What did you grow that was new to you this year, did you like it, and why/why not? Let's share the things we've learned the hard way. Please let us know what climate zone you're in, or where you are, for comparison purposes.
I'll start.
Achillea: Moonwalker (yellow): way too short, maybe 9" tall, sparse flowers, obviously not happy here, won't grow again. Coronation Gold, tall and floriferous but the flower heads invariably get spoiled by some sort of dark rot, won't grow it either and am giving up on yellow achilleas. Red Beauty, could be a little taller, otherwise very good, will keep.
Ageratum Weisser Schnitt, in hoophouse, flowered well but stems too thin and flimsy. Nights are too cold to grow it outside here, so I'm giving up on ageratum.
Amaranths: Red Cathedral was way inferior to Opopeo, won't bother with again. Too short, flower heads small, color rather muddy. Giant Copperhead were all more brown than copper, about half were plain brown with no copper tint whatsoever, won't grow again - I just don't like brown.
Campanula medium Champion: slow to germinate, then I didn't get around to transplanting until too rootbound, bloomed too short. Might try again, might not.
Celosia, Cramer's Crested Rose, got 1-2 1-3" flowers per plant in hoophouse. That's the best performance I've gotten from any celosia, indoors or out. Bloomed late, dried them along with lots of statice for my own winter bouquets. Might grow a few again just for that.
Dahlias, Karma: Serena (pure white) was one of the fastest-to produce of all my dahlias, with Corona (yellow with pink shading) close behind. Flowers were smaller than I'd expected and stems shorter, but they were still useful. Got maybe four or five flowers from each of them. I'd grow them again if I lived in a longer-season, warm-nights climate, and if I weren't giving up on dahlias altogether due to the climate. Karma Naomi was too slow - got no flowers.
Delphinium: Clear Springs Pink/Rose shades, incredibly horrible germination, only got three plants, all with muddy grayish-pink flowers, won't grow again. Clear Springs Mid-Blue shades, germination poor, still managed to get about 30 plants. Grew well in 4" pots, I didn't get around to transplanting until very late (a few tried to bloom in the 4" pots), will try it again next year.
Dianthus Sweet mix: a little earlier than the Amazons, much smaller flower heads than the Amazons, a little smaller even than the biennial types, but tall enough, a good color mix, a little fragrant, will grow again. I especially like the salmon color. Don't know if it's sold separately.
Digitalis: Camelot lavender, pretty darned tough, did indeed flower toward the end of its first season despite being planted out way late. Flowers attractive enough but spaced very far apart on stem, too sparse even though grown in mostly full sun, won't grow again. Excelsior mix, almost all the same greenish-ivory-pinkish-lavendar, not very pretty, not very tall, and I wanted a mix! Won't grow again, mostly for height reason.
Lily Triumphator, OT: This was its second summer, after the first overwintering. The first summer after spring planting, produced magnificent, huge flowers in goodly amounts, between the Asiatic and Oriental blooms times. But now I know it doesn't like the winter here much (about half survived it) and is the most disease-, rot-, and aphid-prone lily I've ever seen, at least in this climate. The few that bloomed still opened between the Asiatics and the Orientals. Not sure I'd want to spend the money again on something that might only give me one good season of flowers.
Limonium Pastel Shades: I grew those last year but was disappointed that they were almost all the same lavendar. Tried again, same seed, but got a pretty good mix of pinks, lavendars, and pale blues this time, will grow again.
Lupines, Russell's mix, got as bareroots, am keeping way more than I can really use. These are great here except for being susceptible to powdery mildew in our cold, wet springs and autumn. With faithful spraying in the early weeks of spring, they stay clean and produce very well, all the way through the summer and into the fall here, if kept deadheaded. I have to start spraying again the the autumn if I want them to stay clean, but I don't necessarily get to it. Doesn't seem to harm the plants.
Millet, Limelight Spray: tried a few despite poor reviews from some of you folks last year, and was glad I did. Nice long stems, nice shape and color of heads (albeit NOT in sprays, just single), produced heads much earlier than most grasslike plants here. I guess it like the climate! Will grow a few again - probably couldn't use many.
Rudbeckia Goldilocks, definitely more orange than others, a little short in its first year but that's normal here for all rudbeckia. Would grow again if for sale; for just myself, not sure I want the color.
Scabiosa, "Ace of Spades" (I think that's its name), annual, dark burgundy-black. Gorgeous in the bed, kind of a pain to cut, as most open flowers have much smaller, not-open buds above them, a lot like Centaurea cyanus. I found I didn't use it much for that reason - takes too much time to trim off buds. Supposedly doesn't need support, but the plants at the outside edges of the bed mostly flopped over and grew sideways. I think I will grow it in my house garden as a bedding plant, but not for cutting.
Snapdragon Madam Butterfly: too few flowers, too slow for this climate, won't grow again. Rocket White, ditto, although all the other Rocket colors are pretty good here. Costas are great, a couple of weeks ahead of the Rockets. Speed matters more than anything else when growing snaps here.
Sunflowers: ProCut Peach: YES!!! Earliest of the Pro-Cuts
and branches, so multiple cuttings can be made. Bashful: this flower is just too cute not to grow, and fairly early, with delicate pale yellow and pale pink shading. Indian Blanket: very similar to Strawberry Blonde, although a little earlier. Summer Sunset, also similar to Strawberry Blonde but had a higher proportion of solid purplish reds. I'll grow a few of all three again (Indian Blanket, Strawberry Blonde, Summer Sunset). Mini-Suns: Absolutely! Pretty shape and color, not very big but very fast indoors or out, it and Premier Light Yellow are the only suflowers fast and nice enough to be allowed any hoophouse space at all next year. Florenza and Floristan, both too small and too slow. Dwarf Pastel Mix: not pastels, too slow. Lemon Eclair: considerably slower than the other Starburst/Aura group, too slow for me. Apricot Twist: these flowers are TINY - won't grow again. Tiger's Eye Mix: gorgeous, with huge, branching, tree-like plants, too slow for me but would love to grow again if I didn't have such a short, cold season to contend with.
Zinnias, Benary's Giants,in hoophouse: grew and produced flowers, not enough to be worth the precious bed space in there. Were hopeless outdoors here due to our cold nights (all of our night temps are below 50 degrees). Will not try again anywhere here, anytime, anyhow. I think I gave most of the seed to LizaLily. I sure hope so, anyhow.
Anybody who read all the way down to here is to be commended for thier patience.
It's your turn now!
Jeanne
bryan_ut
neil_allen
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