Hello All,

Here are several pics of blooms...some are different than what is usually posted so hopefully they won't bore you. A few are ones I got for butterflies too...

'Tithonia Torch' Mexican Sunflower...


'Raspberry Wine' Monarda and White Liatris Gayfeather...


Justicia x 'Thelma's Pink' (Thelma's Pink Brazilian Plume)...


'Painted Lady' Scarlet Runner Bean...


Cuphea schumannii and 'Moonshine' Yarrow...


Purple Prairie Clover...


Agastaches: 'Rosita' and 'Rupestris', Salvias: 'Mesa Purple' and 'Maraschino'...


'Hardy Blue' Passion Flower, 'Salmon & Pink" Agastache, 'Techno Heat Upright Dark Blue' Lobelia, Lantana montevidensis (Variegated) and Dusty Miller...


Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Susan Louise,Those are all lovely pictures. Now we want s little more info please.

Your plants seem to bloom so much sooner than mine. When did your Tithonia start to bloom?

Was the Thelma's Pink Justicia grown from seed or a purchased plant? Have never seen that one before

Was C. shumanni grown from seed, purchased this year or overwintered from last season?


Same questions for the agastaches and salvias. The Mesa purple is beautiful! Only my A.Tutti Frutti is blooming. None of the other agastaches are blooming and the only Salvia greggiis that are blooming are Pink Perfection from Bustani and a Stampede series from Lowes. The Furmans Red and Wild thing are just sitting there.


Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Penny,

'Tithonia Torch' started blooming last week. They were a little "stunted" with their growth height due to the milkweeds and coneflowers growing so tall and fast in front of them this year. They are 2 yr old plants now, and since this is only my 2nd year gardening, I didn't expect the milkweeds and coneflowers to get so tall and fast. Next year I'll have to start the 'Tithonia Torch' a couple of weeks earlier to adjust for this. They are just now becoming tall enough to get sun most of the day. Another hindrance for the 'Tithonia Torch' was that the Praeclara was also keeping the sun from some of them too. To draw you a pic, so to speak...east/west as the sun is in our backyard...the east side is where the honeysuckle garden is...and the west side is the fenceline where our Scarlet Runner Beans, B&B's and Nicotania are. So up until near noon, the 'Tithona Torch' weren't getting any sun til noon...then hardly getting any sun because of the milkweeds and coneflowers.
You see, last year I had planted Yvonne's Salvia where the Praeclara is this year. The Yvonne's didn't get much taller than 2.5', so I didn't take these changes into consideration when sowing the 'Tithonia Torch' this year. I will have to start them about mid-February next time. It might seem way to early for most, but they definately will need a really good head start to give them a chance to have a good chance for reasonable sun time in their early growing stage.
The Thelma's Pink and Cuphea shumanni were purchased from Bustani.

Agastaches:

Rosita...2 yr old plants bought from HCG...doing awesome this year!
Salmon and Pink...bought local at a nursery late May for $2.99 each (one is in the garden)
Rupestris...bought 4 at a local nursery 2 in mid-May and 2 mid June to replace the 'Red Rocks' Penstemon for $3.99 each

Salvias:

Maraschino...bought at HCG this year
Mesa Purple... bought at a local nursery the beginning of May

I'll go outside and take a pic of our gardens right now and post them in a few minutes so you can see how big the plants are.

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Thanks for the addtional info on your plants Susan Louise. Next year I may have to start some seeds a little earlier


Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Penny,

Here are the pics of the gardens I just took...


In this pic you can see the 'Tithona Torch' just starting to peak above the milkweeds and coneflowers. See how tall the Praeclara got on the right? 6'!!!!




Amazing how the Nicotiana is 6' tall already too...and it's not even July!


The Honeysuckle Garden...


The new garden. The section on the right is waiting for Bearded Irises I've ordered that I should start receiving soon...


And here's a couple of pics of our patio garden. There are a couple of Hot Lips and 'Black Cherry' (not able to see in these pics) also in this garden.




Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Penny,

Whilst Susan is outside taking pictures, I'll try to bring you up to date. Remember Susan starte d her seeds in early February I think. Than she planted them in mid April and covered them with tarps when frezzing temps threatened them. I think this is what she did, Susan can correct me if I am off on the timeline, but I'm still in awe of her gardening techniques.

I thought I timed things quite well and had them hardened off and in the ground around the 15th of May. I just think all this rin and lack of sun is doing wonders for the weeds and not the greatest for the hummer plants in the ground. I remember even trying to get a few dry days together to get them all planted and that was immpossible. It now a month nd a half later and we are still getting alot of rain, but at least the sun pops out more often.

