January: Is anything blooming in your garden now? Spring plans, etc?
Comments (78)
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
last yearlast modified: last yearsultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
last yearNarcissus got zapped by deep freeze a few weeks ago, but some new blooms have formed since then.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, ALRelated Discussions
What's looking good (or awful) in your garden, January 2013?
Comments (16)Hiya plstqd and all, Yup, I really, REALLY do have a petunia variety that survives our summers here: 'Old Fashioned Climbing' mix from Select Seeds. I've convinced several other local gardeners to try it and all have had great success with the plants. I should be getting some kind of royalty from Select Seeds, LOL. Anyway, I got my original plants (in 2003) from SEED that I started indoors and then planted outside in very early spring. Those plants have self-sown all over my previous garden and in my current garden (both in Scottsdale). No individual plant lasts forever but most last 3 or 4 years before petering out, and they self-sow nicely around the garden which is really fun. In my old and in my current garden the happiest ones get some afternoon shade, so along the east side of the house, or walls or big shading plants, seems to keep them happiest. I wouldn't trust them to survive the summer in a pot in sun, but in the ground with afternoon shade I've had great luck long term. Just keep in mind they're lanky and tall (but they bloom nicely) so they flop around after the stems get super long, and the flowers aren't HUGE or bright, but they come in nice colors from lavender through white with some pinks and in-betweens too. They ARE heavily scented at night though, especially in spring/autumn. The plants look a bit tired in summer (who doesn't?!) but most survive, so plant several and be sure to collect seed or let them self sow. I think they're really great. The one in this pic, a nice crisp white with the telltale veining right at the center, has done great in the ground for almost three years now, and got zero protection in summer or winter. What's not to love? If you or anyone gives them a try (in the ground!), let us hear how they do for you. Select Seeds usually sells seeds AND plants in spring, and then seeds only in autumn. I'll post a link if I find one that works. I've ordered from them for many years and have been absolutely pleased with everything I've gotten, and no, I don't work for them or get a commission, LOL. I wish! Happy gardening all! Grant Here is a link that might be useful: Old Fashioned Climbing petunia seeds from Select Seeds...See MoreHey, it's now January 1 (2009!). What graces your garden?
Comments (15)Oh, boy! I've been sick and coming back and reading this is like...well, like a mandate to go to the nusery! Most of you guys have warmer gardens than me, but these still have to be plants that'll show up early here too. Nippersdad, this is my first year with Edgeworthia. My friends all went crazy over it some time ago, but I looked at those silly flower-on-stick blooms and, as much as I love fragrance and winter bloom, decided to pass. Then I saw a mature plant all leafed out in another garden, and wow! The foliage is lush, even a bit on the tropical side, and it makes a very handsome plant for a position you'll be passing by a lot. Not so in winter, but then you get to spend the whole fall and early winter watching and waiting as those buds swell, so it is really a prize. That's very valuable information about daphne, Steve, and I'm writing it down to remember. It's still on my must-have-someday list so I haven't managed to kill it yet. What a great trip, Razorback. I love the Tama types but they sold out during a trip I made with friends to Fort Valley before I could grab one. Speaking of wanting more room, I used to live about 15 minutes from Descanso Gardens and 20 from Nuccio's Nursery, but my entire garden, carved out of the side of a mountain, totaled about 4000 square feet. I had 5 camellias in the shady back. Candytuft's always been on the list, Mk87, but it suddenly jumped up big time on the tidy groundcover list I'm trying to put together. I have so much dirt to cover and am already seeing that vining groundcovers are going to be a major hassel to control in large spaces. Thank you. A plant that's doing very nicely in my garden is lime thyme. Lemon thyme kept dying back after a while, but lime thyme's looking very pretty and fresh out there right now. If rodents (I assume) hadn't eaten my little species tulips, they would have been a wonderful picture. I'll be trying again. I don't mind all the learning experiences so much, it's that they take soooo long! I'm afraid of what another of these cycles is going to do, even though I have no winter-flowering camellias yet (it's so cold here I have to stick with winter-hardy, with maybe a couple of my favorites tucked against the house. What a difference these warm temperatures made since my post on New Year's Day, though. My tiny Osmanthus delavayi now has tiny buds at each leaf joint, so it will bloom after all, and both witch hazels, virginiana and Primavera, are opening flowers I thought had been killed by that early cold. These are my first from them, and I was thrilled to find their fragrances lovely and easy to discern from even one open flower (turns out they start blooming from the bottom, so I'm on my knees in the mud checking them out). Also looking very nice out there is Lavandula stoechas, Spanish lavender. The label's gone (do birds fly off with them?), so I don't know what cultivar, if any, but it's a very handsome tidy mound of a pretty pale green-blue-gray. And has a wonderful fragrance when you brush your hand over in passing or pinch off a piece to carry along. It's not in an especially dry or well-draining spot but doesn't seem to have been bothered by the rains so far. My husband needs me. A window just blew out of his workshop....See MoreAnything new in your yards and gardens this week?
