Lovely, token! I've never heard of figleaf hollyhock, it's very pretty. What is the purple-toned big leaf on the right in the Queen Anne's Lace picture?

Shut up, token. Someday northern wintersowers are gonna gang up and get you, Showoff!

Karen

dawiff, that's Castor Bean. I have a green and purple variety. I thought they would get huge, but so far, the tallest is about 5'. This one gets the most sun of all my plants.

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Karen, I'm just waiting for Nancy Drew to show up with her flight confirmation number to kick my butt. ;)

Hey, watch that, Karen - He lives near me! Ha Ha

Token - Unbelievable that your Sea Holly is blooming. I will check mine and to sure to brag... errr, I mean - report how mine did this year

Everything looks wonderful...

Carrie

Thanks Carrie. I'm glad now I just planted a lot of these things in the perennial bed and elsewhere instead of building a holding bed for them. My holding bed would look like any other flower bed for the most part. I do have several Sea Holly plants that aren't blooming. And I noticed this morning that a foxglove is sending up a stalk as well. It was planted late though. I really didn't expect this kind of result. Makes me want to start sowing even earlier this year. :)

You really are asking for a band of jealous gardeners to march on your home with pitchforks in hand!! (Or trowels so they can dig up and spirit away your plants.)

Dame's rocket was one plant I really wanted to get started. If any of the babies survived I don't know enough to recognize them. My castor bean plant is about 8" tall. I thought it would love the Texas heat and sun; I got the seeds from a relative in Minnesota. Maybe it is in shock from the temperature change.

Did you wintersow the fig leaf hollyhock? I thought you hated hollyhock and pulled them all up because of rust! I knew figleaf were supposed to be more rust resistant, but yours looks totally unaffected. I've GOT to try those.

Congratulations, smart-alec!!

Debby

You teasing brat! LOL

I've got things I waited a year for blooms and the *&@% deer ate all the buds off them. Not just anything... things on those stupid "deer resistant" lists the deer don't read.

At least I had a brief vacation from my dismal place looking at your gorgeous gardens and blooms, Token.

The slugs made their way up to the 4'+ deck and went at my Basil. Don't they know an Italian needs their pesto?

Everything looks beautiful at your place. Thanks for sharing...if not the shameless taunt. :)

Wait, wait...what's that bright streak on all your photos?

Oh, right, that's what sunlight looks like.

Token,
You funny.
:-)
Linda

Hmmm...strangely, my flowers all seem to bloom in the colors they're supposed to! I guess that's what waiting gives you. :P

Nice flowers. I guess we'll just call you the Prince of Vernalization. Prince Ruprecht Token Carolinorto of Vernalization. That's a good, snotty, bratty prince's name!

webster's dictionary ~~ braggadocio:: 1) empty boastful bragging.

2. a boasting person: braggart.
3. a boastful z7 gardener to northern gardeners ~~

i live in the northern suburbs of chicago where we didn't even need a.c. turned on til a couple days ago, & now it is in the 90's with insufferable humidity!

phyl

p.s. maybe that third definition is only in the northern edition dictionary (?)

Very nice!!

You all make me smile! :) Thanks for the bragging Token...Your yard is amazing!

Just wait, Token. Us cooler zone folks will catch up with you soon. :)

Until them I'm a bit jealous - but I keep reminding myself that your photos are a lot like having a preview of what's coming soon to my own garden.

Very nice plants!

Lynda

The fig leaf hollyhock, I thought was a malva. It was wintersown and planted out very early, sometime in January. It's ate up with rust, you just can't see it in the photos. It'll come out as soon as I collect seeds for trading. I won't be growing any more hollyhocks in my yard.

The Dame's Rocket was from a trade. I completely expected to wait 2 years so I buried it in the middle of cupid's dart, sea holly, and a few other things. I planted all around it with taller growing plants to hide them while I waited the year. Now I have a mishmash of blooms in that area.

It's currently 81 degrees here in NC. It's mostly sunny with a few puffy clouds. It's been more than a week since we had rain. I've been outside all day working on a new bed for next year's plants. I've got echinacea and rudbeckia I'm dying to sow, but I need to wait just a bit longer.

Thanks for the compliments and the "hate" :) I just wanted you all to know what terrible influences you've been on me.

