Very pretty. I love that verbascum.

Karen

Bonnie - those are gorgeous!!! Mind if I ask where you came by the Verbascum 'Copper Rose' seeds? I got 'Milkshake' in a trade and they should bloom this year but that one you've got is stunning. I'd love to grow that one as a contrast to all my blue and white.

My CA poppy like yours reseeded like crazy too and I was tickled pink to see all the seedlings coming up. They're more than welcome to pop up all through that bed and bloom as much as they want. It's my most eclectic (read hodge podge) bed so they fit right in!

Thanks for sharing and I look forward to seeing more of your photos as things bloom in your garden.

Gardenweed, I think that the seeds came from T & M, however the photo on their website looks completely different than what I've ended up with.

I do think it's pretty, but I already had 'Southern Charm' which looks very similar to my photo above, and I was hoping for more of the yellows and orange shades.

Here is a link that might be useful: Verbascum 'Copper Rose'

How wonderful it all is, the flowers are lovely but your daughter's lettuce is awesome. Good for her, she must be very proud of her pot of lettuce. Tell her that it looks better than mine!

ditto cal poppies reseeding.
Interesting that this year I've got white blooms which I didn't have last year.
I like 'em.

Trudi, her lettuce looks better that mine too, LOL!

Yeah, I really don't mind the poppies reseeding. I just pull them up if they show up somewhere I don't want them, like in the crown of another plant. So far, all of mine are the orange ones, but I wintersowed some red ones this year. I'd love to have a mix of orange, yellow, and red, but most of the mixes include pink, which I really don't want.

Gorgeous! Eating wintersown lettuce has been a real joy for me this spring - mine's gone now, with the heat, but there will be more this fall!

Looking good! The Verbascum is pretty!

I love that verbascum! All of mine are either pink or white, that copper is wonderful!

A couple more things have started blooming.

This one is Verbascum 'Southern Charm'. You can see it's similar to 'Copper Rose' but more purple and less of the creamy yellow. It was wintersown in '07, my first year to try wintersowing.

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Here it is with 'Overdam' as a backdrop.

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This one, I believe is Dianthus 'Black Magic'. I wintersowed both 'Black Magic' and 'Sooty' in '10 and didn't label them when I planted them out. Now I'm not certain which one is which.

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Should have more bloomers to show soon ...

That's not D. 'Sooty'--I WS the seeds last year and they're blooming right now. The color is such a dark burgundy, it's closer to black. I haven't taken a picture yet since I was waiting for them to open completely. Seeds came from Diane's Flower Seeds and the flowers match the description on her website. As soon as I snap a photo I'll try to remember to post it here.

V. Southern Charm went on my seed order list as soon as I saw your first photo! Hazzard's has them so I'll order them in December when I order the rest.

My V Southern Charm have different colors on different plants. Some are purple, some pink, some more of a creamy yellowish.

Karen

Gardenweed, you are right about the color of 'Sooty', and the pictures I've seen of 'Black Magic' are very similar to 'Sooty'. I have two plants blooming right now. One is just like you described, and the other is the one pictured above that is closer to a cherry red. Those plants were wintersown the same year, and I thought came from the same seed packet, so I have no idea why the one plant is a different color.

Here they are together. The plant in the first picture is the correct color, though my camera doesn't capture the color accurately. It's actually darker, more burgundy than what the picture shows.

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Here's the mystery Dianthus
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Here are a couple of other wintersown bloomers.
This one is Lychnis chalcedonica wintersown in '09
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Here is 'Picobella Red' Petunia. I'm very excited about this one! It is the first true red petunia I've wintersown, the others have turned out to be more of a dark pink. It's also blooming earlier than I've ever had a wintersown Petunia bloom before. Plus, the whole plant is only about an inch tall, and maybe two inches wide, and it's already blooming! Talk about an overachiever, LOL.

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I've taken a few other pictures around the garden, but I'm trying to keep this thread strictly things I've wintersown.

Bonnie

Thought I'd post a pic of the main perennial bed to show the difference in color in those two Dianthus plants. The darker one is at the top left in the picture, and the dark pink one is bottom left.

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Finally succeeded with Siberian Wallflower on the third try.

