Had to take another look at those lupines .... awesome!

Dee, that's 'Giant Chabaud'.

PV

Oh my goodness, dereks, that photo with the lupines and laburnum is fantastic. THAT'S a show-stopping combination. I like your castor bean plants, too, but I've waited to try them because my kids are younger. Well, I suppose now that the youngest is 6 I could consider growing that. A neighbor grew 'Carmencita' several years ago, and it was magnificent.

I think I need more lupines. . . .

Laurel

What is your secret, derek - I've never had good luck with lupines. They sprouted but then they kind of shriveled in the heat... do they need afternoon shade in the South (?)... Thanks

Carrie

Thanks, Carrie. That helps me to plan mine a bit more to the east rather than the northwestern side of the trees.
Derek, those lupines are wonderful!!!

Here are a few of mine:

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This is a great thread! Thanks for strating it!:)
All these pictures are just so gorgeous!
Carrie,LOVE the border!
I have seen alot of flowers that I am growing in these pics and I would have to say,I made some excellent choices!(grin) After that pic of the Laurens Grape poppy,I am so glad I have them!:)
Thanks to everyone that shared their awesome pictures,it really is nice to see what we have to look foward to!:D

Thanks for the compliments on the lupines. I wintersowed these for a friend. She is from England and she tells this was her mom's favorite flower.

Carrie, the lupines are growing in sandy soil with tons of manure mixed in. They are in full sun and get watered quite often. Last summer was their first time flowering. We had a recod hot summer and I'm wondering if they will be as robust this year. I guess we will see in a few months.

You people really know how to put together a garden bed. My plants grow well but I can't seem to get that WOW factor in my design. I do not have an eye for puting things together to look good. Your pictures have been very inspiring.

Tiffy, I love that Verbascum.

Oh I have flower envy!! This is my first yeat winter sowing. I've got one foot out the door to get more potting soil, but wanted to know
dereks-what kind of lupine is that?(lupinus perinnis??)
oh so much to do!! B

Oh for goodness sake, PV! LOL! I winter-sowed Giant Chabaud last year! No blooms yet. Gee, hoping I get some of those gorgeous blooms this year!

:)
Dee

OH GOOD GRASCIOUS Derek!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You??? Not have an eye for that WOW factor??? Would you PLEEEASE do me a favour and have a look at that Lupine picture with the Golden Chain tree (at least that's what I think it is) behind it!!!! If you don't see WOW!, then make an appointment with your optometrist because I see major WOW! That is beautiful! :O)

Thanks for the compliment on the Verbascum. It is a gorgeous plant at 6 feet. Unfortunately a true biennial, but well worth the wait!

Tiffy, I was thinking the same thing - those lupines look great with that golden chain tree (or so that's what I thought it was too).

Tiff, your verbascum looks suspiciously like a weed I have in my yard - oops, perhaps I should call it a "natually occuring plant", lol! I think the leaves on mine may be a bit more pointed, but it is a large, tall, tough plant which, although I thought was a weed, was actually quite pretty. I'm not too familiar with verbascum, having never grown it....

Dee

Yep, you are right Dee. Some folks consider it a weed. I saw it growing in a garden in a small town here in Nova Scotia and when I saw the seeds for sale I just had to have them.

It has many good things going for it such as that it's a bee and butterfly magnet, fills tough spaces nicely (under the eave of the house on the southwest side - hot and dry), is disease and pest proof, and the deers won't touch it. Now that to me is not a weed! Maybe to others, but not to me. :O)

Now I'm ready for Spring!!! Great photos everyone! Love the pic with the finch, ggwrn. I didn't collect my coneflower seed last year and they had quite a feast from my plants!

Yes, Tiffy, my "naturally occuring plant" does pop up in tough spaces - at the base of oak trees where there is hardly any soil, and what is there is hard and dry and unamended; out in front, again in shallow, dry, rocky, hot soil. Actually, now that I think of it, I've never had it actually *in* any of the amended beds, but always in odd, difficult spots.

It gets quite tall (5 ft) and has a big basal footprint - at least a foot in diameter. Tell me, is mullein (sp?) the same as verbascum? I thought that once, way back when, I had identified my "weed" as mullein, but can't quite remember.

