Viewing comments posted by sallyg

I bought a "Santa Rosa Semi Dwarf" plum from Lowes store in spring of 2011. Beware, semi dwarf seems not meant to be small- despite chopped off roots it took off and grew like crazy. It's about 20 feet tall now. Don't be lazy on pruning, you don't get much of a chance to fix that later. After a couple years we had blooms and fruit. One year we collected a number of freshly fallen fruit and got to eat some small tasty plums. Other years we have been overrun by brown rot. I haven't pruned much and have not sprayed for disease control. It blooms very early, briefly, in spring so I consider it a help to pollinators. It's a nicely shaped tree, got that lollipop feel of Callery pear. The falling fruit in summer makes for a mess for several weeks. It also suckers, and has been a problem for the asparagus that I planted it too close to. Sited at a distance, it might be useful for insects and wildlife and not unattractive, but not really beautiful either.

I grew these from seed in 2019. Everything as expected based on my experience with other sweet peppers. Nice sweet flavorful pepper.

I kept my white Mandevilla inside last winter, brought the whole pot in a cool basement with a little window and kept it from completely drying out. It pulled through and rebounded once it went outside in spring, and did great. Now it is climbing up a six foot bamboo stake and I have to decide how much to cut off, and bring the pot in again.
Update, 11-2020-- Mandevilla rebounded and grew well this summer in a pot. Needed frequent watering.. upon pulling it now after a month drying out I find it really did not grow roots out much or fill the pot, which may explain why drying affected it so quickly. I took a few long thin, green cuttings end of summer and put them in water. One has rooted, and I potted it today. I will take more cuttings, use hormone, and pot them, but am going to let this 3 or 4 year old plant go- it has orange aphids and I don't need to bring any more of those in than I may have already.
Update April 2022 - I can't remember what became of that last posted idea (pandemic brain) but I think I kept the original rootmass after all and let it grow. And I still had a big white Mandevilla last summer - I would not have bought a new one. I saw very little regrowth this winter (just two very skinny vines) so I thought I would toss it all. But on pulling and prying off soil and roots, I find the original plant has a number of thick tubers. I am again letting it regrow if it decides to.

I have been growing and dividing potted specimens for several years now, until now I have five medium-large pots of it. I keep them on my deck in summer. Tree frogs hide in the pools created by the leaf rosettes. Each new rosette will bloom once, then create two side shoots, and decline. So you do want to periodically cut out the older leaves and rosettes, or divide. Tough roots, don't count on pulling by hand, I think I had to saw them apart, I used an old electric knife blade. But the plant never blinked an eye. I keep them inside over winter here in zone 7.

Wintersweet is a fast growing, large, rangy shrub. Give it plenty of room! The scent is powerful, however, winter weather can interfere with the show, cold wet weather can quickly ruin the small flowers. Easy to grow from seed, that is how I got mine. Fall leaf color is yellow.
I grew the straight species from seed and had the shrub some years until it outgrew its space. Meanwhile I grew a double-flowered improved one from seed also, and still have that one. It is blooming late January into February (2021). Flowers are the same size as species, certainly not the 1-2 inches listed on the 'Luteus'. But the flowers on this are double, seem a little sturdier, and seem to have more buds than the species. Still, bud count could be location difference (more sun.)
2024 update- still doing well, more flowers each year, and this year they are lasting quite a while (weeks).

American Sycamore is a common tree along many highways in Maryland, and found in many parks near rivers.One beautiful specimen is the Witness Tree at Antietem National Battlefield. One can stand in utter peace on the stone bridge over a beautiful clear stream, near the massive tree, and reflect on the history of the site.

It is a messy tree, not a good choice for all yards, as it drops bark and twigs and has large leaves. Despite the mess, I have two sycamores in my yard and love them for their nature value and unique character.

A medium to large holly with a natural pyramidal shape. Leaves are a glossy deep green color, berries are large and ripen red. Said to be moderate to fast growing. Space 6 feet apart for a screen.

I've grown this for some years in full shade with tree root competition, no special care. Lovely foliage and spring bloom. Foliage persists into summer though it may become ratty, or go dormant. Mine still has leaves now despite some very hot weather and a dry July. Slowly increasing by reseeding.

