Author |
Message |
Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Monday, February 23, 2004 - 6:27 am
Buterflynet, your patio is just beautiful! What other plants do you have in there besides the impatients? Here they are mostly shade plants, but it looks like you have them mixed in with sun plants.
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Jewels
Member
09-23-2000
| Monday, February 23, 2004 - 2:57 pm
I need some rose help. I have 22 rose bushes in my yard. The majority of them are healthy and beautiful. I just pruned them this weekend and found them to mostly be in good shape. The problem I have is with my 3 climbers. The are scragly looking, have lost all their leaves and have not bloomed very well in the last couple years. They have only been in the ground for about 3 years and have always suffered. They have had black spot too. I just can't get them healthy. How should I prune them? I am tempted to cut them to the ground and start over, but I really don't want to do that. There are some really healthy branches, but the rest are small and spindly. They are starting to grow and it seems that I read somewhere I am supposed to cut off some of the leaf bunches. Anyone out there that can help me?
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Butrflynet
Member
12-29-2003
| Monday, February 23, 2004 - 3:59 pm
Texannie, there's sweet William, pansy, alysumm, rosemary, phlox, vibernum and a few others I can't remember the names of. I just went to the local garden center and picked out what I was attracted to. My balcony gets morning sun in the summer and in fall, gets afternoon sun. For the most part, it is in shade though. The heat is the problem. We have a lot of days over 100 degrees.
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Urgrace
Member
08-19-2000
| Monday, February 23, 2004 - 7:05 pm
My daffodils bloomed today!
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Jagger
Member
08-07-2002
| Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 6:27 am
Urgrace that is wonderful news for you, hopefully you have a camera so you can post some pictures, but it's making me depressed. I look outside and all I see is a 6 foot show pile all over my flower gardens. I can't wait for the weather to get nice so I can go out ans start doing things. I plan to build about 6 new small flower beds in my back yard. My ultimate goal for this coming summer is to have no grass in my back yard, or very little so I can just use the weed whip to cut it.
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Secretsmile
Member
08-19-2002
| Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 7:35 am
Biloxibelle, I just saw this idea that may help with your tulip wish. You can plant the tulips in a container, then dig a hole in your garden the size of the container. When the tulips are done blooming remove the whole container and store in a cool dark place. This idea suggested having a spring, mid summer and autumn container and just changing them. I'm with Jagger, I'm jealous of all the blooming going on, great news Urgrace. I also am looking at more than a foot of snow on my gardens and it's snowing again today. Yankee, have you tried Sweet Peas in containers as a climber? Those things grow on anything, my sister put them in flower boxes and runs string up for them to grow on. It makes her porch look screened in. They also smell great.
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Urgrace
Member
08-19-2000
| Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 8:28 am
Well, I'm jealous of all the people who can have such a variety of plants in their garden and it all is so beautiful. Wink's garden comes to mind. I'd planned on getting a landscaper to do the yard, because my soil is atrocious, but that takes dough which I have diverted to my vacation account! <OT for a moment: Now I'm going to go to Moon's California wedding in April, another wedding and a graduation in May, Houston to the State Bowling tournament in June, and have a vacation to MN in July > tax month!> Sadly, we had a hail storm last night. My daffodils are drooping to the ground 
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 11:40 am
I went seed shopping yesterday! My bounty includes: Vegetables: Grand Rapids Leaf Lettuce; Mighty Red Oak Lettuce; Sweet Salad Mix Mesclun; Evergreen Long White Bunching Onions; and Crispy Hybrid Pepper Herbs: Chamomile; Catnip; Sage; Garlic Chives; Long Island Mammoth Dill; Moss Curled Parsley; Sweet Basil; Sweet Majoram; Lady Lavender; Lemon Balm; and Common Thyme Flowers: Mixed Colors Petunia; Safari Mix Marigold; Crystal Palace Lobelia; Carpet of Snow Alyssum; Patio Mix Sweet Peas; Little Mix Vinca; Rainbow Loveliness Dianthus; Captain of the Blues Sweet Pea; Sunshine Mix Gazania; Favorite Mix Nasturtium; and Scarlet Border Geranium Now to have fun with my Dixie Cups and get some things ready for the Greenhouse. I cannot wait until this weekend!