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One of my favorite annuals that I sow every year, Petunia 'Prism Sunshine'

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Hope you enjoyed!

I was outside filling up my watering can at the spicket next to the trellis, and something smelled soooo sweet, I had to sniff around to find the source. The Dianthus 'Sooty' smelled very nice, but what was even stronger was Berlandiera lyrata (Chocolate Flower), wintersown in '10.

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I wouldn't describe the smell as chocolate, but very sweet, almost reminded me a bit of honeysuckle.

Another wintersown bloomer, Aquilegia chrysantha, wintersown in '07.

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More to come ...

From my very first year of wintersowing, Gaillardia 'Burgundy' wintersown in '07.

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Here's a dwarf yellow Snapdragon I received in a trade

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Feverfew (Wintersown '10), just starting to open up.

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I'm not sure if this is 'Molten Lava' or 'Lumina Bronze Leaf Red' Lychnis. I wintersowed both last year, but didn't specify which one I planted where. I really need to get better with the details on my garden maps!

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My new favorite poppy, 'Copper Pot'. I received the seeds in a swap, and it is just the color I've been looking for. Someone else sent me seeds for a dwarf, red poppy, but it turned out to be more of a dark pink. It was pretty, but not the color I was searching for.

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... and finally, a shot of one of the walkway beds.

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Thanks for looking!

Bonnie

I love that Verbascum, lost mine, don't know why. It had velvet-like leaves and white blossoms with yellow centers.

The nice thing about it (just had the one) is that it didn't need staking and bloomed for quite a long time IIRC.

I'm just going to cram my dianthus together like you have, says to space them way far apart. I was hoping they'd be doubles but they're not.

Hi Aliska! I think I planted the dianthus in clumps of about half a dozen sprouts. As I mentioned before, I sowed seeds labeled both 'Sooty' and 'Black Magic', but none of mine have been as dark as Gardenweed's, so not sure if the seeds were not what they were supposed to be, or maybe the plant had cross pollinated with another variety. Both colors I have so far are pretty, but I prefer the darker burgundy over the fuschia. What really surprised me was the smell. None of the annual types I've grown, or the Dianthus knappii pictured below have any noticable scent.

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The Verbascum's are just about done blooming here now, and I've cut a couple of them back as they were getting kind of ratty looking, but I think they are a great early summer bloomer. Now I'm wishing I had planted the dianthus closer to them, since the colors really complimented one another, and they have a similar bloom time. One day I'll get this gardening thing figured out, LOL!

Bonnie

Bonnie - is that gaillardia in the walkway bed shot a dwarf form? So far all my gaillardias are 30+" tall and I need something more compact like the one in your picture. I picked up a pot of Sunrita Tangerine last week that's only supposed to grow 18" tall...sure hope they're right about the height!

I'm happy to see your yellow queen columbine is hardy to Z5. I've stumbled across a few websites that say it's only hardy Z6 or higher but Diane's Flower Seeds sells the seeds and rates them to Z5. I WS seeds this year and fingers crossed they survive our winter and bloom next spring. I'm trying to add lots more columbine for the cheerful spring color as well as the delicate flower form & pretty foliage. Wonder if the day will ever come when I think I have "enough" columbine!?!

Gardenweed, that dwarf Gaillardia is called 'Goblin', and another short one is 'Arizona'. I'd be glad to save seeds for you, but not sure if it will come true. A lot of times Gaillardia's will revert back to the parent, which is the taller form you already have.

I bought those as plants locally, but Bluestone carries them.

Columbine grows wild in the mountians around here (it's our state flower), so it's definitely hardy to zone 5, maybe even zone 4. Could be just the fancy hybrid forms are less hardy. Columbine is kind of funny, germination when I wintersow it is always poor, haven't been able to get any other colors to survive long enough to plant them out, but yet the yellow one reseeds in the rock walkways 8' to 10' away from the original plant. Go figure : )

Here is a link that might be useful: Gaillardia 'Goblin'

After seeing pictures of this plant on GardenWeb and in catalogs, I decided to wintersow it. Was very surprised at how small the blooms were. I was expecting something the size of a Shasta daisy bloom. I guess all of the photos I had seen were super close up shots. The blooms are probably and inch across. Anthemis tinctoria (Golden Marguerite)

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Asclepias tuberosa 'Gay Butterflies'. Wintersown in '07. It's supposed to be a red, orange, and yellow mix, but all of my plants are a mix of orange and gold ... still pretty though.

