Yikes! What kind of snake IS that Star?
I am planting like I'm getting paid for it. At the last minute I decided to go to my neice's graduation in Oregon and I'm beside myself with worry over leaving my plants. The neighbor girl is going to water for me so I'm busting butt trying to get as much in the ground as possible. The ENTIRE deck is covered with finished containers and flats still to be planted. and the garage awning and front porch are not much better. I made a temp bed and plopped in the last of the WS seedlings and will relocate them when I get back nect Tuesday.
I'm also kind of sad because so many things are only a day or 2 away from blooming and I'm not going to be here to see it. My only 2 dats are just beginning to open and they look kind of silly actually as they are only about 2" tall. LOL. The blooms are almost as big as the plants.
I will try to snap a couple of pictures before I leave if I have time. I know Neal wanted to see the poppies in bloom and about 1/2 of them are there!
Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #12
Well, Ella I guess he did scare the ever-living daylights out of ya. They give me the shivers too, but from the looks of him, I'm guessing he's a "good" one, an Eastern King. That is If he has more white stripes on his back than just what I can see from the pic of his neck.
Lala_Jane, I feel for you leaving your plants that aren't in the ground yet. Your many unplantings sound just like mine. They're everywhere and it's too hot from 12:00 until 5:00 to plant but I'm out there anyway. I'd be finding someone to come and water for me if I were to go away for awhile.
Gee, Star, that would make me stay inside for sure! OMG! What are you going to do? You know, I have only seen a snake here once? It was a little snake about 18" long and it was 2 decades ago.
Plus, those poor little toads and lizards!
Somebody id's it for me on the wildlife forum ad thinks it is a non poisionous and one that doesn't have teeth but wil hang on it they do bite ya. Told me to put some moth balls out that it irratetes their noses, so soon as I cna get to store gonan buy me a truck load of them and toss them all around the yard.
I been walking on egg shells all day and jumping at the slightest sound or leaf movement. Staying out of th esnake area tilhopefully it moves on. Worked all morning tryign to put some glads in the ground way at the other end of the property. : )
Man that snake looks like he's gonna getcha! Lookout! lol I know how ya feel, I had the unfortunate discovery of a snake with a toad half in it's mouth, last year. Eeeew!
Good thing was he couldn't bite me with his mouth full! Lol
This message was edited Jun 4, 2008 6:24 PM
Glad we don't have any snakes here!
Good Morning all
I need help; someone said to pinch the salvias. Mine are ready and I am wondering if we are talking Lady in Red , Coral Nymph, Patens Blue Angel etc. Let me know I have already done a couple as an experiment and would like to get this done.
Thanks
Hi Indynanny,
Hoping I understand you correctly, all of these salvia's can/should be pinched. Only the ones that make a rosette of leaves (like S. argentea and S. sclarea) shouldn't be pinched. Now that you're experimenting: why not leave a couple of them unpinched and look for the difference?
I've got blooms on my wintersown Nasturtiums! I've been concerned that they're not getting enough sun, but the plants are big and healthy and I'm so tickled to see blooms!
Suzy, what kind of sun exposure have you found best for Nasties?
congrats gemini on your ws nasturtium blooms! I just direct sowed my nasturtiums and they aren't even up yet.
well, I gave away more seedlings yesterday :)
Critter, your Italian basil is a bit hit with me and everyone I share some with!
I still have a walkway full of babies though and a whole flat of ws sea holly and amsonia which are different and not as popular as herbs, tomatoes and salvias.
I have a bloom from one of the ws violets from Weez :))))) I'll take a photo later and post it if possible
Oh star, I like snakes and that would have freaked me out with him jumping out at me you must have startled him too lol There is only one snake that I know of around here that would probably do that and that is a blue racer but he looks to have some white on the bottome of him, not a black snake, I can tell he's probably at least three feet long if not longer so it must have been a site to see him jump right in front of you! You poor thing! I have tubs of water for watering my plants outside and had to fish out a blue tailed lizard the other day, poor things tail was gone! I think that was from the momma cat around here she's been watching something in that area and now I know what it was lol I didn't think I had any lizards left around here.
