4susiesjoy said:Chelle. My avatar is a distant view of my big garden 'cuz I haven't gotten it all cleaned out this whole summer. Weather and terrible biting bugs, that are very prolific because of all the rain, and life seem to have put a crimp in gardening. I've still got hopes for catching up though! Well maybe not this year.

I understand entirely! I think we need to hope for a long bug-free spell after the first frosts to get things cleaned up this year!

Weeded, trimmed or not, your gardens are still most amazing to me; there's such a wealth of variety and complimentary colors!

abhege said:I always think I'm going to put sand and oil in a 5 gallon bucket to clean/oil my shovel, fork, whatever, but I still haven't done it.

Me, too! I did finally pick up the extra bucket a few days ago; now, I wonder how long it'll take me to add the rest? The oil is about 25' away, and there's sand on the beach at my yard's edge! It really shouldn't take too terribly long, but we'll see.

abhege said:I don't see any weeds Susie! It's a beautiful garden!

That's why it's taken from a distance!

Anyway, thanks Arlene and Chelle for your kind comments. I too am hoping for a late fall.

4susiesjoy said:

I too am hoping for a late fall.

I'm still waiting for summer to get here !!

Weedwhacker said:

I'm still waiting for summer to get here !!

I was thinking about taking my son up your way to visit some nature reserves before the temps get too cool, but it sounds like it's a relative thing this year. Then again, I was thinking more along the lines of traveling to mid-Michigan, and then over to the lake...Sandy, you're way, way up there! It'd be a two-day trip each way for us, for sure, and we'd have to add another two days to visit the island if we were already that close anyway.

On a laughable garden note...I have dark apricot 4 O'Clocks blooming against mauve mums, backed by magenta and blue salvias.
For some strange reason, I thought the 4 O'Clocks would be finished by the time the mums opened! I like it well enough, even if it is weirdly clashing, but then again I'm happy with just about any blooms.

Must head out with the camera at some point today, it's absolutely the perfect time for it!

Chelle, if you do head up to MI I am thinking Jennifer would LOVE to have you stop by. She mentioned trying to go to IN but they had some unexpected issues with the house so she hasn't gone anywhere. We're going to visit in early Sept.

Excuse me, Chelle, but I am NOT "way, way up there." I'm on the L. Michigan edge of the UP, "way, way up there" would be in the Copper Country (Keweenaw Peninsula) !

So far I think we may have had 4 days that could reasonably be called "summer"; unfortunately they've been separated by a week or more of not summer. Other than the fact that the tomatoes are going to have an awful hard time ripening at this rate, everything else in the garden is doing surprisingly well -- and it's a lot nicer to work outside when it's in the high 60s and low 70s than high 80s and low 90s !! (So maybe that's what I should be doing at this moment, instead of messing around on the computer... ? )

No matter what other colors they're growing with, the 4 o'clocks sound beautiful -- I love them, and grew them years ago without any problem but for the last several years had tried without success to get some started. This year I did get 1 plant, which is only about 6 inches tall at the moment, from 12 seeds that I planted. Any recommendations for starting the seeds? Start indoors, winter sow, direct sow?? Soak them, nick them ?

Arlene, if we do head up that way I had thought to contact Jennifer. I imagine that much of that depends on if we go east or west along with the north.


I'm sure we'd love the (way up there, even farther away... ) Keweenaw Peninsula area, too, Sandy! I had to look it up, but it looks incredibly beautiful.


I think the germination of 4 o'clocks is really just a crapshoot. I started some early on top of the aquarium and all six seeds germinated. I did another two batches in the same place, and in the same container, just two weeks later with no results. I did another batch outdoors in the screened room in June (I think) and all of those germinated as well...so there's just no telling. Both of the ones that didn't germinate came from the same supplier though, so it may have just been a case of bad seeds.