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Another shot of Petunia 'Picobella Red'.

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African Daisy. Love the soft peach color of this one!!!

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The perennial beds are showing quite a bit of color now. Lots of stuff blooming. If the wind would die down a bit, and the sun would go behind a cloud for a minute, I could get some long shots of the beds ...

Bonnie, that asclepius is pretty, too. I'm trying to figure a lazy way out of getting my stuff planted because it's hot and I have to clear grass away.

Maybe I'll get pumped up again, never satisfied, but maybe I'll just let things "arrange" themselves. Looks like you got Siberian Wallflower, I had a marvelous display one spring, it finally peters out if you don't reseed (a biennial that will self sow but unpredictably, probably mulch I had didn't help w/self seeding but think it would have lessened each year anyway).

I was reading a web page of flowers that bloom all summer. Well, Gaillardia is one; I failed with mine twice or more, could have been the seeds, like the red-orange one. Another one they say is Veronica Royal Candles. Well, I have 3 I ordered from Bluestone sitting out there I need to get planted.

Oh, be warned. They are purple, not blue, came in bloom in the little packs. Hard to get true blue anything. But they're quite charming anyway, there's a little green tip where the bloom follows on up, and it does look a little like a lit candle.

The dianthus is just common, wintersowed that, but will be pretty anyway with new colors. I bought 3 Artemesia Silver Lace to plant by them because I saw how pretty it was in a photo Tiffy posted. Only her sweet william was so much prettier than mine. I gave one Artemesia and 3 or so dianthus to my daughter, she planted hers right away, and it's doing well. This Art. Silver Lace should fill out into a colony I hope, also have another plainer kind but it's in too much shade.

I can see the advantage of putting out hunks of seeds, don't have to bend and dig so much, and I think maybe they adjust faster that way, kind of sink or swim sort of thing.

Thanks for sharing all the lovely photos.

Thanks for that info on the gaillardia Bonnie. This afternoon I harvested ripe seedpods from dianthus 'Sooty.' They had turned brown and the ends had split open so the seeds poured right out in my hand. That says ripe to me!! I'm going to have plenty to trade--are you interested? I'd be glad to swap you some of them for some of those Copper Rose verbascum seeds.

I had anthemis on my seed shopping list but will cross it off based on your report re: the small size of the flowers. They'd get lost here plus my beds are actually beginning to get filled up to where there's not a lot of space left to plant things. As it is I still have over 150 pots of WS perennials to find homes for this summer.

Gardenweed, I'd love to have some of your 'Sooty' seeds! Unfortunately, the Verbascum 'Copper Rose' is a sterile hybrid, according to T & M. I haven't updated my trade page in a couple of months, but you could see if there's anything else on it that you are interested in. Just let me know : )

Gardenweed, another dwarf Gaillardia is 'Dazzler', which I have been growing for a few years. Withstands drought and bad soil, grows to about 12-18 inches tall. They are an annual here, so I save seed each year and they come true. My only plant this year (planted in too wet an area) even withstood an attack by cucumber beetles and is fully in bloom again. Quite a trooper.

Beautiful pictures; thanks for sharing them with us. I WS gaillardia "oranges and lemons" and Goblin and they didn't germinate right. I think the seed rotted. I think I still have a seedling that's not growing very fast of the burgundy gaillardia. Wondering if I moved it, what it would do.

In that picture where the dwarf "Goblin" is that gardenweed asked about, I like the color combinations you have going there, they are soft and pretty and all blend so well. The tall is a regular orange gardenweed plant? What are the others in that picture. I heard somebody mention wallflower, where is that one? Two years ago I purchased wallflower plants and they were purple but I didn't like them and puled them up. What is the beautiful yellow flowers in the picture right before the red petunia? Looks like you have some yarrow..what variety is that? I WS some yarrow this past Jan. but they haven't bloomed yet. One is budding but I don't recall which color..It looks like yellow buds. Somewhere among some seed given me last year for a Rudbeckia, is one lone white yarrow.