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Suitsmefine
Member
07-29-2002
| Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 8:25 pm
We had fenced in about an acre of our land when our kids were little...today we decided to take the fence down..(13 and 10 isn't baby material anymore!!!) Which means I have to move my climbing roses and many other plants for the plans DH has for "expanding" our yard....we own about 100 acres...(I am just praying that DH does not want to "manicure" all of it) Although I am sure I could fill it with lots of plants..LOL We live in the country yet we are only 3 minutes from Wal-Mart!5 minutes from school... I love it!!!I was raised with a HUGE garden at home and at both Grandparents homes...I cannot imagine life without lots of flowers, plants,good soil, lots of veggies and fruits and lots of love. Well now the DH's new plans means that I get to totally re-do my gardens! Only a Gardener could understand my excitement at that prospect! LOL!
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Jagger
Member
08-07-2002
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 1:53 pm
Suits I know exactly what you mean when you say you get to re-do your gardens. I usally do that about every 3 or 4 years. Last summer I dug up all my plants, planted them in containers. Built 2 new raised flower beds out of landscaping timbers and than replanted things back in there. My only problem was I still had over 75 plants left over, I wanted to leave room for them to spread, so I ended up giving them to all my neighbors.
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 2:24 pm
Secretsmile - I love sweet peas. I might give those a try this year, for sure.
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Secretsmile
Member
08-19-2002
| Friday, February 27, 2004 - 4:30 pm
Yankee, it's not too early to start those sweet pea seeds. I had to cut a knick and soak my seeds for a bit before starting them.
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Saturday, February 28, 2004 - 12:12 pm
My peach tree is in bloom! I never had one bloom before--I just always got leaves. The lights are on a timer to go on from dusk 'til dawn--keep it warm at night. (They're on in the picture as I was standing in front of the light sensor.)

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Biloxibelle
Member
12-21-2001
| Sunday, February 29, 2004 - 1:52 pm
Thank You for all the help. Sorry I didn't answer earlier my daughter has been sick. Lkumkel thanks for the web sites. I need all the help I can get. JuJu I was afraid that tulips might need the cold. I think I might try planting them in the containers. I hope that works I would love to have some. Secretsmile I have the indoor green houses started. I've got a vegetables in them now. Our soil is so sandy I am going to have find out what I need to till in with it to get it ready. I know when I use to manage the seafood market we always saved the fish heads in buckets and people would come in and get them for their gardens. Not sure I want to go that route. Also one more question does anyone out there have a water garden?
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Sunday, February 29, 2004 - 1:58 pm
I just bought sweet pea and morning glory seeds today, and will start them soon!
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Tuesday, March 02, 2004 - 5:03 pm
I picked out some things from Gardener's Supply (some window boxes and railing holders) as well as some containers that grow plants upside down for easier harvesting. We'll see. Anyway, I am very excited and cannot wait until Ostara to start all of this!
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Friday, March 05, 2004 - 11:57 am
Based on your suggestions, I did get some railing holders/planters for my deck, to add some height. Now I just need to wait for the spring to arrive! I planted my morning glory and sweet pea seeds a few days ago, too. I'm thinking that I'm going to go with a nearly all-white container garden on my deck this year. I have always loved the contrast a big, overflowing container of all-whites gives -- because the whites are never all the same shade, color, etc. -- and you can combine them with lots of beautiful and interesting shades of green too. Many of my pots are either zinc or dark blue, so the light white & green should look very nice... My morning glories and sweet peas are lilac/blue, and I think that any accent plants I do introduce will be lilac/blue -- lavender, etc. -- with maybe the odd yellow or deep dark pinkish-purple. My large rosemary is blooming like crazy right now, too... So, any suggestions for beautiful white plants, or mixtures of white plants, good for containers and able to withstand and flourish in a very strong afternoon sun?
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Lkunkel
Member
10-29-2003
| Saturday, March 06, 2004 - 9:29 am
Yankee: Lots of choices--just head out to the nursery and browse. But, here is a partial list from Container Gardening for Dummies of plants with white flowers: Annuals: Ageratum; Cosmos; Dahlia; Lobelia; Nemesia; Sweet Alyssum; Vinca Rosea; and Zinnias. Perennials: Lily of the Nile; Chrysanthemums; Coral Bells (Heuchera); Daisies; Delphinium; Foxglove (Digitalis); Marguerite (Chrysanthemum frutescens); Penstemon; Pinks and Carnations (Dianthus); Primroses; Sage (Salvia); and Yarrow. I received my Concord Seedless Grapevine from Gurneys yesterday and got it planted. I also received 6 plants (3 types of geraniums, dill, mugwort, and apple mint) from Herbfresh.com. They are FAST. I placed the order on the 1st, and received the shipment actually on the 4th, but the apartment complex office was closed and I couldn't pick it up. The six plants overnighted in the greenhouse while I reconfigured potting plans to figure out what was going where in light of my window box order from Gardener's Supply (which will be here on the 11th).
