John every Spring in NC I would go in search of the Coreopsis. My favorite wildflower bouquet is Ox-eye Daisy, Chicory, and Coreopsis in a Blue and white speckled metal coffee pot.
Thats a beauty.
Sidney

here's some of my babies I just put into bigger pots

Looking good.
I was busy last night going through dirt in pots to see what was dead or still dormant. I got to an area that had my coleus in pots which had become overgrown with weeds and actually found 2 freeze survivers. One was Inky Finger and I don't remember the other one. Surprised any survived.

Apopka Art and Foliage Festival today and tomorrow.

http://apopkawomansclub.org/20...

They have plants for sale and you can meet some of the commercial growers and arrange to take a tour of a local greenhouse operation.

Jan I am suprised they survived too! None of mine did!

Hi Rene,
We are between the gulf & tmpa bay and tend to stay about 5 degrees warmer than the inland areas. I guess it was just enough with the layer of hay I threw over them for a couple to survive.

Sorry I haven't been around lately guys---but with this bad economy- golf course prices have been too good to resist!!
Here's a pic of some of my babies I took to a friends yard sale last weekend. Sold most of them. It was kinda sad letting them go-but was assured by everyone who bought them, they were going to a good home, and most were very knowledgeable about coleus. Felt better about that.
will have a bunch of Lord Valtimort and Alabama S.S. in a couple months.

last fall.......

today

I bet ole' Tom- the neighbors'- cat never thought He'd be on the tube....

Summer time is here. Plants will stretch their stems abnormally due to DIFF (warm days and cool nights) so normally a commercial nursery will use chemical plant regulators to treat potted bedding of foliage plants to extend the shelf life. They can's sell tall spindley droopy plants. So if you buy an annual at the big box store, it may sit for a week or more looking nice, but waiting to grow-out of the slump. In the greenhouse its possible to encourage negative DIFF (cool days and warm nights) by adjusting shutters on the greenhouse. But mostly growers will run mist with exhaust fans during the heat of the day to try to remove excess heat. Water spray during the noon hours will help cool, but the plants need to be dry by sundown to prevent disease.

Yep. Thats just what I was telling a lady over on coleus I.D.
Last year I just "hosed-down" the coleus in the shade house during very humid weather, just like you do in the landscape.
Well, It didn't take but about a week before I'm getting all kinds of brown spots on the leaves and stem rot.
Now when they're packed close together, I make sure and just water the soil, and if I use the mister---make sure to run the fan a while after I turn the mister off, until they have a chance to dry off. Makes a big difference here in Fla.

Jim (goodgreen)
How large is your canopy thing. I am picking one up today that is 18 ft x 20 ft which I plan to use to shade some of my resale plants that prefer shade or part shade. The sun is killing them already. I like the idea of using the canopy cover to better control the amount of water they get during the heavy rain season but may go with shade cloth for now and change it later if I have to.

Mine started as one of those car cover things I got at tractor supply for about 100 bucks. I later bought the end and side pieces for about another 100 bucks.
Being that its white, I get a lot of indirect bright light which the plants seem to love. It is a 10x20.
I also beefed up the frame with conduit pipe and anchors that screw into the ground about 2 feet, so the wind wouldn't blow it away.
Its already too small and I may need to put another one right beside it.
If your getting a 18x20, thats just about the right size. I've got 3 shelves high in mine now and still don't have enough room.

This is the one I am getting. The 18x20. I'm getting it used. new 7 months ago.
I got him down to $225.00 which is alot cheaper than a greenhouse or shadehouse. I figure that come winter, instead of buying the sidewalls, I can just purchase the 6 mil plastic and wrap it.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas...

that'll work--
make sure you anchor it or you;ll have a sail boat come a storm...
here's a pic from last year---I think you can make out those screw-in anchors--then I ran a clothesline-type cable over the frame on the side and its held together through a bunch of windy days and storms

There are some kind of anchors. I'll find out when I get it tonight.

Thats not a bad price for that size, assuming all the parts&pieces are there........

Everything is there. He included the concrete anchors you can in the picture (blue buckets are filled with concrete with 18 in of pvc pipe set in that you slide the legs into). The city inspector was checking out a building across the alley and saw it set up and informed the owner that he could have 2 single 10 ft wide ones but the 18 ft wide wasn't code. LOL. Fortunately, I'm not in that city!

thats a really nice one!! That aught to give you plenty of room. What are you going to do for shelving??