Hi Pat! Can't help you there, sorry. Cornmeal was a huge staple pioneers, guess it still has a lot of uses. Makes a good part of home made bird suet too:) Wayne used to use pnut butter to seal leaks in our steel patio roof where the water would come around nail holes:)

Last thread, I told you I got 4 dahlias to plant, I cheated and found plants to try out.

Ugh, I hope that leak seals up for you, Pat! Those pre-forms aren't the best when it comes to surviving the elements (I have one, too, but it's also covered in EPDM liner).

The Irises should grow pretty quickly, so you might just want to try one or 2 per basket for now. It all depends on how often you want to be dividing those little darlings. :)

For planting, you'll want to put it in soil that's high in clay, or even just get some unscented, NON-clumping (with nothing added) cat litter, and use that. Irises prefer a lean soil, and you can always add some tomato or tree fertilizer spikes later on if needed.

You'll want the rhizome planted fairly shallowly (with the growing tip just barely below the soil surface), toward the edge of the pot with the growing tip pointing toward the center (to maximize growing space). Spread the roots out on a mound of soil, so that they're not all tangled together underneath the rhizome. Then add soil over the rhizome and growing tip.

Water down the pot well before putting in the pond, and make sure you add the pot to the pond slowly, so as to prevent any clouding of the water (if that's important to you, anyway...LOL). The pot might be fairly heavy, so be careful! :)

Hope that helps a bit, Pat.

Brenda

I'm in love with my purple butterfly bushes! They are everything I hoped they'd be when I planted them late last fall as little ones. They're topping 6' now, the pink ones aren't quite that tall yet nor are they in bloom. I know the purples are going to get bigger and wider yet, but the dark purple of the blooms, sigh...my color:) I get more blooms each day! So glad I planted 4 of them! A lot of times I just go get one or two of something, I liked them so well I got two of each color last year and hoped they'd grow this well and cover the fences on the side of the yard like this. The cats are really liking the hiding areas too! Yes! I love it when something works out well and I left room between too... Wayne didn't quite believe me, but he does now.

It is SO nice to have everything grow so big, so fast again!

You're right on the gerberas Brenda, I'm not thinking straight. I still have one in a pot under the porch, it's been there since last summer, LOL* No sun at all but it's alive and has been flowering since Mar....

It's pretty funny as some of my other daylillies are finally blooming I've got a couple finishing up. I hope they'll put up some more scapes. Pretty bad to be done so early.

I apologise to the little toads too, I've got new verbena planted all along the front of the big garden area and I have to water it everyday. They come running out from the edge everywhere. They're also all over hiding in the tall fescue grass, they try to scramble over the grass and they're just not tall enough or heavy enough. I told DH he needs to mow tomorrow, could he walk through and startle them out first, I hate to think of dead mowed up toads all over the place!

Where is all this wind coming from? I hope it quits blowing long enough to take a pic of your flowers Brenda and doesn't damage them. Do you have them staked and tied?

Leslie, the Dahlia plants work just fine too. Have some friends that are growing them from seed. I think they are much smaller, but just as pretty. And I'm so jealous of the verbena...I had just bought a six pack when I got under the weather and they didn't get planted, not even watered,,next stop was compost pile. I will try again next year, they are so dainty, I really like them.
Brenda, thanks for instructions on iris for pond. I've got to do some shopping in the a.m. will get kitty litter then and hopefully by Wed. will have them in pond. Also looking for water cress at grocery store to put in pond. Have to change water schedule again. Will try for 6 a.m. for a good soaking. Our temps have been in the mid/high 80's, it's great for being outside and putsin' around, but have to prepare for high temps that we know are coming. Finally able to get close to sweet peas and they do have a nice scent, all one color, creme, and they are setting seed pods now. I think that's a little early for them to do that, but what do I know! AND some of the Salvia have tiny little blue flower stalks on them.Daylilies just getting huge, but no signs of blooms.