Wind, wich sea holly are you growing? I have some of mine up now and they are so pretty but they reseed everywhere, I've been digging seedlings out and moving them around I love the purple one I have right now but can't think of the name to it I think I had seeds to it for the swap, the stems are even blue! Here it is:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/827/
And this one is up and gorgeous, I wish I had a camera to show you:
St. Mary's Thissle:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/83165/
very pointy, my kitten just discovered it and didn't like the little stickers on it lol It stuck it's nose lol I get just excited over my weeds as I do my flowers :)
I'm glad to know everyone still has seedlings to get in the ground lol I still have a bunch and still trying to plant from pots left over from last year LOL
Can anyone tell me what to expect out of this taller nemesia, will it droop later or stay straight up? I got some seed from Tuink and they are just beautiful! I'm wanting to plant them in a pot with something else but not sure what to plant them with.
OK-SUZY:
If I were you and since that are gets soooo much sun, I would go xteriscape plants-cones, salvias etc....
HYDRANGEAS FOR THE MIDWEST-if you want to grow them here in our neck of the woods, you need to create kinda a "scarf" for it-you can use rabbit fencing and put it around it about a foot or so, then fill that with straw or leaves for the winter to protect it-then in the spring, take it all off-they bloomon old wood and in the colder zones, the buds freeze right off B4 they can bloom....
Lebug,
The nemesia's will kind of droop, then start to grow upward again when they touch ground.
Thanks Tunik, these are really pretty!
I finally planted my geraniums from the swap Suzy and I put three in a pot with 3 silver dust, boy the blooms on those geraniums are pretty! I like'em :)
I still have stuff germinating from winter sowing! Especially hibiscus. Almost all my annuals are planted . . .
But sooooo many perennials! Plus I have gazillions to summer sow! Any one else going to summer sow perennials?
I started today with oriental lilies. I guess I will find out next year whether they worked. I also want to sow wallflowers, white foxglove . . . oh, my gosh - just a ton of stuff!
Meanwhile, I have about 200 baby gladiola corms to plant somewhere in sunshine. They won't flower for another 2 years, but these are the most amazingly beautiful peachy-orange glads I have ever seen, so I want to make sure I always have corms.
And guess what? I ordered plants from Bluestone Perennials and Park Seeds sales - and they were shipped on Thursday - but aren't scheduled to arrive until Monday - that means they will be in transit during the first heat wave of the year and will arrive on the hottest day ( predictions of temperatures reaching 102 degrees! this is supposed to be New ENGLAND - doesn't that imply temperate weather and mild winters?????)
I am afraid all my little plants will be fried. sigh . . ..
Summer planting Star? LOL I'm collecting seeds :) I want to sow some snow in summer for more around a bed I have but I'm starting to lose columbine in pots so I'm kind of afraid to if it stays this humid it's hard for the pots to dry out and then the seedlings don't do so good, still need to do some direct sowing though if I can stay out in this heat long enough it's in the 90's and suppose to be for a while, if it's this hot now I hate to see what August is going to bring this year!
Oh NO! How did I lose this thread for a month?? How will I ever catch up? LOL
Wind, did you ever get an ID on that plant with the white blooms near the top of the thread? Looks a lot like my Geranium 'Biokovo', and the leaves do have a very distinctive scent (hard to describe, almost medicinal but not unpleasant). I propagated a bunch of it this spring by breaking off stolons... they didn't come away with more than a tiny scrap of root, if any, but I tucked the stub down into a pot of moist potting mix, firming it up so the crown was just at soil level, and nearly all the cuttings "took." I brought a bunch of cuttings to folks at a recent swap, too, and I hope they had success with them also.
I didn't make up the HOS (Hunk 'o Seedlings) term; it's in general use in the winter sowing forum. I like it!
