Another post on that thread at GardenWeb said Salvia greggi ‘Cherry Queen’ bloomed from mid April to October in her zone 6 garden in Missouri. That’s the same zone as us, although it’s much more humid and wet there. She also had a great web reference: The Missouri Botanical Gardens has a site that shows bloom times for every plant in their gardens. Very nice. See it at: http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/bloom.asp?
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I found a nice thread at GardenWeb on long-blooming perennials. I definitely need to look at some of the plants mentioned. Here are some mentioned repeatedly: Savlia ‘May Night’. They say it goes for something like 18 weeks of bloom! Wow. ‘Walker’s Low’ Nepeta is also mentioned quite a bit. Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (a perennial, spreading, true geranium). Veronica ‘Icicle’ – also called Speedwell, it’s a vertical spiky flower. Kalimeris pinnatifida – a mum-like white daisy that flowers all summer.
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I noticed some good suggestions for seed catalogs in the GardenWeb Annuals forum this week. Here are some of them: Swallowtail Garden Seeds from Santa Rosa, California Select Seeds from Connecticut Seedman from Mississippi Stokes Seeds from Ontario, Canada and Buffalo, New York – these guys have geranium seeds at a much better price than Thompson and Morgan. Funny, they’re all “S” names. They look like they have some good potential. Seedman has a Thanksgiving weekend sale with 50% off everything.
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For the past two days, my Autumn Blaze Maples have been at their peak color. I have three of these trees, which have been in the ground five years now. One has been sick — it’s been chlorotic, which isn’t supposed to happen to these. It lost its leaves in August, and some new ones grew back. I hope it survives the winter and recovers next year with some help. Anyway, these two are wonderful trees. This is why I insisted on having some kind of red maple in my yard. These trees are so beautiful all summer and then…
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Many leaves are changing in my yard now. I should mention the plants that are turning and when they started. I wonder if it will be the same week in future years or if temperature affects these things much? Here’s a little rundown: Peking Cotoneasters were probably the first to change. They got very bright last week, and then some rain and wind blew most of the leaves off this week. I think their peak was about Oct 1st, which is when this photo was taken. The Yellow-Twig Dogwood shrubs also turned colors rapidly. Perhaps just as fast as the…
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OK, since I gave an MVP award a few weeks ago, I thought it good to give an MVA to the Most Valuable Annual flower in my garden this year. I’ve been growing Rudbeckias for a long time, and they seldom disappoint. There is a perennial variety (Rudbeckia fulgida), but it’s too orange for my tastes. I like the pure yellow of these annual ones. I think they might be Rudbeckia hirta, but I’m really not sure. I’ve often thought they seemed perennial, but I think now that they just reseed really well. They get a little tall and sometimes…
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This summer, I have been extremely impressed with Lavatera tauricensis. This plant was not supposed to be hardy in my Zone 6 garden. I think it’s listed as a Zone 7 minimum. I had grown some in California, from seeds bought from Thompson & Morgan. The ones in California produced some seed, which I brought with me and planted two years ago. The young plants didn’t do much last year, but this year, they’ve gotten about two feet tall and have been absolutely smothered with blooms for a long season. There is a slight variation in the flower shapes on…
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Today I was at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, seeing all the flowers that are still blooming well at this time of summer. I’m thinking of replanting my flowerbeds next spring, perhaps with more summer annuals, especially in the backyard. Here are some good flowers to consider for next year, from what I saw still blooming at the church gardens: Geraniums African daisies Blue salvia (annual kind) Verbena Vinca (the annual kind in white, purples, and pinks) Petunias Lantana Zinnias Marigolds Nicotiana Delphiniums Rudbeckia Gazanias These really make up the bulk of what’s there and still blooming. I’ve…