I love my one butterfly bush, too, Leslie! I planted mine in only partial shade and in really bad soil (rocky, but good drainage), so it's not as lush as it could be. It's leaves have been eaten by some critters, but the buds are getting bigger, and that's all I care about! LOL Yours sound big and healthy like my mom's, though.

Not sure where the wind is coming from (low front or something out there), but we can sure smell the smoke from the Honey Run fire way up in the Chico area. That has to be the scariest scent on the planet. I haven't staked the hollhocks yet, since they're only about 2 feet tall, but I've got the equipment handy. :) I thought I lost my newly-planted Teucrium yesterday morning. The wind had shrivelled it up, but water brought it right back, even though I soaked it deeply when I planted it. Same with the Veronica. Whew! Hopefully the wind will die down some today so I can get pics of the hollyhock!

My sweet peas have been setting seed for a while now, Pat, but you know I don't have experience with them, so I'm not sure if that's normal. LOL They're still blooming, though!

My monkey flower has really taken off this year, and it's blooming its little head off! My lemon verbena tree/shrub is blooming, as well, but I'm just happy to inhale the scent of those leaves! Mmmm!

Brenda

Here's my dragon Pat, he's sailing there a sea of Aylssum! Ahoy mateys!!:) It's started to seed itself too here and there, that's what I was hoping for also. You can see some of the verbenas I planted on the edges on the left. Like I said only the yellow daylillies are blooming really I have 3 now in the back out of 20 or so. I still need that second load of humus in the garden so it's not finished looking yet. But I'm getting there:) That's about less than half of the large garden area.
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Leslie, your garden picture here is lovely. You have really done yourself proud, everything looks just grand, especially Mr. Dragon in his sea os allysium. The Daylilies are looking really good. Mine have flourished as far as growth, but still no blooms. I may have been expecting blooms to early this year. Other than watering I really haven't done much outside this week, seems like the days are flying by and just not enough time to do it all.
Keep the photos coming, you're doing good girl!

Oh, Leslie, your dragon w/the alyssum looks SO lovely! I can't believe how fast it's all filling in! And the birdbath, the lantern, the trellises....everything looks like fairyland! I really love what you're doing in your yard. :)

Ok, so now my hollyhock bloom looks like ca-ca. LOL Too many days of wind and bloom, I think. It's ok, I'll just get a pic of the next one when it opens. At least the wind has stopped! Woohoo!

Brenda

Thanks:) It'll look nicer, certainly neater once the bulbs finish dieing off so that I can pick up all the debris from them. I need to get the front of the garden area mulch as well as the left half and the back by the trellis area done. Once the roses grow and mature it'll look really good in there. I intend to plant more but I'm waiting to see the width on some of these roses first.

By the end of summer I'll have a good idea what I can plant all through there next spring. That and I'm looking forward to yours and Pat's pics for ideas and any of Westelle's that she might throw out:) Most of my minis in there won't get taller than 3'. I don't want plants to dwarf them, I want complementing plants, equal or a little shorter and to take up less room. These minis, some are mini floras will take up from 3 to 4 feet wide. That's why it appears to be so bare in my garden. I left plenty of room for them to grow, if I have left over space, I can plant more roses next year and more plants:)

Brenda, I'm sorry about your hollyhock, you wait for a bloom and the wind messes it up. Does that to me to when I'm trying to get a photo. I also have one rose that wind burns and is not nice with cooler weather. I'm going to replace that one. Now it's maintenance on the plants and enjoy it all time:) Or are you still eyeing more plants??

Hey Pat, look at it this way, you're just taking a break and smelling your roses. You're energizing your batteries:) I know what you mean, the days are going by too quickly. I still have a lot of daylillies not blooming either. I looked some of them up, says they'll start in June. Do you have any new pics?

It's heating up again though, that means going out early
am to work in the garden. Yes at least the wind died down, but there which is nice.

That looks fantastic!

Hey thanks, the only thing showing now is part of the middle hump and the head from the alyssum:) Everything has grown so much this summer. Brand new garden this spring if you couldn't tell.
Leslie