Comments (97)Amy, I know they are hard on gardens, but I love the rabbits. I go out and feed them hen scratch at dinner time. I put it in the exact same spot every night, and usually the bunnies are out there waiting for me when I come out. If I don't look directly at them (direct eye contact is what a predator does before it pounces on them, lol), they sit and wait for me to scatter the hen scratch on the ground and then they eat after I've turned around and am walking back to the house. I do the same thing every morning, but it is cracked corn for the mourning doves, and the rabbits just horn in on their feast and help eat it up. That might sound like folly, but what I have found over the years is that as long as I feed them something, they become habituated to eating that and leave my garden completely alone. I can grow beans or anything else on the garden fence and the rabbits don't even touch the portion of the plants that is sticking out on their side of the fence. Lisa, I had to drag out the hoses and water all the containers. It was annoying. I've gotten so spoiled by having all that rain from January through May. I haven't even set up my irrigation driplines yet, and was hoping I could skip that this year, but maybe I'll have to put them out after all. So far, with anything new I'm putting in the ground, I just hand-water with a watering can, but that won't be adequate once the soil is dry deeper down. Right now the top inch of soil is kinda dry but everything below that remains moist. cochise, That sounds like the kind of thing that happens to me. Maybe you'll get some rain next week to help refill the barrel. My early corn produced just fine, and we've been eating and enjoying it and have plenty put up in the freezer. The mid-season corn does not look good at all. The plants are on the small side and are an off color. I think they just stayed too wet too long. Yet, they are tasseling and silking. I'm not sure if they'll produce ears big enough to eat though. Heather, I'd like to have more years with lots of rain in spring, though maybe not as much as we had in the month of May. This is probably the latest in the year I've been able to go without watering the yard or garden, but the containers do need watering now that we are in the 90s. Still, hand-watering a few containers isn't too bad. My crape myrtles look relatively happy but aren't blooming yet....they don't even look like they are thinking about blooming. I'm trying to remember if there is anything new in the garden today. Hmmm. The veronica just started blooming today, so that is new. While not in the garden, but just outside the garage, this happened: Humans 1, Copperhead 0. That copperhead was less than a foot away from our son's head when he spotted it. Luckily for him (our son, not the copperhead), the snake had gotten caught in some bird netting and tried to strike but couldn't reach our son because the bird netting had him all wrapped up. DS called me and I came up from the garden and brought him a gun. That's one less snake we all have to worry about this summer. Today in the garden I yanked out the browning remains of the poppies and larkspur. They looked good before they began drowning in excessively wet soil. Now that they are gone, the zinnias, tall verbena and Laura Bush petunias will spread into their space and fill in the area where I removed the spent remains of the cool-season flowers. Dawn...See MoreJanuary 2018, Week 1, A New Year and planning the new garden season
Comments (90)Jen, How rude of your DH to bring home germs to you. I hope you get well more quickly than usual. Jennifer, I really think more and more than whatever you and I both had in November was the flu. I've been around so many sick people (despite my best efforts to avoid them all) and haven't come down with anything, so I think I've already had it and now have some degree of immunity. I really do believe that. Eva Purple Ball is a good tomato. The color really is a deep pink, not purple, and the fruit are very smooth and globe-shaped, and maybe weigh 5-7 oz. each. It produces a decent harvest here. Rebecca, Take care of yourself. Everything else can wait until you're able to breathe more easily again. I've noticed lots of folks in our area are having respiratory issues lately. Nancy, We fed the Daytimer lust by buying them and they were marvelous. I think that was in the 1980s, maybe the 1990s too. I don't miss having one now and y'all know if I had one now, I wouldn't use it. I used to always buy Tim one for either his birthday (which is in December) or for Christmas until he started keeping track of everything on his phone maybe 5 years back. If he ever loses his phone, he's going to be so disorganized. Lucky went out yesterday, stayed out all night, but was outdoors wanting to come in and screaming to be fed this morning, so I do believe she's here to stay. We have been adopted so many times by so many animals since moving here. I guess we are big suckers because we cannot turn away an animal that needs a home. Like you, I never forget the pets we've lost. I think of them with happiness and with sadness, and I don't want to forget them. I've learned the more love we give to these animals, the more we receive back from them....and the more love we have to share with the next animal that comes along. Sometimes people tell me