Saw EE being sold in a hanging basket:

Well, gotta keep up with inflation and my bit of plant greed as well! :)

Picked up a Taiga earlier this week:

Rouge and Laceyvail, Thanks to all, for the explanation for how to keep it from looking ratty. I don't have deer to worry about so that's a good thing.

Went and bought them first thing this morning. Very good looking plants....hope to get them in the ground today.

Today

They are good for the hot months and I have successfully overwintered them once or twice; the hummingbirds love them too.

I love Pentas, so easy and long lasting. But the star in my full sun gardens are Angelonia, which thrive in my Alabama heat and sun, in a non irrigated area. No deadheading required and the only insects I’ve caught on them are butterflies and bees. Hummingbirds will feed on the nectar, too.

Colors are limited, however. Angelonia (an jel OWN ia) is available in various shades of blue, purple, pink as well as white.

Six of six 'Mystic Spires' successfully wintered in the garage, only bringing them in during frigid outbreaks when temps in there fell much below freezing. Soon will take a good deal of cuttings and shall set the original plants out as well.

I've gotten numerous seedlings from Golden Jubilee and Honey Bee Blue. I prefer Blue Fortune so I buy a couple of new plants each year and accept the attrition.

It cohabits with evil Buckthorn

I hate this plant with a passion

Barberry grows and thrives up here in the North Z3a. It seems to spread easily even tho it can get down to -40f/c at times.

I am finding significant numbers of plants in our wild Arboretum acreage. It cohabits with Buckthorn so I get a twofer when taking them out together.

Jay-I haven't seen L. canadensis in my area but I will keep a lookout or it. I have some dioica on my property tho.

Any more examples?

Rouge, this is a classy upright narrow growing plant with red tinged thick rugose foliage, it just gets better as it grows to maturity, kinda reminds me a good deal of a slim compact Joe pye weed, well other than the blooms.

Our forecast to May 18 shows nothing below 7C/45F.

(Heck I might even bring out our tomato plants for a couple of hours for some "real world" temperature and wind).

They may shoot for Mother's Day, but they don't always win that gamble -- we have indeed gotten frosts into mid-May. I'm not about to go out there with blankets to cover bedding plants and all that -- a pot or two on the patio fine, but not everything. I'd rather just wait until we're definitely in the clear.

I was at the nursery today and did pick up some annuals because these two places I went to are an hour drive for me and I don't want to make another trip, I am looking for some trees. Didn't come home with any trees, though.,,

Being zone 7B, I typically will drag the seedlings in and out all winter long. They were outside more than they were in this year. What a crazy winter that was!

We never get more than an inch and a half of snow at a time, melting the next day. The big snow we had was over 8 inches this year, and lasted enough days that I was stir crazy? I can't even figure out what's going on.

All the rules are being broken.

No 'Gargamel', once they are in the cold cellar they are on their own.

Ah, I'm not usually that ruthless! If I am tired of doing something (dividing 100+ dahlia tubers for example) I get ruthless. Otherwise, I am very ruth lol. I always say I will be ruthless, but it never works out that way unless I start to get sick of something lol.

As far as labeling, I write the name on the outside of the paper bag, and then inside the bag I include some kind of plastic label - a plastic plant stake, or a piece of milk jug (from my wintersowing jugs) with the name written on it in sharpie. Sometimes if it's a new-this-season dahlia, I have the original plastic tag with the name printed on it. So my labeling is pretty decent. Then I use these tags/stakes to put in the pots when I pot them up (and make many more new tags!)

:)

Dee

Many new dahlias arrived by mail, most being of compact growing types not requiring staking. Sad though, those Dutch dahlia harvesting machines really beat the tubers up that most have so very few viable tubers attached, all broken necks. I watched a video and would say they need to dial down the aggressive shaking of those machines!

I did toss out a good number of varieties that haven't overly thrilled me, those I'd pass by with hardly giving a look, real keepers are coveted. Dahlias will be better labeled this autumn ... maybe, lol.

Rosa, my list of "failed" plants and those I can't even dream of attempting in this often wretched zone 3 would have most saying, "Why don't you just MOVE!". I do though have success with some hepatics that seed about a bit. My buddy David, he's always drawn in by the exotic, he's growing some of the very expensive Japanese double hepatics, tells me the blooms are ridiculously very small!.

Jeb/ Jeff :), thanks much for the caution of NOT dividing these, as had been considering just that! The only seedlings to have appeared have developed under the shady canopy of the mother plant, these I'll gently tease and lift up. Oh, that name change is brutal, I'll stick to Jeffersonia! 'Putnam's' you're showing there certainly does have attractive foliage! I don't know of your ant species, though seems the ants here don't much bother with them.

Mxk3, yes, it's a welcome glorious bit of spring color. With being a native American wildflower, I'm unsure as to way it's not more widely available, seems easy enough of culture, heck if it can survive my climate that's saying something! I'm not familiar with Diphylleia cymosa, though Jeffersonia dubia develops good waxy foliage substance to help it endure heat and drought.

Forever_a_newbie, am fortunate my collector buddy passed this plant along, apparently it's not widely grown or even known.

Peren.all, you're too kind! I believe you'll be impressed, it loves deeply prepared soil of average moisture. As mentioned, the foliage holds up well during the summer and one is not looking at a brown fizzled out plant.

