Pretty, Fran.

I only have one little hunk of forget-me-nots left- the rest bloomed, fried, and got yanked.

Karen

What a lovely collection of plants and photos. I see that you grow your 4'oclocks in pots. Is that because you save the tubers? I fell in love with them and just noticed the first blooms of some of the plants in my most sunny spot. I find it easier to WS each year because sometimes the tubers get dried out in my basement. I love the Torenia. Thanks for sharing.

Karen, the chinese forget me nots keep blooming for me from late spring right up until the can't take any more nights with some frost in the late fall.

The regular perennial forget me nots bloom just once, maybe twice sometimes and then they are gone.

I keep my chinese forget me nots in part sun in 3 different beds, but the clump I tried in the back yard, in full sun, bit the dust in early July.

Northener,

I grow the 4 o'clocks in pots so that I can move them around in my beds to add color when needed and to help deter japanese beetles from destroying my roses and malva.

4 oclock leaves are deadly poison to the japanese beetle. they eat them and die. I end up with quite a few dead ones on the top of the mulch in the pots.

They are hardy plants when the JP attack them chew up the leaves. They just shoot out more and more leaves and keep on growing and blooming.
In the mean time, the roses and malva are left alone, instead of totally destroyed.

Send me an email and I'll tell you how I save the tubers from year to year. I don't do anything complicated and it's really easy to do.
So far they have survived for the past 2 years with the method I use.
But just to be safe, I do sow 4 o'clock seeds every year just incase I lose the tubers.

Fran

Fran--Your note about 4 o'clocks in pots detering JP's is one of the most hopeful I've heard recently about that pest. I gave up on roses for awhile cause they're so ugly--spoiled everything for me. Now I'm carefully reintroducing roses-low, red, not fragrant--cause they don't much attract them. But I'll sew some pots of 4 o'clocks. Thanks for tip. Mary

Looking good, Fran! We've got a few plants in common - dahlias (tubers from Lynda), and a re-seeded 4 o'clock from last year (seeds originally from Lynda, which she dubbed 'Clownie'), and malva 'Mystic Merlin' from last year's WS. The 4 o'clock is a blooming machine! The first time I grew them (eons ago, back in my beginner days), the black aphids loved them and I ended up tossing the plants because they gave me the heebie-jeebies! But this year's plant is just clean and lovely. Next year, I want more! I'll be saving this year's tuber too.

I sowed some red cosmos which never got planted out; they did end up blooming in their cups, but they were orange. Bummer!

Your sunflower reminds me that I really want to give those a shot next year, too.

Thanks for posting these .....

PV

Merryrose, glad to offer some help with the JP, there is nothing like having roses grow beautifully without them attacking the plants.

I learned the trick from my grandmother when I was a kid spending summers on the flower and veggie farm. she always had beautiful roses bushes and long stem cut roses for sale and no damage to the bushes. The 4 o'clocks did the trick.

I can't remember the last time I've seen one now, my whole neighborhood is void of them since everyone grows 4 o'clocks in pots around the roses and other plants that the JP attack.

Thanks PV.

I've never seen a "real red" cosmos in my life. the closest is a dark, dark orange that when the sunlight is half on them, they almost look red and they are called "red".

I've got one, maybe 2 plants of this one that showed up in my yard and I can save some seeds for you.

I've got so many tubers to dig up this fall, I'm already thinking I must have been nuts to plant them in the beds and in pots.

I don't do anything fancy to save the tubers though, so far so good in my haphazzard method.

Have you save tubers before? if so do you do anything fancy?

Fran