How bout Gardeners?

[fantayzya]

Are you a person who realizes that it's not 'dirt' it's 'SOIL'?

Do you have and actually stir a compost heap?

Do you get the shivvers when you see the first crocus each spring, and it's not from the chill still in the air?

Do you garden? What kind of gardening do you like best? Any projects in the works?

Those who know me know I love having 'soil' under my nails. I'm gradually eliminating my lawn in favor of borders and beds. I have several different types of gardens ranging from raised beds for veggies, to roses, to herbs to perennials to some annuals and lot and lots of bulbs, especially tulips to keep the Hollander in me happy. We even revamped our pond last year and went from a tiny one level pond to a 3 level water garden.

So how bout you? Indoor plants count too!

[sandar]

hi there Lori ann!

At best, I'm a gardener wannabe. Here are my answers to your quiz:

Are you a person who realizes that it's not 'dirt' it's 'SOIL'? Yes

Do you have and actually stir a compost heap? No

Do you get the shivers when you see the first crocus each spring, and it's not from the chill still in the air? Yes, I get shivers! (From seeing all the creepy crawly things in the dirt. Ick!)

Last year, I happily planted a big section of lillies. I couldn't wait to see them. They actually grew to about 18 inches high before something came along in the night and ate them all. Waaaaaah! :cry: My one success story is that I've not yet killed the pink simplicity roses out by our mailbox. It's only been a year, though, so the opportunity exists for me to attain 100% consistency. :roll:

Perhaps with some guidance from you about choosing plants more wisely -- they need to be really low maintnenance to work here -- I'll do better this summer.

Sandi

[Francine]

I love to garden! We do not have a lawn, or yard though. So my gardening is out on my patio.

This year Tim built me tow fantastic wooden post for plants. They are quite big, and one is deeper then the other. I planted gladiola bulbs in one and Calla Lily bulbs in the other. Then every morning I would go out and see if they started sprouting. :roll: Patience, right? The glads are all up now, and looking good. Every day they get a bit taller. Yesterday I noticed the first Calla Lily had sprouted.

I have tow rose trees and a rose bush. I am not sure the rose bush survivied the winter, but we will see. The two tress look okay, one better then the other. I am again trying to be patient.

We bought some flats of pansies over the weekend, and those look very pretty. We also bought a couple of flats of perennials.

I am planning on getting some Coleous, but it is a bit early to put them in.

A couple of months back I started some Snapdragon seeds, and they sprouted nicely. They are now waiting to be pu in a big pot.

Along with the plants we have a very pretty rock garden going. That is Tim's creation. He looks everywhere for rocks, and finds some really neat ones in our travels.

Patio gardening is fun. It sure does take lots of bags of dirt to accomplish things, but my patio is the talk of the neighborhhod.

I will be back later with the names of the roses, and the names of the two perennials we put in over the weekend.

I also have lots of house plants, most of which will be put outside for the summer. They all do well as long as I keep them high enough so the cats don't eat them! :wink:

Francine

[fantayzya]

Bummer! I've been having a similar problem with my tulips this year. Only whatever it is doesn't eat the bloom, just snaps it off about half way down the stem and leaves it there to die a slow painful death. At least the leaves are left intact so the bulb should be okay.

If it's critters eating your lilies, you might want to try sprinking cayenne pepper on them, or even mixing some pepper in water and spritzing the foliage. A garlic solution sometimes will help keep critters away too.

I'm looking at getting into lilies more myself. They make great companion plants, the asiatics anyway, and they are gorgeous when blooming. Some smell heavenly too.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. If I can't, odds are pretty good I have a book around here somewhere that can at least make an attempt. :wink:

[fantayzya]

I think it's so cool that you're into container gardening Francine. I think it's actually more difficult to take that route sometimes as the water and feeding needs are very different for some plants when in a pot vs. in the ground.

I understand completely about the rose loss. I've lost a few myself this year and out of what has survived they are moving slow. Spent last weekend spraying them with fish emulsion to hopefully give them a boost. Smelly stuff (yeah sure it's deordorized, riiiiight I stunk up the whole neighborhood lol) but some hardcore gardeners I met swear by the stuff. And I can see a bit of a surge, though it might just be timing too.

Your rose trees have my interest too. They did survive the winter eh? That's kewl to know. I've not tried the tree roses as I am a firm believer in survival of the fittest in my gardens and little or no babying. I have kids and a dog, if they can't take it, they don't belong. But I love the look of the trees, just wasn't sure they'd survive our winters. If they did for you, odds are better for me too. I just might have to try one and see.

Looking forward to hearing more about your babies.

[sandar]

Francine -- Your patio gardening sounds so interesting. If you have the opportunity to post some photos as things come into season, that would be great.

Lori ann -- You, too, fan! Share some photos whenever you have the inclination. As for tulips, I actually watched in dismay :shock: one morning last spring as a fat gray squirrel demolished the last tulips we had. They'd been beautiful the year before. Sniff.

Anyway, you offered to help me and my gray thumb, so I'm taking you up on your offer. My first request is simple. Please name three drought-resistant, hard to kill, sun-loving, flowering plants that grow to a height of 12 to 18 inches. :roll:

Thank you for your encouragement and whatever guidance you can give me!