My Torch sunflowers are only about8 inches tall and they have benn in a full sun area, well would be if it wasn't raining every day...

Pam NJ 6B

Susan,

I'm amazed at how big your plants are. I guess sowing early and planting early worked great for you!! Way to go! Are you harvesting seed already? The only plants I have that big are perennials in the ground from previous years.

Pam NJ 6B

Pam,

Your timing is off a little...LOL
My garden pics are above your last post...
Yes, I sowed them earlier than last year, but I will still sow them even earlier next Spring, even if I have to tarp them every night for a few weeks...especially since I have found the perfect formula/mix of plants in the spots I've planted to have them from year to year...WooHoo!

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Pam,

Yes, I've harvested LIR, Coral Nymph, and Subrotunda so far. They are all on their 3 round of blooms.I also harvested Stan Dreamsicle too...from it's 1st round of blooms last night.

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Susan,

Your plants look amazingly healthy and full of blooms. I was drooling over your Mesa purple, mine looks really sad compared to yours. Your agastaches look fantastic too.

Suchie

Susan,

What are you feeding these monsters?

Pam NJ 6B

That... is just plain awesome! Nice job with the gardens!

Bud
Southwest Ohio
USDA Plant Zone 6a

Camera: Pentax K20D
Lens: Pentax DA*300 f/4, Sigma 180 f/3.5 Macro
There's 1 or 2 more hummingbird / butterfly pics located here...
http://www.pbase.com/budohio

Susan Louise,
You know that we are all bright green with envy over the size of your plants and their blooms. If I had a way to get there I would go under the cover of darkness, rip them all out and replant them in my garden...Oh wait mine are so small by comparison I could just leave them as they are and interplant yours around them.

I started sowing this year in late Feb and with the prolonged cold weatherI couldn't plant out until June. The latest I have ever planted.

Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39

Oh my, thanks everyone!

There is no secret...I sowed early like Pam had mentioned earlier, Mother Nature was kind to us this year here...with only a few annoying nights of having to cover the seedlings late April/early May with a tarp. We hadn't had the massive amounts of T-storms and near daily winds of 20-30 mph that would wind-whip everything either like last year. I'm sure you know that weather is a huge factor in ones gardens...just ask any seasoned gardener...or better yet a farmer. Shoot, remember, this is only my 2nd year gardening. Many of you have been doing this 5, 10, possibly 20+ years.
All I can say is that we were blessed here this year, that's for sure.
And as I had mentioned a few months ago, it's been luck too. We could have easily had been the area with rain and cold til now...and it would have been a nightmare trying to keep the seedlings and plants from becoming straggly beanpoles waiting to be placed in the gardens. Shoot, for all I know, that could happen to us next year...and you all will have the brilliant growth we have this year. Too bad Mother Nature can't evenly spread her rain/sun evenly to everyone's gardens/landscapes and farms.
I don't use fertilizer, per say, but add a bag of compost to each section of the gardens each Spring. My tip to ya'll for the day...

Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Susan,

Are these raised and amended beds? I know my plants do lot better in amended soils with added peat, sand, manure and or compost. My soil is mostly clay and we did amend them, but sometimes I wished I had just raised the beds and added all new soil amendments instead of mixing the amendments into the clay.
Again, good job!

Pam NJ 6B

Pam,

Yes, the gardens are raised. I've mentioned that in a few previous threads. I "had" to have the gardens raised. We have so many utility wiring underground all over our backyard. I'm sure you've seen the ugly telephone box for the neighborhood more than once in pics I've posted. That's why I picked the particular section to grow the 'Tithonia Torch' Sunflowers...to cover and surround it.
Our backyard is also like a shallow bowl...with the outer rim along the fence lines being higher than the rest of the yard. So when we get major t-storms, the yard floods terribly.
Besides, one can make raised beds/gardens without these situations just because they like them. It was a lot of hard work. I spent many 10 hr days building them...with walkways and all too.
As far as "amended" is concerned...re-read my last sentence of my last post...


Susan Louise
from Branford CT/ live in Lincoln NE
Zone 5

Wonderful gardens and great looking flowers. You definitely have a green thumb!!!

Jeff

Susan Louise,

You have a lovely garden and your plants look so healthy! Such a pretty view and the bonus, hummingbirds, right?

Thanks for sharing.

Suzanne