Viewing comments posted by sallyg

Not very showy, as they say, but interesting. Illinois Wildflowers site lists quite a few insects that use this plant either for flower or foliage. They say this is often found in disturbed sites and likes part sun.

I've grown this for at least five years. From one innocent looking plant in a cup, I have a big patch of these. They spread by the roots and self sow as well. Need no special care at all to get over six feet tall. Goldfinches visit them for seed.

I got a few little sprouts of this at a plant swap, which quickly grew to fill an area next to a silver maple, enough so that I moved a lot to another area with tree roots, where they bloomed and started to fill in. The plant can cope very well with dry shade and tree roots, unfortunalty it cannot cope with chickens scratching it over winter, and it is all gone.

Pretty wildflower, I did not see a big variety of insects using it but did watch one certain type of bee that loved it. Makes a lot of seed, somehow had a few volunteers elsewhere in my yard last year. Sorry to say I don't think I have seen any yet this year, I do hope I have some.

I got these in 2018, all three came back 2019, but in 2020, I only have one of the three. They get all morning to midday sun, shade for the rest of the day, the bed may stay just too moist for them. Shorter than standard coneflowers, they were about 18 inches for me. Update: I dug the remaining plant today and it barely had any roots. I really think it they not like the heavy soil, a lot of clay as it was near the deck and a lot of subsoil was dug up and made the bed poor. (Black and blue salvia and Siberian iris seem to like it just fine though, doing great )

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.