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mainerose

How's your garden?

mainerose
16 years ago

I'm curious---what's doing well for you this year? Any outstanding plants? Also, what's blooming for you right now? This is sort of an in between time for my perennials---I'd really like to find some good ones that are blooming now.

Comments (9)

  • veilchen
    16 years ago

    daylilies daylilies daylilies!! At their peak right now. I also have some very late ones that won't even open til later this month.

    Coneflowers, liatris, golden yellow heliopsis in bloom now. Some unknown pink garden phlox. Phlox 'David' will bloom later. Garlic chives will open within a week.

    Nearly all David Austin roses are putting out new buds.

    Dahlias began last week. I have them in pots so I can move them around where color is needed.

  • Anne_Marie_Alb
    16 years ago

    Things are a little dry here..
    DAYLILIES!! Yes, veilchen!
    we are always a little behind here, but besides what Veilchen already mentioned:
    Sunny areas
    Bee Balm 'Jacob Cline'--just wonderful and a real magnet for hummingbirds
    Several agastaches (lavender haze, honeybee blue, apricot sunset)
    Daisies: oxeyes and shasta
    Rudbeckia: cherokee sunset (gorgeous)
    Catmint:'Souvenir d'André Chaudron'--such a beautiful blue, and also a hummingbird favorite //(walker's low is still looking good but somewhat tired)
    Sea holly
    yarrows
    sedums: (sieboldi) and other low varieties
    Lysimachia 'gooseneck' (although shorter than usual)
    Just starting: black-eyed susans and obedient plant

    Shrubs: buddleia (butterfly bush) just starting
    hydrangea 'Quick Fire'

    For shady areas:
    Tuberous begonias (perennials if you bring them in)
    hostas

    Anne-Marie

  • maineman
    16 years ago

    My zinnias are blooming fine, attracting bees and butterflies. A hobby of mine that I have recently revived is amateur zinnia breeding. I made some crosses last year that produced some interesting results this year. One is an "echinacea flowered" zinnia:


    Another is a "sunflower flowered" zinnia:

    The centers on the sunflower flowered zinnias are very big. Several other interesting (to me, at least) specimens have appeared recently in my zinnia patch.

    MM

  • veilchen
    16 years ago

    mm, how cool. They're both gorgeous!

  • maineman
    16 years ago

    I also had a specimen this year that I refer to as "marigold flowered".
    {{gwi:12643}}
    I hope to develop this as a strain in various colors. Zinnias have lots more colors than marigolds.

    MM

  • maineman
    16 years ago

    I also like zinnias with "toothy" petals:


    I will be selecting other zinnias with toothy petals for further use in my zinnia breeding project.

    MM

  • mainerose
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Wow, MM! They are stunning!!!! Any change that seeds will be available in the future?

  • maineman
    16 years ago

    MR,

    "Any chance that seeds will be available in the future?"

    It will probably be at least two years before I have seed that "come true" enough to distribute. My F2s (seeds that were saved from these hand-pollinated F1 hybrids) that are coming into bloom right now are disappointingly not like their parents, although there are some interesting forms in them.

    I would estimate that at least 95% of my F2s will wind up in the compost pile. I have set up a 6-foot diameter wire cage to contain that pile and it is filling up daily.

    I am taking the "American Idol" approach to zinnia breeding, by growing a large number of zinnias and discarding all but the best. And then making hand-pollinated hybrids between the best. Here is a specimen that I have singled out for special attention.


    I am putting a lot of pollen from choice cactus flowered specimens, mainly large white specimens, on this in an attempt to make progeny from this marigold flowered specimen have much larger, looser flowers. Specimens like this I refer to as "breeders" because they have potential for producing good new strains of zinnias. Oddly, this specimen has produced no pollen of its own yet, or I would surely use it on other candidate breeders. But I plan to get a lot of seeds from it for growing next year by crossing it with good pollen donors. Its stigmas are "buried" in the tight petal structure, so it is a bit tedious pollinating it.

    MM

  • diene
    16 years ago

    I have a significant amount of oriental lilies blooming now as well as dahlias. I also have hollyhocks that have just started and some late blooming astilbe and phlox. Gladiolus have just started to bloom here, I am in southern coastal Maine. I also have my first flower on my Rose of Sharon and my mums are blooming. I do have significant amounts of daylilies but I have those blooming from early July until a heavy frost.
    My sedum has buds but no blooms yet. My annuals are doing well, new guinea impatiens, snapdragons, and some african daisies.
    The zinnias are beautiful and they were my father's favorite flower. diene

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