Spring-2016 Gardening anyone? What do you plant? or not?

[angels mommy]

@MackieMac, Your flowers are just beautiful!  I love the butterfly pictures too. I have some of them, I will have to post them below. 

I picked up 2 packets of Mammoth sunflower seeds, & 2 packets of mixed cutting flowers seeds today. I can't wait to plant them.  

Here are some of my butterfly pictures from years past,

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• angels mommy
• Apr 20, 2016

  

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• angels mommy
• Apr 20, 2016

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• angels mommy
• Apr 20, 2016

  

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• angels mommy
• Apr 20, 2016

 

[foxxycat]

  

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• angels mommy
• Apr 20, 2016

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• angels mommy
• Apr 20, 2016

  

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• angels mommy
• Apr 20, 2016

Oh Zinnias Are a great thing to grow in full/part sun!

Kelly=those photos are AWESOME!

I spent almost 3 hours in my yard yesterday trying to pull out dead leaves and count how many lupine I have-15 plants-hopefully they all flower-these are native up here in the north east especially maine. that photo I put up at the beginning of this thread has white ones-I never know what color it will end up being. usually they are always purple but they only bloom in early spring like late may and then gone.

 

[DreamerRose]

The butterflies are beautiful! I'm off to the nursery today to get some Magic Carpet Spireas and a few perennials for the gardens. And one of those gorgeous double impatiens for a hanging pot. Here's the one from last year:

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• DreamerRose
• Apr 21, 2016

 

[angels mommy]

@foxxycat, Thanks! I think they were part of the mixed packet.  

 

[kitty chew]

There are some really pretty gardens here. It is very interesting to see your gardens on the other side of the world. So lovely and green. It is very dry where we live. We have alot of tropical plants. Our front yard has a tropical look with a few succulents thrown in. And our back garden is more english style. I grow lettuce, broad beans, capsicums, chillis, tomatoes, and herbs. No luck with anything else.

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• kitty chew
• Apr 22, 2016

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• kitty chew
• Apr 22, 2016

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• kitty chew
• Apr 22, 2016

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• kitty chew
• Apr 22, 2016

 

[DreamerRose]

That's a lovely garden! Nothing like what we have in the states. The hibiscus is gorgeous. Gardens can work miracles, wherever they are.

 

[kitty chew]

Thankyou. I love hibiscus. I have a few different ones. But you have plants in the states i have never seen before. And those butterflies are amazing! Nothing like that here.

 

[Kat0121]

Thankyou. I love hibiscus. I have a few different ones. But you have plants in the states i have never seen before. And those butterflies are amazing! Nothing like that here.

I love hibiscus too. We have them all over the place here in Florida. 

 

[foxxycat]

I've got one Hibiscus that I have been trying to get growing for three years-I was told it wont start to return until the ground gets good and hot. So I have been trying to weed better around it to keep it able to breathe.

I should have spent last night outside pulling old weeds because we don't have too many black flies yet. But I decided to sit and watch tv instead.

On May 6th I go to a local highschool to buy some "Tidal wave petunias" to plant around my yard. Check out your local high school=most have a green house and grow all kinds of things and sell dirt cheap! in June I can buy all kinds of veggies for like $.50 a plant! or less!

 

[gracethecat]

We have an incredible flower garden!

 

[kntrygrl256]

Last year broke me on planting a lot. It was a disaster.

We had a local festival a couple weeks ago and I got 2 small tomato plants and so far they are doing great. I have them in pots on my porch. I may plant a couple other things but right now are all I have.

I want some cucumbers and am going to try to plant them in pots also with something for them to run on but I'm not getting them yet.

 

[Norachan]

@rubysmama  All my tulips and daffodils put up loads of green leaves but no flowers this year too.

Do you think that means they're finished? I'm wondering whether I should pull them all up and plant some more bulbs in the autumn. Or maybe leave them in the ground and hope for the best.

 

[Margret]

 
@rubysmama  All my tulips and daffodils put up loads of green leaves but no flowers this year too.

Do you think that means they're finished? I'm wondering whether I should pull them all up and plant some more bulbs in the autumn. Or maybe leave them in the ground and hope for the best.

I'm not much of a gardener, but I just did two Google searches, one on "do daffodils come back every year" and one on "do tulips come back every year," and this is what I found:

http://gardening.about.com/od/daffodilsandtulips/qt/Daffodils-Not-Blooming.htm

http://www.tulipsinthewoods.com/bulbs/13-ways-to-get-your-tulips-to-come-back/

I don't know what varieties you're growing, but it strikes me that these pages probably have some good advice on the subject.  If the problem is that you cut the leaves back when you shouldn't have, probably all they need is another year, with the leaves left on.

