Great idea, whoever started the idea of posting flower blooms by color! It really helps organize the many plant choices there are for our gardens. I know it's late for another color but fall is on the way with shades of oranges, browns and rusts. I thought this dahlia was too orange to post under pinks and reds :)
Neon Splendor Dahlia
took the photo today ~ we are finally getting rain here!!!!!!!
I lost the id on this one...sneezeweed?
...just found the ID! it is sneezeweed, helenium "mardi gras"
This message was edited Sep 2, 2007 10:28 AM
Wowzers!!! Beautiful!!!
Hi Wind - I have that same Dahlia. This is my first year with Dahlias and they have really done well for me. Do you take yours out of the ground for the winter months? I am trying to decide whether to do so or not.
Anyone else grow them and take up or leave in ground. I am interested to know. Thank you all.
Ruby
wind, your Dahlia IS beautiful, but the photo is outstanding! Haven't planted any Dahlias in the garden for a few years, but this one is making me think I need to add some next year.
We got a shower on Sunday night but still not enough to overcome the damages caused by our drought :( Our clay soil always cracks when it gets this dry, but we discovered a 6'-8' long crack in our compacted gravel driveway the other day - looks like the earth is opening up! Dry, dry, dry here, worst I've seen in 7 years.
Wow Debbie. Worst in seven years. That is pretty bad. Yes, I have delighted in the rain we had too. I haven't been scouting in the yard, but my deck plants all look very perky. They sure did need this drink.
Ruby
When I first started growing dahlias I didn't get them dug up... found they usually don't make it ~ it depends on the severity and the moisture of the winter. We always dig them up now; they are really easy to dig up; we do it after the first hard frost. We don't rinse them or use chemical dips etc, just brushed off the dried dirt, labeled them, and plunked them in boxes layered in p.moss.
My cousin is an avid dahlia grower, I'd say he has planted at least 100 diff kinds so I'm lucky, I've always gone to his house for extras :) This was the first year we actually had great success storing the tubers in the basement and didn't go to his house for tubers!
Everyone has diff ways to store them but we found Peat Moss works the best. I would also recommend dividing them before storing them for the largest blooms. Another lesson learned...last year we didn't divide them ~ they started blooming alot sooner but the blooms are say 4" as opposed to say 8". I'm deciding which ones I like better smaller and I'm not going to divide those, like the Neon Splendor above. It works great smaller but some of the others really don't even look like a dahlia, more like mums!
Thanks for y our input Wind. Looks like I better plan on digging them up and storing for the winter. That is not too much trouble. I just seem to have so many fall chores piling up. I have begun making a list of things that we need to do and it is growing longer every day. It is a good thing that I like gardening, ha-ha.
Well Debbie, if you beging planting them again, please make sure to take pics next year.
Ruby
Wind, Love the Dahlia. Maybe I should try them again.
Here is my Copper/red bloom of Chrysanthemum "Mickey" A very hardy mum that I bought from Bluestone about 5 years ago. Still going strong.
Yep Chris, that is a good looking mum. You grow some beautiful things, that is for sure.
Ruby
Ya'll have seen this one before - good ole cactus bloom
This isn't the one I was trying to find but pretty all the same
wow...all very beautiful!
Chantell, what kind of cactus do you have that make such pretty blooms?
Oh yeah, great pics Chantell.
Ruby
Thanks Diana and Ruby!! It's a Black Spined Prickly Pear http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/64113/
Ebay & my DG buddies out west helped me last year when I decided I wanted to try an outside Cactus Patch. Didn't know until after I'd rooted and planted that pad that it's not suppose to be hardy to my zone. :( Thank goodness for a mild winter and a south facing front yard!! I was amazed when I saw that open...just beautiful!!
This message was edited Aug 22, 2007 9:33 AM
Chantell- my PP pads that you gave me at swap- look happy in a clay pot. hanging out, as it were. plump and green no new growth. What do you suggest I do for winter? A- south facing bed by my house, B-basement window or fluorescent.
I'm gonna plead busy and not post picture , but I have the orange lantana. Lowes in Glen Burnie had beaucoup lantanas for 50 cents two wks ago. Got one yellow-pink, one orange-yellow and one hot pink. Naturally the hot pink is my fave and not blooming at the moment. I stuffed them together in a plastic, painted pot and got my money's worth for sure.
Well, I have this pic handy. This mystery/forgotten daylily in in my 'spare' bed and finally revealed its identity this yr. Looks like the color of wild ones but tripled. Can't remember where it came from. I guess the extra petals earn its keep for now.
