Posted by (kgardens) on March 20, 2010

Penny,you’re right she does look lonely.  I didn’t divide mine either. I only bought one and when it blooms I want it to really have presence.
 
Kim, did you get your bulbine? 
Kay

Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 20, 2010

I was at the Riverview HD this afternoon and I looked for the new iris, and I found this last lonely one.  I had to pass it up though, as much as I hated to do that. I first need to get my “foundational plants” as I like to call them.  These are the plants that will anchor my new garden bed in the front yard.  Then I can start filling in the little nooks and crannies with special finds like this iris. 

I bet I just missed Farmer Rick!  I poked around in this iris to see if I could find any little bud pods like Penny had described, but I didn’t see any on this one.

Penny, I love salvia too!  It’s one of my favorites.  I usually get a lot of different salvia at Greenfest.

Posted by (Iluvpumpkins) on March 20, 2010

We all have So many empty spots to fill! I keep looking at my flower beds to decide what I should plant? I just do not know. Maybe next weekend at Greenfest I will figure it out. Pumpkin

Posted by (kgardens) on March 21, 2010

Love the GreenFest article in today’s paper.  Thanks for the map showing all the different areas.  So sorry I won’t be there to hear you and Kim.  The sidebar info on other upcoming sales was nice too.  So many articles on my favorite subject.  Thanks!

Posted by (Chip) on March 21, 2010

It was fun to read the paper today! I guess if you snooze you lose H.D. most have had a run on iris’s. Good job Rick! I hope you and all the other farmers have a good spring. I look forward to seeing everyone at greenfest. ...“Chip”

Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 21, 2010

I also really enjoyed todays gardening articles, thanks Penny & Kim! AND (not to brag) but I got my name in the paper too! My TWO favorite subjects, all on one page. HaHa-and-YAY!

Penny, my “foundational” plants are the ones that are more or less “permanent” plants in the beds, the ones that can take most of the freezes and live year after year. So far: red Firecracker, yellow Bush Daisy, blue plumbago, red firebush, white varigated spider plants for borders, orange Teco honeysuckle, lantana, Louis Philippe antique rose, and a red/purple bleeding heart. 

I have a lot of beds, and they are all at different stages of being put together. I tuck the annuals and less-hardy plants in among the foundational plants.

Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 21, 2010

I forgot to add “jasmine” as a foundational plant in my gardens.

Something else I try to do in my garden beds is follow the same design technique as container planting: I combine plants that lift their branches upward like the taller blue porterweed or salvias, with plants that weep over like the red firecracker, and then add a plant that spreads like a lantana.

I tried this combo together last year and I am really happy with the results, and I got a lot of compliments (compliments are fertilizer to a gardener’s soul!).

Needless to say, my garden beds are ALL a work in progress.  I am trying to find other plants that fit into these three categories (uplift, weep and spread) that are also butterfly/hummingbird plants.

Posted by (Iluvpumpkins) on March 21, 2010

Gardendipty, You know we all want to see pictures of your garden!

Penny, I glad you are enjoying the Chinese Hat Plant, mine got bit by the cold but is coming back, slowly. The only things I planted in my beds are caladium bulbs, two of the iris’s 3 Justicia betonica (white shrimp plant, squirrel’s tail), 2 Firecracker. I really want to find rare Florida Friendly plants at Greenfest.

The Hillsborough High Alumni gave me $500.00 to spend on Positive Park, so that has kept me busy this weekend. Pumpkin

Posted by (Chip) on March 21, 2010

I think I am going to wait but thanks any way Penny I am sure Rick is busy growing more! I have been told my pink hill just isn’t pink enough yet so that will be one of the things I am going to be on the look out for at greenfest the miniature rose’s are just loving life there I must have found there happy place. mixed in with impatiens and petunias all pink with a few lavender when it fills in should be pink enough!...“Chip”

Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 21, 2010

Pumpkin, I just visited your blog (Penny posted the link) and your garden is so beautiful.  I love your clever potting sink!  I’m envious. Good luck with Wormville.

Pictures of MY garden?  After all the freezes you are determined to shame me! 

However, after trying to figure out the best way to post some photos of my currently dismal looking garden, and in honor of spring having been sprung, I decided to start a garden blog this weekend.  It’s in the early stages but here’s the link if you are interested:
http://serendipityinthegarden.blogspot.com/

I’ll be posting photos of my new front yard garden bed and also all the rest of our garden soon.  I’m still figuring out how the blog software works.

It has rained all day here.

Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 22, 2010

I just started trying to identify foundational plants last year, and this winter helped me understand better what will work year ‘round and what won’t.  My goal is to always have a few things in my garden beds year round, so that there is alway something to look at. 

We stay away from a lot of tried-and-true plants because we are trying to identify butterfly and hummer plants that will work year round. 

My porterweed plants are coming back now, but they have a long way to go.  As a result, right now I just have weepers and spreaders, but nothing that grows upwards. The result is pretty “blah” right now.

I’m planning to solve that problem at Greenfest.

Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 22, 2010

Yes, Penny I’ve had milkweed for several years and now it is spreading itself around and growing in new places.  Last year we had monarch caterpillars on them, that was so much fun to watch.  When I put in our new front yard garden, I bought two pots of milkweed from HD to encourage the butterfly traffic.

I can hardly wait to get the butterfly cassia.  How tall does it get?  I am trying to identify a perfect spot for it, and I think I have it narrowed down. 

I did a lot of work in the backyard today, lots of pruning and tidying.  I took “before” and “after” photos.  I’ll be posting them on my blog soon.  I have more porterweed sprouting than I’d realized.  YAY for me and the hummers!

Posted by (RickBrown) on March 22, 2010

The Butterfly Cassia gets tall. Taller than the porterweed but cut them back to fit your space and desired height. You can even just pinch the soft tips while you walk your garden with a cup of coffee or on an evening stroll. Pinch cassia up until September 15 and Porterweed and other everbloomers anytime. A pinch in time saves nine - (feet of growth). Pinching improves the strength and width of all your plants. Once you get in a comfort zone with the pinching and pruning you are on the next step to becoming the Zen Master of the garden. Either that or Edward Scissor Hands.

Posted by (kgardens) on March 23, 2010

The butterfly cassia is a winner for attracting those sulphur butterflies.  Mine was about 8 feet tall and just as wide.  I tied it up to keep it in bounds.  It is coming back both from the roots and along some of the stems. Yay!  The sulphurs lay eggs even when it isn’t in bloom.  The cats are green when there is only leaves to eat, but turn yellow when they are eating the flowers.  (The butterflies that emerge are always yellow.) My granddaughter loves to “pet” the caterpillars.
Kay

Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 23, 2010

Rick, THANKS for the “pinching back” info.  I think you may have provided me the missing link to my gardening - I’ve never pinched back anything.  I would love for my plants to spread out more, so I will start pinching today. Thanks!

Penny, I have the same issue with my hibiscus trees…they are top heavy and fall over easily.  We had to keep them staked for YEARS. Now they seem okay on their own.  As for porterweed, I love the wispy-ness and movement-in-the-wind quality of it.

Kgardens - that was SO interesting about the sulphur caterpillars. I didn’t know any of that.

I copied down Rick and Kgardens info in my Garden Journal.

Posted by (Iluvpumpkins) on March 23, 2010

Boy, You guys have been busy today. All I know is pinch, pinch, and pinch to get full plants. Pumpkin

Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 23, 2010

When you say “pinch back” does that mean to snip off the top one inch of the plant?  And do you pinch back each stem or only the stems on the very top? 

Penny the photo you sent of the cassia was dazzling.  That’s really the only word for it.  I loved the story about how your neighbor was looking at what she thought was the cassia’s yellow blooms and then they all lifted up and flew away—sulphur butterflies!  Wow.

Posted by (RickBrown) on March 23, 2010

Gardendipity You asked the question that allows me to answer with my U of F profs favorite answer. “It Depends” Dr Barret would ask, “What is the species, how big is it and how tall and wide do you want it to be? What is the season of flower or is it ever-blooming? Sun, shade or don’t say it - Partial sun. What is partial sun/shade anyway? The answerto pinching, Grasshopper er, a yes, Gardendipity is you will learn as your thumb turns green. You have many pinches ahead of you and my best advice is trial and error. Lots of error. Italian men are the best pinchers.

Posted by (Chip) on March 24, 2010

You learn something new everyday! Diane and I have been noticing less and less bees in our garden. There is a mite attacking them and our honey bees are in trouble. This problem is country wide. I would love to have my own bees and make honey but without a fence all it would take would be one curious child and someone would get hurt or worse so what to do? Shell’s gave me the answer Mason bees according to the fact sheet Mason bees have no queen they don’t make honey so they have nothing to defended and do not mate with the African bees and not affected by the mites. Better still Shells has them in stock. If you want look it up at www.organiccontrol.com I bet they even have something for your lubbers. ..“Chip”

Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 24, 2010

Master Rick, you are TOO funny!  You made me laugh.  As it happens, that old show was my FAVORITE as a kid.  I never got into the later remakes though.

Penny, thanks for explaining how to pinch the tiny plants, I wouldn’t have thought to do those little ones. Today in my garden will be “pinch-an-inch-Wednesday.” 

Chip, we always have a lot of bees in our garden, and I LOVE to see them.  They are so much fun to watch.  Seems that whatever the hummers and butterflies like, the bees like too.

Posted by (Gardendipity) on March 24, 2010

Sharing a funny garden story:

My mom came over yesterday to visit with my 2-year-old grandson.  While she was here I asked her if she could identify a “volunteer” tiny palm that was coming up in my garden.

She looked at it and said, “Oh, that’s a Cardboard Palm.”

Then she said quite seriously: “Now, “cardboard palm” is the COMMON name.  I don’t know the genus.”

Like I would have thought anything with the word “cardboard” in it could have been a genus designation.

Posted by (Kim Franke-Folstad) on March 24, 2010

My cassia still looks dead. I am being patient, I promise, but I was wondering if everyone here who has one is seeing some green, or if anyone else is, like me, still waiting-and-seeing.