Autumn Plant Update

What is it about the JI's that has caught your fancy, Pirl? What kind of Lily is 'Shocking'?

Shocking is an OT - Oriental Trumpet.

Just the absolute beauty of the blossoms, Victor. I could (and do) just sit and stare at them.

Here's just one young clump of 'Hatsu Kagami':

I may have to try some. What's different about their care / culture compared to bearded ones?

Acid soil that's kept wet from April through bloom, then normal watering. Any acid food. TBI's want high and dry by comparison and definitely not acid soil. Both are best in full sun.

This summer has been one of the best growing seasons I can remember in the 34 years we have worked our gardens. The weather was better than usual although it started wet and ended dry. The long middle was great. Also, we retired in June so we have had more time to tend and love our plants. I did not put any new perennials in, just divided and moved around the survivors. I start a lot of annuals under lights because our last frost date is the end of May.
-New flower annuals for me that were successful: Ageratum Red Sea, Rudbeckia Autumn Colors, Sweet Annie (Artemisia Annua)
-My favorite tried and true flower annuals that were successful: Cosmos Cosmic Orange, Dianthus Corona Cherry Magic, Nasturtium Whirlybird Choice Mix, Papaver Rhoes Shirley Double, Nicotiana Perfume Mix, Sole D'Oro Sunflower, Soraya Sunflower
-New vegetables for me that were successful: Emerite beans, Eureka cukes, Goliath snow peas (awesome!), Serrano Chilis, Sun Sugar cherry tomatoes, Cilantro Delfino
-My favorite tried and true veggies that were successful: Packman broccoli, Bright Lights Swiss Chard, Yellow Sweet Spanish onions, Laurentian rutabaga, Greyzini zucchini, Parade scallions, Red Cored Chantenay carrots, Mystique corn, Honey Select corn
-New veggies that bombed: Sugary grape tomato, Komatsuna mustard spinach, Super Italian Paste tomatoes (I have mixed feeling about this one-very prolific with huge plum tomatoes but the early tomatoes had blossom end rot and a lot of them have some kind of rot on the stem end. I would blame our soil but other tomatoes did not get this. So I am cutting off both ends and canning lots of tomatoes).
-DH planted many kinds of potatoes. Kennebecs are huge. Shepody, Caribe and Yukon Gold are beautiful.
-Favorite volunteer annuals that get moved where I want them (I don't know a lot of their names anymore): calendula, somniferum poppies, verbena (5 feet tall)

Whew. I gave a lot of details. But this was such a fantastic summer.

Wow - thanks bebop for the update. Details are what we want to hear! It's very useful for the rest of us in selecting plants - especially for those who live near you. Congratulations on your retirement! I am jealous of all the veggies. Wish I had space for more.

Victor

bebop ~
I'm taking notes! Thanks for such a great post!

Gram, I agree with you about the Salvia Victoria Blue. Absolutely gorgeous! I was lucky enough to have mine come back for me last year, as well as reseed also. Not so lucky this year - figures, I didn't sow any because I thought they would come back again, so I was without them this year altogether. :( Perhaps if you mulch well, they might reappear for you next spring, depending on the winter.

Pirl, I'm trying some japanese iris this fall - well, actually in a friend's garden, but I'm as excited about them as she is. Also trying some siberians and Louisianas. Such gorgeous blooms!

Debbie, those euphorbias are wonderful! I love the Jade Dragon. Maybe I'll give it a shot, even if it's not supposed to be hardy here.

I concentrated more on annuals this year, and my chinese asters and zinnias were wonderful, as usual. I was also thrilled with the fact that I successfully grew lisianthus from seed. I'm not overly thrilled with the variety I picked (centers are too brown) but man, are they healthy and beautiful - and most importantly, they are blooming!

On the perennial side, phlox was great this year - incredibly long-lasting and lots of rebloom - even now. Asters are looking good too!

Hydrangeas were also great this year. I don't know a lot about hydrangeas yet, and I only have a few, but wow, what a great year for them! I ordered four more for next year!

Dahlias were a big, fat, humongous dud! Extremely disappointed in them this year, which is funny because this past winter was the first time I successfully overwintered them! I overwintered almost every tuber I saved, but they just didn't grow and bloom well.

One thing that Anna and I have to remember for next year is to NOT OVER-MULCH the Tall Iris!!!

We didn't know any better last season, and of course, gave them a large fluffy blanket of mulch for the winter. As if that wasn't bad enough, just as Anna was itching to pull off all the mulch, there I was telling her 'no' that we'd still be getting really cold frosts.

How was I to know that they really like a bit of cold, and not so much mulch?

DiggerDee - wow lisanthus from seed - I am impressed!

Candyce - I'm sure of it: we learn best from our mistakes. You'll never mulch them again, right? We all make mistakes. If not then we're not gardening enough.

Right, pirl!!
Next year they will be gorgeous!!!

