I suppose it would be a good idea to put in some peas pretty soon... as well as the sweet peas.

My Daylilies didn't do well either.... to hot and dry air maybe. Even the ground roses aren't putting on the usual Fall display. But the Texas Rangers are blooming for the second time in as many months; I wonder what's up with that.

Westelle, what kind of plant is a Texas Ranger? Pat

I finally found a grouping of these plants! Sages, I didn't realize till just recently how many plants we grow are in the sage family. Sounds like an ideal plant for my gardens especially when we have our heat waves. Pat

Texas Ranger is Leucophyllum frutescans; it is not a Salvia/Sage. It is a family of small shrubs. I have several different varieties from 12' tall to 2'. Some have green leaves, some silver. The flowers are a pink/lilac. It is one of my favorite shrubs.

I'm currently tied to this keyboard so as to prevent myself from starting seeds too soon. LOL For the ones I have, I really need to wait until the true, regular rains come, and I'm not a very patient person. :D

Mom's Texas ranger bloomed for her right before I got a chance to see it! She's only had it in the ground for less than a year, but it looks very happy.

Pat, I haven't tried growing Salvias from seed yet, but from what I hear, and really depending on the type, they can be difficult. Let alone the fact that they don't always come true. The annuals are supposedly MUCH easier from seed, especially S. coccinea. And Mom's 'Lady in Red' coccinea is actually on its second year, believe it or not! It seeds all around the base, even in mostly shade (under the eaves right near the front door) and mostly native soil (i.e., red and hard).

I'm supposed to get some new-to-me Salvia seeds soon in a trade, and I'm going to give them my best shot. :D

Brenda

This a.m. I see seed sprouting in the mini green house! They are the Bachelor Buttons, probably an easy one to grow.While this weathr has turned from miserable to gorgegous will try to get gardens cleaned, preped and ready for some gorgegous blooms.

That's great, Pat! I still haven't started any of my seeds, but I did buy a bunch of pots to get some of my poor plants out of their cramped living conditions. :)

I had a terrible shopping experience at Home Depot yesterday! At the Woodland store, they don't even bother opening the outside nursery doors during the week, I was informed. "Not enough business..." While I was circling the parking lot, 3 other vehicles were driving past the nursery doors with me. Two eventually left...lost business or "not enough?"

A bunch of pots I REALLY wanted were on the top shelves. I felt like I was on an episode of Survivor, using some props to try to get the (luckily, they were plastic) pots over to the edge so I could grab them (luckily, I'm tall). Then, I couldn't separate the pots from each other....*sigh*

On to the bagged soil...lifting the bags into my cart about gave me a hernia. No one around to help. A man in the next aisle over had a hefty male employee in tow, helping him get bags of rocks off the shelves. I almost yelled, "Is chivalry dead?!" LOL AND they didn't have any flowering oregano, which I've been really hoping to get to plant in a pot with one of my Salvias. Then...the LONG trek back to the checkout counter and out to my truck...which I had idiotically parked back down by the nursery. LOL Cripes, those bags need to be loaded in the bed of the truck! My back hates me today. But thanks for letting me vent. :D

I'm glad to hear your bachelor's buttons are coming up! I have some Centaurea montana seeds that I'm hoping will do well for me this year...once I get them started, anyway. LOL

Brenda

Sounds like our HD. I've been know to hunt down a suitable male and not let them leave my side until the whole works was in my car. I don't go to HD much anymore --- probably because of the lack of help.

I've been thru this phase at HD & a couple of others, I get in my car, rant and rave with a dirty word tossed around, then settle down and get on with it. At least till I get home where I'm not endangering lives! It really is the pitts though, especially when you start out to have a pleasant shopping trip, then run into an employee who just had a spat with their spouse or whatever. I took one of the phone solicitors on the other day, one of two things happened, he either got the message that he doesn't just arbitrarily go around calling people by their first name or
he'd better shape on on his "manners" before he dials my number again. Oh geez! I'm a real PITA today, LOL!

I went to Lowes yesterday for soil and mulch and had to lift my own bags. Grandgirl was with me and after I hefted one into the cart she helpfully pointed out the bag was open and mildewed, yuck. I tugged and sorted and finally gave up on the supersoil and finally went to an even larger heavier bag that was even more expensive. I was transplanting roses and another very large climbing rose I don't want to loose. As it is I accepted DH's help and I didn't tell him, assuming he'd know where to shovel and he didn't take enough root. Anyways, I barely manage to heft them into the cart and it's even worse trying to get them into my trunk. Especially the mulch ones that are packed tightly. They didn't have anything that I could see really for plants other then some bedding and some gardenias and ferns. Pretty bare. I have tomato cages all over the garden again guarding against the cats for transplanted roses. The cats can't resist the nice soil:)

I'll tell you one of my nasty little secrets -- if you promise not to tell anyone else. I have been know to pick up a store's phone and ask to talk to the Store Manager, then I ask for help since none seems available. Somehow the non-existent help appears out of nowhere. And, the Manager gets to know that there are pi$$ed customers who need HELP!

Of course, then you are obliged to behave yourself and thank the Manager nicely for "helping out".

LOL Oh Westelle, what a super neat idea and yes I could behave myself very well, especially knowing that this would be a much more "lady like" approach!

I remember the time I did this at Marshall Fields; there wasn't an employee to be seen in the whole store. After my call to the operator I had the guy with the flower in his lapel rushing to help me.... read Store Manager. He rang up my large order, then began looking for all the employees. About 15 minutes later the store was fully "employeed". I've always wondered where he found them all.

LOL!!! Westelle, we're totally on the same page. While on my trip from hell to Home Depot, I was thinking it would be nice if they had a service bell or button, big and red, to be pushed when someone needed service. Especially since they don't feel it's necessary to keep the registers open back there or a solitary employee around to help us "stragglers" looking for gardening stuff on a Monday. If I had only thought to look for a service phone, I truly wouldn't have felt badly about using it. :D

Pat, I do the slam-the-car-door-and-curse-my-brains-out thing, too. LOL I was actually muttering some naughty words the whole time, but there wasn't anyone close enough to hear me...which was the point, I guess. LOL

They had tons of plants there, but nothing exciting or what I'd care to plant right now. And the prices...especially for end-of-season stuff! Sheesh.

Brenda

I do hope we got all these retailers straightened out now. I did get the two huge Hostas dug and separated, got about a dozen plants from them, The Bachelor Button seedlings are looking pretty good, must remember not to try to hurry stuff. Inasmuch as I washed windows today, we should be getting rain very soon. Found an article reg. Feng Shui Gardening, like I need another project to start, but one little sentence caught my attention, "best part of Feng Shui garden is a place to sit & appreciate what you've done.
I tried to add the link code here, but its not working this time for me. You can google Feng Shui gardens & pick a site.