White (or very pale pink) mixed with the magenta rose campion might be my fault... I have both colors, and although I tried to keep the seeds separated when collecting, drying, and packaging... well. I don't think I'd like rose campion as a "specimen" planting because it doesn't make a very tidy mound, but I love it sprawling around in a mixed border -- very "cottage-y!"
I'm glad the Italian basil is a hit, Wind! I lost most of my early sowing of it, and the late flat I started isn't coming along very well... I've got a few plants to put out, but not my usual extras to let go to seed right away. I think I'll be encouraging everybody to save basil seeds this year to ensure a bountiful supply to share around! :-)
It *was* a good year for volunteer seedlings! Lots of Johnny Jump-Ups here, and I had one whole window box full of those plants (starts with an "L") that look like baby snapdragons... I just nudged them around and added petunias and purple sweet potato vine!
More later... :-)
critter-linaria
Have you all seen Lorraine's Co-op for seed starting stuff-great deals on tags, pots & trays!!!
That's it! Linaria. I don't know why I have such a hard time remembering certain names! And PF doesn't have an entry for "that cute flower that looks like a baby snapdragon" LOL.
Oh I forgot that I bought some gladiolus bulbs at the dollar store! Is it too late to plant them?
Critter, that would be much easier to find stuff in the plantfiles!
Fairy - I saw that co-op, but I've been trying to be good and not spend any more money on stuff unless I am gonna die if I don't have it. It's very hard to do! I picked up a penta at hd today. I figured it was okay, because I'll get to enjoy the plant this year, and then I'll save it's seeds in fall! It was less than $4 and if I just ordered penta seeds from a catalog it would cost that just for shipping! Plus I want to save my money and go crazy for lily tulips this fall, and I want some pink and yellow dafs. I'm thinking van elgen --?I think? I just haven't made final decisions on how many, mostly due to empty pocket syndrome. ;) I hope they don't sell out those yellow and pink dafs - I'll die, because I was coveting those last year too!
Oh Suzy, if you see this - I was thinking glads would be good to put in the tulips place, do you think that would work? I'm growing dahlias from seed this year so I might save their tubers if they are worth it, I just have no idea what they will look like. Someday I would like to order some of the beautys I've seen in catalogs.
Does any one know if you can get real nice Dahlias from seed?
This message was edited Jun 7, 2008 10:22 PM
I've still got some glads to plant. When you have a lot of them, you can keep planting them at 2 week intervals, probably all the way through June, and you'll get flowers & flowers & flowers. :-) This year, I've just got a few, but they're very special since DH brought them back from Amsterdam for me. I also had some overwinter... I wasn't sure that they would, but as an experiment I didn't lift them last fall, and sure enough they popped back up this spring!
Oh good! I need to get those in the ground, I don't have them stored somewhere that is cool now!
Meredith-shame on you then for not taking advantage of the great prices of my co-op!! I can't beleive you are going to pay higher prices-tsk tsk!!LOL I still haven't planted any of my glads either-since it is only supposed to be in the low 80's later this week, I hope to get the bed they are going in finished ripping out the grass!! I have bulbs coming from my co-op, Lorraines co-op, Michelle's co-op and a BB order this fall-apparantly I am glutten for punishment!!LOL
I am getting all kinds of tags and pots from her because they are like 3 or 4 cents apeices-so if I figured right w/ shipping my order for 200 tags, 100 or 200 (I can't remember) pots, some 4 packs and some flats w/o holes is like $20-to me for that amount of stuff it is worth it-plus I won't have to pay for like another month...I like that:)
I have been watching the news regarding the flooding in Indiana . . . I want everyone who might be affected to know that I (and lots and lots of DG members) are thinking of you and hope your lives get back to normal as soon as possible.
Do you think we might create a seed care package for DG members whose gardens were wiped out by the floods? I know I have stuff to spare.
I have stuff to spare and think that's a great idea Seandor :) I'm trying to go thru my seeds today not sure how much I'll get done lol Suzy said she got 5" of rain last week and I'm wondering if she has more after the other night, this is so strange all the rain is only two hours away from me and we are so dry the ground is cracking again! I'll work harder on going thru my seeds and see what everyone decides :)
Great!
