's 33. Maybe not too late. Meanwhile, here's a couple of neighbor kids heading home, walking their bikes in the snow!

I'm not feeling too confident right now. There was a lot of snow in those pots. I dug out almost all of it and brought the five pots into the garage. I think my fingers are frozen. Well, whatever happens, happens. I won't be able to dig out the ones in the ground until Saturday. Our temperatures are supposed to be in the 60s next week.

One more snow picture from a couple of hours ago. It's the tree in front of our house.

Nancy,
I think the snow would actually protect them. I'm guessing they are fine.

That sound right to you Al? Very sorry to see your wonderful dahlias get whacked. I have a question from another forum. I always assumed dahlia would be happy in FL. Do you know how they do in the south?