I've really got to learn how to use my camera, lol! you guys have all inspired me!

:)
Dee

It's known also as the Common Mullein, Verbascum Thapsus being the botanical name. Some of the basal leaves you see in the photo were at the least 1.5 feet long.

Brandy,I still have the seed packet the lupine seeds came in and all it say is Russell Hybrids Mixed. I was supposed to have several different colors but as you can see by the picture, I only got purple.

Yes, that is a Golden Chain tree with the lupines and there is definately a WOW factor there. However, it is in my friend's garden, not mine. :( Thanks goodness this friend is across the street from me so I can see this garden all I want. I kept a few of these plants for my own yard and they failed miserably. I don't get it.

HAS WOW been mentioned? WOW...I'm so inspired...remy this is what the front of my drive way looks like 90% of the time!!! Pot ghetto...I LOVE IT.....

Carie, absolutely LOVE your tree lined landscape, just gorgeous and so inviting....My dream house will have a layout like yours...very very nice.

Just getting started with WSing after a disasterous drought summer and disappointment. I threw myself into decorating inside my house and comtemplated changes in my gardening practices for the future - more drought tolerant plants, ornamental grasses, ect but with spring just around the corner and all these inspiring pictures I had to go back and relook at mine. There were some beautiful moments :)
Foxglove which has reseeded all over the place - YAY!!!!!!!
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cottage garden
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Hollyhocks and nicotionia
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Gerbers and annual phlox
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Black eyed Susan
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Lynne

I've had the best time reading these posts and drooling over the photos.

Phil, I have 6 chinkapin oaks that I started from seed 8 years ago, and they are finally starting to look like trees. One in particular is tall and beautiful and has put out acorns.

Derek, your lupines are amazing. Can't grow them here, so your photo is now on my screensaver rotation to enjoy daily.

I WSed for the first time last year and loved it. Many thanks to all of you for your help and inspiration. Here are a few I had never sown until WS came along:

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Feverfew

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Cleome

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Black-eyed Susan

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Halverd-leaved mallow

dereks - I'm curious. Do you remember how many plants are in that stand of lupines?

PV

Msmisk -- What are those little blue flowers in with the Black-Eyed Susans? Nice combo! -- I need to pay attention for more of these "little in-between flowers", "floating color things" instead of only structural plants.

thanks!
--kilngod

Lynne,

I just love that cottage garden raised bed area you have. I have a backyard which is difficult to garden at times due to the soil conditions and have been considering doing what you've done. Thanks for the inspiration!

I see you have some fencing? Deer perhaps? Don't they go after those lovely hollyhocks?

msmisk,
I envy you being able to grow those mallows! My season is too cool and I've had to give up.

Pvick, I believe there are three or four plants.

Tiffy - thanks for the compliment - we have hard clay and rocky soil so raised beds was a necessity

we do have a deer problem and yes they have eaten the hollyhocks and just about everything else in the past but we now have some dogs next door and in the lot behind us so the deer seem to have left (I hope anyway - grrrrrrr)

the fence is in a long perennial bed that divides it down the center and keeps tall plants from flopping into the smaller plants in the front. This is a picture of it when we first started it. Pine trees go right down the center and was easy to attach the fence to.

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Lynne

This is a great thread---very inspirational and beautiful pictures!!
I am going to start some WS this week, wish me luck!

I'm afraid everyone's seen these photos too many times, but these are some of my WS annuals. I am going to have to take more pictures this year, so I'm not posting the same few over and over, LOL.
Marigolds
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Cosmos
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Coreopsis 'Mahogany Midget'
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Strawflower
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Calendula 'Sherbet Fizz'
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African daisies
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Bonnie

I haven't seen those pics yet, Bonnie! Very nice! Some of the plants you have are the reasons why I'm starting to love oranges and yellows and not just concentrating on pinks and purples.

That calendula is beautiful! I've been thinking about trying that one, and now I think I will.

Nice pedicure, by the way... ;)

Dee

LOL, Dee!!! I've looked at that picture a dozen times, and never saw that! Too funny!

Bonnie

kilngod - the blue flower is salvia 'Sapphire Blue', which I bought as a plant at the nursery. I don't know if it's perennial here, but if not, I'm getting some more. It really did well all summer and looked great next to the rudbeckia.

