Viewing comments posted by sallyg

I have been growing this for several years, enough to have started with 2-3 small bulbs sent by a fellow gardener, into having shared a couple softball-plus sized bulbs and still have softball-plus sized one growing this year with several pups coming alongside. I am about a zone 7b, but probably get zone 8 at least in one sunny area. In that bed, this crinum have lived over a few winters and may be blooming size this year. The others that get to softball size or a little better put out 2-3 bloom stalks. When frost threatens, I dig them, let them dry, and store them in a box of straw, pine needles, or wrapped in paper. In April, I pot them up like an amaryllis just to get started. Plant out late spring when frost seems past.

A very fragrant flower, it has soft grassy leaves with tall (2 feet or more) flower stems. I like it more as the clump gets bigger. Plant the bulbs shallow with an inch or two of soil over, in full sun. I have read they need a long growing season, so here where it must come inside for winter, I try to leave it out as long as possible. Then I let it dry out completely to store. I have had it bloom in pots and in the ground in this zone.

I have had both blue and white for years from a plant swap. I do not know if they were originally of any cultivar. The white ones multiply a lot (can be too much) and form seed heads (which may be how they multiply so much.) The blue ones seem sterile with no seed heads and do not multiply or spread nearly as much for me.

I have been growing this for several years on the moist side of my property. It has volunteered around a little. It makes thick tough clumps that would be great for holding soil, and are hard to dig and divide when they get big. You may want to trim old foliage in late winter.

This is a lovely and fragrant rose, but like most roses in my garden, plagued by some early tiny caterpillars (sawflies?) and black spot. I no longer have it.

Burpee calls this a Cubanelle type, or sweet frying pepper. Light green fruits to 8 inches long.

I think I am currently growing Senna marilandica, but this species seems similar and may be a bit more showy, also this one lists being a host to Cloudless sulfur.

Purchased from Pinetree Garden Seeds in 2018. I have eaten local wild lamb's quarter and look forward to trying this. It looks like I tried to start some indoors but failed; that is not unusual for me. I will try some direct sown.

I purchased 'Giant Yellow Eckendorf" from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in early 2020 and have some growing. Supposed to make a huge, white fleshed, yellow skinned root meant for animal fodder. So far mid June they are growing well, with huge leaves. I cut and cooked some leaves and found them tender and good tasting.

Compared to species canadense, this one is obviously more glossy, darker, and a tighter clump in growth.

I've grown tat soi a few times. This year I started seeds (labeled tat soi, no particular cultivar) indoors in January, planted them outside March 8, they grew well and showed signs of bolting May 5. It has been cool and wet since mid March, so it is not bolting due to heat. I like the cute leaves and flat rosettes of this plant, the taste is mild, the texture like a meaty spinach leaf. I have had volunteers in the past in fall, and they were extremely cold tolerant into winter.
As these showed bolting, I cut most of it and cooked a batch, simmered with a little garlic, salt and pepper, and just a little bacon grease as the fat. Very mild flavor, it needs some 'excitement' in my opinion- more than I gave it.

Purple oxalis is a huge hit with visitors to my workplace where I keep a pot going. Many people have never seen it, nurseries don't carry it often, I suppose it would not travel well with the soft stems. But it is a pretty easy plant. It needs decent bright light to bloom. I have it planted as understory in some of my big potted tropicals where it can become pretty thick. So sometimes I unpot the big plant so I can harvest some bulbs of Oxalis. The bulbs look like odd pink scaly things, and during active growth they also have an appendage like a tiny pinkish carrot. Plant the bulbs pretty thick to fill a pot. I think warmth may help the bulbs sprout quickly, they have been slow going sometimes when I started them in midwinter hoping for St Patrick's Day plants.

From one clump when we bought the house, until 30 years later, I have somehow spread these bulbs in many corners of the garden and yard, even in the lawn. In my garden most clumps bloom poorly and are thick with small bulbs and the trademark white striped leaves. With frequent thinning I guess you could get a lot of nice bloom.

Growing well in a zone 7 shady Maryland garden. The gardener there (my friend) says bees love the flowers. Blooming in mid April, on a spreading, low growing plant.

Money plant is an old fashioned favorite blooming in spring with later daffodils and just after. After the seed pods dry they can be peeled apart to reveal the silvery inside layer, for a unique, thought not very sturdy, dried flower. It is biennial and self sows easily. I find it a nice treat under my trees, where I do limit its spread by pulling plants before seed falls, or weeding some of the young plants.

Native to much of the US and Canada, according to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

This geranium has been slowly expanding in my shady Maryland sandy-loam garden, I have divided it into a few clumps. Not evergreen in my garden. Purple spring leaves are nice contrast to a lime green Hosta or fresh bright growth on variegated Liriope spicata.

I have good results with Jalapenos and without a lot of special effort. Whereas bell peppers here tend to be thin walled (I garden organically, don't fertilize regularly, and I may neglect watering at times), jalapenos turn out lots of really nice fruit. Small brown cracks develop as the fruit ages, while still green; they can still be used.

This variety has grown well for me in Maryland and I really like the pickling type for taste.

I planted a pack of 30 bulbs many years ago. They bloom early and faithfully. I love to see them but my one complaint is that the weather is so changeable that early, many years they get ruined or overlooked during a cold wet spell. They need a little warm sun to look good. I think a sheltered but sunny location may be best. They have multiplied gradually around the initial planting.