Viewing comments posted by lauribob

I know this is a popular tomato, but it just didn't do it for us. The plant was the least healthy in my row of 10 tomato plants and grew weird shaped, distorted fruit - often 2, kind of mashed up together into a single fruit. (I don't spend a lot of time fussing with my tomato plants, so I didn't thin them or anything.) We found the flavor unremarkable and they got some kind of icky, large, flying bugs that were burrowed into the fruit, or hatching out of it or something. I'd never seen them before and none of my other tomatoes had these ugly bugs. I won't grow these again.

We tried these for the first time this year and really liked them. The plant was small, but the fruit was large and tasty. These will be on our go-to list from now on. It was our favorite of the 5 full sized varieties we planted this year.

Grown more for the foliage than the bloom, this plant is native to eastern USA. Listed as hardy to zone 6, it might be hardy to zone 5 if sited carefully. It likes a little afternoon shade in warmer areas.

This tree is the last to show signs of life for me in the spring, not leafing out until several weeks after everything else is looking "springy." I love the giant leaves, pretty flowers, and the big old "beans" it gets in the summer. It's grown fairly rapidly for me to block an unwanted view up on the ridge behind me while retaining my mountain view. I've seen them used in town, where some people prune them to restrict their size and make them more suitable to a small yard. I've also seen people cut them back hard every year and maintain as a striking shrub, but of course, you won't get any flowers doing that.

Wildflower native to the west coast from British Columbia to California and inland to Idaho and Nevada.

Native to most of the western US and Canada: South central B.C. east to Alberta, south to northern California east to Colorado.

Burnet will self-seed freely if conditions are favorable. Remove spent flowers after flowering to keep it in check. The young leaves can be used to flavor soups in addition to their use as salad greens. It has astringent properties useful to soothe inflamed skin. Especially striking grown in masses.

This lungwort has solid dark green leaves. The blue flowers are a really deep, vivid blue. Mine has been a reliable bloomer with heavy doses of neglect.

I bought this in 2018 from Mountain Crest Gardens who listed it on their website as being hardy to zone 5. I'm seeing different information here and on other websites, as well as one other site selling this plant who also lists it as hardy to zone 5. I've already planted it in my zone 5 rock garden so I'll just have to wait and see. Will update this comment next spring.

Spring 2019 update - it didn't make it through the winter.

This dwarf lilac blooms on old wood in the spring and reblooms on the new growth created after the first bloom. For the best rebloom, water it well, but make sure it has good drainage and plenty of sun. Fertilize in early spring and again after the first bloom. Any pruning should be done immediately after the first bloom. This will delay the second bloom by a few weeks. Pruning in fall, winter, or early spring will remove the buds for the spring bloom.

In this part of our state, the forests are mainly made up of pine and tamarack, with a lesser amount of fir. I love the fall color of the tamarack. It really stands out against the green of the pines. The trees get very large and majestic, with giant trunks soaring up into the wild blue yonder. When they first get their needles in the spring, they are soft to the touch and a lovely shade of "spring green." I thought about planting a couple out in the pasture, but realized that when they are bare in the winter, they would just look dead. I'd rather have an evergreen, I think. They are the best firewood you can get around here; burns very hot and clean. (Almost too hot if not mixed with fir.)

I grew these from seed one year and thought they were very cool. The actual flower is a yellow disc of 1 - 2 inches. The green bracts that surround the flower appear to be green petals. They make great, long lasting cut flowers since the bracts don't fade away nearly as fast as a real petal would. They make a great accent in a mixed arrangement or are quite striking on their own. They prefer moist, rich soil.

The striking burgundy color of the foliage will intensify in full sun. In part shade, it is still attractive, more of a purple/russet shade. This sun-lover was bred to stay compact for container use and smaller gardens.

I call this one Yella Gorilla because it's so tall. It was a pass-along from a friend and has thrived and brightens the garden to an astonishing height. Mine gets little care and doesn't seem to mind a bit.

I see the other photos for this cultivar show much more vibrant colors than mine. I wonder if this is perhaps due to soil ph - my soil being pretty alkaline. Mine will fade to a washed out, pale blush of pink by the time they're about done blooming in the rather poor, sandy soil where I have planted these.

This is one of my favorite dahlias. It's not one of the giant types, so it doesn't need staking and does fine in a moderately windy location. It blooms prolifically if deadheaded regularly. The dark foliage is really striking against the yellow flowers and does well both in containers, and as a bedding plant. I feed these with diluted liquid fertilizer in containers. They just get what everyone else gets out in the flower beds - a spring topdressing of manure or compost. I rarely remember to lift them in the fall so I pretty much think of them as annuals in my zone 5 garden.

The stems of colorful berries can be cut and used in a fall flower arrangement. This variety is self-fertile and has a true profusion of berries.

Early Girl is one of my go-to tomatoes for years. It may not have the biggest fruit, but it reliably produces quantities of tasty tomatoes for me with no problems. It is consistently the first tomato, other than cherry tomatoes, to germinate in my greenhouse with nearly always 100% germination. By the time I set my plants out in early June, these are much taller and bushier than any of the other varieties I plant. I am always trying different tomatoes, but Early Girl is a staple in my garden.

I like to grow these in a pot in a small water feature. They don't always bloom for me, but the foliage looks great.

This plant will handle heat, but it likes its roots kept cool with organic mulch. Light deadheading will prolong the bloom time. It rarely needs dividing, which is good because it's not so easy to do with the long taproots, and it doesn't much like it. Best bet is to put it where you want it and leave it there.