they don't have enough love to expand to another animal. I think they are wrong---I don't think you have to stretch some finite amount of love to make it cover another animal----I think the amount of love you have to give just is infinite and just grows and multiplies. Don't freak out over the seed sowing and WSing. It isn't like you get only one chance and don't get a do-over. Be patient. Stuff will sprout and grow. You'll find places to plant it all, and if any varieties don't grow (assuming you didn't sow a whole pack of seeds), you can just sow more seeds. We have a long season and plenty of time to plant more and more and more..... If y'all were warm yesterday at 46, then today we were hot at 63 degrees---and sunny! I love it and think we will have a couple more 'hot' January days before the next wintery blast hits us down here sometime Thursday. It's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow and maybe tomorrow night, and they mentioned the word 'thunderstorm'. The amount of rain expected is small, except for anyone who lucks out and gets a thunderstorm. If we are going to have a thunderstorm, I wish it would just go ahead and hail. That way, we can get our annual quota of hail out of the way before there's any plants out in the garden that it could hurt. Amy, I think God sends us replacement animals before an old one dies. It happens every time. Lucky had been hanging around for quite some time now, but lurking nearby---not coming directly to us. I saw her for weeks and weeks before Yellow Cat suddenly went downhill and died. She has taken his place in the spare room upstairs and acts like she's been here forever. Shady is the last of a couple of litters of kittens gifted to us by Emmitt and Midnight when we first moved here and they just showed up out of nowhere. I enjoyed raising kittens and keeping them together their whole lives, but we got Midnight fixed after her second litter because we didn't want to turn into crazy cat people with 247 cats or something. Since then, we get each cat fixed ASAP after it shows up or at the appropriate time after it is born. (This, of course, does not work when a mama cat shows up with a bunch of babies in tow. and you find yourself adopting 5, 6 or 7 cats instead of 1.) It must be lonely for Shady to have outlived all his litter mates. He is a good decade older than the other cats we have now, and he does act paternal towards them. I think he learned good paternal behavior from his dad, Emmitt. He loves on all of them, likes to cuddle and snuggle, and tolerates no infighting amongst them, just like his dad before him. He even sits in the exact same spot on the back steps where Emmitt used to sit and watch over the yard and its inhabitants. It is like Shady was in training to take Emmitt's place. Honey sounds so sweet, while at the same time being pure puppy and totally destructive. I love it when a dog has that sort of happiness just oozing out of her pores----no wonder we fall in love with them. I have found it very aggravating to garden with puppies, but they aren't puppies long and don't remember destructive forever. One day you realize they've settled down a lot, and then it seems like they suddenly, somehow, in the blink of an eye have gone from being settled down to old and lazy. I look at Jet now and think of how he aggravated me his first 3 years or so and think that I'd give anything to have one of those puppy years back. He mostly sleeps now, and I guess that is the stage he's at in his life now. He is still refusing to eat his Prescription canned food, and the dry is not due to arrive until Tuesday, but the medication seems to be helping him a lot. He doesn't have to go outside nearly as often and he seems like he even feels better. Kim, The story about the Pyrex cup being your coffee mug made me giggle. I'm glad Sophie didn't lose her pups. Rebecca, Our TSC usually has 3 to 5 good basic varieties selected just for OK, sold in bulk from large containers by the pound. They usually have them sometime in January or earliest February. A little later in the season, they'll have maybe 4 to 6 varieties of fingerlings in little bags like bulbs come in. I've grown and liked all the fingerlings, though they produce less for the space than full-sized tomatoes. Atwoods has seed potatoes, about the same varieties as TSC, and usually a little earlier, but theirs come in netting bags of maybe 3, 5 or 7 lbs. Our Wal-Mart usually gets seed potatoes in January (the common ones like Yukon Gold, Norland Red, sometimes Adirondack Blue or All Blue), some form of Russett, etc. and Home Depot usually gets them in February. I have ordered seed potatoes online a few times, but they are very costly when ordered online/shipped and I haven't bought them that way in some time since it really isn't necessary. I started doing it so I could try some of the fingerlings....but now those are available here, and I ordered online the last time so I could grow some of the purple potatoes---fun, but not necessary. Just relax. The potatoes likely will be in the stores by February, and I don't think I'd plant any early than February if I lived as far north as you do. I haven't been in any of the stores here looking for seed potatoes this week, but it would not surprise me if the potatoes are there now. If not, they'll be here in another week or so. If