I was going to get a picture of those and post them now, but my 4 o'clocks are strange (maybe ?); they close around 1 or 2 and reopen at about 5. Maybe that's another case against daylight savings time!

chelle said:
I think the germination of 4 o'clocks is really just a crapshoot. I started some early on top of the aquarium and all six seeds germinated. I did another two batches in the same place, and in the same container, just two weeks later with no results. I did another batch outdoors in the screened room in June (I think) and all of those germinated as well...so there's just no telling. Both of the ones that didn't germinate came from the same supplier though, so it may have just been a case of bad seeds.

I was going to get a picture of those and post them now, but my 4 o'clocks are strange (maybe ?); they close around 1 or 2 and reopen at about 5. Maybe that's another case against daylight savings time!

At least I know it's not just me with the seeds then! Do the plants come back up for you every year? (I know they won't here.) Funny about the daylight savings time -- I guess they didn't get the memo!

Weedwhacker said:

At least I know it's not just me with the seeds then! Do the plants come back up for you every year? (I know they won't here.) Funny about the daylight savings time -- I guess they didn't get the memo!

This year was my first for successful germination, Sandy. I've heard that they can self-sow, and I'm hoping they will. Much easier that way, perhaps. At least if they do I'll know what the seedlings look like now.

Here's that first area.



...and the second, shadier area...



...and I guess the colors aren't too bad, at least close-up, as there's actually a pink tone inside the salmon.

Wow, I don't think those look bad at all!! When you look closely at that 4 o'clock it's like it was made to "go" with the other flowers.

Now, HERE is what some clashy plants look like:



I actually intended to just plant the "Thumbelina" zinnias in the flower boxes I hang on our deck railing (I have 6 of them), but although I thought I had started the seeds plenty early they were no where near to being ready to blossom even in mid June; so, since I had a lot of marigolds started, which WERE starting to flower, I put some of those in the boxes along with the zinnias... I obviously wasn't giving any thought as to what the colors were going to look like together!! At least I DO have lots of flowers, and these are so much better than the petunias I used to put in the boxes every year and then had to spend hours dead-heading... (even though I dead-head these, it just is so much easier!)

LOL, I think the next time I need a "user name" for a website I'm going to use "clashyplants" !

Mmmm...well, I like them!

Same basic colors here, just different plants.



If my late started zinnias bloom they'll be mixed in with yellow calendula as well. There's just no telling what that will turn into!

Flowers do have a way of pulling off color combinations that I would not exactly pick to wear at the same time!! (people already think my wardrobe is pitiful enough )

Love the copper four o'clocks Chelle.

As much of this side of the yard that would fit in the frame ( my back is against the west wall of the screened room) ..not the calm and peaceful colors I might have chosen for the new water garden, but it's growing on me. I wasn't sure if those little sedums would be okay set out on top of the logs, but they seem to like it just fine.



Thanks Arlene. Those seeds came from the swap. I'm hoping I can catch a lot of them myself when the time comes.

[quote="Weedwhacker"]

I'm still waiting for summer to get here !!



Me too! It has been so cool that the annuals and the things like corn and tomato's are behind. I kept having to move my Caladium pots from their spot in the garden to my patio next to the house because we were getting nights in the forty's and low fifty's. I finally just left them on the patio. That's part of why I'm hoping for a late fall so that my veggie's have a chance to mature and I have a chance to catch up on things from when it's been to cold and wet to work outside. I guess I'm a wimp because I don't get to excited about working out it the mud when it's that cool!

Susie -- I'm starting to wonder if any of our tomatoes will ever get a chance to ripen this year! And last week we took a ride down to Marinette and Lena, Wisconsin, and the corn there was absolutely pathetic looking... I don't grow corn in my garden, usually just buy it at the veg stands and freeze some for the winter, but looks like this might be a year of pretty slim pickings. With the weather, it's always something!!

Sandy, I have that concern too. The tomatoes, corn. peppers, squash, cantaloupe, and watermelon are all a little iffy. Even if the cantaloupe and watermelon make it they are not going to be as good because it's been too cool. But the weeds are doing marvelously!