That a good idea about the seeds. I stoill got some left over and would be glad to help those in flood areas. Sure wish they would mainlien that water this way. I was at Market all day yesterday and had 20 baskets of the fanflower up and fry to piece son me yesterday and they were under the shade trees and watered before I left.
Maybe we could get Dave to make a special thread like we had for Katrina and Rita victims. Have one special one where folks that in the flood and disaster areas can post and maybe things they woudl like and the rest of us can send them stuff.
It all I can do right now to keep my veggies from going under from the heat and humidty.
Can anybody tell me about how much foliage does the foxglove have to have on it before it will start to make a flower stalk and do i have to feed it some bloom blaster or such to get it to do it.
Wow! I'm offline for a couple days and look at al the posts! Geminii, I don't have any full sun here at all, and the nasties are not in the brightest of my light. They get afternoon shade from 1:00 on and were quite happy. This year I put more in even more shade, so I'll let you know how they do.
Meredith, no, you an't get the really fancy dahlias like you see in the dahlia forum form seed. Butterflies only like the little kinds, like the Bishop's Children if that's a consideration.
Whoever asked, no it's not too late for Glads...People who have trillions of the corms plant in 2-week succession until July 4th.
Lea, we got 3" on Friday night, but golly! Those people in Columbus, IN really got hammered! (You know it's bad when the hospital is evacuated!). We are very thankful we didn't get 11 inches here. The most we've had was 7" at once, and the whole front yeard was under water. It diodn't get close to the house, but it could have if we had 11"!
Seandor? How did your babies do while you were away? AND you bought more???? LOL! Good luck with the weather!
Fairy, I did that collar thing one year -- year before last. I took it all off after the thrid week of really nice weather, and then the Easter freeze came and wiped me out. (I knoew it was coming, but it was such a job to get theleave sup and out the first time around, I didn't have the heart to mess up my patio again.) On the other hand, some I started from cuttings LAST YEAR have buds on them, and they had no collars! I am thinking mine don't get enough sun and I will probably pull them up and put in some ferns there.
I had a bunch of things bloom from WS seed 2007 -- this is a little nursery bed. See how those mauves and lavenders just gravitate into my garden? This is a phlox in the foreground, penstemon smallii is the tallest and some little violas in the very foreground with Sweet William on the left. The area hardly gets any sun until about June 15, and just for about 6 weeks, so it all has to be moved, but I thought it was interesting that it looked okay when I really was just using the space as a nursery bed.
For a while our cat Janneke has been quite ill. Yesterday the burden of life became too heavy for her. It broke my heart, but I had to let her go. Now she's with her brother Jip. In a place where the sun always shines and she can eat as much whipped cream as she wants to. Knowing we will meet there, one day. I just can't stop crying......
Awwwwwwwwwww Tuink.. I feel for ya. It always hard to make that decision. I had put it off and put it off for a long time before I was finally able to send my belove dsmokey to a better place and stil miss him. But know that your baby is out of pain and misey and you did the humanly thign possible.
Tuink, I am so sorry about your kitty. : ( That is a hard thing to take. I am fighting back tears just thinking about it. Big hugs.
Oh Tunik, I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty :( It's so hard to lose our babies...
Are you suppose to cut the blooms off of sweet william will it bloom again after you cut the blooms and how do you keep it from falling down, do you cut it back before it blooms? And if you deadhead penstemon will it bloom again like the salvia, I love my penstemon blooms and want to see more lol
Seandor, I found quite a few seeds last night and not finished yet :) You could start a thread and maybe some of us could chime in with what we have to help them replace their plants but I don't think I would start it until a little later until they get settled in and the mess is cleaned up :)
I'm getting to see my cherry bells campanula for the first time in three years since I planted it, I can't believe it took three years to bloom, it's so pretty! Now if I can just figure out how to save seeds lol And some unknown campanulas.
