A different variety with full and lasting show stopping blooms ...

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a picture says a thousand words, to be sure.
I don't think I will grow malva for some time. Not unless I have room for it. Two years ago I grew it and it stayed not overly large and well behaved. Must have been the part shade. This year I grew them in full sun and they were these huge sprawling beasties with great big main stalks. I don't think my community garden neighbor was too happy as they were reaching over into her plot too. A little too vigorous for my personal use.

My sister had also sown some malvas within her garden patch ... they later seeded out and she ended up with a forest of huge and dominate plants ...

Although I save seeds from zinnias that I like (I am an amateur zinnia breeder, purely as a hobby), I frequently get specimens that are interesting, but not something I would be breeding for, like this one:

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I don't mind the odd petals on that one, but it is basically a single flower, and I don't like it for that reason.

MM

That is one ugly marigold. I bought plants of the Swizzle zinnia series (cherry/white) this spring from Lowes and boy did they get powdery mildew. Just eaten up with it. No matter how high the temperature soared this summer the new growth still mildewed. Never again.

Mary,

I was born in Enid and grew up on a farm southwest of Enid (approximately equidistant from Drummond, Ames, and Meno.) As a kid I grew a lot of zinnias, and later, while a student at OU, I continued growing zinnias in Norman. I had very little trouble with mildew in Oklahoma and, here in Maine, mildew isn't a problem either. I do spray my zinnias to give them foliar nutrition. Since water prevents mildew, my practice of foliar feeding has the added benefit of preventing mildew. There is a common misconception that water can cause mildew on zinnias, but as you can see from this Q&A: Powdery Mildew on Zinnias from the National Gardening Association,

"The general advice to inhibit the spread of fungal diseases is to avoid wetting leaf surfaces. In the case of powdery mildew, you can actually inhibit infection with frequent sprays of water."

I do spray my zinnias to prevent foliage diseases, both fungal and bacterial, which do thrive in moist conditions. Moist conditions are common here in Maine. You can see the spots of a beginning Alternaria leaf spot infection in this picture that I took a few weeks ago in my garden.

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When spots like that appear, it is time to spray again. Actually, I rather enjoy spraying my zinnias, partly because I have a good sprayer.

MM

I will definitely never grow 'Profusion Apricot' Zinnias
again.
Such a putrid color-I don't know what I was thinking when I bought them!
I won't be growing 'Lunacy Yellow' Marigolds again
either,because they quickly lost vigor and turned into a bunch of 'Lunacy Yellow' corpses.

Maineman, that zinnia of yours has rather attractive coloring and thanks for all the information regarding mildew ... thankfully, I haven't much had any problems with my zinnias, though mildew does strike several other plants.

Terry

I grew Amaranthus 'Joseph's Coat' a few years back and was absolutely thrilled with it. This year I tried them again, and was very disappointed. I saw another thread (in Annuals Forum) and they were lovely, but that was not my experience this year - at all.

I heard great things about Browalia (sp?) and I tried it this year - and they just fizzled. I don't know what I did wrong - but I won't be growing them again either.

I used to love the apricot profusion zinnias, until one year they faded to a dull beige - so i switched to cherry and was very happy this year.

Carrie

After hearing about Tithonia for Monarch butterflies, I planted 1 1/2 flats of 'Fiesta del Sol'. Huge disappointment. We had a lot of rain, but even in full sun, well-drained soil, they still turned grey quickly. Deadheading was a challenge as they didn't cut crisply (too mushy). I finally pulled them out of the ground and the things had already seeded out and I have seedlings everywhere in the same season. I doubt they'll overwinter.

Cameron

Cameron, I didn't have any luck with that Tithonia either.

Terry,

"...that zinnia of yours has rather attractive coloring..."

It has hints of bi-coloring, with a little orange on the petal tips, transitioning to rose pink at the base. It is one of my many hand-pollinated hybrids, and two of its "grandparents" were Whirligigs, which are bicolored or tricolored. Breeding zinnias is a hobby of mine. One of my breeding objectives is spider flowered zinnias with white tips on petals that are otherwise darker colored. I am still working toward that objective, and hope to make some progress in that direction next year.

MM

Browalia is something I had once grown and have never again ... Tithonia, I was gonna give a try, though now will bypass.

MM, I applaud you for your breeding work and your helpful suggestions to others here. I have always grown zinnias as I love the colors and shapes and very long lasting blooms.

Terry

I've had wonderful luck with Fiesta del Sol. They want to be in the right situation, and if they get it they're happy and pretty carefree.

My customers went crazy this year for baby duck petunias. They're precious when they start blooming in their pots, but boy when they get a little age on them in the ground, they look like the blooms are suspended on gnarly wires. I was not impressed.

I don't think I will grow Baby Duck petunias again either, although I have to admit their form tumbling out of big urns was nice. I think they are on to something though-a few more generations of selective breeding may yield something really exciting.

I started shock wave petunias in the same run, and had them both as potted planters and in ground. They had really nice garden performance. This year, I just planted shockwave for the mini-tunias.

