Rajah
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 17, 1999
- Messages
- 9,633
While I was out of town for a week, I left my husband with my garden. I'm not sure whether that was a good or bad idea, but here's what I came back to.
My green things that I think are Hosta but I'm not sure have sure shot up pretty blooms. There's a single stalk that has anywhere from 1 to 7 flowers (maybe even more) on it shooting from the middle of the plant. The green and yellow-green leafed thing is looking healthy but without the shoots. I think both are hosta because the leaf shape is the same, but it's interesting that one is blooming and the other isn't doing a thing.
My small mandevilla (sp?) doesn't look like it's grown at all, but it's still blooming. The larger one has twined it's way around almost the entire shepherd's hook now so it was looking good. Here's a question on it (That one's an Alice Du Pont I think)... any suggestions on how to get it to *stop* climbing and *start* booming or shooting leaves? I know it should be able to make more leaves or flowers or something. It's almost reached the hanging basket and I don't want it attaching itself too much to the hanging basket. Any suggestions?
Speaking of the hanging basket, it's almost a lost cause. My petunias are looking very sick and the other thing is, too. I'm not sure if any of those are going to pull out of it, so I may be looking for something else to try in that basket instead. I'm not sure if it's an over-watering, under-watering, too-much-sun, too-little-soil, or over-crowding the basket problem, but something's not working on it. It was looking mediocre before I left, though. I'm considering some lobelia... we saw those in Colorado and I fell in love. I don't know if they'll grow well in my zone, though... gotta do some research.
I'd intended to dig up my two iris bulbs and take a look to see if they were doing anything before I left. I didn't do that, though, before I left and ended up coming back to a spear of 3 green leaves from one of the iris! So one of them anyway is showing signs of life! Don't know if it'll ever bloom or not, no sign of a bloom shoot yet, but the leaves are more than I had a week ago! Now I don't know whether to leave the other iris alone and just see what happens, or try digging at it to see if I need to pull it up a little higher or what.
My morning glories and moonflowers seem to have stalled. I have a blanket of green leaves in the pot, but they don't seem to be growing much after their initial shooting up. Aren't they supposed to be fast growers? They're still looking happy, just kinda sitting there.
My two geraniums need to be dead-headed, but otherwise look okay.
My bluebonnets were pretty much dried out and bloomed out before I left, so I didn't expect to find anything good for them when I got home. But when I got home, I found two partially-green shoots and one single bluebonnet bloom on one shoot. I'm not sure if those are just the last ones to let go, or if it's coming back *again*, so I'm not going to throw it out yet. I've already gotten at least a month's more bloom out of it than I expected to get, so I'm happy even if this is the end of its life. It was sitting in a stagnant pool of water in its pot, though. The pot wasn't draining and BOY did it smell when I pulled the flower out to dump the pot. I'm amazed I have *anything* left alive with the type of water it's been sitting in. I think either the rain or DH over-watered that while I was gone because it wasn't sitting in water when I left. I'm trying to decide what (if anything) to replace it with (a late-blooming flower) when it does finally give up the ghost. I do get at least 6 seed pods off of it, though, if I get them at the right time.
My white imaptiens and red salvia are looking poorly, so I'm hoping I can bring those back out with care. I did see some new buds on the white impatiens so I have hope anyway.
My hydrangia I might as well give up on. Its big leaves have curled up half-way and now it's looking like a stick with green stuff glued on it. No sign of more blooms ever since that first one died out. But considering this one was from a florist instead of a garden center, I guess I'm lucky it still has *anything* green on it!
My cyclamin bit the dust before I left and I have no idea what happened with them.
They were doing so well, then I went out one morning and they looked horrible. I'm not sure if a bug got them, or if they've just reached the end of their blooming life. That looks like a dead pot now. Anyone know how cyclamin work? Again I expected it to only last a few days, so I got more than double the life out of it I expected to get.
My double-impatiens looks like it needed some water but otherwise is just at an "in-between" stage, meaning the blooms it was full of are dying down, and the new buds haven't opened up yet.
And my begonia looked good, so that one at least survived the week.
