Roses, did you grow blushing susie from seed? I tried to last year (winter sowed) and got a lot of leaves but no flowers! xx, Carrie
Will you be Winter-Sowing this year?
ummm, I got seeds for blushing susie. Hope I have better luck than you, Carrie. my regular susie that I grew from seed did great, but I started it in the house.
Those are GREAT ideas. . . I'm bringing in my tough jugs to Ace Hardware tomorrow. . . "show me your plastic-cuttin' tools!" (not to mention your knives.) Actually, I'm pretty sure DH has a cordless drill somewhere out in the garage and I'm going to try it tonight (on my jugs, that is.)
I also like the idea of a pocket knife with a knife sharpener. . . in fact, I have a sharpener in my jack-of-all-trades kitchen drawer. Thanks, everyone!
I love that color mix too.
I use a box cutter/utility knife. Fresh blades cut through the plastic like butter.
My sweet daughter and DSIL bought be a cordless drill for Christmas. Not only will I use it to help me build a closet in my bedroom, I'll be using it to make glorious drain holes!!!
my cordless drill is one of my favorite tools (after gardening tools).
Hi Cathy and welcome! Aren't cordless drills great? DH has been layed up off and on for 5 yr. now so I have found them to be my best buddy!!
DH drills drain and ventilation holes for me (with his cordless drill) and i think they are too small! I want dime-sized holes and I'm getting 1/8th" size holes! [DH likes to feel he's helping and doesn't like me using 'his' power tools.]
x, Carrie
Carrie,
I started my Blushing Suzy in the house last year and they really took off. I was so anxious to get plants in that I had stuff way to overgrown in the house.
I was reading about the winter sowing pros and cons at robsplants.com, and I feel that I might get poorer results than I expected, so I might do some indoor growing of tomatoes and just a few flowers. I expect to try for plants from my lilac josee, crape myrtles hopi and tonto, caryopteris?, weigela, limelight hydrangeas and whatever else I have room and time for.
These are some pictures (too dark) of last year's seedlings sprouting too soon.
Teri
.............and more
I just took the time to download a free version of "Picasso" and it enabled me to make a collage so that I could get a few different pictures in one post.
WOW! See, I winter sowed blushing suzie, as I said, and got terrific foliage but no flowers. (The fact that I didn't know which ones were the ones in question didn't help - can you say "paint pen?" - didn't help.) Did you collect your seeds, or do you buy them new each year?
x, C
Carrie
So far I have been buying my seed from several catalogs and from e bay. This year I think that I collected some jackmanii clematis. If I am not successful I will not know whether it is because of my collecting method or the winter sowing experiment.
Teri
carrie, To get bigger hole use a bigger bit or just drill several holes around each other slighting overlapping each other. Wont be pretty but it will work. Patti
Patti,
I know that, but I can't hog all the fun and I'm so bossy already! I'll let DH experiment, or 'discover' how to make bigger holes together.
LOL, C
Can anyone tell me whether it is enough to leave the caps off the plastic bottles, or do we need to make holes in the tops also.
Thanks
Teri
More holes, definitely. x, C
Carrie, I should have guessed, but some just need a little push with being creative power tools. I have never been functional fixated. Whatever work is good for me. If there is a tool god, he would not be happy with what I have done with some of them. Philips head for poking holes in oranges for making the Pomander Balls that you suggested for holidays. Worked great. But to see it, you get to see Mom again with here new lambskin throw from Scotland. I had 8 balls along the mantle and they smelled great. Patti
I absolutely love Thunbergia! Any color will do. Last year ('06) was Blushing Susie, and this past year was Alata. I moved this pot over to a trellis as it was starting to get long.
Nice Sue, we usually have those every year too.
My plans for W/S may be put on hold for another week, as the newest grandson has been admitted to the hospital with RSV. It seems to be rather common in newborns this winter. He has lots of company, with the babies in each room alongside him have the same condition.
It's kinda like a really bad cold, but not quite pneumonia, and newborns have a hard time fighting it. I can't say that I am surprised he caught the infection. Everyone on the house has a pretty bad cold right now.
He will be fine, but it sure is scary. And, he probably won't be home until after the weekend. That means I get to cuddle up more with his big sister, and sleep a lot less!!!
LOL!!
It is scary Candyce, but most kids do get it sometime - my niece has 3 kids who all had it at the same time, twins that are 9 mos old and their 3 yr old sister. They didn't end up in the hospital though. Prayers to him.
Roses - this is what I do http://www.lakehousecreations.com/wintersowing_directions.htm
Candyce, im so sorry about Sean! I hope he gets better quickly and you get some rest. It is scary when newborns get anything!!