Sally - beautiful pic!!! I didn't see much growth on mine the first season...guess it puts it's energy into making roots. If your's will be staying in the pot...I'd probably put it in the basement window the first year. If you were planning on putting these in the ground, I'd go ahead and do it now. Mine have been in the ground since I got the first pad...also in a south facing location. They'll look dead come the middle of winter - but then perk right up come spring. Just make sure to put a good layer of grit at the bottom of their hole & mix with regular soil to fill around their roots for drainage if you put them in the ground.
Chantell, thanks for the PP tips If it blooms for me next year, it will earn best new-to-me-flower of the year, once removed.
Sally, that daylily is Fulva, a double (actually triple) form of the common orange ditch lily. I have some in my yard too and although they're not fancy, named daylilies, I think the blooms are pretty and they're tough as nails.
The PP I got from you is also doing very well, Chantell. The blooms are gorgeous!
Wind, I love, love, love heleniums and they're so hard to find. I managed to get one plant in a trade last year and it's doing well but I sure am impatient for it to spread. That Neon Splendor dahlia is breathtaking.
Bougainvillea :-)
I got this vine at the swap - white eyed susan?
orange lantana
how did we live before digital cameras??????
I didn't taje pic before ditigal. LOL
Canna, Orange Beauty
Canna, Stadt Feltbach
Coral Rose, America
nice!
Cape fuchsia, Phygelius capensis
a South African schrub
it has elongated 2 tone coral & yellow trumpet blooms ~
first time trying it, the trumpets dangle upside down so you can't really appreciate it but the hummers do! I'm thinking it might be better in a hanging basket. I have it in a pot.
Thanks for sharing Wind. I visited a friend yesterday and she also had a big pot of this. She wasn't home when I got there, so I left a note telling here that I would love to have some starts of some of her plants.
I am sending you a D-Mail Wind. Have a good day everyone.
Ruby
Lovely plant wind - we were tempted recently when Lowes had a bunch of Phygelius at their garden center. Unfortunately they didn't have the Latin for the plant and only a few are actually hardy for us, and even then it's questionable since we live in a pocket that's a very cold Z6a.
I've got a few "oranges" blooming, I really need to get some photos to share - I've been so lazy!
Hi ya'll. Keep those pictures coming. I really am enjoying them.
Question for you Debbie. You say you are in Zone 6A. I have always called where I am as Zone 7. We are not that far apart. Where did you get the info to determine your zone. I might need to change the way I am doing some things. Thanks.
I hope that everyone will have a great weekend.
Ruby
Here's a map for you Ruby - I'm in Rockbridge County which actually shows us Z6b, but the "pocket" we're in allows all that nasty cold from the Ohio Valley to blow right through us. I'm not complaining though, still much better than Z4a where I learned how to garden!
Wonderful!!! Great map. I was correct. I am in Albemarle and it shows as 7a on here too. Interesting how just a few miles can affect the zone. Thank you so much for sending this. Now, I am comfortable stating zone 7.
As always, you are a very welcome and knowledgeable addition to our group. We are lucky to have you here with us.
Ruby
Aww Ruby, you make me blush :) I don't know EVERYTHING, but if posed with a question I'll do my best to try and find an answer - that way we all learn something!
Well, I was mighty pleased to have this particular map of zones in Virginia. I had never seen one so explicit. Thanks so much.
Ruby
Finally took a pic of the Zinnia that was a pleasant surprise for me this summer. When I was planting the "purple" in this area this spring found seedlings of something? and left them just in case. I was hoping they were the white Zinnias we had here several years ago but turned out to be self sown seedlings of the orange I had forgotten about. Last year they were hidden in the back of some taller annuals (poor planning) but this year they've jumped out front and made a nice combination with the purples and have been blooming all summer :)
Well this one isn't "blooming" but the color fits into this category - a late planted container with Coleus 'Sedona'. Unfortunately I took the picture late in the day and the apricot flowers of the Portulaca were closing up.
A bright collection of Coleus cuttings - no plan for a combination, just couldn't throw them away and stuck them in a pot - now I have to figure out what to do with all these containers when frost arrives!
rc.... Pretty combination of the orange and purple, funny how some plants will find their own place to grow.
I have a Coleus Sedona in a container also, but the container is way to large to bring inside. I'll be taking cutting of this one to winter over for next year. The rest of my coleus I grew from seed so I won't winter them over, just do seeds again in the basement.
I like the fern in with the coleus, could you winter over the whole container? I need to make a note of your combo, might copy it for next year ; ) .
Chris
I am a coleus lover too. I started mine with seeds this year also and they have made quite a show. Thanks for supplying the name for the sedona. I have a rather large pot of it in an urn type of planter at my front steps. Beside it is a begonia that bloomed itself silly this year too. I love being greeted by them when coming or going.
Good to hear from both of you ladies. I hope that you will have a good week coming up.
Ruby
could you winter over the whole container?
