Viewing comments posted by 4susiesjoy

This is a long blooming plant with bushy, intense purple plumes. It doesn't always have the strength in its stems to hold the heavy flowers upright. It makes an excellent dried flower when cut before the color starts to fade, and it will rebloom after being trimmed back. It is very hardy and thrives in sandy soil in my zone 3 garden.

This beautiful clematis blooms in the early spring on old wood and is completely covered with bloom from bottom to top. If needed. it can be trimmed right after it finishes blooming so it has a chance to make blooms for the next year.

This delicate, small, bell-shaped, blue bush clematis blooms in the early spring and has a short bloom period. Even with the short bloom period, it is so pretty while it is blooming and the leaves are attractive enough even when not in bloom, so it is well worth growing. It is well suited for a rock garden.

Yellow-centered leaves 3 inches wide by 5 inches long, with white margin, changing to medium green by August. Sport of Little Miss Magic.

Dainty little wild flower that self seeds prolifically. It works well in a rock garden and prefers well drained soil. It blooms in early spring and its flowers add a cheerful presence to the early spring garden.

The leaves of this Begonia are soft and velvety, and the undersides are a bright burgundy red. The stem isn't strong, so they need some support or they tend to flop. It is very showy.

This flowering Kale gets very large and showy. It is very ruffled and the colors get more vivid the colder it gets. It can stand a lot of frost and many times is still going until it is covered with snow. My favorite of all the flowering Brassicas I've grown.

Both Sunrise and Sunset are bouquet Kale and get very long stems. The stem on this plant is longer than a foot and will last for a substantial time in an arrangement.

Although similar in color to Red Chidori, its leaves are shiny, and if they are seen together, they are distinctively different. It lends lovely color and texture to a late fall garden when most other things are done.

The name of this Dahlia is a good description of it. For me, it is perfection! This is a fabulous Dahlia with 10-inch blooms. It is 3 1/2 feet tall or taller. The flowers are a soft pink with white tips. Despite the blooms being so large, it is a prolific bloomer. It does take a little more time to get going, so I try to start it in a pot under lights. The only negative is that toward the end of the summer the blooms tend to lose their pink and are more white than pink.

This is a shorter Collarette Dahlia around 3 1/2 feet tall, with 3 1/2-inch blooms -- bright red-orange, with white centers. It has not been a good cut flower for me as it loses its outer petals very quickly, but it is a bright and cheerful addition to the garden.

This is one of my earliest blooming dahlias' every year. Its blooms are about 5 inches and it grows to about 4 and 1/2 feet tall. It is a prolific bloomer and holds up well in arrangements.

This dahlia can get quite tall. It can be from 48 to 60 inches or taller if it is fed and watered regularly. Its flowers are large, but the stems are quite strong and they hold up pretty well in a bouquet or arrangement. The dark pink on the edge of the petals combined with the cream/yellow centers make this a real standout in the garden.

This pansy stays small, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in bloom power! It was blooming when I put it out in the first part of June and is still blooming today in Sept. It has bloomed well both in my rock garden and in containers. Its colors are very intense and bright. It is a beautiful little plant.

In my zone 3 garden, the bi-tone isn't very evident, and when you can see the different coloring in the back petal colors, it is only in splotches. We have had a cooler summer with heavy dew, which tends to make the whole plant splotchy, so I hope it will perform better in a warmer summer. It is a heavy bloomer.

This sedum has a smaller flowering head than some of the large sedums, but it also has small flowers up the whole stem. It does not stay upright, at least in my garden, but tends to flop. Even with that it is a very unique and attractive plant.

Inside, in the winter, it was a disappointing, plain, green plant, but outside, in the summer, it became a fast-growing, glowing, beautiful Crassula. Even with the cool days and the nights that are sometimes in the 40's, it maintained its glowing red color. As with most succulents, even in the small pot on a hot wall, it was fine if I missed a day or two of watering.

This flower is one of the longest-blooming perennial flowers in my garden, starting in late spring and blooming until hard frost. It has also been the longest lived of the newer hybrid coneflowers that I've tried. It has lived through the last three winters, the last one of which was very long and cold. It has been one of the top attention draws of people who have toured my gardens, and it blooms well if it is hot weather or cold weather, I would definitely recommend it!

This is a large upright coleus that retains its colors and does the best in bright shade and plenty of moisture. The leaves are lobed and veined with dark pink. The colors are lime and green on the top of the leaf, and the bottom is the same color as the veining. It is beautiful and valuable for an accent plant or on its own. It blends especially well with pink and green toned caladiums.

This is a large coleus that does well in both sun and shade. The shade colors are dark burgundy, cream, and dark green. In full sun the reds and yellows come out along with the other colors. Its colors are dramatic in both sun and shadem but it looks like a completely different plant depending on the amount of light it gets. Cool or warm temperatures also have an effect on the brightness of the colors.