Bloom's from WS seedlings, part 2

I edit all mine in Paint Shop Pro! lol I crop most of them to just frame the flower, and hide all the weeds. ;-) Tamara

I don't even have the ability to crop in the program I'm using now! I took soooooooooooooo many - these are the good ones.

xxxx, C

Carrie - your pictures are just fine. I'm one of those that takes about 90-jillion pics of the same plant - at least one of them has to come out to my liking ... or maybe not. Even fuzzy pics have an interesting look to them. That said, I love those pics of your California poppy seedlings - looks like a lovely green mat! Have they started blooming yet? Do post some pics of them.

The pic below is of an abutilon sown in 2006; this plant started blooming last July when it was about 8" tall, and it hasn't stopped yet! It's not winter-hardy here, so I took it inside for the winter - never missed a beat. This pic was taken a few minutes ago, while the plant was getting a much needed drink (and it's one of 9 that I took before getting the one I liked!).

PV

PV -

You have the coolest plants! Is your entire balcony planted in reds?

On this Abolution, did you take it inside and treat it as a houseplant? Does it need a whole lot of sun or anything? What I mean is are youjust sort of holding it inside, or is it actively growing?

Suzy

Suzy -

I think the only reds I have out there this year are the abutilon, monarda and the Yvonne's salvia; I do have a lot of purples, though - love purple! And I like the "hot" colors.

I sowed the abutilon last February/March, I think. It was my "leap of faith" since it's a tropical/tender perennial - out of a color mix of 10 seeds, I got one plant, that red one. I'd seen it advertised as a blooming houseplant, but I really didn't believe. Until I took it in this past fall. I get really good morning sun in the winter, so I just stuck the plant on a table where it could take good advantage of the light. When I say that it has not stopped blooming since last July, that's exactly what I mean! This plant bloomed, and grew, the entire time it was inside - not one or two blooms, but constantly covered! It was always full of open blooms and buds waiting to open. Even when I took it back out this May, it never skipped a beat! On the terrace, it's growing in a primarily shady spot that gets filtered morning sun through the clematis vines. It doesn't seem to care. I am totally impressed by this plant.

I saw some yellow ones in the farmer's market a few weeks ago, and was really tempted, but passed on buying. I like growing from seed too much. Hoping to find some more seeds, but no mixes. I want a yellow, and a peach, and a ... you get the picture. LOL!

I ordered some seeds for a Firecracker Plant (some type of crossandra) today; this one is also advertised as a blooming houseplant. It will be orange. Red and (now) orange blooms in the winter - should be interesting!

PV

This message was edited Jul 28, 2007 12:56 AM

Well, it's just gorgeous! One of those things I'd like to try from seed, but life gets in the way, and other things come up to take it's place on the Things to Do List, I expect. Sounds a lot easier to buy one. Ooops, will I get kicked out of the Ws forum for saying that? ROTFL!

Suzy

More bad pictures of nice winter sown plants. The Heliopsis helianthoides is flowering and has lots of buds. The Cleome is ready to bloom, too. There's a Milkweed Asclepias curassavica in there, etc., all WS

This message was edited Jul 28, 2007 8:46 PM

There's a Hibiscus in the back of that last picture, I think it'll bloom too.
Rudbeckia hirta 'Autumn Colors', I think:

Larkspurs and Nicotiana. I like the pink, but some are purple and blue, kind of two-tone. Can't see it in the picture though

I like your bad pictures of good plants, and they're nice pictures. I have a lovely Asclepias 'Cinderella' which won't bloom because it's still in a dumb little container!

xx, carrie

Gee, I forgot you were talking about photo skills and lack thereof - please don't think for a second I meant your pictures too! I got to use a buddy's camera last week, same 'megabips' or whatever but his has the optical zoom, which works a lot better than digital zoom. Except I took too many pics and couldn't fit them on a disk to bring home, and I was in a hurry so I didn't figure it out.
So here's another pic of WS Asclepias incarnata. One of them is white??? Never saw that before.

Very nice blooms everyone! Love the color combos...

My cardinal vine is blooming! Well, it has a bloom on it. My Japanese Morning Glories are going bananas, and my godetia are almost done, or maybe they'll be back for round 2, but I don't think so. I found my blushing susies, but they're still in a flat, because I'm a bad mother. As a revenge, they're each still 2" high.

xxx, Carrie

Blanketflower blooms from seeds that my son threw in a pot last winter.

These were WS from some oramental gourds that I bought for fall decorations. I let them dry out and am surprised they did anything at all. My son calls them 'his squash' LOL

Susan

here are my melampodium

Great pictures everyone! Look at all the ws blooms!

Agastache, "Golden Jubilee" ws last year and blooming for the first time.

