Viewing comments posted by lovesblooms

I enjoyed the taste of these. They were a little larger than a blueberry, with a sweet-tart taste that's hard to explain. It does not taste tomato-y or musky, as I've read others can. It is seedy, but the seeds aren't "in the way" as you chew; they're very small versions of tomato seeds. They're not juicy like tomatoes or cherries to me--just little sweet bursts in your mouth. The little ones enjoyed hunting for them on the ground. The ones on the plant are not ripe yet.

I winter sowed mine and grew it on in a gallon-sized container, and it produced so many cherries we couldn't keep up, since we weren't gathering them for jelly or pies, just picking them up for a snack whenever we thought about it. They last a long time in their husks on the ground. I loved the perfect lantern shape of the husks, both green on the plant and golden on the ground.

The habit is very awkward, as seen in my photo. It's pretty much horizontal, and mine didn't grow much taller than a foot. Maybe a cage might keep the stems contained.

The plant I received in trade first got a little sickly when transplanted, but with regular spraying for black spot (homemade mix) it bounced back--or tried to. First It was stepped on. Then it was hacked back by a wheedwhacker too close to the edge of the bed. When it finally bloomed, though, it was just adorable. It tirelessly produced clusters of little pink fluffy roses at only abut 5 inches high, and wouldn't stop even when I deadheaded to let it grow. And it totally forgot about black spot. I'm in love with it.

Mine was not as red as I'd hoped, either in early spring, when it sprouted in its winter sow container last year, or early summer when I had to pull it after it bolted. It was in full sun--maybe that detracted from the color.

I winter sowed these last year and they came true from seed for me. I'll watch for new seedlings this year.

This and Blue Denim were my favorite salvias this year. They grew like annuals and I loved watching the bracts turn color. Probably would make pretty arrangements. I didn't consider deadheading so didn't get a long bloom, but the bloom lasted a while because the color is in the bracts.

The groundhogs loved these as they seemed to love every hibiscus relative. But they did their best in a new bed of clay amended with leaf compost in full sun. They eventually bloomed well below full size since they kept being nibbled. I'll be better about protecting them with Deer Stopper this year. They were the only hibiscus/mallow-type plant I got blooms from, and I appreciated them.

I winter sowed these in a green plastic soda bottle and didn't bring them outside immediately, and they sprouted. In the middle of winter. I brought them outside anyway, and the tiny seedlings survived among the snow and ice surrounding the bottle for the rest of the winter, and wanted to bloom in the bottle before the beds were ready for them. They bloomed more than I expected, but not much, because I didn't pinch them or anything. This time I will. I loved that bright red in early spring, and they certainly showed me their will to live.

I winter sowed these last year and their true blue was so appreciated with the bright yellow calendulas I transplanted them near. They also kept blooming much longer than I expected, but we had a cooler spring than what I'm used to. The seeds are sticky as burrs, and I expect lots of new seedlings since I let them fall where they might after scraping them off my shoelaces. This is in a new bed of clay amended with leaf compost in full sun.

I planted Mammoth Melting, Super Snappy, and Super Sugar Snap along with these. These were the best producers and very tasty. They're bush peas, and mine got around 3 feet high.

As you can see in my photo, these did need to be staked, but I forgive them. Look at those flowers! These are first-year plants in full sun, in a new bed of clay amended with leaf compost. Maybe they'll be stronger next year, maybe not. I don't mind staking, although I'll probably find a cage rather than the bamboo stakes this year.

Asters were never really a favorite, but these are welcome lollipops of color between tired perennials or exhausted annuals in fall. I'm sowing more annual asters this year, since most of my perennial beds are brand new.

At some point in spring a few of the five-foot stems were chopped in half by deer, so these are not deer resistant--at least in spring when everything must look like a meal to hungry deer. But the remaining stems produced blooms and they were fabulous: creamy, velvety, curvy, feminine and sooo fragrant!

I winter sowed these last year and transplanted in spring. The plants quickly grew to 1 foot tall, bloomed, and then quietly melted away. I'm glad I saved seeds! I'll use them as an annual this year and be sure to pinch for more blooms.

I plan to post a photo of the foliage in spring, but may add a photo of it as it is now in winter. I wintersowed this last year and transplanted seedlings in spring to a new bed scraped out of clay and amended with leaf compost. It quickly formed a broad, silvery, downy leafed rosette my daughter and I loved to pet. It hasn't melted away during our frequently damp winter, so I hope to see the flower stalks this year.

I planted these near green Agastache foeniculum for the contrast. At first I wasn't sure that was a good idea, but as it grew, there was a definite difference in coloring. With the echoing shapes and bloom colors, it was a nice effect. It bloomed first year from winter sowing here. And of course as with all agastaches, I love the mint-like herbal scent. The little ones love to pull leaves off to chew; they call it "gum."

Did not bloom first year from winter sowing, but foliage is still green here in winter.

The see-through nature of these plants makes it a little more of a challenge for me to find a place to get them to show up to best effect. The butterflies adored these, and I don't foresee ever having to sow them again, since they're heavy reseeders in my area according to neighboring gardeners. I tried pinching some, but the new side stems just waited until they reached around 4 feet high to bloom again, anyway. But at least there were a few more of the blooms.

These were my favorite the first year I sowed them, which was my first year sowing peas. The next year I had more to compare them to and noticed they grew tall but didn't produce as much as I expected such a tall plant to produce, compared with Oregon Sugarpod II. The pods got very long before starting to swell, and were tasty, but there just weren't many for some reason.

I winter sowed these and enjoyed an abundance of white floaty mid-spring to mid-summer blooms. I didn't deadhead because the blooms lasted long and still looked good as they aged. So I'm pretty sure I'll have little orlayas popping up everywhere this spring. The seeds are prickly.

I planted these with a few other MGs along a fence that gets only a few hours of morning sun. It was a shallow new bed of clay amended by leaf compost, and it grew as I expected--not very vigorous, but unexpectedly there were several fluffy, exploded-looking pink-and-white flowers. I'm not a morning person, but I was always disappointed to find the blossoms had closed before I could get out to take a picture.