Rouge, yes, this is the one that had forgotten to jump into the parcel I mailed to you, I have seedlings I'll let develop for the season before passing along in autumn, am sure they'll bloom for you next spring.

Lat62, sure is a very sweet little thing isn't it! This spring, your plant might be established enough to set some seed, collect and scratch into the surface and you may end up with a good number of seedlings.

Jay, I'd say with coolish temperatures individual blooms last about a week, though shatter much more quickly in the heat.

Mazerolm, unlike many spring blooming plants, this one maintains lovely foliage the entire season, at least for me it does.

Sandyslopes, the durability impressed me of it sitting in baking sun of a western exposure, sure it wasn't as happy as it could have been, though still a trouper!

Rouge, I'll ease your frustration this autumn that you have the plant to enjoy in your spring '25 garden.

Here's an excellent resource upon the species

North American Rock Garden Society

rouge that is fascinating! Gorgeous plant.

Yes pretty amazing indeed Jeb.

Rouge, but the white begonia is a bit glorious, I need it for next year :)

I showed my daughter your original pic, Rouge, and she took it and ran with it. She is also growing colocasia and begonias in what she fondly calls her 'Greek terrace'. A lot of white painted plaster walls, terracotta pots and blue painted timber. As it also happens, the floor is made of 'sea brick', set in cement.

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-sea-worn-pebbles-and-bricks-form-a-sea-wall-on-beach-39427213.html

Antirrhinum hispanicum, this was new go me last spring and has performed very well in my garden and seems content with benign neglect.

Narcissus Sun Disc is the last of my daffs to bloom. It is blooming with Dianthus ’Fire Witch.’ Cooler temps and very late planting of new bulbs have meant an extended daffodil season this year with a succession of daffs blooming since the first part of February. Now we are in the season of impatietly waiting for the foliage to die back!

I need to plant more woodland phlox!

Iris cristata (crested iris) are another native gem in the spring garden.

Mine seed themselves all over the place, so I wouldn't think it was difficult. They seem to reach blooming size in their second year.

rouge that is gorgeous - I wouldn't even need blooms on that!

Heruga I am surprised you only got one to germinate. One of my garden customers had bleeding hearts that reseeded quite freely. I was always moving the little seedlings to other parts of the garden. (Although, this did surprise me, as I had a bleeding heart that in 15 years never produced one seedling.) I'm sorry you only got that one but hopefully it will continue to grow into a nice-sized plant!

:)

Dee

Interesting. They absolutely do here. My sweet sweet mother thought they were dead. She only got to garden later years in life. They were her favorites. I had to explain what dormancy was. Ah, my mommy.

That's lovely Rouge, here we have the very fast growing weedy annual / biannual species Corydalis aurea, it's kinda attractive and is great bee food.

More fosterianas...orange

Red

@mazerolm_3a The taller ones are beautiful purple siberian irises. The shorter ones are liatris.

Yes, same issue with 'Jantar' it fares even worse in my harsher climate that I have decided out they must come. 'Yellow Ribbon' has always proven rock hardy reliable, though large and fast growing, of course though takes well to pruning. I don't know why I haven't gotten around to sowing a large number of YR seedlings to possibly obtain a more compact form!

RE big blue I have 3 blue blue plants from seed growing under led grow light, Started them Feb 15 lights are on 14 hours a day , day time temps of 18-20C/64-68f/ . growth of the plants seems slow but this the first time growing big blue so I don't have base line to go from. The size the plants 4 to five inches tall I pinched the plants at 8 weeks will be planting them in containers outdoors round the the middle or end of may. if anyone is interested I can update how the the plants do once outdoors if they flower or when they do.

I grow Bloody Dock and Pale Dock. I know the young leaves of Bloody Dock are edible, but I haven't been eating them. I'd rather eat stinging nettles or lambs quarters. I love soups, and I'll use this recipe if I come upon some Rumex acetosella while foraging in future. My Bloody Dock was under seige by the bloody coralberries, but it's better now.😋🥣

Sometimes it's the wrong time of year so they get held till the right time.

I agree. I will put smaller plants in the ground in April or May when natural moisture and cooler temperatures are more the norm whereas in July or August it will be too dry and so potting them up till the Fall is what I will often do.

You have to be diligent about watering plants with small root systems, and for me, it's easier to ensure they're watered when they're in pots. I have a large tree that sucks all the moisture out of my backyard, and with Oregon's dry summers, the plants rely on me and my hose for survival.

I've done both. If a plant arrives healthy, I'll typically stick it straight in the ground because it seems every time you move a plant, it stresses it. If it arrives barely alive, I usually pot it up until it gets back to health before planting.

I agree with a hard pruning. I cut mine back to above the first two buds from the base - every year.

rouge, therein lies a dilemma. We do not yet have our next home, and our plan is to purchase one subsequent to selling our existing home. However, real estate inventory is scarce in Michigan right now, even more so for properties with 20+ acres, an attractive house, and a reasonable proximity to healthcare (we’re in our fifties).

So we may have to wait a bit until the market improves. Which means I’ll be staring at this one sparse garden bed for a couple of months at least.

I do like the idea of using annuals, however, and will have to give that more thought. (Thanks for the ideas, Dee and mxk3!)

And GG, thank you so much for this lesson!

debra

Debra, VERY pretty! I'm going to have to get a few more photos. I have another thread on Hellebores somewhere, I just need to get some current photos.