Annuals in the Cottage Garden

Great thread...

PrimRose... great photos.

At my old house, where i grew up - then lived with my DH and kids for 12 yrs .... i had perennial gardens, then i did not have to add to it every year.... it was well established, do i had color from spring til late fall.

When we moved here, 7.5 yrs ago ... i wanted to do the same, though it was a new house, so we started with only what i brought over from my other house [which it turned out, was not enough .... plus the new owner yanked out most of my plants]

With the extra property i have behind my home ... i have a lot more room to play, and since i 'found' Daves, and all it has to offer ... I have gotten back into annuals. With seed trading - i have gotten plants i have never heard of before.
Some of my new favorites are Celosia and Amaranthus ... though there are many others.

I got some neat annuals in the Summerhill Co-Op that i am very excited to get sowing.

OH - and another thing..i have a new appreciation for Marigolds. As a kid, i always found them boring... now i LOVE them. So many different varieties and they add such a variety of colors and heights ... ya just never know what you are gonna get.

Wrightie, Just wanted you to know I ordered a copy of CG Annuals - Clive Lane's Cottage Garden Annuals: Grown from Seed for Summer-Long Colour. from Amazon, A Christmas present to me ha ha. $6.00 that included shipping. It will help me pass away the rest of winter dreaming about my summer garden.
Chris

That's about what I paid, too, LadyG! I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive, but am looking forward to it for the same reasons as you! ;>)

I did not see an entry for the book in DG bookworm, guess it is up to us to write a review of the book, hope it has lots of pictures ; ^ )

I refer to the Well Tended Perennial Garden book a lot, got a few helpful tips out of it.

Liz, I take cuttings from my SPV's - in water they root like crazy!

Wrightie, The book showed up today, I just paged through it quickly, can wait to see what it has to offer.

LOL, I'm still waiting for mine!

I tired cuttings from a friend on the tri color - not successful at all - all died. HOwever, the margarite and balckie are growing like mad in pots inside. I will have enough to start agian this spring. Thanks for the tips. I saw at HD and at Lowes new varieties/colors last year. I hope they have them again and will pop for the $6 for a gallon, considering how they grow. One gallon will be all I need.

I had trouble with the tricolor too. The others produced potatoes I could easily save and take many cuttings from in spring. Never got a tuber from the tricolor though, and couldn't keep it growing over winter either.

thanks - always good to have validation that it wasn't necessarily something you did wrong.

Lizzy

And isn't it typical too, that its my favorite one that does that! lol

I still have 3 tri color cuttings hanging on for dear life in the basement under lights. I'll let you all know if they make it. 5 more months to go before they can go out side. I just hate winter ; (

I hate winter, too! But I wonder how much we wouldn't get done around the house without it? LOL!

That's true, PrimroseSue - why just the other day I cleaned up all my gardening stuff in the basement, washed all the pots and stacked them, sorted out my seeds . . . . you didn't actually mean housework, did you????? ^_^

Chuckle, chuckle! I cleaned my indoor potting shelving and reorganized my craft stuff! But all the Christmas dec's are still up - I suppose I should take them down this weekend, before home school starts up again Monday.

Illoquin/Suzy - so sorry to hear that your cosmos didn't bloom. I planted some Burpee cosmos seeds, and they seemed to take forever to bloom. But they were spectacular, especially the pink seashell cosmos. I might have some leftover seeds around here if you can't find any this year and want to try again.

You're right - shipping and handling does get a bit pricey if you're ordering only one or two things. And sometimes you get more than you need. I'm looking at some beautiful stuff in a Select Seeds catalog. The seeds seem to be reasonably priced, but many come with several hundred in a pack. So if I order from there, I'll have to find someone to share them with and/or a community garden to donate to.

There are a handful of Indianapolis DGers here, so maybe we could combine some of our orders this season to save on shipping and stuff. I have no idea what I'm getting, at the moment, but I'm definitely dreaming of sunshine and things that grow and bloom.

Interesting on the cosmos not blooming. I usually get early and fall blooms from them so I had thought they would do great in a short season garden. By that I mean they come up and bloom early, reseed and those come up and bloom in the fall.

I just got my decorations down, but not all put away. I am trying to pare down my stuff and organize it so it will be less work to put up and take down next year. Funny how we seem to get more and more each year!

I heard Cosmos prefers poor soil. I grew some in my corner garden one year, they were lush and green, but did not set any buds, by late fall I ended up pulling them out as frost was predicted and I would have an ugly mess on my hands.
I had been amending the soil in that garden with compost so I think the soil was too rich for them to set buds.

I've been reading this forum and the Shady Gardens forum and decided what to plant around a large tree - lettuce! Along with some shade-loving flowers, of course. Lettuce bolts in the heat, so what better natural shade than a big old oak? And there are so many pretty varieties; I think it will look nice. Can't wait to try this out.

indy_v, I think that the lettuce is a good idea, indeed. Something to be mindful of, should you intend to eat that lettuce, is all of the pollen/debris that falls from the Oaks in the Spring right around the time when the greens are ready to go into your salad. I only mention it because I have lots of Oaks and I grow lettuce in a small veggie patch near the drip line of one of my Oaks. Sheesh, it's hard to get it all out when I wash the lettuce! ;)

Of course, it won't be a problem if you don't eat it or if you cover it before it gets messy.

Wrightie, did you get your book? I started reading it and so far I give it a 2 thumbs up!

Oh, good to know. You think I could get it off with a salad spinner, or is it too sticky?

Thanks for the comment. I'm moving into this place at the end of the month, so I'm not familiar with this particular tree's details.

I use a salad spinner and that doesn't get it all -- ugh! I can get most of it by just soaking the leaves in a big bowl of water and it floats to the top, but never seems to get out all of it.

I love the Oaks, but they also frustrate me because they are always dropping *stuff* - pollen, branches, bark, squirrels nests, acorns ... Acorns, when dropped from 60 feet, HURT. =)

LG, my book *finally* arrived on Friday, but I haven't looked at it yet. I'm so glad that you like it. The cover looks nice. heh

I have planted lettuce all over my front courtyard, especially in areas with more shade and had pretty good luck with it once I realized the cottontails were scooting in by the side gate to munch on it. We blocked that entrance and IF I remember to plant it--it does pretty well here except in the heat of summer. No biggie, I can buy lettuce in August. ; )

Yeah Primrose Sue I did the same thing with buying/ and making too many different ornaments. I am donating many of the decorations except for old family ones or those we made to the local Sal. Army resale shop. Just takes time to get through them all! LOL!

Is that beautiful verbena from starter plants or did you start them from seeds yourself? I love that color and would love to know where you found it. Don't recall seeing any of that color or series around here. I live in Md. near DC.area. Zone 7. I love the alyssum and verbena combo. Nice!

I haven't read through all of these yet, but my favorite annual for a cottage garden is larkspur.

i finally have Larkspur babies... so i will know, hopefully next year, what everyone is talking about.