It could be the harsh conditions, Blake. Here, just north of Concord NH I have a couple of stella d'oros reblooming. A white day lily (I think it was called White Glove) is still blooming profusely in good sun conditions. But a nearby lily on the shadier side of a perennial bed is pretty much done. Shastas are still blooming (but need some serious deadheading) and ditto for Coronation Gold yarrow. Thread leaf coreopsis and yellow marguerites are still in bloom but not for long.

Here's a good example from my yard about different light and maybe temperature conditions. The garage is very close to our old barn but I have enough room for what I considered to be a part-shade garden between the two. I planted the same tulip bulbs on different sides of the walkway that bi-sects the garden. The garage is semi-heated thanks to a wood furnace in the basement. I bet the tulips on the garage side area bout two weeks ahead of the ones 4' away.

Perhaps your flowers bloomed sooner and are finishing sooner?

I had to laugh when I read your title. I ask myself that constantly. Between the critters, various climatic conditions and limited resources to just throw money at certain problems/failures, I feel behind every other gardener all the time. All the gardens I design for my clients look better than mine and most of them aren't really gardeners! Maybe my problem is akin to the shoemaker's children running around bare footed???

I feel your pain.

Blake, sometimes older, established plants will bloom longer and better than younger ones, at least up to a point. Also, ones in great soil, mulched and watered (but not too much!) will perform better.

Then there are some plant varieties that look very similar but have different length of bloom - the neighbor's Stellas might be Happy Returns, which are reputed to last longer and survive heat waves better, for example. Or maybe they've got a variety that blooms later, not necessarily longer.

Chin up, keep the faith! Next year will be MUCH better in your garden, I can practically guarantee it.

- DtD

Maybe the question isn't what you're doing wrong but are the neighbors doing something right that you aren't...yet. No two gardens are identical, from the ground up: soil is different, amendments such as compost, mulch and fertilizer are probably different. Chances are light exposure is also different. Focus on your own garden and figure out what it needs to perform to your expectations.

The first thing I did when I moved here was draw my house & garden on paper oriented with the compass. I drew in the tall trees, shrubs, driveway & flowerbeds. Next I did a shade study on the summer solstice, charting where the sun/shade was on each area of the garden from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Now when I plant something, I know it's going to get X amount of hours of full sun between Y a.m. and Z p.m.

Chances are there isn't much you can do to change the amount of light & rain your plants get but those factors may be influencing their behavior, including the number of blooms as well as how long the blooming period lasts.

Could just be microclimates too. The golden rod two miles down the hill from me has been in bloom for almost a week; mine is nowhere ready to bloom. I'm always at least a week behind several of my friends who live on the other side of town or the next town over, who are all at lower elevations.

Then there are things in my own yard that bloom at different times - for example, bulbs near the foundation or near the driveway and fence (extra heat and protection) bloom earlier than bulbs out in the front exposed more to wind). Same situation as defrost's.

And could be varieties, as DTD says. For example, you say your hostas have finished blooming. I have hostas that bloomed a month or more ago, some that bloomed a few weeks ago, and some in bloom now. Different varieties bloom at different times.

Have you noticed if your plants bloom *earlier* than these others that you are still seeing in bloom?

The other suggestions are good too - established plants blooming longer and more; the efects of sunlight, moisture, soil, etc.

I too feel your pain... especially when the garden I see in full, long, glorious bloom is in an esplanade at a gas station....sigh.

Good luck, and don't get discouraged!
Dee

>the garden I see in full, long, glorious bloom is in an esplanade at a gas station...

OMG, Dee, please don't make me laugh like that so early in the morning!

Hello Gardeners,

Thank you for your comments. It is probably a little of everything you all bring up. I think I might be in a microclimate from the rest of the town, as I always feel a temperature drop when I drive down the long driveway to my home. So I suspect it is cooler here, and definitely less sun and heat, I am in the middle of the woods. I think, as suggested, that I will pay more attention to the variety of plants I buy, and try to get the late blooming ones. And ,diggin in the dirt, I am going to hold on to your thought that next year's garden will be better!

Blake

How could I forget! Elevation and different temperatures. I live in a small hilly town and used to garden on top of a small knoll where we cleared a spot for house and garden in a forest of oak and beech. Meanwhile, my MIL only 2 miles away but with more sun had things in bloom 1 or 2 weeks earlier than I did. OTH my garden didn't get frost as soon as other low lying gardens did.

Blake, yesterday I weeded (again) a patch I always neglect. I should pay special attention to it because it can be seen from the road and we might enjoy some flowers if we could see them (weeds too tall) when we sit/dine on the screen porch. I always put more time into my vegetable garden. Another problem is that it's on a slope so DH can't mow close enough on the top side. I like the way it fits the contour but what to do about that weedy top edge? DH and I discussed extending it further and putting down a thick mulch. We have an abundance of abestos shingles that could be used (I asked for rubber roofing material) and wonder if these would be ok in a flower garden.

I agree. Next year will be better!

Ah, DTD, it is all too true. Very sad, but all too true.

There is a gas station near me whose esplanade could be in a magazine. I tell myself the owner must be a gardener - after all, just because you own a gas station doesn't mean you can't be a gardener, right? I do find it somewhat depressing that the gas station has a nicer garden than I do, but I guess that's on me, not the owner.

By the way, the owner of the local Wendy's must be a gardener too. This year, after about ten years, I gave up on growing creeping phlox because it is just not cooperating - it's just not making the swath of blue in front of my yellow daffodils like it is supposed to do, despite all the care (and replacements) I have given it. However, Wendy's has the most breathtaking, huge swath of glorious phlox every spring.

And the local supermarket has a really good landscaping company. I always admire the plantings and layouts as I walk through the parking lot. Texture, foliage, color, bloom...

Perhaps *I* need to find another hobby, lol...

;)
Dee

I'm trying real hard to stop envying other peoples gardens and I'm trying to put more energy into appreciating my own. I tell myself it's OK to admire others gardens, and even borrow ideas. But then remind myself that these other gardens are not working within my yard constraints.

One of my neighbors works at Russells - her gardens always look fantastic. Another neighbor has a professional gardener (not a landscaper - a gardener) who tends the beds in front of their house. (They even have a water tanker truck drive up twice a week and a nice man waters all their gardens for 20 minutes.) So the envy can be real.

Often - if I think long and hard about the gardens I'm admiring, I have to admit that I really wouldn't want it for my own house. For instance, recently I've been passing a house that has a 3' deep bed of day lillies in front of their house all along the road - that bed must be 150' long. As much as I admire it and think of how gorgeous it is - I have to admit that I would never want that reality in front of my house. Do I ever notice that garden the other 11 months of the year?

Blake,

Hosta flowering is mostly a matter of genetics. Fragrant Hosta flowers bloom in August in New England. Fragrant Hosta flowers are either white or almost white and are usually progeny of H. Plantaginea (six inch white flowers). If you want to extend the flowering season and add some fragrance then I suggest you look at cultivars such as Guacamole, Stained Glass, Cathedral Windows, Fragrant Bouquet or Sweet Innocence. Of course larger, more mature plants will have more flower scapes.

Steve

Thanks, Steve, that was really good information.

Blake

Hi There,
Sorry to catch a detail, but did you really mean the shingles are asbestos?
Marie

Finally figured out the search function so I could find this post. I was wrong, Marie. The shingles are asphalt not asbestos. BIG difference. I read some old threads about using asphalt shingles to keep weeds down and most didn't think they would be a problem but might be illegal in some areas.