There are lots of reference books out there that will give you much more detailed plant information so you're better informed about what you plant in your flowerbeds. By far the most highly-recommended book is Tracy DiSabato-Aust's The Well-Tended Perennial Garden but I've found several others that provide reliable information. Two that I keep close to hand are Perennials for Every Purpose by Larry Hodgson and another published by Ortho called The Complete Perennials Book. Both have allowed me to better plan my flowerbeds & maximize the expected results from year to year. It's been my experience that some cultivars hit the garden centers long before their garden performance is assured, among them coreopsis and rudbeckia. One coreopsis that seems hardy & grows to larger proportions in my beds each year is C. 'Zagreb.' Gaillardia/blanket flower has been borderline hardy in my Zone 6 garden even when grown from seed via winter sowing so I'm glad when it reappears in Spring but not entirely surprised when it doesn't. The same cannot be said of foxglove--it doesn't do well here so I don't bother/waste time trying to grow it. I'm not surprised the hollyhocks I grew from seed didn't return this year but was a bit disappointed when established butterfly bushes and false indigo plants failed to come up this spring. Some perennial plants are just naturally short-lived so it's best to research them and plan your garden beds with that in mind. Setting realistic goals and expectations is something else to be factored into the equation. My initial goal was attracting bees, butterflies & birds which I've succeeded in doing altho' not without a number of disappointments along the way. FWIW, there's a saying that goes something like 'you aren't a real gardener until you've killed every plant at least three times.'

I don't use pots because I am not lucky with pots. However, using als gritty mix does work, but still the ground is better. I use compost made from food waste and starbucks coffee grounds and bagged sheared wood. But, compost does not work in pots. I think it's the compost, but on the other hand, Antonelli Brothers did great in pots. They used a green house environment and feed them with Romeo brand food the red colored one. One tip is avoid wetting the leaves as much as you can, for fungal problems and they did spray them with fungicide and they used small sticks to prop up the larger flowers. Doubles can sometimes droop or break off. So clearly compost and the ground is not a requirement. I would order at least one double and try it. I found ones I just buy like at any old place like home depot wonâÂÂt be up to par at all. You have to be on top of the small sticks/stakes because as it get bigger it will begin to sag and then break off, so you need to stake before it sags. They use small green bamboo stakes cut up to the size they want. They do not need a cold night, they donâÂÂt actually like cold. I could be wrong, but we donâÂÂt get cold nights here in San Francisco, normally 50âÂÂs. If you can, increase the humidity, because sun rooms can be dry. They like humidity, but then you donâÂÂt want wet leaves, just humidity in the air. Water deeply until it runs out of the pot, but then donâÂÂt water until it is dry again. You want to flush out any salts from the pot. If you only water just a bit, the salts from the fertilizer can build up. I would repot often if possible. I am not feeding mine with the romeo stuff, since I have so much compost, I use dyno grow foliage, because I have alkaline soil and water and they like acid soil. If you feed with a high middle number which is good for flowers you risk increasing alkaline soil. Your soil choices sounds ok for a begonia, I donâÂÂt have enough experience to judge, but the peat moss can get packed down so maybe some perlite? They appeared to grow them in peat with perlite, and I mean, a lot perlite, as I recall. I also use treatments to increase the acidity sulfur is good, it is also a plant food as well. Or aluminum sulfate, but donâÂÂt use too much. When you repot look careful at the tuber and check to see it is firm and healthy. If it is soft the plant is rotting. You can sort of get the hang of how a healthy tuber looks, itâÂÂs like picking a good potato, not rock hard, but not mushy. Then always make notes on what you did so it something works better you can do that again. I got the orange one to bloom but it is just a later begonia then the other one. It has big flowers, I took a photo today of it.

As far as I know, the lifespan of Stella D'oro is endless. As far as dividing, Stella needs to be divided every year down to two or three fans to be a real bloom machine. I don't divide mine that often and get major bloom in May with a bit of rebloom in July, August and September. If you have divided them every year, I would suggest you look at sun patterns. They may be in more shade now than when you first planted them. Are trees, shrubs, or taller flowers shading them more now? Also, your soil may now be depleted of nutrients. Do you fertilize? Debra

CFLs generally have somewhat shorter overall life than a 48" tube (as little as 6,000 hours on a 3 hour cycle) and the light generally drops off a little more too (up to 25% by the end of life for some bulbs). If you don't have a light meter you can check bulb brightness by eye by comparing next to a new one. The 10%-15% brightness drop in an older bulb is visible. Reflect the lights in a pane of glass if you want the experience to be a little less glaring :) Of course, you don't have to replace tubes until they fail, just make sure that you have enough light for the plants. I move bulbs away from the plants and use them as regular light bulbs after a few thousand hours.