Used to, I only grew veggies and didn't have much luck with flowers. So I probably shouldn't tell you about the Green Zebra tomato I just ate standing in the middle of the backyard....It didn't even need salt. See, even my tomatoes are the wrong color. ;)

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Or the foot long squash....

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So while the flowers are pretty, the potager is delicious.

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Wintersown cherry tomatoes and sunflowers. Castor bean was direct sown. There's Yvonne's salvia, red spider zinnias, and bee balm in there somewhere. All were wintersown.

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Crap, I almost forgot the cucumbers. My wintersown ones got eaten by slugs, or something. I direct sowed another batch and they worked great.

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I just sowed the late summer crop of squash with nasturtiums to protect against squash bugs, cucumbers, and more beans. My freezer is gonna be packed this winter.

Huh! He is such a show off!

I have a lot of things in bloom. My blooming cycle started in March.
I just harvested my first crop of lettuce yesterday, and cinlantro two weeks ago. SO there!
:-D

Yeah....Last week we were moaning how wet and cold it was. Now it's so hot and sticky it's uncomfortable. I just got home dripping wet, turned on the ac, took a shower, removed the down comforter from my bed and hung it in the sun.

From 60s to 93 degrees in one heart beat!

You know that karma will not look fondly on you for teasing someone who's only at year three of a seven year wait to see martagon lily blooms, right?

Just checkin'.
;)

Nice blooms, plants, and veggies!!

I'll just nibble on some of the comments by saying that while the heat of the summer is making things unbearable for you later on Token, I'll be basking in my lovely cool northern summer along the Atlantic Coast. :O)

sewobsessed, I've got Eastern redbud seedlings. I think those take 5 years. I bet mine bloom next year. Send me your lily. I'll post pictures next week of the blooms. ;)

It's been the perfect spring this year. Lots of rain so far, not too hot. And plenty of sun on the days when it wasn't raining. If we could get some rain this weekend, I'd be in heaven.

Don't feel too bad about the plants, token. When your garden is mature, they'll be pretty.
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Then you can make pretty things for your girlfriend
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Karen... You see.... not so great in Zone 7 at times because all of my Larkspurs are finished and so I am envious that you have them along with BESusans... very pretty!!

There's good and bad in every zone - Today so hot and dry, not loving it here - we need some rain...

Carrie

It's the same here now, Carrie. I just took those pics a few days ago, but larkspur are setting pods now on the tallest part of each blossom. I deadheaded them today, trying to prolong bloom. The established BES are peaking now, really gorgeous. Now wsown ones have buds and should bloom soon. Don't you love that green-eyed double? It's definitely my favorite.

Weather.com says it's 86, but it feels a lot hotter. I spent the morning and early part of the afternoon out there, then gave up. Forecast is high 80s, low 90s, little chance of rain.

Karen

Karen - Gosh, I meant to comment on the green-eyed - yours are always so beautiful - you had them last year, right?

I think they are so different and gorgeous - your gardens looks magnificent - Hope you get some rain to prolong their beauty

Carrie :0)

Karen, I can't wait to show my larkspur next year. Of course I will direct sow it here in the fall. Along with poppies and nigella.

Does that green eyed one come true from seed?

I'm not sure token. A few years ago I had 2 different green-eyed ones in my yard- Irish Eyes and Prarie Sun. My harvested seeds from those produced some doubles last year. So I harvested seeds last fall from just the double blossoms (not all were double). I WSed some, which have buds that should start to open in a day or two. Then I'll know if I got any more doubles. I'll let you know.

I'm slowly eliminating the big dark eyed yellow ones from my yard. Yanked 2 huge ones today. Kind of trying to preserve the gene pool. But I will have Cherry Brandy and some dark eyed Beckys- still a pretty diverse gene pool.

Karen

Looking good, token! You too, Karen.

I'll be making fairy gardens with my miniscule seedlings this year.

PV

I want the dark eyed ones. Most of mine came out plain ol yellow and brown. This is the oddest one of the year.

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The cone is about 1" across. Should produce lots of seeds if nothing else comes from it. :)

sewobsessed,
my martagon white bloomed in its 4th year and pink in its fifth. It took my 5 years to get bloom on acanthus mollis but the d..n thing is blooming now, just when I decided it is going out of its spot
I also have first bloom on my arisaema sikokianum which took 3 years to bloom
where is my camera...