Prunella, 'Freedlander' (mix)

Shirley1md - love your Agastache, "Golden Jubilee" - I have some . . . do you think if I collected the seeds, they could be winter-sowed?

W/S cosmos in bloom...

Pretty pics, everyone!

I've been on vacation and have so many posts to catch up on. And gardening to catch up on! All I seem to do out there is water. Doesn't seem this heat and drought will ever end. Temps have been in the 90s and our rain deficit is over 8 inches now.

Karen

Thanks Michaela. Yes, I would collect the seeds from Agastache, "Golden Jubilee" this Fall, sow them in Winter, seedlings by the Spring and blooms the following Summer. I'll try to save some seeds too if anyone is interested in trying to grow them out.

garden6: Love your Cosmos. Pretty bloom and I love their foliage too.

Well back Karen! Hope you had a fun & relaxing vacation.

Thanks Shirley!.

Thanks Shirley. I was a fun vacation of relaxing on the beach and swimming in beautiful clear gulf water.

Karen

Your vacation sounds wonderful and soooo relaxing!

Here are more zinnia from w/s'ing

My one Datura flower - the plant itself is nothing to look at and is half eaten. I doubt I'll get another bloom. I was disappointed as there was no scent either.

I think my favorite for this time of the season is the cosmos...

Very pretty Anita! Do you know the name of that first orange zinnia?

Karen

Pretty blooms Anita, the datura reminds me of lemon chiffon pie...

Karen,

Where did you find that clear gulf water? I tried to go swimming in Galveston one year.

Anita,

Do Cosmos self-sow? Some people sort of near us have planted, in their tiny side yard, a field of cosmos. I don't know if they replant them every year or if they self-seed, but they're lovely. A delicate enough scale of a plant that it doesn't overwhelm the scale of New England. (I don't care for the hardy prickly pear cactus in the front yard in this area.)

As usual, I'm a wee bit jealous, but I'm biding my time and buying more seeds!

xxx, Carrie

I've been told they self-seed. I haven't experienced this yet. The Zinnia is Persian Carpet - http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&SearchText=2188&mainPage=textsearchresults&RequestType=NewRequest .
I'm not too thrilled with the Datura - very leggy - perhaps a different spot next year. I would have to grow it from seed every year as I have no room to bring it in anywhere come winter.

Anita, I'm having the same problem with my datura, and I didn't even WS! The ones I did all died, so I bought 2 plants. They look anemic and are small. I doubt I'll get any blooms from Ballerina Yellow, and I have 1 lonely bud on Ballerina Purple. :-P Tamara

Carrie: the clear gulf water was in Panama City Beach. Sometimes that area gets a lot of seaweed, and this year there were small patches of that visible here and there in the water. But most by far was just completely clean and clear- as good as in the Cayman Islands. Standing in 4 feet of water you could see every speck on the bottom, and see well when swimming underwater. Just wonderful- the best I have ever seen it other than in the Caribbean.

Anita; thanks for the name on the zinnia.

Karen

Beautiful ws blooms, Anita! Vibrant colors, beautiful form, and repeat bloomers. I like your Datura in spite of a few nibbled leaves. Daturas grow so easily as annuals that there is need to over winter them.

Sorry to be so off-topic, but...

Wow, Karen. I love the Caribbean. Our first experience there was in 2002. I had just been in the hospital for 5 weeks NOT following Doctor's orders (24 hours to live) and we needed to celebrate, but neither of us had passports. St. Croix, here we come. (Now, of course, you need a passport to cross state lines, I believe.) I remember seeing a conch shell on the bottom, and diving to get it. Opening your eyes underwater is no problem in warm salt water! Maybe our next tropical trip should Panama!

xxx, Carrie

Sr. Croix, huh? My home town!

St. Croix, USVI?

xxx, Carrie

Yup, that's the one! Born and bred ... in Fredericksted.

This message was edited Aug 5, 2007 9:18 PM

Nice, Anita! What makes you think you won't get another bloom, tho? I'm sure it will keep blooming. I was disapponted in no frangrance, too. I was also disappointed because my WS daturas were so big! 6 feet tall and 3 feet in diameter, and I had 6 of them! They were really taking over the world, so I saw a bloom (just like yours as a matter of fact), and decided I could live without the gigantic stand of them and pulled them out.

Here's my gorgeous Cosmos, Sunny Red. It is not as attractive to the butterflies as the taller orange ones like yours, but the color is so cool and the plant is so little and cute...still airy and nice, but only about 12-14" tall.

Oh, and yours will self-seed perfectly. If you have a huge stand, just collect some seed for trading, that way the seedlings won't come up too thickly. The seeds basically drop straight down, but you might have one plant coming up here and there around the garden. The seedings are a dead ringer for ragweed.

I have grown this for years in front of Trumpet lilies and I love it!

Suzy