I've had this for years. It makes a mat/clump and It has slowly expanded with zero care except watering when very dry periods make it wilt. Very resilient, I have it in shade with tree root competition. Nice unusual foliage look. Caution, chicken foraging will damage it over winter. Rocks and twig barriers (stick small branches in the ground throughout) will help shelter the roots.

An old favorite, easy from seed. I have some hot pink plumed Celosia with lime green leaves. This is my second year of volunteers. They make LOTS of seed (amaranth relative) and grow easily. Mine are about two feet tall, bushy, with big heads. Chickens eat the leaves, many kinds of wasps and bees love the flowers. I'll try to watch to see if birds go for the seeds. A really useful and easy sun annual.

A local grocery chain store had a load of these on the sidewalk to sell this spring. They are as pictured an intense blue color. I did not buy any so can't report on care.

I bought one Dancing with Smurfs plant as a nice starter at the nursery. Plant has grown well (2 months) and is producing. Fruits start out very dark and green on the bottom. As they ripen, they turn red-orange and lose the dark blue-black. I tried several, all were bland and tasteless. And not very novel, as they lost the dark color. The plant suffered in the summer heat but did rebound in fall with a fair amount of fruit. Still, they were always bland and tasteless to me, all season long. I gave them to the chickens.
('Black Cherry' tomatoes are dark when ripe, with much better Cherokee Purple kind of taste. And they make much bigger clusters of fruit too.)

I've grown this fern for over fifteen years. It grows a thick mat of roots, and spreads. Even in a moist spot, I have never had it much more than 2 feet tall. Maybe it needs to be undisturbed longer to grow so tall - I have to dig it back away from the downspout periodically here. Easy to grow and interesting both for leaf and for dry spore stems.

Bought a blooming one quart plant this spring, it has never stopped blooming yet and looks happy in partial shade. Interesting arching-cascading shape and rich orange-red flowers.

First time growing these, planted this spring.
I did a little row of it, they grow super fast huge leaves. Much bigger leaves than the swiss chard I sowed about the same time. Slightly fuzzy, Thin, with a juicy rib like the red mustard I grow. The caterpillars prefer the kale and collards, so these were less hole-y. Tasted OK, I probably need help making my greens more tasty in general. The chickens like them fresh. Very productive in spring, but have gone downhill fast through July. Too hot? Too much rain? Shade from cucumbers? I just don't know. Updating in October- some survived and started growing again, plus I sowed some fresh seed. They are growing fast again.
Update following March - some survived our mild winter and are bolting, just as RicCorey described them, will submit a picture.

I got two of these included with asters in mixed baskets, fall 2018. I planted the entire clumps from the baskets, to winter over in ground. Everything survived. I divided the asters off the juncus, and planted the juncus clumps. On moving the juncus clumps a few weeks later (Eye roll at myself) I found good root growth out into the bed. They are still doing well, late May. I bought some dusty miller annuals and they look really great next to the blue juncus, total contrast in form and complementary in color. The rush are starting to make a few blooms now, too.
2022 spring. Still going strong, expanding clumps, some dieout in the middle. Looks like one can pry off some of the expanding root mass and replant/give away. Maybe they would look better if divided.

I got these by way of buying two clearance baskets in fall 2018. (with Blue arrows juncus)
I planted the basket contents as one clump in fall and they survived winter. I think all the plants showed some growth in spring. I divided everything and planted these small plants individually. They are growing, more or less, but I'm still unsure how big they will get. They were very compact in the baskets but that may not be their true habit. Editing to add, I accessed plant info from the tag via a text and link. I just added plant height and cold zone to the details.

I got this from a swap several years ago. The original plant grows in a very moist spot. I have moved a few into other garden sites as well. I can't say if it prefers one site over another. It has a lot of flowers, on which I noticed one tiny unusual type bee or wasp.

I planted one about six years ago next to a maple tree in a woodsy setting. It is hardy and returning but I have not found it to multiply or spread at all, as the common violets and Viola striata do in the same area.

I got a couple of these a few years ago. They have been spreading in my woodsy shade garden and are happy with no help from me. Leaf texture is a little thinner than common violets.