I'm watching for them, they never show up, but as soon as I forget about them and stop watching for them to appear, suddenly they are everywhere. It happens every time. If you buy any grocery store potatoes to use as seed potatoes, just buy them (now) and put them in a cool, dry place and they'll sprout and be ready to plant by the time you're ready to plant them. The only downside is you won't know the exact variety and they won't be certified seed potatoes. Certified seed potatoes haven't been treated with a fungicide to ensure they are not carrrying diseases, but in the years in which I have used grocery store potatoes as seed potatoes, I have not had any special disease issues with them either. Remember, the reason to buy organic is so they'll sprout---conventional grocery store potatoes are sprayed with anti-sprouting chemicals to prevent them from sprouting so, even though that stuff wears off and they eventually sprout, it can take months and months. I have bought seed potatoes from The Potato Garden and they arrived a little later than I had hoped for (but they have to work around what the weather is doing). The seed potatoes were small but healthy but grew just fine and produced well. Still, it was much more costly than buying local. I already had received the catalogs you got today, but the new ones that arrived here today were Willhite Seed and Richter's Herbs. Now, if there is a catalog that is going to have some things I simply cannot resist, it is Richter's. I always have fun ordering new (to me) herbs from them and growing them. I've never had a crop failure or germination issues with their seeds either. The stores here have a lot more seed-starting supplies this week than they did last week, and it does my heart so much good to see them. Irrationally, while we were in Sam's, I wanted to buy some MG Soil-less Mix---not because I have a need for it or a plan for it, but simply because it was there. I didn't buy any because if there is one word that describes my approach to gardening this year it is "restraint". (lol, and we'll see how long that lasts). Dawn...See Moresultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
last yearlast modified: last yearHere are a few of my succulents/cacti etc. I am digging through my photos to find them all lol..
Monkey Cactus..
Selenicereus ..Queen of Night
A couple of variegated succulents
Epiphyllum
I will post more as I find them lolsultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
last yearToday pics...
Ember's Wish Salvia..I am surprised this is blooming now..its usually such a whimp. I dug up a clump and shoved it in a pot when we moved. It survived and my beloved Amistad didn't. So I will be buying a new Amistad this spring!
Meyer lemon babies amid sooty leaves.
Variegated Lemon blooming
Inspector Gadget following me around, doing his silly dance..making sure I dont do anything to "his" plants!
four (9B near 9A)
last yearlast modified: last yearsultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked four (9B near 9A)Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
last yearsultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
whgille
last year
This plant was given to me by Mark , it belong to his late father. It went through hurricanes, cold weather and is still alive.sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked whgilleTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
last yearsultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, ALfour (9B near 9A)
last yearlast modified: last yearAlthough not blooming, I post it because today I noticed that it is growing quite big. Some kinda Tillandsia, could be T. streptophylla.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked four (9B near 9A)JoanM
last yearI took a few pictures yesterday when I saw this thread. There are still some flowers in Palm City. I shared the Yes, today, tomorrow and ixora in another thread but I have a few more.
My day bloomers in the Koi pond.
Pretty yellow flowers reaching for the sun.
The shrimp plant is totally shot from the cold but from a distance I still see color. Also, check out the size of this thing!
It is huge!
The orchid that never stops coming back.
My front deck is very sunny.
The Jasmine has baby white flowers all year.
And lastly, not blooming but check out the size of this Staghorn! Based on photo albums of this property we believe that someone stuck a Staghorn on this oak tree around 1980ish.
Crazy pretty.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked JoanM- sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked JoanM
four (9B near 9A)
last yearlast modified: last yearThis morning two photos
Salvia coccinea
Passionflower Lady Margaret
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked four (9B near 9A)sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
last yearJoan I love your Waterliles. Do you know what variety they are? I grow some waterlies and lotus in water tubs. I used to have a pond at our old house plus some patio ponds. Our new place has a cypress swamp (I call it lol) and then two other ponds but I wont be keeping koi out there, lord only knows what's out there lol. We are putting a small pond for koi or goldfish in closer to the house. We have it partially dug already.
Wow you guys really have a lot blooming, jasmine, passion flowers, African Violets!