I just got a bulb catalog today and I saw a "Hello Yellow" butterfly weed..is that what those yellow flowers are after the Gay Butterflies?

Actually, Pippi, both of those pictures are Asclepias tuberosa 'Gay Butterflies'. It is a Butterfly weed that is supposed to be a mix of red, orange and yellow, but my plants ended up being just orange and yellow. I'd love to have one with the red in it! The Wallflower is the orange plant just below the Gaillardia 'Goblin' plant. I've wintersown it the past three years, and this is the first year that it survived after being planted out. Not sure what I did different this time.

northerner_on - thanks for the gaillardia info. I'll keep an eye out for those seeds. I WS 'Tokajer' and 'Burgundy' this year and just yesterday planted out what few plants I got. Couldn't even call it planting HOS because germination rate on commercial seeds was very low--there might have been a half dozen plants (albeit healthy ones) in each clump.

Bonnie - the dianthus b. 'Sooty' seeds are yours for postage if you want them. I checked the plants this afternoon and harvested another fistful so I'm going to have plenty for trades and to WS. Unlike your garden, I notice as mine matures it tends to be full of cool color and short on hot color plants. I even WS monarda/bee balm that's blooming in such a pale lavender it's utterly b-l-e-c-h! Not to worry...just1morehosta sent me a couple 'Hot Papaya' Echinacea plants that should rock the boat a little and maybe stir the creative juices to add more red, hot pink & orange.

Ooooh, lucky you, Gardenweed! That 'Hot Papaya' looks beautiful, and is on my wishlist too.

Thank you for the seed offer, I will send you an email to get your mailing address for the SASE.

The only cool colors in my garden are in the herb bed, because it seems that most herbs have lavender, white, or pale pink flowers, and I absolutely love having fresh herbs all summer, and drying my own to use all winter! I just finished harvesting thyme, and there's oregano in the dehydrator right now. My perennial beds are pretty much entirely red, orange, and yellow. A couple of peachy pinks have snuck in, and a few things that were supposed to be red, but turned out dark pink (like my Dianthus, LOL), and some really dark purple/burgundy/black things. I'm just drawn to bright, cheerful colors though, and haven't intentionally planted any pink, purple, or blue. When we first moved into this house, and it had nothing but a dirt yard, I carefully selected and purchased plants that were red, yellow or orange, but the red Bee Balm bloomed lavender, the Hibiscus syriacus 'Freedom' that was supposed to be red, turned out to be purple, the Sedum 'Autumn Joy' was actually 'Neon', which is bright pink, LOL. I gradually gave those things away and replaced them with things more suited to the color palette I have selected, but some things, like the Verbascum 'Southern Charm' blended well enough that I let them stay : )

You could say I follow a "gardening for dummies' plan. If I keep the color palette small and simple, than I don't have to worry as much about where it gets planted, because it should work just about anywhere in the garden.

I keep coming back to view your Verbascum 'Copper Rose'. There are many varieties of verbascum in my garden and I find them delightful.

Dianthus 'Sooty' has been deep red/black for me though some part of the plant was more bright red. Maybe it was a renegade seedling in the HOS planting. I see foliage this year but no flower stalks yet.

My garden is mostly blue, soft pinks, and violets now after a phase of bright colors many years ago. The back garden is where a few bright flowering plants are finding a home, even a bit of orange here and there. And the small red bed by the mailbox.

Thanks again for sharing your beautiful blooms.

I mentioned on Gardenweed's picture thread about the Rudbeckia 'Irish Eyes', changing eye color after moving it last fall. Here is a picture of it. The green eyed blooms are all smaller than the brown ones.

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Here is the first bloom on wintersown Coreopsis tinctoria 'Roulette'. I'll try to get another shot when it is fully in bloom.

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Very disappointed in this one. Should have looked it up before I WS it. It was received as a gift in a swap I hosted, but I didn't bother to look it up online. Based on the name, I was expecting a red flower. Here is Petunia 'Pirouette Red'. It's even more pink in person : (

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Wintersown in '07, here is Shasta Daisy 'Alaska'

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More later ...