Carol

Bonnie - you can post your pics every day as far as I'm concerned! I love that 'Mahogany Midget" more each time I see it!

~sigh~ Everyone's flowers look so beautiful! We're expecting 6-12 inches of snow today. It's nice to drift off and daydream about summer while looking at the pictures.

Such nice gardens, ALL of you! You can be proud.
pvick...your spider mums, do you container grow them? I did one year because we can frost so easy the last week in September, but was able to keep the fuji and spiders going till Turkey Day.
Snow, then ice storm today, getting tired of feeding the woodburner since October!
Here is my addition to this great thread:

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Spring sown millet and impatiens by the pool

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Tipsy pots

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Did someone say French Melons?

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Pollenless sunflower I crossed after 4 years

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Ist Year of perennial bed slope facing the road
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Bouquet I took to a neighbor

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Small row Zinnias, Won me 1st prize that the fair

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The first steep bank year near the drive and roadway

Ok, almost time to go car sledding to get home today!

Beautiful photos.... can't wait for spring!!

I do the same thing - I need to put more photos in my photobucket - or I'll just keep posting the same ones over and over again - sometimes, I can be so borrrrring.....

Carrie

The pictures shared here have really inspired me - thank you, everyone! I have a few more I'd like to share on this snowy evening:

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Maltese Cross

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Did somebody say verbascum? (V. bombicyferum in island bed.)

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Columbine.

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WS Snapdragons.

Laurel

Laurel, is that a working fireplace? Or just the remnants of one? That is so cool looking! What a neat garden feature.

Bonnie

Thanks Philmont for starting this thread. just what we need in dreary February! Your plants look amazing.
And thanks everyone for sharing. I forgot to take pictures last year, but this year I'll be sure to take some to share.

In the meantime:

kqcrna: You definitely convinced me that I should sow my Zowie zinnia seeds!

tiffy: those enticing blue poppies - I have to get my courage up - maybe next year...

carrie630: do you happen to have any fire and orange zinnia seeds left for swapping?

pvick: Any seeds of your spidermums left for trading?

Bonnie: I'd love to trade for some of your Mahogany Midget coreopsis. Stunning!

Laurel, love that garden fireplace, too.

Keep the photos coming. They are such an inspiration.

laperouse - (hanging my head while answering...).. I very rarely harvest seeds, I end up placing orders or looking for seeds in our local hardware store which carries a pretty good variety.

But I can tell you this, I did receive harvested seeds from someone else's profusions a couple of years ago and they do not come true to seed. The plants were much taller and a different color. I buy my profusion zinnia seeds from Parks Seeds - I get about 25 for under $3.00 and I use all of them to border most of my beds. It's worth the money because you get the correct colors and size.

Carrie

Wow, Carrie, I'm surprised. I have harvested and grown seeds from my orange and my neighbor's apricot profusions, and they came true to size and color.

This one you can't see well. It was taken in Oct so of course they are declining. These were orange, looked great with the pumpkins, so I left them until they froze out.
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Here is one I started from harvested, open polinated apricot seeds which were 2 years old. I love the apricots.

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Has anyone else had experience like Carrie's where your harvested profusion seeds don't come true? You know, sometimes traded seeds are questionable...

Karen

Bonnie and laperouse,

LOL, no, that fireplace has never been used by us! It's original to the house, 50+ years old, and we've been here almost 11 years. It's crumbling a bit, but I don't dare remove it because it's holding up the end of the retaining wall (which is also in poor shape). I used to joke with my husband that I'd plant red/orange climbers in it and make it look like a volcano. I really did plant mina lobata in it last year, lol, but it didn't bloom well. I'll plant something else in it this year; I filled the "pit" with soil and planted tulips and daffodils in it, and I'll try to get it to overflow with annuals - maybe lantana and dwarf orange zinnias and alyssum. . . .

Laurel

Derek, those lupines are to DIE FOR. I've given up on lupines. I've tried and tried but I think here in Virginia, they are like delphiniums: best admired in photos. I think the humdidity as we say here just nails them.

Laurelin, love your maltese cross. I've wintersowed it this year. Is it long blooming? Hope it does well!