DG, you are gonna have your hands full this spring! I bet it will be nice whens its all finished. The bromeliad bed sounds lovely too.I have a lot of projects to do here. Most have nothing to do with gardening because we bought a fixer upper on a lot of property- kind of a trade off to get the amt of land we wanted. So we are re-doing and fixing a lot of house stuff. I would rather spend time and energy in the garden instead. I get tired of it and disgusted and so just go out and play with my goats haha.
I went to Lowes garden center yesterday and they had some pretty pink tropical hibiscus out. I couldn't resist getting one!
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
last yearlast modified: last yearsultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9bJoanM
last yearWe bought this house in 2019 and the pond had a day blooming lily in lavender and a night bloomer in hot pink that is stunning. I have no idea what varieities they are but the hot pink(magenta really) flowers close around 8 am and the lavender open at that time. The hot pink doesn’t bloom as much in winter. I thought I lost it completely last year but it came right back in the spring.
Make sure you build rock caves big enough for very large koi. The birds randomly find the pond and they need to be able to hide for long periods from predators.
The leaves are a little darker on this night bloomer. If you find this one, get it for sure.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked JoanMcarolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
last yearsultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked carolb_w_fl_coastal_9bsultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
last yearMiami Rose
King of Siam
Not sure which one this is..its bluer in person
lotus
Red night bloomer
White Super fragrant daybloomer..bees are very attracted to it.
four (9B near 9A)
10 months agolast modified: 10 months ago@carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b >"die out when it gets really hot" ___
First flowers on newly grown small plants :
Photos taken today June 12; really hot. I will report when plants die.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked four (9B near 9A)four (9B near 9A)
9 months ago@carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b >"die out when it gets really hot" ___ Hi Carol. Could be a matter of longevity, the heat being incidental.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked four (9B near 9A)four (9B near 9A)
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoOct 31
Blue Mistflower still some in bloom.
A few week ago I uprooted some completely brown, bunched a fistfull together into soil in a pot. The apparently dead guys, unearthed today, have new shoots on underground portion :
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked four (9B near 9A)
41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)
3 months agolast modified: 3 months agoCamellia japanica, been extremely mild up north until just now with the arctic airmass. They used to hold off till early March, now they start bloom in December and January. No bueno.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked 41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
last monthTiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL
last monthsultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)
last monthlast modified: last monthIn Zone 7b NJ, they would normally be peak bloom in March into early April, there would be a smaller, late year occasional bloom (so December). Not this year, this year with started blooming in November but it continued into January and February, and it looks like the peak will now be early March. They never bloom after late April. Mine get some shade from a Japanese maple in the Summer and Fall (these Maples hold their leaves through November here), but full sun most winter (which is not the greatest if your zone is really cold, but I have almost no winter bronzing on mine. Keep in mind, if DEER are an issue, they LOVE to eat these members of the TEA family! All are soil pH, acid-loving if that is a concern.
Japonica and Sasanqua are the most common species. P.S., Sultry, these plants love the winter snow up north, does not harm the blooms at all.
Eastern, white tail (herd of 8) was passing through on this lovely day in early March.
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked 41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
last month41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)
last monthlast modified: last monthsultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked 41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
last monthI dont see too many rhododendrons in my area. Azaleas are a dime a dozen so I can enjoy the blooms from most of the neighbors' yards lol.
Shell gingers are very common in FL. I often see the variegated and green forms in all the big box stores here. In N FL, frost can knock them to the ground but they return. I can get flowers on mine if it is protected in winter. I grew this one in the back of my old greenhouse so it would flower since the frost didnt knock it back. The 10 gal pot was just was sunk into the ground where the rhizomes broke through the pot and it spread everywhere lol. I would pull off the plastic of my old gh in spring and just leave some larger plants in place.
41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)
last monthlast modified: last monthWeird about the Rhododendrons not being so prevalent, I thought Azaelas and Rhodies were close kin. But like I said, deer would ignore my rhodies but would eat the azaleas. Once you get off the coastal plain though, rhodies can be BIG (like 25 feet plus in groves), I only see small ones here but just to the west in cooler/higher zones, they are treelike, guessing a species of Rhododendron maximum. Mine will never get that big, but always loved both azaleas and rhododendrons.
P.S., Beautiful ginger, your Shell.sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish) thanked 41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
last monthlast modified: last month41 North (Zone 7a/b, NE, coastal)
last monthlast modified: last monthmost of my perennial plants too are toxic so the deer won't eat them., Grow a lot of Cherry Laurel and Hellebores
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four (9B near 9A)