gardengus said:

I discovered the annual phlox a few years ago and have loved the way it preforms .It reseeds by it self in this pot and it does bloom all summer.

love that kind!!!.. I have some containers of petunias that take care of themselves like that.. have to love it

No. They were W/S plants and haven't made it in the ground yet.

I'm in the same position with my camera...all I've used so far is the multitude of "auto" features.

I'm really loving this Lacy Phacelia; it's the first year I've grown it and it was really easy.

That is a one pretty flower. Would love to grow it , but it's supposed to like hot dry conditions which leaves me out. I can only do the hot part

You'll just have to take more pix so I can enjoy it vicariously.

Allison, my winter petunias did that. They cack in the summer. Several years after I had a winter 'Purple Wave', a whole bunch suddenly came up in early spring where I'd never planted them - they'd sort of reverted to a wilder form; pinks, purples, lavenders, bloomed for a couple of months and disappeared. Haven't seen them since. You're fortunate to have them reliably return.

Of course, then there's my driveway cracks "garden" where perhaps the plants are just a wee bit too "reliable".

that and I always seem to have agastache babies in a few pots too.. I grew these from seed last year.. poor things are being eaten up.. clary sage

Drats...really like agastaches. Agastache bloomed from April until late June-early July and it was gone, never to be seen again. Tried several different kinds too.

Hmmm, I wonder if Clary Sage would make it as a winter annual here; never tried it. Grew beautifully in Minnesota though.

Does anyone do lupines from seed? I have 'Tutti-Frutti' that's supposed to bloom first year - will try it in autumn and see if I can get flowers by spring. A different kind of zone-pushing.

I have some self-seeded Blue Waves, too. They'll bloom when the others are about finished. I don't even care that they don't come exactly "true".

Monica, my Lacys aren't in the ground because I think they'd hate my clay. They're in containers filled with a mostly cactus-type soil mix.

Well...most of them are - the rest are still in their paper grow-up pots ....and blooming in them!



I tried annual lupines from seed this year - I killed them with too much water.

I had tons of lupins I grew a few years ago.. none returned the following year .. wondering if the flooding we have been having the last couple of years... was the culprit .. come to think of it.. not sure if I saw the one patch that I have been growing for a few years now that I bought as a plant.. bummer!!!

I've read garden Lupines are short-lived perennials - but, geesh, don't we expect that means longer than 2 months-1 year Allison, you did amazingly well just to keep any growing a few years. It likes England and the Pacific Northwest and the rest of us can just spend money to kill 'em.

At least we have our Texas Bluebonnets, an annual lupine. It's not a showy in ones or two, but when a whole field of them are blooming, yikes.

Chelle, aha. Containers w/ cactus soil -- something else to add to my pot ranch. Yep, I raise a hunnert head of pots.

The strangest use of pots here is for my Campanula medium and Delphinium grandiflorum plants...they like to grow in pots buried in the ground - otherwise, no go.

Here's one collection...

Wow, those are the nicest Canterbury Bells I've ever seen. How did you figure out that they liked being in pots in the ground, along with delphiniums? What size pots do you use?

those are pretty.. I saw I lost one of my delphs... and the other looks like it's checking out this year.. very skinny and weak looking.. I let that lupin go to see in hopes it would take care of it's self.. guess not wonder if the junco birds would eat those seeds.. there were tons of them out there this winter

krancmm said: Wow, those are the nicest Canterbury Bells I've ever seen. How did you figure out that they liked being in pots in the ground, along with delphiniums? What size pots do you use?

Thanks!

They're the only ones I've ever had, or maybe I should say, my first. I'd been trying to grow them for years and finally got lucky! I had a lot of trouble with rot (I guess??) before this. Last year I stuck the pots in the ground about halfway and surrounded them with compost as a way to try to keep them alive while we were away on vacation - and there they stayed. The pots are saved nursery pots - I'd say from 6" to 8", but deeper than wide. The roots that want to do so, grow out the holes in the bottom of the pots, down into our dense clay, and the crown stays good and dry is my best guess as to why it worked.



I lost the nursery Delphinium 'Butterfly Blue' over the winter (not in a pot ), but my seedlings are beginning to bloom now. Are they just sturdier, do you think?

OH!!!

I smelled the Nicotiana last evening!!! I made it a point to go out at dark-thirty...and it smelled wonderful!!!

should have told you evening was the time.. sorry Chelle... and I didn't see the lupine because they were either eaten by a bunny or the ground hog

excuse my weeds.. doing this area today

one of my self seeded or returned plant pots.. some agastache.. some petunias .. some weeds I still have to pluck out

another.. will have to add some to this one

anyone think this is cuphea?.. or know if it should stay or go?.. not the agastache that was there that's for sure

I think it might be (Cuphea). Check this out. http://www.network54.com/Forum...


Damaging groundhogs here, too. I don't think I'm even going to plant beans this year - they get more than we do.



They don't bother the larkspur tho' - from a scattering of seeds, and a few that were W/S, I think there will be just about every color imaginable here this year.





Pink ones are in bud...

love those hummer shots.. too cool.. thanks.. I planted larkspur for the first time this year.. such cuties

I didn't start too many this year but here are a few shots
Wintersown profusion zinnia just starting to bloom. The one growing in the driveway is a volunteer


Wintersown tomatoes


A few oldies
Geranium wlassovianum, WSown last year


Pink trailing snaps on left were WSown about 5 years ago


White Swan ech WSown 3 years ago


Heuchera ruby bells WSown last year


Salvia merleau blue WSown last year


Karen

Reading about Chelle's pots make me wonder if that would work for the lupines.
I use to grow huge beautiful lupines in Michigan ,but have had no luck here , tried just about every thing,
I am going to try pots and see can't hurt.

Our weather is too hot, Cinda.They like cool weather. And they want well drained soil, somewhat acidic. I don't have any of those things- I have alkaline clay soil, and heat and humidity.

Karen