I have been thrilled that we have had more rain this summer than last. Last summer we only had 1" of rain all summer. I was about ready to pull out all my flowers and replace then with xeroscape plants only. I hate to water. Usually my garden is dry and crispy by mid August and my plants are looking sad. This year everything is still green, I am getting rebloom on my clematis, and my perennials are still blooming. The grass is still green and growing. Do any of you have fall bulbs that are starting to bloom yet? Karen

A nice rebloom on John Paul II clematis

The flower beds are still very green and lush. That Polish spirit clematis in the eldeberry in back has been blooming since June. It likes the extra moisture too.

Amy in Victoria

Morz8, that sounds like a nice plant you gave your
sister. I hope she liked it. I just started growing cyclamen from seed this year and have been having a lot of fun with it. I didn't realize how many species there were or how variable the leaf designs were. Every plant is different and I love them all. Most of them I started in January should be large enough to plant out in my garden this fall. It should liven up my winter garden. Karen

Darlene,
Good luck with your cyclamen seed. You can also soak the seeds in soapy water for a day to get rid of the sticking gel. I sowed a lot of cyclamen seed last December. I grew some of them underlights 24 a day in the garage all winter. The rest I winter sowed. The ones grown uder lights were the equivalent of 2 year old plants by this summer. I had several of them bloom already. The ones I winter sowed came up in June and are growing nicely but they are very tiny. If you want to speed things up you might try growing them indoors this winter. They like a cool room 65 degrees or so. Here's a photo of the two next to each other. The large blooming plants were grown under light and the small seedlings were grown outside. Both were sown in December. Karen

I hope they winter okay, I've heard pericum is half hardy, I have it in a very protected place.

Some of my babies are still blooming their hearts out. Amazing plants!

I have been experimenting with placement in my garden. I have read that cyclamen like it cool and shady and dry during the summer when it's dormant. I planted some hederifolium in my parking strips and rockery. It gets very hot and dry in these situations during the summer. All of the plants made it and bloomed this fall. I also tried putting cyclamen in pots with other perennials. These pots got watered 4-5 times a week all summer, and the cyclamen didn't rot. They all came back this fall and looked great. I guess these bulbs are a lot more tolerant of less than ideal growing conditions and I am going to keep experimenting with placement. My parking strips are so bare during the winter. It would be wonderful to have c. coum blooming and growing there all winter. It would really perk up those grey winter days.

They are a great companion to hosta's, so I can see how you and Andi got interested in them. The cyclamen grow and bloom when the hosta's are dormant and the hostas bloom and grow when the cyclamem's are dormant. When you have a small garden, like I do, it really lets you maximize your garden space.

Good luck with your pseudibericum and persicum. Let me know if your persicum makes it through the winter. I just have one of those that I keep indoors, but it would be worth trying outside if yours makes it. Karen

Hederifolium, is very tough here I'm finding. And yes, all the variations in the leaves make them soo interesting, every plant seems truly unique, silvers, greens, interesting patterns.

I think it is sooo important to visit nurseries all the time through out the seasons and really see what plants are doing what. Pick the best most interesting plants we can, research them, site them properly, and enjoy them. Visiting nurseries all year makes it so easy to build a 4 season garden.

Oh and thank you, I'm really enjoying the Sango kaku Japanese Maple seedling you gave me at Andi's a couple of years back, she's about 3 feet tall now, the red bark is really coloring up nicely, and the leaves are a soft lemon color, very pretty!!

I am glad your Japanese maple is growing well. I have a coral bark seedling that is 4 years old now and I just love it. It really turned a pretty yellow this fall. I am going to plant it out in the yard next year with lots of cyclamen at it's feet. Karen

I think you gave me some lace leafs too, a couple have stunning fall color right now.

Japanese maples grow like weeds in the NW, I know most people in the rest of the country are soooo jealous that we can grow them soooo easily. I'm becoming addicted to them. I also have an Orange Dream that is doing quite well. I planted a ton Japanese maple seeds this fall, we'll see if I get any new interesting babies.

Hosta Guy, yes I am getting hooked on Japanese maples also. They are so pretty and grow so well out here. I have raised a lot of nice trees from seed that I love. I did break down and buy a golden full moon maple as my seedlings of this plant grow soooooo slow. Here are a few photo's of some of my seedlings and my GFM maple. Good luck with your seeds. Karen

Golden full moon maple

Seedling of red pygmy

Seiryu Japanese maple seedling

Those are beautiful maples, Karen! Such a green thumb you have.