Asking for your experiences?

GymGirl,

I want to sow some delphiniums white & dark blue, black holly hocks, malva, butterfly bushes, gaillardia, rudbeckia and butterly weed. I have some beautiful bonfire euphorbia and peach coral bells. I want to put some colors beside them to really give my front yard some ZING. LoL I'm thinking either Rudbeckia cherry brandy, yellow blackeyed susans or crazy shasta daisies.

Hansey,

I checked with the cafeteria here at work just in time. They gave me 6 milk jugs. I'm praying that I wake up in the morning and find a greenhouse under my tree for Christmas. I love flowers and watching them grow but I especially propagating from seeds and cuttings. I'm no expert but I love it!

>>greenhouse under my tree for Christmas

that would be a great gift!!

I just could not imagine having a greenhouse to tinker around in all year long? Can you? I love tropical plants! I had an area of my yard that was all tropical plants. It was the prettiest part of the yard! Next year I want to expand the area with Cannas, varigated ginger plants, elephant ears and banana plants. It sounds like alot of greenery but I haven't come up with what other flowers I want to add just yet. Anyone have any ideas? I have a plan in mind but that all this far!

Diamond!

Duh, what I said! This makes us twins! ^^_^^_^^

I wish my plants looked as good as yours! In my zone we have to bring the tropicasl inside to store for winter. So my cannas are in a box I'm trying to keep my EE and banana tree alive in the kitchen. My ginger plants is doing the best and I got that one out of the trash at the greenhouse but it's tips have been brown for a long time. Yours looks extremely healthy! I think the colors you're thinkling of adding would be very attractive. I was told by a landscape designer that if you want to make you garden pop add yellow flowers but if you really want it to sing add white flowers.

D,
Don't be midlead. That pic is from the 1st Spring/Summer I lived in my DH's house, 6 months after we were married.

Fast forward to today, when most of that is still there, but looking kinda ratty 'cause I refused to tend it anymore. As soon as I would beautify the patio, he would come behind me and mess it up. So, I turned it over to him.

Well, this'll be the first Spring/summer since then that he'll be handling his patio again. I just wanna be prepared in case he changes his ways....

It WAS nice, huh?

Maybe I'll print out this pic to remind him of what he COULD have (again...).^^_^^

Linda

LoL What does "DH" stand for...dear husband? I hear ya! If you could see my patio now, my house would be condemned!

usually Dear... if he's been good.... otherwise, insert another "D" word.

DW = Dear Wife
DS = Dear Son
DD = Dear Daughter

... you get the picture
if there is a "G" infront, it's usually "Grand"
MIL = Mother in Law
FIL = Father in law
SIL = son in law
DIL = daughter in law

Gymgirl, our local Starbucks goes thru about 60 milk jugs / day - I talked with the manager and take him a couple large trash bags in the a.m. His staff just puts the jugs in the bags (they step on them but they blow back up) and I pick them up twice/day. They even have boxes I can put them in to set them outside in.

Check with your local coffeeshops, Barnes and Nobles (coffee), cafeterias, etc. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can pick up milk jugs.

Two more days and I'll have a few hundred! And the nice thing is if you pick them up twice/day, they don't stink - the milk is fresh so you just rinse them out and let them dry!

Sounds like a serious addiction there girl! LOL How many are you going for?

GymGirl ~ Love that color combination

I will have three BYOS parties with friends (probably 5 to 6 ladies at each) and I want at least 9 jugs for each - thus, the need for all the boxes and jugs. Plus, I have a huge new garden in the back w/o any flowers, so I want to WS enough this year so it'll fill in over the next few years. AND, I have friends I want to give to, thus, all the seeds, LOL!

I'm just missing being in the yard so this is a good preoccupation, plus the holidays are tough for me and this is a happy place!

For lots of flower power in lots of heat consider melampodium. When it's really hot, those things thrive for me. They reseed like weeds, too. Another annual winner is marigolds for me.

A. tuberosa, rudbeckia, and echinacea like the heat, too. Perennial winners for me.

Karen

Another which I forgot is gaillardia.

Karen

You guys are great! K I'm growing in containers on the patio so the melampodium will be corraled. I'd heard it could get out of hand. I'll see if it comes in my color scheme. Marigolds are a winner. Need 2 look at the A. Tuberosa and Rudbeckia. I don't know those. I tried coneflowers under two trees but I think they need more sunshine. They'd get much more on de patio. They did reseed, too, which is a plus! And velvety geraniums! Can these be winter sowed? Never seen a geranium seed. I have a couple still growing now. Could I take cuttings and WS those in protected vessels? Oh, and gaillardia. This list sounds like a winner! Now I have 2 go order seeds PRONTO! I can get the zinnias and marigolds @ Lowes. Think I'll sow the zinnias soon. They took forever to germinate and then they got leggy and flopped all over. Just layed right down on the soil! They grew so tall and limp, I was confused as to how deep 2 plant them. Total crop failure... Thanks again, guys! Hansey, I've spent the better part of 2009 trying to eat my way to a happy place. This will stop come 01/09/10! Too many holiday events until then, and my Bday is the 8th. Just keeping it real. But, I've also discovered that Dave's Garden is a safer "happy place!" long as we keep hanging with each other, we'll be fine! PS. Thanks so much for all ya'lls help this year. You guys gave me so many wonderful comments and feedback. I'm a better gardener this year because of you all! Linda

Linda ~ I will be curious as to how well your bloomers endure the sweltering summer heat.

I have already spent this winter gnoshing far too much here. Need to think about what I am putting in my mouth and need to stay away from the recipe forum. Everything sounds wonderful over there. 8 ))

>>stay away from the recipe forum

OH-- i know what you mean.. especially the Christmas Cookie thread....

when the Ginger snaps one came up... I asked DH... Those are one of your faves, right?? he said... we dont need anymore cookies.

Cookies ~ hmmmm... I ran out today. I have been making refrigerator cookies, mixed and frozen. I will thaw a roll and bake and eat them fresh. No more baked and none in the freezer. What will I do??? 8 /

LoL We seem to have the likes and interests! I have entertained myself with food far too long. I started with the seeds then slowed down with the food. Now it seems that I entertain myself with starting seeds indoors. I'm learning about winter sowing and now you're telling me that there's a forum that offers recipes??? I don't know what I'm more excited about...the prospective plants or prospective meals! LoL Well, I'm sure there are a lot worse things we could be doing. Gym, the seeds that I have out now are Rudbeckia, Gallardia, Foxgloves and Delphinium. I'm putting different cultivars out because of the colors I'm interested. I chose those seeds partly because some are good xeriscape choices but mainly because they attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Some of themare also natives for my area. Oh, I'm also trying clematis, butterfly bushes and butterfly weeds. I got six more milk cartons so hopefully, I will be increasing my success rate. I had some success with the butterfly bush being sowed indoors. So I have one small already.

Diamond... it seems you and i have similar interests... food aside.... but the xeriscaping and B&B plantings.
Ithink i collected some Delphinium seeds this year, but can't recall where they are. Those seeds need to be fresh, and as i was reading yesterday, they should have been direct sown in Aug. [from what the Backyard Gardener site said].

I'm hoping I have blooms on my Butterfly Weed this year, they are second year bloomers ... but then i can collect a lot of seeds.

I started a bunch of butterfly bushes last year. I had to sell them and give them away because I ended up with so many! I think I only kept one and last week it was still going strong. This will be my first experience with the delph. And I have not read the entire list of seeds on BYG. I plan to do that in the next couple of hours! LoL. I would post a picture of my BFB but its covered with snow. LoL