Keep that optimistic spirit. Gardening isn't meant for pessimists.

Seandor, it was most likely just beginner's luck! We'll see how it goes next year!

This is really a helpful thread! I enjoyed reading it.

We ARE just the best and most helpful people, aren't we?

Perhaps a lot of our willingness to help and share comes from our own successes and disappointments. Once we know the grief of losing a plant, from something we either did or neglected to do, we don't want to see anyone else suffer the loss.

pirl ... you are so wise!

Yes pirl is 'Oh Wise One" LOL

Thanks but I'm the one who killed almost every dahlia, from last year, with kindness (or so I thought at the time)!

For me I have to agree with Pirl.....JI are just wonderful. They are beautiful, graceful and have so much character!
Daylilies this year were great, especially 'Indian Giver' as it bloomed it's fool head off. 'Rocky's Eye' has always been a prolific bloomer and it didn't let me down this year!
My Veronica Creeping Speedwell 'Crater Lake Blue' (which does not creep) has one of the shortest bloom periods but has such a burst of true blue color that I will never be with out it!
All 3 of my Rose of Sharon plants were disappointments, one is still very young and did not bloom(grown from seed). One has been struggling since I bought it and the other bloomed very late(now) and it not the cultivator it was supposed to be!
Monkshood 'Bi-color' is also a disappointment, it survived the winter but never bloomed....need to read up to find out what im doing wrong as I totally lost the pink one I had.
Digger Dee said:
"Dahlias were a big, fat, humongous dud! Extremely disappointed in them this year, which is funny because this past winter was the first time I successfully overwintered them! I overwintered almost every tuber I saved, but they just didn't grow and bloom well."
Couldn't of said it better myself! They sucked....maybe 3 out of 9 different ones put out a flower or 2 except this extremly bright pink one which looks like a cactus, that is still going strong.

Again I have to agree with Digger Dee...I think we grow basicly the same things! For vegggies:
Packman broccoli, Bright Lights Swiss Chard (still going strong)
Romano Tomatoes(still going strong), Honey Rock Cantalope, Butternut and acorn squash.(these are coming out of my ears!!!!)
Calla lilies, this was my first time getting one to bloom so I was very excited and hope to try again next year. I was about to quit, tried 2 years in a row and only got foliage...guess 3rd years the charm!

Wow - Dahlias are not getting good press!

Check with Al, he's their press agent.

I only had 2. They are still going strong.

Mine are doing fine, just not as tall as Al's. The potted ones did worst of all - my fault, no doubt.

Hmm, funny - my potted dahlias did better than the ones in the ground! And some were in pots that were waaaayyy too small, but still did well.

They are making up a teeny-tiny bit for their poor performance this season by putting out a few (very few) but beautiful blooms now.

Sure yours are doing better! You probably took good care of them!

Pirl are you saying you didn't take good care of your precious dahlia's this year?

Confession is good for the soul......or so I've heard.

My dahlias are doing okay - still making lots of flowers. . . I planted tubers I had saved from the year before - and I will probably save them again this winter. :-)

That's great, Michaela!
It's so nice to hear that saving the tubers has worked!

Dahlias are the stars of the garden stage now with Russian Sage, Roses and Delphiniums as the second stringers. The foliage on many plants is so lovely now - not so for the hosta.

Well, my poor Daphne died. I thought it was the chipmunks that messed up the roots but when I started cutting off the branches looked like some kind of borer went thru the whole shrub. I'm so upset I loved that little shrub.

I am sooooo happy - I was able to pick up a 3 gallon size "wine and roses" weigella and a smaller "varigated" pale pink weigella at Lowes for half price! Two shrubs for less than $13.00!

This is perfect because I wanted these for the gardens in the terrace!

You see? The Gods really do want me to make these gardens!

I'm sorry for your loss, Jen. If you'd like a box of Festiva Maxima peonies (not that they could possibly replace your Daphne!) please contact me via Dmail.

Hurray for Seandor: I have both of them and the 'Wine and Roses' is such a gorgeous color.

Resurrecting this thread to say again how amazed I am at the performance of my Oakleaf Hydrangea this year. It was their first time in Full Sun and they just took off. Even 'Pee Wee', which are said to grow to about 3 1/2 feet tall, are about 4 1/2 to 5 feet tall now and the foliage is fantastic. If anyone does not grow this great shrub, please consider it. New foliage is very pretty. They get great white paniculate flowers that last very long and turn pinkish later on. They get Fall color that ranges from bronze to occasional bright red. The Winter silhouette is very nice.

You have written the description extremely well, Victor. I can 'see' those beauties.

I'll try to post some new pics of them. Enjoying this rain we're having! 2.75 inches so far.

Yes, I'd like to see a picture. My niece gave me a Hydrangea, but I have no idea what kind it is.

Here's my shot on PF of the new foliage emerging.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/80389/

That's gorgeous!