So what are some suggestions for good full-sun (or almost full sun), hot-climate small late-blooming flowers I can replace my cyclamin, hanging basket flowers, and bluebonnets with?
My green things that I think are Hosta but I'm not sure have sure shot up pretty blooms. There's a single stalk that has anywhere from 1 to 7 flowers (maybe even more) on it shooting from the middle of the plant. The green and yellow-green leafed thing is looking healthy but without the shoots. I think both are hosta because the leaf shape is the same, but it's interesting that one is blooming and the other isn't doing a thing.
My small mandevilla (sp?) doesn't look like it's grown at all, but it's still blooming. The larger one has twined it's way around almost the entire shepherd's hook now so it was looking good. Here's a question on it (That one's an Alice Du Pont I think)... any suggestions on how to get it to *stop* climbing and *start* booming or shooting leaves? I know it should be able to make more leaves or flowers or something. It's almost reached the hanging basket and I don't want it attaching itself too much to the hanging basket. Any suggestions?
Speaking of the hanging basket, it's almost a lost cause. My petunias are looking very sick and the other thing is, too. I'm not sure if any of those are going to pull out of it, so I may be looking for something else to try in that basket instead. I'm not sure if it's an over-watering, under-watering, too-much-sun, too-little-soil, or over-crowding the basket problem, but something's not working on it. It was looking mediocre before I left, though. I'm considering some lobelia... we saw those in Colorado and I fell in love. I don't know if they'll grow well in my zone, though... gotta do some research.
I'd intended to dig up my two iris bulbs and take a look to see if they were doing anything before I left. I didn't do that, though, before I left and ended up coming back to a spear of 3 green leaves from one of the iris! So one of them anyway is showing signs of life! Don't know if it'll ever bloom or not, no sign of a bloom shoot yet, but the leaves are more than I had a week ago! Now I don't know whether to leave the other iris alone and just see what happens, or try digging at it to see if I need to pull it up a little higher or what.
My morning glories and moonflowers seem to have stalled. I have a blanket of green leaves in the pot, but they don't seem to be growing much after their initial shooting up. Aren't they supposed to be fast growers? They're still looking happy, just kinda sitting there.
My two geraniums need to be dead-headed, but otherwise look okay.
My bluebonnets were pretty much dried out and bloomed out before I left, so I didn't expect to find anything good for them when I got home. But when I got home, I found two partially-green shoots and one single bluebonnet bloom on one shoot. I'm not sure if those are just the last ones to let go, or if it's coming back *again*, so I'm not going to throw it out yet. I've already gotten at least a month's more bloom out of it than I expected to get, so I'm happy even if this is the end of its life. It was sitting in a stagnant pool of water in its pot, though. The pot wasn't draining and BOY did it smell when I pulled the flower out to dump the pot. I'm amazed I have *anything* left alive with the type of water it's been sitting in. I think either the rain or DH over-watered that while I was gone because it wasn't sitting in water when I left. I'm trying to decide what (if anything) to replace it with (a late-blooming flower) when it does finally give up the ghost. I do get at least 6 seed pods off of it, though, if I get them at the right time.
My white imaptiens and red salvia are looking poorly, so I'm hoping I can bring those back out with care. I did see some new buds on the white impatiens so I have hope anyway.
My hydrangia I might as well give up on. Its big leaves have curled up half-way and now it's looking like a stick with green stuff glued on it. No sign of more blooms ever since that first one died out. But considering this one was from a florist instead of a garden center, I guess I'm lucky it still has *anything* green on it!
My cyclamin bit the dust before I left and I have no idea what happened with them.
They were doing so well, then I went out one morning and they looked horrible. I'm not sure if a bug got them, or if they've just reached the end of their blooming life. That looks like a dead pot now. Anyone know how cyclamin work? Again I expected it to only last a few days, so I got more than double the life out of it I expected to get.My double-impatiens looks like it needed some water but otherwise is just at an "in-between" stage, meaning the blooms it was full of are dying down, and the new buds haven't opened up yet.
And my begonia looked good, so that one at least survived the week.
So what are some suggestions for good full-sun (or almost full sun), hot-climate small late-blooming flowers I can replace my cyclamin, hanging basket flowers, and bluebonnets with?
