| RE: Garden: Filling Containers Frugally |
The reason you can winter some annuals and not others is for the fact that not all annuals are true annuals. Many annuals are in fact tender perennials grown as annuals in colder zones.
Here is a list of tender perennials grown as annuals:
Coleus
Geranium (Pelargonium x hortorum)
Scented Geranium (Pelargonium sp.)
African Blue Basil (Ocimum kilimandscharicum x basilicum 'Dark Opal'...the only perennial hybrid basil)
Firecracker Plant (Cuphea ignea)
Bat-faced Cuphea (Cuphea llavea)
Heliotrope
Snapdragon (usually survives my zone 6 winters)
Gerbera Daisy
Nemesia
Calibrachoa
Capsicum (peppers)
Lantana sp.
Impatiens
Dianthus sp.
Salvia sp.
Nicotiana
Just a tip on over-wintering bedding Geraniums (Zonal). If you grow many and lack space to winter-over as houseplants then the most common way is to winter over bare-root by digging up and shaking off all dirt. Place root side up in a paper bag with some holes punched in and hang on a nail/hook in a dark dry cool place such as your cellar or unheated basement.
Another way is moving container grown plants that have been cut back into the cellar and let go dormant. Bring back up to sunny spot in spring; may require potting up or planting out in garden when it's time to go back outdoors.
If wintering-over as houseplants you will want to prune now and then to encourage full plants. Usually by end of February, my plants have gotten huge and will even start blooming. At this time I normally remove blooms and cut back one last time and use the clippings for cuttings and root in straight moistened perlite. Allow the cutting ends to heal over a day or two before sticking.
Here's a picture of Bolivian Rainbow Pepper this past March 5th beginning to flower again. These are pretty ornamental and look good planted in the flower garden. This year I am also including 'Black Pearl' pepper to over-winter as well as a few cuttings currently rooting. The leaves on this one are highly ornamental dark burgundy almost black...the more sun the better the deep coloration. Peppers are round and black and grown in clusters. By the way my Habanero peppers were 4 years old this year! ... View related article. |
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| RE: Wildlife: Dragonflies |
We always called the big ones Mosquito Hawks too :)
However there is another insect known as the Mosquito Hawk and those are the Crane Flies....they look like very LARGE Mosquitoes. Now these ones we liked to call Skeeter Eaters LOL!!
Back home (ND) you could often see a good 40 of the Dragonfly "Mosquito Hawks" flying overhead at dusk eating mosquitoes in flight.
My fondest memory of dragonflies was down by the Niobrara River in north-central Nebraska. These two beautiful Blue Dasher Dragonflies were mating and were in the shape of a heart! The ones I'm referring to are the more delicate "petite" dragonflies...not nearly as hefty as "Mosquito Hawks"!
Here a pic of a Mosquito Hawk (Eight-Spotter Skimmer) that came to visit my prairie garden last year. It was very attracted to the Blue Flax and didn't mind me working around it one bit. He even walked on to my hand and stayed perched there long enough for me to go indoors to grab the camera phone for this pic and then walk all the way back to where I found him for another pic in the Flax! What a patient little fellow LOL! Sorry about the poor quality and thanks for sharing the pic with us :) ... View related article. |
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| RE: Soap Solution for Flies on Grape Vines |
Your "flies" I imagine are Whiteflies. You could also just purchase and organic product like Safer's insecticidal soap and not chance using regular soaps that that can burn leaves once exposed to sun.
Soaps MUST come in direct contact with the pests to be any use because there is no residual effect. You will need to apply more than once because the adult flies will fly off when disturbed. Be sure to hit both tops and undersides of the leaves.
Whiteflies are not easy to control. Good luck!
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7401.html ... View related article. |
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| RE: Overwintering Miniature Iris Tubers |
In your zone after the ground has frozen, I would lay down mulch over the iris area. Iris are notorious for frost heaving because they are so shallowly planted. Frost heaving happens when there are freeze/thaw cycles over the course of the winter season. Even in my zone 6a the Iris will heave out of the soil.
If you lay your mulch down AFTER the ground has frozen it will help keep the ground frozen until you remove it. Just don't lay it down over the iris before the ground has frozen to avoid rot problems (that goes for any plants that are susceptible to crown rot from excessive and prolonged moisture. You will also want to remove that mulch/rake it aside, ect. as soon as possible in spring for that very reason so moisture does not get trapped and the ground can warm up faster. BTW I use wheat straw often with a mix of fall leaves for winter mulch. ... View related article. |
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| RE: Top of Ripe Red Tomato Still Green |
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This is called "Green Shoulders" and it can happen if the fruits are exposed to too much direct sun (ex. plants were pruned excessively) or too high temperatures for an extended amount of time. You could try picking the tomatoes that are doing this and let them further ripen indoors. If you don't want to remove and ripen inside there isn't anything wrong with them. You can still eat them. Just cut the green shoulders off :) ... View related article. |
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| RE: Flowering Hens and Chicks |
Actually they flower when they become crowded. Some types of H&C's crowd faster than others. The one's (green with red/maroon tips) I have flowered in 2 years because of the fast rate of their growth! When very crowded the "hen" will flower and then die leaving the extra room for the babies to spread and become hens themselves and the cycle continues.
I have another variety that remains purple year round and in the 4 years that I've had it it has only sent out a few babies and is hardly crowded and no flowers yet. ... View related article. |
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| RE: Pet Owners Beware of Grapes and Raisins |
Yup they sure are toxic! I've know that for years. My dogs are like my children and you bet I've done my research. Imagine my horror when I found out an older gentlemen friend of ours was feeding his Chihuahua and Chihuahua/Yorkie X M&M's for treats! I don't think he's doing it anymore, but don't know how long he's been doing it which scares me for them :(
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| RE: Uses for Lavender |
I have a ton of Lavender too.....'Munstead' and 'Vera'. If you like the taste of turpentine by all means go for it LOL! I just use the plants to make wands. After they dry they can be left as is in wands or you can strip the dried buds from the stems and use in sachets, potpourri, ect.
I harvest wands just as a few flower buds actually fully open but are mostly still in tight bud form. I take them back into the foliage as I harvest and round the shrubs as I go. A sharp scissors works well. Mine re-bloom in late summer/fall for a 2nd round of wands.
I leave a few go to seed in fall for the finches too....they love it! Also I get lots of baby lavender seedlings each spring for give-aways :)
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| RE: Cucumber Plants Not Producing |
I suspect just what the first replier stated. Your male flowers may not have started opening yet.
I am growing in containers this year too in MG potting soil, but am doing a type suitable for containers called 'Cucino' I picked my first yummy fruits today!
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| RE: Rooting A Cutting From A Lilac Bush |
I took cuttings from an old fashioned Lilac bush the spring of 2004 just after blooming was done. I rooted them outdoors in 6" pots enclosed in plastic bags kept in shade. I normally like to root cutting of any kind in straight moist perlite or sand, but happened to use potting mix that time. Rooting took place within 4-5 weeks and I planted out the one I kept for myself that late September. Growth has been moderate....from 6" cutting in 2004 to about currently a little over 4'x4'. I hope to get blooms next year.
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