Spring Report Card

I haven't officially turned in my grades yet, I do have a few echinacea that didn't make it and a few others that I will give a little more time yet. The rabbits and their damage get an F though.

It's only mid-term now...

Ok - C's for everyone - back outside.LOL

My Rosemary didn't make it. I am surprised. It was doing well and was flowering in February. Then it went belly up. Not quite sure what was up with that.

Mine konked out in March. Did you have your plant outside? Mine was in a cool kitchen window and kept damp but it went downhill fast.

Yes. I tried, once again, to turn it into a perennial in my zone.....

They really do need sharp drainage. Can that be the problem, Anita?

My garden is like the "magical mystery tour", I am always finding something I don't know what it is.
Here is the latest. The branchs have very small, very sharp thorns on the bottom.
Any guesses what this might be?
Chuck

this I know is a Fushcia

I'm thinking that could be it Victor. I'll add more drainage holes to the container for this season.

Dogwalker - I love that fushcia. I just bought some for a hanging container. Until my mother moved south, that was her annual mother's day gift.

Maybe switch to a better draining soil mix too?

Chuck, that mystery pic is easy for me, because I have one - it's a Barberry.

Sue, I also found out over the weekend that you can eat the fruit (berries), they are high in vit. C. UGH...anybody want to try????

No thanks - I'll leave them for the birds! Good to know if there's ever a food crisis!

I thought MG was pretty good. Lately, I've been using promix. I'll see if that makes a difference.

What a mess ,I used too much topsoil in my container mix,now the pots stay wetter than I would like.
Next year things will be more professional.

I think I've actually lost a hosta - it's one in the hosta torture chamber.

Found some more monarda that seems dead. Also, a number of iris just has foliage and no stalks. Any ideas?

Re iris--probably cold has delayed stalks or kept them from forming this yr. Or if big clumps, they may need dividing.We have some of those also.

No, the first year for these was two years ago - they all bloomed beautifully. Last year I had all stalks and no blooms. This year only one of three or four (can't remember) has foliage, but no flower stalk. The past two winters were not bad overall. Nowhere near the average low for the zone.

I am finding bloom is late on my irises this yr. No IBs as yet--keep your fingers crossed--difficult to type, but I bet you can.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks.

My irises are the same way this year. They started growing when we had that warm snap in February, I think it was. Now I guess, they're being extra cautious, ha ha.

Ok, this is weird as my Iris are having a banner year. Except for the two new ones I put in last fall which have 1 bloom each, the rest are putting up more blooms than ever. ??

That happened with a lot of tulips for me this year - foliage and no flower...

Tulips are not reliable returners. Some types are better though.

The Darwins work well here. They're sometimes called the Perennial Tulip. They come in all colors but only solid colors that I've seen.

It happened to a lot of last year's bulbs, but it also happened to quite a few brand new ones, including the 4 Wendy Love i had in a pot. 3 came up, only one even made a bud...

The white emperors returned for me - and maybe multiplied. We planted 40 mixed Darwins from superduper HD clearance and got great results...

New pink tulips here are called ''Gander's Fantasy'--have no idea who Gander is--if its a goose should not be pink. They are not Darwins, but not species either. Our I. aphylla 'Thisbe' came out today, others are SDBs and not all of them either, our garden is full of micro climates. Some people still have fosythia in bloom, town not very big, 8,000 people but "in town" have more things blooming than we do on the 'outskirts' everything relative.

o, i so want a picture of Thisbe! i just finished doing A Midsummer Night's Dream...

I don't have picture capability yet. It is a species so the falls sort of tuck under & color is grayed lavender, narrow petals.

I'm having a good iris year too. Here's one of them. I'll get some more photos today.

Very nice, Anita. I like how the color of the standards edges the falls.

Iris lovers - a question - my iris start as different varities and they all turn white! No matter what I plant - I get a white iris. Am I cursed?

That's very strange. I'll be waiting to hear what others have to say since I've never heard of that happening.

Time ago I had a big purple clump (back when I knew zero of anything) After years watching it come up and go, the purple flowers turned orangish yellow. I know they were an iris now looking back.

Wow, that is strange. Only with Iris?

That is strange. I have never heard of that before with iris. Perhaps they can be effected by a chemical in the soil like hydrangeas. Mine are getting nice buds ad I hope they wait for a less rainy week to put in an appearance. Last year most buds opened during one of the long rain for days and days periods and ended up like wet tissue paper.
I have a question for you all, yesterday was very windy and the day before I planted out some young one stem delphs. I am very mad because two of them got the stem blown right off at the ground by the huge gusts. I have cut back older plants and they do put out new growth but do you think these babies will re-grow? I am hoping but not so sure of the outcome. Has anyone had any experience with young delphs growing back?

Not sure, but I'd say it's early enough in the season that they may.