Here I am a grower of ornamentals and start lots of seeds, mostly perennials and biennials outdoors in the summer. I have a plastic covered area 10x20 feet open on both ends, mostly shaded by tall trees. The summer temperatures are just about right and the fluctuating day/night temperatures actually seem to help the germination. The seeds are kept plastic covered to maintain moisture until germination, when the plastic is then removed. Al

Interesting! Yes, I have heard that if you cut it back, then for Group 3's they will only bloom on new growth so I can see how it would top out. here in MN I hear of most people treating their group 3's like group 2's and not cutting it back like group 3's say you should do. We leave them, and then cut the die back at the top 1 1/2 or so after the first buds bloom. I hear then that people get them to grow more uniformly, but it might depend on the kind of clematis. So I'm curious to hear what people do up in the north who treat their Rouge Cardinal/Ernest Markham like a group 2 - which one tends better under that condition? Which one blooms earlier or might be more uniform in blooming all over the plant instead of just at the top? Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with these other than what I'm thinking/seeing it will do.

I have no experience with Ernest Markham but I have Rouge Cardinal. Mine is blooming now, and has been for about a week, this year everything is late so you can figure a bloom in mid June. The flowers are primarily at the top growth of my plant, but the way it is connected to the trellis it looks as if they cover the plant. The one I have is three years old, I have had problems with blight after the first flush of bloom, but I don't think that this has as much to do with the particular plant as is does with my garden and situation as I have not heard of it being exceptionaly incline to the problem. The color is much more purple-red than the picture on the tags or web indicate. It tends to have a really good first flush of blooms and then the flowering is spuradic rather than constant. I hope this helps a little. Helen.

Hello all! I picked my first (non-cherry) ripe tomato on Monday. Several of the Bush Champions are starting to turn red. It was pretty good, but I think I'll brave the squirrels and let them get redder. My yellow tomato has so many babies on it I'll be giving them away to everyone I know even if the rodent's do snack on 1/2 of them and the Roma is getting pretty heavily loaded too. My zucchini is getting blossum end rot on most every fruit. Funny that the tomatoes aren't when they are planted within five feet of each other in exactly the same compost, but I'll count my blessings. My pole beans are slow, thanks to the deer that munched them, but I almost have enough picked for cooking now. With a 4x7 garden, there's no canning. LOL! And I made my very first sling out of pantyhose for my cantaloupe yesterday. I have one about the size of a tennis ball now and several others on the trellis that are smaller. I'll be so excited if I even get one or two of those to eat! My petunias are going insane on my front steps and look just lovely, but BOY do I need to weed my flower beds. Maybe this weekend. After all the rain we got I have grass growing everywhere! Hope you all are having a wonderful start to the 2nd half of the year - and had a great Independence Day!