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Penny Carnathan
Penny’s a Nurture And Hold (NAH): Nah, I won’t pull that out yet, it’s still got a green shoot. She likes dragonflies, lady bugs and new stuff only after weeding, pruning and fertilizing.
Kim Franke-Folstad
Kim’s a Want It Now (WIN): Everything pretty, everything now. She will resort to full-spectrum insecticides in desperate situations, and believes it’s her duty and right to buy new plants every weekend.
Both advocate Plant Choice (SOMEthing besides crotons. Please!), lots of color and low maintenance. We don’t agree on everything, but we’re smart enough to learn from each other - and from you.
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Proven Winners—we’re trying to prove ‘em
Posted Jun 20, 2010 by Loren Omoto
Updated Jun 21, 2010 at 04:35 PM
I almost feel sorry for the Proven Winners flowers people.
You know them. They sell plants — very nice ones — at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other big garden centers. They have some unusual varieties, some that do very well here, and they’re usually healthy and good quality.
Back in early May, they sent me a box of 20 plants in 4-inch pots, most of which won’t be introduced until next year. They’d called a few months earlier, asking if I wanted to try them out, and I’d said, “Yes!” (I’m not dumb!) But I warned if they sent Northern spring plants to Florida in May, they’d be dead in no time.
Bless their hearts, they sent plants labeled heat- and drought-tolerant. But who could have predicted our extremes this year? It has been hotter than heck, and — though it’s raining as I type — it has been incredibly dry.
Kim and I split up the plants using a scientific system I call, “I like that one.” (She also got all the shade plants.) We plan to do a story about our results for The Tribune later, unless the weather continues to be just too unfair. So far, it’s pretty much not happy.
However! My favorite, Pretty Much Picasso, a petunia already on the market, is doing fabulously in a pot on my patio, where it gets about 8 hours of full-on sun every day. (The photo is from Proven Winners, but mine are looking every bit this good.)
I put three in a 16-inch container with Miracle-Gro potting soil. I’ve hit them — and all my other plants — with Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster twice since planting May 15. (Yeah, I can’t kick the Mira-Crack. It’s good stuff!)
The Proven Winners website says I should have started using a water soluble fertilizer every two weeks in May. And this month, I should have bumped it up to weekly. After July 4, I’m supposed to trim back one in five long branches 20 percent, water every other day (I water my pots daily if there’s no rain) and fertilize every 4 days.
I’ll do my best to start following the directions, but so far Picasso doesn’t seem to care. (Good thing, huh?)
My other great performer is Goldilocks Rocks, Bidens ferulifolia . Again, this photo is from Proven Winners.
I have three of these in the ground, in sandy dirt I tried to amend well with peat and compost. Like just about everything else in my yard, they get tons of sun.
Yes, they rock. Two of the three were happy from the get-go. The third — in the least-well-amended part of the bed — drooped for a couple days but then perked up.
They’re a nice little mounding, low-growing plant that would probably spread more if life were better in Florida in June. They produce lots of little yellow flowers that aren’t too exciting on their own, but make for a good fill plant to add color.
I’m hoping conditions improve so all of these plants can strut their stuff. Kim loved Blackberry punch, a Calibrachoa — kin to petunia — but it utterly failed.
Sad, huh? This is pretty much as pretty as Picasso.
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Reader Comments
Posted by (Chip) on June 21, 2010
Wow now thats a bright color! I think they picked the right two people for this job, ask them to come up with a pink that will not fade away with the heat. Pink hill is not so pink these days. So glad to hear Pumpkin is doing good! I was thinking of you as I was working im my garden. Diane,Becky, and myself went to the “food not lawns” meeting yesterday at the sacred grounds coffee shop. It is a “grass root” effort to provide edible landscapeing in public place’s start comunity gardens and for low income folk’s who with a little help besides having a garden would be able to eat better.
.....“Chip”
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on June 21, 2010
Boy, that’s a ton of watering and fertilizing. I am a slacker. I have a Calibrachoa I got from Farmer Rick that is doing well in a pot (but would be doing much better if I was a fertilizing mama——I just use those Jobes spikes and forget about it for 90 days) and a multi colored one that struggles in a pot out front where there is way more sun time. I love both of your choices and know Proven Winners will get great feedback from the two of you.
Posted by (Janna) on June 21, 2010
Don’t you just love the perks of writing a gardening column? It’s always fun to experiment with new plants. Since the Pretty Much Picasso has been doing well for Penny, maybe you could try it on pink hill, Chip. Glad to know the Picasso is doing well even if such specific instructions are not completely adhered to!
Yay for rain and lucky for my daughter who was in charge of watering plants while I was gone. Everything survived except the nasturtiums which had already exceeded their lifespan anyway….
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on June 21, 2010
I think I forgot to tell Janna how much I loved her new fountain and congratulate her on her handy and generous hubby. The fountain is a beauty with many years of enjoyment to come.
Posted by (kgardens) on June 21, 2010
That “Pretty Much Picasso” is stunning. Hope it keeps doing well for you. Instructions are for sissies.
Posted by (Chip) on June 22, 2010
I am going to have to give them a try the impatiens look great but they are so water dependent.I have other stuff on the hill but most of the color come from the impatiens. While at the meeting Sunday I heard a lot of terms I am not familiar with does any one know Peraculture, and Biodynamic and yes that is how it is spelled I am copying it right from a hand out [unless whoever did the handout miss-spelled] these were used so much I would call them a “buzz word” I have a guess but would like to know for sure what these terms mean. ...“Chip”
Posted by (Janna) on June 22, 2010
Thanks for the nice words, Susan! Now that I’m back from vacation and we’ve been having rain, I need to so some more planting in and around the structure. So far, I’ve put in sweet potatoe vine and some purslane pazzaz. Since the vinca minor cutting I got from Penny is doing well, I may try to start another cutting from that and trail it around the rocks. Any ideas from you FODs would be appreciated!!
Hope Pumpkin is recuperating well. We miss you! Gardendipity, Mangoman, DaveC, etc….haven’t seen you in awhile. Come back soon. (I know a lot of you other gardeners out there read but don’t comment. Would love to hear from you and see your gardens!)
Posted by (Pumpkin) on June 25, 2010
Hey Guys, I am doing great, thank you for ALL the kind words and prayers. I just read this blog and I MUST have the Pretty Much Picasso today! Shirlgirl and I are going out today to look for these putunias today. Are they available now and when is the last time anyone saw them in the stores? Pumpkin