Oh, well....weather doesn't stop me from shopping.....the plants will certainly wait in their pots until Fall if I don't want to plant before then. If need be, they can be re-potted into a larger size to wait.....

ha ha ha ... oh so sad...must restrain... but plant acquisition syndrome strong...can't help myself...ahhhhhhhhh

Well, I visited Plant Depot and Roger's Gardens last week, oh, and there was an Armstrong's and Cedros Gardens and Anderson's La Costa...and then a friend in Oakland this week who will pick up some plants at Annie's for me....nah, don't worry about the weather......

Plant now if you wish. I put a shade over the top of new plants set out in summer heat. Fashion a shade using a plastic nursery flat propped up with a stick or sticks. Get the ones with the small holes. They will just let enough sunlight through. Nurseries will generally let you have a few.

RB

I hate to water so I stop planting when the rain stops and start to plant again in fall. A no-brainer.

It seems I am always growing and adding or subtracting from the garden. I very rarely buy plants, but am constantly growing from seed and cuttings. When I can not put them in the garden, I pot them up to larger pots. I always have two or three hundred pots in various sizes waiting for a place to plant them or donate to a plant sale. I just enjoy growing plants and there is no end to plants to grow. Al

Ditto on that...lol..I just had this conversation with myself about maybe not needing to sow every seed and take cuttings from absolutely everything....propagating can be a terrible addiction...

I plant any time. I might hold off a few days if it's extremely hot, but other wise I plant late in the day and shade the new one for a couple days. I figure the plant is sitting there in a pot, but it would be happier in the ground.

Wow, Al, you must have a lot of space. What do you have in pots? We have quite a few pots too, but I don't like them much. Palms mostly (ugh), tomatoes, star jasmine (double-ugh). They involve extra watering, repotting periodically. That said, I did pick up a mint plant yesterday because I want to make mint tea, and of course that has to be in a pot.

My yard is about maxed-out at this point, and there isn't much room left to plant....except maybe along the roses there.....hmmmm......

I stop when I'm out of space, whatever time of year that may be. So far, I've always managed to find a place to squeeze something in, or something lives out its natural life and needs to be replaced. So I guess the answer is like many above, I don't stop, I just slow down.

Here is a link that might be useful: What's Growing On?

I guess we all suffer from the same growers problems. I get rid of one and add two. I probably plant the least amount in the soil during July through Sept. because they need water more. Penny

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By calistoga at 2011-11-17
This time of year my coldframe/carport is pretty well filled with four inch potted seedlings, waiting for planting or potting up to gallon size. Small greenhouse seen in rear is used mostly as potting shed this time of year as it gets too hot, even with shade cloth.
A paved parking area between the house and greenhouse covered with weed cloth as seen under the benches is full of one gallon to 15 gallon nursery pots watered with Rainbird type sprinklers on a timer. Al

Al that's a great coldframe! What material do you have on top of the benches, under the pots?

I'm not very good about remembering to water, and the place I need to plant right now is a sloped area that is in full sun all day long. The few times I have planted there in late spring, summer, early fall the plants didn't make it. I've never considered making them a little shade structure, that might be one way to go :-)

The bench top is 1x4 fir with about 3/4 inch space between. The large tree to the left is a California Bay, evergreen and providing high shade. It is apparent that the whole property is carved out of native woods. I have very little full sun area. Al

Al: your photos are reminding me of our old house. Recently I've been rearranging the side of the house in my mind to be a potting area with benches for 'babies' to grow-up on.

Melle: I would NEVER put a plant with a small root-base in the ground. No matter what plant I got I would always put it in at least a 1 gal. and let it grow roots for a month or two so that when I eventually put it in the ground it stood at least a chance of surviving.

I've been holding off getting new plants but I still have a bunch that have to go in the ground. Just got too busy. I would really rather only plant in the fall and winter but of course some things only become available at the wholesalers and retail shops in spring and summer so if you really want it you have to buy it when it is available.

I am seeing all sorts of garden centers with their big sales going on now pushing people to get out and planting because it is spring. Of course in California that is a lousy time to plant but I guess since a lot of the growers are in full production now for the rest of the country we end up lumped in with everyone else.

I maintain a local volunteer museum cottage garden downtown Calistoga, which is still a learning experience after 10 years. The front garden faces south east with a large expanse of blacktop which draws heat like a magnet. Most of our visitor traffic is in the summer so keeping the garden colorful through the summer is important. Last week I took out the primroses that lasted well through the winter and replaced with Lantana, well rooted in one gallon containers. Two containers, three gallon, flanking the stairway which contained Ranunculus(which fried there)I replaced with "purple dome asters"that had been cut back once to keep more compact. I am trying this year for the first time Phlox paniculata planted a month ago, which so far is holding up to the heat. Roses do well if I can keep up with the dead heading, the only one to get black spot is a David Austin variety. An old fashioned rose red peony does well while a white one sunburns badly. Summer planting is not impossible, just difficult. Al

I'm about done planting for the year, just need to pop in a few plants I picked up last week at Annie's Annuals while I was on a Bay Area garden tour. Will start planting again in October, try not to buy any new plants in the interim. A week ago I threw out 8 plant tags for some charming Alstroemerias I planted last July - all of them toast despite my best efforts.

Here is a link that might be useful: San Diego Horticultural Society

I never got the message that we're supposed to stop,guess i was absent that day!!!! LOL,LOL

I plant anytime i come across something i want/need or that is given to me.I live in S.Ca along the coast,and we rarely have super hot days.There is a canyon behind my house,and we have an ocean view so we get the nice breezes coming off the ocean and across the canyon,so it make it nice weather most of the time.
kathi

Al, thanks for sharing your setup & photos. I used the car tent from Costco for starting plants at my old home, but gave it away when I moved (and they don't use it anymore, hmn .. looking at your setup is making me want to drop big hints to get it back, I miss it). I really like your tables.