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - 12:12 pm
Question -- my morning glory seeds and sweet pea seeds are both growing like weeds. Planted them in a peat, plastic-covered indoor-seed-growing-thingy. The morning glories, though I planted them two days later, broke through first and are now getting huge. My question is -- how long should I wait before I transplant them into a larger pot? And I guess I should keep them inside for quite a while? Everything I read said to start the seeds two-four weeks before last frost. Well, we won't get anymore frost here (and haven't for a while), but it's only in the 50s Fahrenheit during the days still, so I'm wondering where to go from here... Sorry for being such a gardening newbie, but last year I started my seeds much later in the year, when it was already warm -- which might be why I didn't get such great results. Thanks as always for your help. Yankee
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Secretsmile
Member
08-19-2002
| Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 6:31 am
Sweet peas do love cold roots so you shouldn't have a problem transplanting them this early, most plants will do alright as long as they have a good root system. Don't think you have to transplant every single plant, I did that last year, thinking more was better and as they grew through the summer they choked each other off. I too am a garden newbie, this is my second growing season and I'm having blast trying different things. One tip that I learned was to plant what other people in my area plant. I figured if they had beautiful gardens, those plants grew well in our zone. I also begged many of my flowers from neighbors who were thinning out their gardens. Most people are thrilled to share rather than throw them out and we all know I'm cheap.
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Wink
Member
10-06-2000
| Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 8:58 am
Yankee you can transplant to a larger pot now but I wouldn't go too large. Something you might want to do is pinch them all back to a leaf node 1/3 of the way up the stem. This should make them produce more shoots and they won't get terribly leggy which is often a problem and the stems are not as strong. If you have the room it wouldn't hurt to keep them inside a bit longer just so you can control the moisture level till they're a bit better established. By the way I enjoyed reading your fact's post and totally relate to the outgoing in public and more private online. And Canadian men ROCK. Secret you are so right about people being willing to share. I've often been out walking and seen a lovely garden and stopped to ask questions about various plants and most gardeners are very willing to share their knowledge as well as their plants.
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Conejo
Member
08-23-2002
| Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 10:19 am
Yankee, are you planning to plant your morning glories in a flower bed with other annuals or perennials? If so be careful! I have been fighting them for the last 6 years! The previous homeowners had them planted along a fence and when I planted my annuals & perennials the flower seeds from the previous years 'crop' germinated and then they started twisting and wrapping themselves around all my other plants and it has been a real pain trying to control them. I finally decided to just get rid of them - but it has been a real challenge! Each one of the blooms turns to seed pods that contain many, many, many seeds which drop to the ground and re-seed themselves. I have literally pulled up thousands and thousands of seedlings trying to get rid of them. I suppose it could be the variety that was planted here and maybe the ones you bought don't re-seed themselves as vigorously as mine have. PS I'm not trying to discourage you from planting them - just thought that I would share with you my experience. By the way, mine were quite beautiful when they were blooming, but they just 'took over' everything else!
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Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 11:13 am
Thanks Secretsmile and Wink. Both of your posts are very helpful to me. Conejo, I have a concrete patio terrace, so everything I do will be in containers. The sweet peas and morning glories will be planted in containers, and trained up a few huge trellises. So I don't have any worries about them since they'll be "contained." If I had a yard, I'd think twice about where to plant them, for sure. We had them growing wild on the farm where I grew up, so they're a bit of nostalgia for me, so I like to have them on my patio . Plus the Heavenly Blues are sooo pretty... Thanks!
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Wink
Member
10-06-2000
| Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 12:10 pm
Conejo you are oh so right. I knew Yankee was doing containers so she'd be okay. When I started gardening about 8 years ago I planted morning glories and sweet peas all over the bloody place. Being a novice all I knew was they were pretty and would hopefully cover an eyesore. I've pretty well been able to get rid of the morning glories but the freaking sweet peas just love my yard. It's a constant battle to keep them out of places they don't belong and to get to them before the pods ripen and drop more seeds.
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Butrflynet
Member
12-29-2003
| Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 8:52 pm
Hmmm, I've been staying away from morning glories because of their reputation for being so invasive. Now that I am primarily a container gardener, like Yankee, perhaps I'll give them a try this year. Thanks for the inspiration, Yankee.
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