Lynnencfan, love your larkspur. Two years ago my larkspur too off, but this past year it did nothing. We had that weird spring where it was cool then the drought, so maybe that is why?

Carrie, your zinnias always inspire me. I have profusion zinnias in my garden because of you!

Some beautiful pics everyone! I'm more than a little envious of you!!!

Couple questions, though....many of my seeds say to wait until after the last frost before sowing, or wait until soil temp reaches at least 60 degrees, etc... Even my Marigolds say to wait until after last frost before direct sowing. Can these still be WSed? If so, do I have to be sure to bring them inside if frost is forecast???

Laperouse, I'm afraid I've traded all I had already, and I'm actually not growing them this time. I liked them fine, but I have so many new things that I want to a try, that I'm not doing many of the things I grew last year.

One thing I AM doing is those gorgeous Profusion Apricot Zinnias. Carrie, it was your pictures last year that made me put that one on my must have list too. I may try to save some seeds and just see what happens next year. Maybe I'll buy one pack as a back-up.

Laurel, I can just picture some candles sitting on the hearth of that fireplace, and you guys sitting around it in the evening with a cold glass of lemonade, admiring your gardens.

That Maltese Cross is stunning. I'm WSing a shorter version of that this year. It's called Lychnis 'Lumina Bronzeleaf Red' which I got from Specialty Perennials (let's hope it was worth the wait, LOL!).

Bonnie

Thanks for the tip, Carrie. I'll check it out (like I need any more plants, really, but...)

Laurel, do not, I repeat: DO NOT, remove that fireplace. It is to die for! And your idea of turning it into a vulcano sounds like so much fun. This is the kind of garden follies that you can't buy for money (well, maybe you can, but it'd cost you loads and then it wouldn't look as nice!). Consider yourself lucky that you have it.

Marianne

Thanks for the info, dereks!

busylizzy - yes, those spider mums were container-grown. I did not, however, expect them to get so BIG - they were about 5' tall!

laperouse - the mums are not last year's plants; when I grew them, I didn't collect seeds - didn't know how. Since then, that plant has been moved to a friend's garden; I think it lived for a couple of years, but is gone now.

I agree on the profusion zinnias - they are great! Grew the orange last year and fell in love - so did the butterflies and bees. I think I now have every color and plan to have those zinnias in profusion (hehehe)!

PV

zengeos: For seeds that say to sow after last frost, just sow them later. I don't know when that would be for your zone, though. My last frost date is in May, I sow tender things like zinnia in late Mar or early April in SW Ohio. Most of those seeds will germinate fast because the weather is warmer by then.

Karen

Zenia's and moss rose wintersown.
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Marigoal bed with couple Dahla's
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Snapdragons
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Salvia
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Johnnie Jump Ups
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Coleus
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Close up of Petunia.
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A quirk of nature, A moss Rose with two distinct colors on one blossem.
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Enjoyed everyone else's hope you enjoy these.
jim

I wanted to move this up, some of us need to see SOME green!!! LOL!!
B

Okay, these are all nursery-started plants since this is my first year WSing, but it sure was fun to look at everyone's photos and even go through my own. These are from my front beds. I hope I'm posting these HTML codes properly...

Verbena bonariensis
[IMG]http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x229/Agilityscots/100_0513.jpg[/IMG]

Coreopsis Sunshine Superman
[IMG]http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x229/Agilityscots/100_0514.jpg[/IMG]

Sneezeweed
[IMG]http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x229/Agilityscots/100_0512.jpg[/IMG]

Yarrow
[IMG]http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x229/Agilityscots/Yarrow.jpg[/IMG]

My absolute favorite, Coreopsis zagreb (Threadleaf coreopsis)
[IMG]http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x229/Agilityscots/100_0411.jpg[/IMG]

ARGH! Sorry for that bad message, everyone. I copied the image codes instead of the HTML codes. Trying again...

Threadleaf coreopsis
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Sneezeweed
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Verbena bonariensis
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Coreopsis Sunshine Superman
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Yarrow
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OMG!!! I don't even know where to start!!! I loved eveything...wowwwwwwwwwwie!!!!!!!!
I really enjoyed it,

Vera