Doubtless someone else here can give you better advice.

Margret

 

[DreamerRose]

 

[kitty chew]

Wow, they are lovely. Wish it was spring here. Does anyone have any wildlife in their garden? Would love to see some critters. We have motorbike frogs in our garden. Think they are only found in western australia. Their mating call sounds like a motorbike. When they start up, it sounds like you are at a race course!

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• kitty chew
• Apr 22, 2016

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• kitty chew
• Apr 22, 2016

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• kitty chew
• Apr 22, 2016

 

[mani]

I just love your motorbike frogs @kitty chew.  And that's a stunning Hibiscus.  I don't seem to be able to grow them.. they seem to succumb to mould.

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• mani
• Apr 23, 2016

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• mani
• Apr 23, 2016

 

[kitty chew]

That tree is beautiful. I want one! And the bromeliads look really nice growing around it. What a lovely garden. I would love to see more of it.
Hibiscus are very easy to grow here. Never had one die. Most tropical plants grow well, but the hot summers are a bit much for the cottage garden look we wanted in our back garden. You need lots of shade for that. We are working on it!

 

[mackiemac]

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

Yellow Bird of Paradise (Desert B.O.P.) -- Caesalpinia gilliesii I started this from a seed in 2010. It bloomed for the first time last year. It's blooming quite well now! A desert dweller, does well in drought and arid conditions once established. Attracts bumblebees, hummingbirds and butterflies!

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

Passionflower

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

A little blurry, apologies-- this is a Gulf Fritillary butterfly caterpillar, eating his way to the next stage of his life on the passionvine! This is the host plant for the Gulf Frit, and I always have lots of caterpillars. They eat the vine to a ragged mess by the end of the season, but it always comes back. For the pretty butterflies, it's worth the sacrifice!

He's probably in his fifth and final molt before going into the chrysalis. He'll probably eat for just a few more days. I'll probably collect him and let him finish off in captivity, then release him (or her) when s/he emerges as an adult about a week or 10 days later. It's always a thrill to release a healthy, fresh butterfly!

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

Yellow Four O'Clocks coming up. These are a semi-hardy perennial. They emerge from a large tap root every spring, and die back to the ground each winter. They bloom in early to mid summer and continue through frost-freezing. Kirchen was one of our beloved Himmies who was sent to hunt with SkyClan when she was dying of interstitial lymphoma about 10 years ago. She was Kepler's younger sister... they had the same mother and father, but came from separate litters. Kepler was 6 months older. Each cat that passes on has a special spot of their very own in the garden, even if they were indoors only or "supervised out".

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

Kirchen Elizabeth-- 3/1993 to 8/2006. RIP, Buzz...

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

Blackberries are coming along nicely... it's so hard to be patient, though!

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

And of course... the CATNIP!!

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

ADDED: Next up are the cannas! These are summer bloomers, and the bronze leafed ones get VERY tall... almost 8 feet, with interesting coral-red flowers! The green leaf type are shorter, from 3-5 feet with big showy orange flowers. One early-bird is already throwing a flower bud which should bloom in a week or two. They're slow to unroll!

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

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• mackiemac
• Apr 23, 2016

~Mackie

 

[foxxycat]

 
@rubysmama  All my tulips and daffodils put up loads of green leaves but no flowers this year too.

Do you think that means they're finished? I'm wondering whether I should pull them all up and plant some more bulbs in the autumn. Or maybe leave them in the ground and hope for the best.

If you want to fertilize=I suggest using compost=not horse poop but cow poop otherwise weed seeds. They have some good mushroom compost that's very light and airy. I have the best luck with sea type compost=here in NH/Maine area we have some lobster compost or seashell type compost that I have found works better than cow poop.

You can use fertilizer but beware it wont support the worms and other beneficial insects that eat aphids and other pests. I also have used miracle grow potting mix in the ground and mixed the dirt I have with this soil in a 50/50 mixture-this will help break up clay type dirt.

Peat moss is another good compost but its very light and airy and blows away=best to wet it prior to using it=then mix in your soil.

For me I prefer to have tons of earth worms-they really help break down the nutrients in the soil so the plants can use it. Lady bugs also eat bad bugs. I am sure there are others but this is just my suggestion-I have been able to get away with compost every other year=so one year I don't have to do too much.

 

[foxxycat]

@MackieMac  Those are wicked awesome! everything is just emerging. I will get some photos uploaded tomorrow. I only have some photos from a few years ago.

Right now my daffadils are getting ready to open but we have had a drought so tonight after work I will be spending time watering=I have to pay for water so I am meticulous about how much is sprayed where otherwise I would leave a sprinkler on-so hopefully we get some RAIN because my gardens look pitiful!