If Only One Plant...

:) I just haven't convinced DH to give that up ....yet anyway! ;)

haha. HE WILL SUCCOMB

Hello Mrs_Ed,
"HE WILL SUCCOMB".....ROFL!
BTW, I planted 3 rows like this (a "P" represents one plant)

P P P P P P P P
P P P P P P P
P P P P P P P P

I planted 2 rows of 8 and one row of 7. I kept the middle row "askew" so there wouldn't be any "holes" and it looked solid...which wourked out well :) I also will be sowing them from seed next week. I sowed them on the 17th of March last year and planted them on May 2nd after our last freeze. I sowed 35...each in their own tiny cell of those 72 pkgs of a seed starter kit. After they got their 1st set of true leaves I put each one into a 3" peat pot under our grow lights. Of the 35 I sowed, 28 germinated. I planted 23 and gave 5 to my MIL...she loved them too.
I always sow 10-25% more than what I need...depending on the plant. I'll be doing the same amount this year :) when I planted them, I spaced them 8-10" apart. The row closest to the fence was 1 foot away from the fence...and each row was about 10-12" distance from each other. the area for the 23 plants was 8' x 5'...
Hope that helps :)

Nanny,
She's right! My DH has...hahaha

Geraldine,
You should be able to find the seeds at your local nurseries which have their seeds on display. I used the "Botanical Interests" brand...but there are others available...

So this is an annual???

I have a plant called "hummingbird salvia" that seems to grow wild in my yard & the hummers really like it. It came up as avolunteer in some petunias I bought a
few years ago. It seems to reseed prolifically! It has pretty pale pink tubular flowers.

yah, it's an annual.

I just checked my seed packet and see that I got "Fiesta del Sol" which is only 30" tall (not Torch). So back to plan A for those! But now I'm liking the idea of the tall ones on the back fence so I'll have to go get some more seeds. haaaaaaa

Susan, If I remember, I think they are late to bloom if you don't start them indoors, right? My sensation cosmos took forever to bloom last year but when they did it was amazing.


Fiesta del Sol
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55104/

Torch
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/96615/

Mrs_Ed,

Well, the 'Tithonia Torch started to bloom on June 20th. I don't call that late considering it's size potential. Here is the beginning of the series of pics I took last year...including the "Before" I built the garden. You'll notice the ugly green metal telephone box which unfortunately is in our yard...Grrrrr. so, I stratigically planted the 'Tithonia Torch' to hide it and it worked out superbly!
Here's a pic taken in April last year before I started this garden...

This message was edited Mar 6, 2009 1:55 PM

This was when I just planted everything on May 8th...
you'll also notice that we had a new fence put up too...and got rid of an old chain link fence...WooHoo! :)

This message was edited Mar 6, 2009 1:56 PM

This pic was taken June 24th...you'll notice some of the blooms. I believe there was about 10 at the time...but I didn't take a close up so you can see them all...some were behind leaves of other plants.
BTW, these earlier pics were taken with an older camera...we didn't get a better camera til the end of July...
You'll also see a few overturned pots in the garden. A severe T-storm was about to pass through and I was protecting a few brand new milkweeds I just planted.

This message was edited Mar 6, 2009 2:00 PM

this pic was taken July 12th...

And this one was taken July 24th...

This was on September 27th. I took it from our bedroom window. You'll see one of 9 hummer feeders we had around our yards. In the foreground you'll see part of a hook and a few branches I set up for the hummers since we have no trees in our yard...they loved them!

So, as you can see, it bloomed from the end of June-til our 1st frost about the middle of October...
So, I don't consider that a late season bloomer...it's a full season bloomer!

On the other hand, what I consider a late season bloomer is Salvia Azurea (light blue flowers/blooms...which didn't bloom til the end of August and only til the end of September. I planted them behind the Black and Blue on the left side in the pics. You will see for yourself if you check out my series of pics :)

Here's a pic showing the set up by our bedroom window...

This message was edited Mar 6, 2009 1:43 PM

And here's a few pics of the hummers enjoying the set up :)

another...

and here's a pic with 2 hummers together...
I forgot to switch the setting on the camera before I took this pic...as you'll be able to see...DUH! I was definately po'd with myself about that!!!...Grrrr...lol

And this is my fav pic of the ones I took by our bedroom...
Sooooooooooooooooo adorable :)

What a wonderful transformation!!!'
I'm jealous you had hummers. Darn it!!!

Found the seeds for Tithonia Torch and ordered them, will make sure to put in the back...they seem to grow tall....hope I get the hummers and butterflies!

Thanks Mrs_Ed...I'm sure you'll have Hummers this year!!!

And you too Geraldine...you'll definately will have them too. this plant is the "beacon" to your yard!!! :)

I like the Mexican sunflowers too. I grew them more than a decade ago and decided to try them again last year. Hubby was expecting a single large flower--he was surprised at all of the flowers and size of the Torch. He loved them and we had butterflies and happy hummingbirds all summer. We even had neighbors stopping by to ask what they were and where they could get them. We have taken down an old fence by our alley and hubby has decided that he wants a Mexican sunflower hedge this year. We're going to try a couple of rows of Torch and then a row of Fiesta del Sol in front.

They drew so many butterflies last year that I can't wait for this year. Also, they are so easy to grow. They'll even grow in some of the worst soil in our yard. We have a spot near our back door that is surrounded with concrete and the soil is poor, sandy junk dirt and it's under our wide eaves so it doesn't get much rain. When I put a Torch there, hubby laughed at me. He told me that if it would grow there, it would grow anywhere. It grew six foot tall and three feet wide with lots of flowers. That made a believer out of him!

Buckeye on Torch

Another happy butterfly on Torch

awwww, that's just wonderful!