Here is a shot of the bed on the west/northwest side of the house. It has been VERY difficult to get any plants to grow in this spot, due to the strong winds that blow between our house and the next door neighbors. Plus, the bed gets full sun from about noon till dusk, and slopes slightly, so stays very dry.

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All of these things, Aquilegia chrysantha, Feverfew, and Shasta Daisy 'Alaska' were wintersown. Behind the Feverfew, I planted a huge HOS of 'Iceland Mix' poppies, but they don't look like they will bloom till next year.

This one has small bloom for a Calendula. It's 'Bon Bon Yellow'.

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This picture is for Gardenweed. I wanted to show you the size of Golden Marguerite up against something else to give you an idea of its size. Here it is with a Shasta Daisy 'Alaska' in the back of it. It's probably half the size.

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Bonnie

Bonnie - thanks so much for posting comparison photo between Shasta daisy and Golden Marguerite! I'm reserving judgment on whether or not to grow the GM next winter or stick with others on my list. I already grow a lot of yellow, including coreopsis + several types of rudbeckia hirta. I've got Irish Eyes growing about 6 ft. from Autumn Colors rudbeckia but this is the first year the IE are blooming so I'll be on the lookout for cross-pollination when they bloom next year. I've got Cherry Brandy WS this year that's loaded with buds so I guess I'll have some new color to add depth when those open. I also WS Cappuccino, Indian Summer, Cherokee Sunset & double gold this year but those haven't shown any sign of blooming so far.

Something I'm very impressed with is Lobelia speciosa Fan Scarlet. OMG it's the most gorgeous Christmas red flower I've ever seen. I haven't taken a picture yet--waiting for more of the buds to open. Tag says Z6 but Google results show Z5 so I'm going to try and bring it through the winter.

Gardenweed, I just looked up that Lobelia, and WOW is it gorgeous! The reason I've never considered growing Lobelia before is that all of my research showed it as a shade lover, and that is something I don't have much of here. That area in my first picture probably gets the least sun of anywhere in my yard, and it's still 8 - 9 hours of hot, afternoon sun, so not exactly ideal. I've been trying to work in some Gaillardia 'Burgundy', and various Lychnis on that side of the house, but haven't had much success yet. I've also tried 'Honeycomb' butterfly bush ... twice, an oakleaf hydrangea, and Kniphofia in that area without success. As I said, it has been a very tough spot to fill.

My garden is the polar opposite of yours with way more shade than I remember growing up here as a kid. The trees weren't so tall back then and there weren't as many of them. Now I have very little full sun except in one bed--the rest get 2-3 hours of full sun, max. I have plenty of bright shade and dappled sun but full sun is at a premium. Even the butterfly bed I planned so carefully only gets full sun from noon to sunset. It's smack in the middle of the front lawn but the giant oak trees to the east & pines to the south shade it until noon.

A gardening friend was here visiting a few years back and asked how I could plant astilbe right out in the open. I pointed to the huge tree west of the astilbe and told her the house shades it in the morning and the tree takes over at noon. I decided to push the envelope and planted the slope north of my garage with butterfly bush, turtlehead, baptisia, hollyhock, weigela, daylilies, hydrangea, astilbe, persicaria, coreopsis, dianthus, tall phlox, balloon flower, columbine, daphne, hosta, penstemon & carex 'Ice Dance' among others. The sun lovers apparently get enough sun while the shade lovers can withstand what they get and still do well.

It's been a while since I've posted, but it has been a busy summer. Here are a few recent pics of wintersown bloomers.

Gazania 'Kiss Bronze Star'

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Here is Gazania 'Talent Red'. This is my first year to grow this one, and it will definitely be back again. Love the color, and the unique silver foliage! It was a little later to start blooming than my other Gazanias. I'm also growing 'Daybreak Orange Cream' though I can't seem to find a picture of that one.

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Viguiera (Showy Goldeneye)

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Silene regia (wintersown '09)

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Blackberry Lily (Belamcanda chinensis, wintersown '08)

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I also have quite a few daylilies blooming, but since none of them were wintersown, I'm trying to restrain myself from posting pics of all of them : )

Oh, I forgot one!

Euphorbia 'Summer Icicle'

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Most sources I found say it gets 18" tall, but mine is more like 24" - 30". I really like the look, but will plant it more towards the back of the border next time.