Everything is so pretty!

I am a bit jealous. I got some new blooms over the weekend and lots of buds. I think the rain and hot weather we have had is helping!

Hey Token I almost forgot Petunia Blooms now!!! Not many but I do have some. I hated to do it but I pinched some back to make em bushy.
I ignored them just like you said and it worked!

I was so happy!!!

I love WS'ing too!

Karen

Haha, you just had to rub it in, huh? That's alright. I can see why you'd want to show off. Absolutely amazing pics! Great looking veggies and sunflowers. I have lots of tomatoes ... they're all still green though. I have cucumbers the size of my pinky fingernail. Take that! ;)

Um... Token and others, silly question here... are you saying that if I wintersow perennial seeds beginning in December to be planted out in May, they won't bloom til the FOLLOWING year?

Tom,

I expected too much from my Castor Beans. I was told always that it grows really really fast. However, the one that really grows insanely fast in my yard is the sunflower. My tallest castor bean plant is 8 inches tall. :( It was even planted on time.

By the way, you have a very lovely garden! :)

Yes Janet. Many perennials need vernalization to bloom. That means, once they germinate, they need a period of cold weather to set flower buds. It's a process that keeps them from being invasive, among other things. Most of what I posted in the first post should not bloom the first year, I believe. That's one reason I sowed so many annuals this year, expecting to wait a year. My best shastas were started from seed last spring. They flowered this year. All last year they were just green leaves sitting in the beds. I was so disappointed. But as you can see, it was worth the wait - over 4' tall and still growing.

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You can get a jump on perennials though. Sow them in the early fall instead of winter. Depending on your zone, whether or not you mulch, or otherwise protect them, they will probably bloom next spring.

Neil, I'm disappointed with the castor beans too. I really thought they would be 10-12' in my zone by July. I'm thinking my tallest one might reach 8' this year and that's with lots of water and fertilizer, which I hate to do.

token - your shastas look way better than mine...

Carrie

Carrie, don't let them fool you. I got the picture at the right angle, right light, and perfect time of day after an hour under the sprinkler. :)

SOOO jealous.

But now all the rabbits on the internet know where you live.
( tounge sticking out)

Maybe now they'll leave my poor little sproutlings alone.
seriously very...Jealous!
great pix :)

I love living here. Carrie will attest. It is hot. It is muggy. It is humid and the humidity often drops after it rains. BUT, it's not hot and dry like Texas. It's not hot and stiffling like Chicago in summer. I've been there. Don't tell me it's all cool breezes off the lake. Nuh-uh. And we get to grow things quicker and larger than lots of the cooler zones. NC has seen a population explosion the past few years. I no longer wonder why. It's the weather.

Winter lasts a little over a month and a half. Once February is over, it's spring.

Token, I am in zone 5, Iowa, which is temperate (four distinct seasons, and my husband was stationed in NC in the Marine Corps and would LOVE to move back there! LOL

And I have a few ridiculously simple questions that show my ignorance about the science of plants :)

You mentioned sowing in fall rather than winter. Would I sow them directly in the garden, and will they germinate and become seedlings, and then freeze and go dormant? Should I cover them for the winter, or is snow-cover sufficient?

Or - should I sow them in pots/containers, like normal winter-sowing... will they germinate, then freeze, etc.?

:) Thanks - and, did I read somewhere that your first name is Tom?

Yes, it's Tom. :)

Not haven gardened in your zone, I can't say for sure, but I know in my area that a little leaf mulch is sufficient for most hardy perennials. My shastas got no protection. I actually divided them in December. Our ground never truly freezes though.

I sowed some rudbeckia and echinacea last Sept. They came through fine and are blooming now. I used containers and the wintersowing method, but no tops and mostly in shade.

I plan to do lots more in the fall this year. Perhaps someone from your zone can let us know if this method works for you, or at least what to avoid, like annuals and halfhardy annuals.

Sure appreciate the info, congrats on the early blooms :)

Token you got Chicago right!

I moved here from SC and was so shocked it is really hot here in the summer!!! I assumed it would be cool here in the summers, i was very WRONG

We also seem to go from cold to hot with nothing in between.

I sometimes think I like winter better now :) I don't sweat as much!

Karen