Show us your Bloomers #2

kool kale, kandy

More like cold kale ~ *smile*

I missed a bunch!
Pixie, What a beautiful daylily!

Patti, I,m so impressed you made that river identification! Especially with a NH posting site.

Did anyone answer Carrie's question about how long the serviceberries last?

i dunno if it was this thread anymore, but al told me that my "annual dahlias" weren't annual and could be dug and stored. is there an EASY way to do this? i have 3 little dwarf dahlias (2 were $3 each, one was $2), and all these multi part steps i am reading about make me realize why they sell them as annuals.
So, dig them up, wash them off, and do what?

Mine failed last year, so I'll wait for Al. Here is what I remember:
Let them dry, store them in perlite or something similar (Al, do you use Peat?) Keep them somewhere cool and dry (appearently cooler than my basement). If I remember correctly, some people divide now but I wait until Spring. But I just pulled mine today and I'm waiting to do what der tubermeister does.

Pete, do you use Al??

I just scrolled up to see who Pete was.
Yeah I'm slow

Even with high speed internet?

Deb - don't feel bad, I did the same thing!! LOL

Well, since it's Sat. night, shouldn't we be doing some sort of post contest to get the most??? Just feels like that's part of Sat. night on DG!!

OK - no blooms to show yet, but today we added 1 yellow elder and 2 dwarf firebush to the 3 Simpson's Stoppers in our living fence. We have 3 wild cotton to go, and then maybe we'll add some local bananas. All of the shrubs/trees we've planted attract birds - including hummers, which are not easily attracted here - and Baltimore Orioles (saw one in the top of a tree next door when we were returning home from our walk this morning) and butterflies with flowers and fruit. (Horrible sentence.....my apologies!)

My green beans have popped through the soil, so my winter veggies so far are: 2 tomatoes, cukes, red bell pepper, 3 types of short day onions, dill, basil, parsley, rosemary, pineapple sage, green bush beans and mesculin greens. Conditions are perfect on the patio for growing veggies in containers......as long as you can water them!

I rescued a struggling plumbago and an ixora that didn't fare well through the drought. They were almost gone, so I moved them into my patio garden where I can give them more attention.

Get this: I went to Lowes today to buy some cucumber seeds; Neither HD nor Lowes had ANY seed packets for sale; nor did any of the garden centers. One of the Lowes people told me to go to K-Mart's garden shop. I did and all of their 2008 seed packets were half price. Of course, I bought more than I planned, and will do some more flowers scattered around here and there. I wonder what's the deal with Fla. and the sale of seeds??! This is the time when everyone is putting their veggies in, so it doesn't make sense to me! Oh well......I now have what I need for my small gardens. I'm probably just a bit late!

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend up there!
All my best from the sunny south,
Louise

I'm sending you my best from the chilly north, Louise. The weatherman says to expect overnight temps in the teens!

Candyce - those temps in the teens are sounding pretty extreme for Nov. Am I right? I don't recall it being that cold until after Christmas. Yikes......Now I'm REALLY feeling guilty about yacking about the warm temps here. Goodness Gracious! Stay warm, Candyce!!

I took pics of the last of my flowers for a different thread - I'll bore you with those tomorrow.

Amy - yes dig them up, wash them good and store them in peat/vermiculite/newspapers I guess and to try keep them in a spot above freezing an fairly steady temps. My unheated attic work for me, basements sometimes work.

here's a pile I'm working on

Louise:
Tonight's low temperature is a fluke. Things are going to be warming up as the week progresses. Thank goodness!!!

Al:
That looks like it will take all weekend to get done. That's a LOT of dahlias!

Al, the individual tubers, that are not part of a clump, look a lot like the pee wees that Stanley liked to play with in March of the Wooden Soldiers!

Al, Do you divide in spring? Try to keep a piece of the stem with each tuber or set of tubors?

that's my problem, trying to find a place to store them. garage is too cold, basement may be too warm, no attic. I'm going to have to take a thermometer down in the basement by one of the windows and see how cold it is there.

I am dividing them down pretty far to try and save storage space. Did you have any this year?

A few post freeze pics

Malva zebrinus

Snapdragons

Gaillardia are barely hanging on - Oranges & Lemons

Bachelor Buttons are still going, this one was better than the nonfrost one I took.

Nice, Al.

Wow, Al - you still have a lot of pretty bloomers!!

Great shot of the BB, Al!

Agree with Victor, Love the frost on the BB!

Thanks. BB pics are really hard for me to get good.

The frosty one of the snaps turned out well too.

Al - that's also a beauty!! Love the frost on this and the BB!

Yes - also very nice. Looks nice an edible Summer treat!

great shots al

Al - really nice shots and you are lucky to still have bloomers. Eleanor

Al:
I love that Malva. It has now been added to my must have list. The color is exquisite!!
Great photos with the frost. Poor little snapdragons!! I agree. They DO look like a frosty treat.

Al, very pretty! maybe they needed to be frozen?

About the dahlias
1. A lot of my tubers look very small, but so do some of yours, so I guess that's ok. As long as each piece has an eye, correct?
2. I know you sent them to me packed in peat, but was each variety in a regular plastic bag? or do you just label them and pack them in the peat in boxes for storage? I know I read a recommendation to use the perforated bags you can buy for veggies, but folks have been storing dahlia tubers a lot longer than those bags have been on the market.

I got a few pics yesterday. This rose is right next to the foundation of the house. But it WAS 27*

this one, though, is right out in the middle of the rose garden, in the cold wind

my malva and b.b. have given up. but I found another b.b. - baby's breath

and one last bloom on the aubretia. this is only the second flower on the 30 or so plants I grew from seed this year and planted along a rock wall. promise of things to come!

Jan - those are beautiful. I agree ... a nice promise of things to come.

Beautiful, Jan!

Al, those frosted flowers look like a fine sugar coating, which makes me hungry - I think I'll go eat something - maybe Frosted Flakes!

beautiful! I still have to dig up my dahlia's and elephant ears. I was away this past weekend, so it will have to wait until this coming weekend. Here's what's blooming at the US Botanical Garden.