Anita, thanks for showing how you do your milk jugs...my WS experience last winter bit the big one. I wasn't sure what I was doing, my containers got buried in a blizzard....then plowed out into the middle of the lawn. By the time it melted enough so I could find them, they were water logged mud buckets!! I swore that I wasn't going to try it again but I may put one or two containers out and see what happens.
I wish you luck Celeste.
What an awesome tutorial, Anita!!
I now realize that the slits that I made in the bottom of the milk containers are not nearly enough for good drainage, and that just leaving the tops off may not be quite enough.
The containers are so frozen and brittle that my attempt to alter them may not work out, but I will try.
Thanks again.
Teri
Plus, Teri, it's not too late to put out more containers, hee hee!
Yes, agreed, it is scary as sh** when little babies get sick and when kids get stuff wrong with their breathing - yikes! Hope everyone is better soon, you included, Candyce!
x, Carrie
I am planning to put out more carrie. Just in the process of venting these correctly. i am also thinging about trying to WS my tiered container with something. It will need to have just a short trailing habit. Will start looking for seeds now, I'm just going to cover the whole thing with some kind of plastic tenting!! We'll see. I had store bought annual begonias in it last year.
Oh Candyce, I know how the little ones can keep you worrying. One of my grandsons had a kidney transplant and needs to take medications that lower his immune system so that the kidney is not rejected. His 18 month old brother needs to be separated from him as much as possible and surely when he has one of his stuffy noses. This makes both of them unhappy,
I'm sure sean will be fine, but in the meantime it surely takes its toll on his worried family.
Candyce,
This is the pot that I am going to try to winter sow. Any suggestions?
Teri,
I tried that - winter sowing in place and covering with plastic - and while I think it's a great idea, the flowers I wsed in place didn't do so well. The plastic got blown off, or weighted down by rain, the seeds grew into something too big or too late or not trailing or whatever! Maybe not your first year? Or transplant something into it after you see how it's going to do?
xxx, Carrie
Carrie,
Thanks for the advise. I will continue cutting up 2 liter bottles and milk bottles.
Teri
I did 10 more today, 8 were water bottles that I scavenged from my teen's messy bedroom! Do I have an addiction problem yet?
Thanks for the positive thoughts, everyone.
Teri - those blooms are beautiful! Did you mean that you would try w/s-ing in that same pot? If so, I don't believe that it would work very well.
Hi Candyce,
I guess that I won't be W/S in that planter per everyone's opinion. I will cut up a few more containers and then save the remainder of the seeds for direct sow in spring.
Last year I started to use low ground cover instead of mulch. I also used ground cover (mother of thyme) to cover the areas where it is hard to reach with the mower and to cut down on the trimming around the beds. It will take me a while to get it all done but I do like the results, I just ordered a whole bunch of creeping thyme that supposedly has a pungent orange scent.
Monday will be in the 40"s here. It will be a good day to go out and try to give alll my containers some top holes (which I neglected to do) without shattering the plastic.
Enjoy the weekend!!
Teri
Roses_R_Red - wow! I want a pot like that! I can fill it with pansies - then other stuff as the summer heat starts.
Seandor,
I bought the pot and strawberry plants at a great on qvc about 4 years ago. The strawberries didn't make it when we moved a couple of years later, but I used it for annuals last year and the year before.
I love pansies, but I have the perfect place for the whoppers in the window boxes on my shed, Gets dappled sun from trees in the am and shade in the pm so that they last all summer.
Need some new ideas for this pot.
Teri
my boyfriends mom filled it with Portulaca, Moss Rose... looked great
my strawberry plants have been in them for 3 years now... not too many fruits though you would think I wouldn't be able to keep up with the two sets I have... I have been lucky to get 20 strawberries a year... I am going to give it this season with those plants and if they don't do well this year... going to change them out next year
I have to say being outside for all those years the pots have held up great
Seandor if you put self watering stacking planter in google you will find tons of them.. but here are some others I found
http://www.stackapots.com.au/gallery.htm
Y'know, I think I've seen them in some gardening catalog last year - of course, can't remember which one.
Speaking of pots, I got this cute little one at a second-hand shop a few years ago. It's supposed to have chains or something to hang it with, because there's three holes at the top rim. It's so adorable! Unfortunately, I left it outside too late in the Fall, and now it has a crack going down one side. Thank goodness Hens don't need to be watered often! It's about 6" high.
that is cute
Allison, you should add a link to your (I forget what they're called) containers from last year. The expensive ones. "bloommaster"?
And yes, Sue, you are approaching 'addict' status. x, Carrie
here ya go
http://www.bloommaster.com/
and if anyone wants to see the photos I took.. here is the thread Carrie is talking about
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/720502/