Most of the petunias. I may still find a spot to tuck in a purple wave or two in my main bed, but I do a lot of containers (mainly on my deck) and even the good performers are pretty much shot by late summer. I'll be switching over to NG Impatients this year since those will bloom consistently for me right to frost.

The two varieties I used in my window boxes on the deck rail last year were Surfina Patio Yellow (great color, blends with anything) and Supertunia Bordeaux. The Supertunia was definitely the better performer for me of the two - it bloomed well into August. The Surfina started to look ratty by early July.

I'm also done with the 2 coco lined hanging baskets for the front porch. I know my neighbors will miss the display, but even polymer crystals don't help much in keeping the soil moist. Anything that needs to be watered 2x a day is a little too needy IMO.

I got sick of deadheading sticky petunia flowers and much prefer calibrachoa. I only wish it could be started from seed.

flattie_2008 ... "I'm also done with the 2 coco lined hanging baskets for the front porch. I know my neighbors will miss the display, but even polymer crystals don't help much in keeping the soil moist. Anything that needs to be watered 2x a day is a little too needy IMO."

Have you tried lining the inside with plastic? ... of course providing for a drainage hole. I had done so and it really helps to reduce watering, that is as long as the planter itself is of good decent size.

Terry

Hi Terry,

Thanks, that's a good suggestion. One of the planters is fairly small, so yes, that's a big factor. I'm going to hang that one in the garage for storage purposes.

It does give me some options for repurposing the large one. I do have a spare shepherd's hook and several areas that could use a pop of color higher up.

Ok, Terry, fess up. What's that gorgeous poofy Marigold you got goin on there?! It's STUNNING! Oh, and how many plants do you have in that space (how big is the space?)

Thanks! What a lovely display!

Hi mmqchdygg, the fluffy poofy marigold is of the Jubilee series, they grow about 15" x 15" and were spaced about that distace apart in the above photo (three plants) These are the most awesome marigolds I have ever grown, never failing to please and always being covered in large perfect blooms ... though, unfortunately, this series is now being phased out and replaced by another variety. I hope the newcomer will prove as good!

Terry

How do you know who is producing them and/or phasing them out? I'll assume you have an 'in' of some sort with the marigold hybridizers?
I didn't want to hijack your thread, so I put up another post, but if someone is phasing out a marigold, any idea how long seed is viable should I decide to make sure I have a decent supply before they run out?

Where is this hybridizing information of which you speak?!

Terry-
Just wondering if I stumbled into the right place...is it Bodger Seed?

mmqchdygg, it was stated in one of my seed catalogues that the Jubilees are being replaced by the Royal Series ... so, no inside connections for me, lol. Usually, when a variety is being dropped, the replacement strain has something superior to offer ... though, I have never grown a better quality and heavy flowering marigold than the Jubilees! For two years now the Royals have been offered, though not available from my usual seed source here on the Canadian prairie. I will email Stokes and ask if they still have it available.

If you find the Jubilees, you can order up reserve seed and simply store it in your freezer compartment, the seed will then be viable for many years to come.

Regarding hybrid marigolds coming true from seed? ... no, you'll get unpredictable results.

Terry

I won't be growing browallias ever again. I love them, but after repeated problems with some type of mildew and sudden death I have given up.

Pansies too. If they don't get covered in aphids they just get leggy no matter where I plant them.

Been poking around last year's files and found two more.

Osteospermum. I've tried this in my main bed and in a containers. I love the flowers, but find their growth habit to be floppy in all the wrong ways. I have enough permanent residents in my garden that require staking and training as it is.

Thunbergia 'orange'. I grew this many years ago in a hanging basket. Tried them last year on two trellises in a new bed I had renovated. Exceptionally poor bloom production, and there's nothing particularly pretty or interesting about their foliage either. Ick. What was I thinking?

Profusion Zinnias did not perform well for me. The flowers faded almost as fast as they opened. New Guinea impatiens are beautiful and lush, but require way too much water.

I won,t grow the variety of marigold named Crackerjack....YOu can find this variety in the cheap pkgs . They grow tall....but the bloom is small and ugly!
There are so many more beautiful marigolds to choose from.

kansas- There must have been something wrong with the plant/seeds, or the growing conditions on that one. I grew CJs for the first time last year, and they lived up to the description on the packet: ~24-30" tall, and the blooms were about 3" poofy.
Granted, I agree, there are nicer forms out there, but I had no problems with the blooms.
I'm going with the Diamond Jubilees after seeing twrosz pix up there. I think they'll be more well behaved than the CJs, which I found to be rather wiry and falling over sorta. Oh, and here's another one to try: Discovery Yellow (if you like yellow). They were about 10-12" tall, VERY well behaved & compact with huge blooms. A nice edger. I was bummed I didn't plant more of them. As I recall, the foliage did not have the typical marigold scent.

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mmqchdygg, yes, you'll love the Jubilees, I'm quite sure of that! I also have the Royal mix on order and will see if one variety proves superior over the other ...

That Discovery Yellow looks great! ... large full flowers on a compact plant ... I'm glad I've obtained the seed for these :) :)

I had grown the Crackerjacks, it must of been 30 years ago (OUCH!), the plants were big and tall and hardly came into flower before frost ... maybe, the variety has been improved upon over the years?

Terry