Suzy, your flowers are very pretty! I like those taller ones :)
This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 9:47 AM
Aw, Tuink, That is just so sad. I'm sorry.
Suzy
Tuink, sorry to hear about Janneke. : ( I lost 2 18 yr olds, one last May, and one a couple of weeks ago, this May. It's always very hard. They are our friends, and companions.
Here's a hug. {{{{{Tuink}}}}}
~Lucy
I am getting the high 90 degree weather others have had. Boy is it hot out there. I got one plant in the ground, after half an hour I pushed the mulch back around it, and when I stood up I was dizzy! I think it is too hot to do anything outdoors, not even go in a pool! It's supposed to be worse tomorrow. Ugh
It's good to know about the Dahlias and Glads thank you. : )
Tuink, I'm so sorry for your loss. I get very attached to my furry familiars too, it is indeed losing a dear friend.
Suzy, I'm so glad to hear that about the nasties! The ones I have in more shade are so big and lush, I tickled with them! Your nursery bed is lovely. Isn't it funny (and sometimes frustrating) how something unplanned can turn out so good, while often planned combos just don't pan out the way we expect. Have you done the big daff dig yet? Sure wish I could get up there for that!
My Salvia coccinea have started blooming- those first bright spots of red are just showing, and I can see buds forming on Coral Nymph too. The Ensign morning glories have buds, and I have some very short wintersown sunflowers showing buds. Its a branching variety, so I hope they'll just keep growing- they're only about 6" tall, LOL. Oh, and I'm seeing buds form on the Snapdragons too!
Gee, Gem, I am further along than you are! My (self sown) sunflower is about 40" tall. I have snaps in bloom (have had for at least a week) plus my red ensigns, except they are all pink so far. All the petunias...self sown and sown indoors, all the Salvias, except the Pineapple ones form Lea which look better than mine, but are still in tight bud. I had a bumper crop of Salvia patens, the blue salvia and only had space for 10. I have at least 20 more plants I'm not sure what I'm going to do with. I also have a yellow somehting that looks like an evening primrose, with a corona. I need to get a photo of it. I never would have planted evening primrose, but maybe this is a relative? The Bidens and Melampodium are blooming along with marigolds...etc. The only problem is the plants are so small, the flowers are so small, some arent' planted yet, and the garden doesn't look like much at all!
Today's oddity is: there are no self sown seedlings of Coral Nymph Savia to be found. I wonder why not? There should have been at least 1/2 million.
Hot today (which is why I am online) and I'm getting further and further behind!
Suzy
Suzy my pineapple sage that I planted last week is starting to bloom now it had three blooms on it yesterday evening, I just love that plant, I have three more to plant somewhere, that's my biggest problem trying to figure out where to put them and getting to the weeds first lol I have a slew of plants to put in that middle bed and it's still too windy to spray!
I have one blue ensign so far that is starting to bloom and just planted a few with my morning light grass along with red sheild and a couple of bush violets, I forgot that red sheild was an annual here so decided just to stick some in the ground anywhere so I could see their blooms lol I love the foliage on them, did your texas star hibiscus come up in the pot? My others aren't up yet wondering if they are ever going to come up, may have been too much rain for them last winter I've never had any problem with them coming up before from a pot but then I usually replant them before winter too and I didn't get to last year.
My tiger lily is up 5" :)
Lea, So sorry! Everytime I was starting to answer you last night, the cable went out and I lost the connection. It takes forever for me to boot up, then it would all happen again!
Yes, we had another 2" of rain last night, but it came down in less than 2 hours!
The Texas Red Star -- well, I didn't plant it because it didn't look alive. In fact it was sort of on the side of the driveway for trash. I looked at it over the weekend and yes! one is alive! I couldn't believe it. But it will be a few days before I can get into the garden...We've had a lot of rain: " last Fri, 3" the Friday before, and 2" last night. Soggy isn't the word! I have raised beds, so that's not the problem, it's just that I hate to walk in a bed that has just been rained on.
Suzy