Sandi

[fantayzya]

Sandar,

I'll do some checking around. Are you looking for annuals or perennials? With annuals you get a longer bloom season generally, though there are some perennials that put on a longer show, and often the foliage stays pretty too. Maybe a mix? Do you want to get out there and play in the flowers? or just let them go?

Most will need a decent amount of water to get established, but once they are, some will be very forgiving (I'm counting on that this summer while we're in CA lol) if you forget about them and they have to rely on rainfall.

To get you started, maybe some sedums, I've had pretty good luck not killing them. They don't have long bloom times, but the foliage can be interesting. Some look alot like a Jade plant you might have as a house plant.

Maybe herbs. They tend to be very draught resistant and if you choose well, will be great for cutting for the kitchen too. Some can be a bit invasive though if you're not careful about dead-heading. If that's okay with you, they're great. For example, I'm letting my thyme go and it's becoming a wonderful aromatic ground cover. Chives can be good for the height you've requested too. Actually several of the allium group might work for you. Again, not a great bloom season, but they put on a show when they do.

Annuals will give a longer show, but they have to be replaced every year. This isn't a bad thing, just something to consider. The nice thing about that is that you can have a different garden each year that way.

A mix of the groups will give you better coverage with flowers if you plan it out a bit, but again, the annuals will need to be replaced each year.

I'll snoop around for some options. for you. But think about what you're looking for as an end result and let me know.

[sandar]

sweet Lori ann,

I appreciate all your suggestions! I think I'd like to try a mix of annuals, perennials, and herbs. I need to go over to the local nursery in a couple of weeks and poke around for a while, and do more research in the meantime.

Thank you for your thoughtful answer. I will be coming back here to ask you more questions. Watch out! :lol:

Sandi

[pixie]

Lori ann,

I hope you will share some of your beautiful garden pictures with us. You have a special talent and a wonderful eye for color.

I love to garden but this year I am a little nervous about digging around. Last year I got a tick bite that got infected and I had to be treated for Lyme and the infection. I don't like DEET but I guess if I want to plant I will need it.

My favorite place to plant is in containers on my deck and railings. I also like to put a moss planter on a wooden chair seat, add a straw hat with a bow and they look great at my front and back door.

I look forward to some great gardening tips from you.

Barbara

[LimeGreenCheri]

I love flower gardening. Vegetable gardening I can do without. I did that growing up and I swore then I'd just buy my vegetables at the fruit stands!

I can't wait to get out my summer annuals. Problem is, it just wont' stop raining here! Now I know I shouldn't complain because last year we had hardly any rain and I lost all my annuals due to a strict water restriction.

Maybe Friday will be sunny!

[Rosebud]

I'm an amateur gardener. Don't know a lot of names of stuff and don't really care to. Don't want to have to know how to treat different plants. They either grow or they don't and then I pick something else.

I love to wander around gardens and look at garden books. Every year I dream of having one of those wonderful gardens, but then money and time issues arise. So I do it slowly.

One of the few times of year I get up early and actually look forward to it are in the spring when the farmers market is going. I'm not as crazy as some people that are out there with flashlights looking for a certain color of a certain plant. But I do generally get there right before sunrise. If you wait until after sunrise the line of cars is crazy and by 9:00 you don't have nearly as many choices left.

I usually go with an idea of where I want to plant something, and generally what kind of size, but not specifically what I want to plant there. So when I'm looking at the plants I can be looking for all sun, part shade, certain height, etc. plants. Also as I wander around if something strikes my fancy I ask about it, and then think about where I could put it.

If a plant works for me then I might purchase more if I have a good place to work for it. If it doesn't and I really, really liked it, I'll wait a couple of years before trying again. If it wasn't something I really, really liked, I wouldn't bother again.

There are also the plants that I find that work really well and I like the looks of, that I don't bother with again because they are too much maintenance. For instance a couple of years ago I found these flowers that did good in poor soil, and they looked wonderful. Trouble was their blooms only lasted a day and had to be constantly picking off the spent blooms or the follow-up blooms wouldn't come as easy and it didn't look as nice. I don't mind some work deadheading plants, but sometimes it is just too much. I might do some more of those, just a lot less than I had before.

Regardless of how good or bad at it, I much prefer working in the yard than doing any kind of housework.

ETA (time is 4:40 - don't know when I first posted this morning) - Lori and Francine, it has been hours since a request(s) has been made to see pictures. Where are they!?!? I love to look at other people's gardens, so please do share. That goes for anyone else too that has pictures of their gardens. I think I'm having withdrawals, I'm going to have to swing by Home Depot to check out the garden stuff - I think the nursery will be closing too soon for me to get to it.

[Magee]

I have questions here about lace cap hydrangeas and azaleas. Just know someone can help.

They've been in for 2 years. All of the azaleas in my neighborhood are blooming..... except mine. :( They have a few red flowers on the back but the fronts of the plants look dead. These are in a bed in front of the house. We had a lot of snow this past winter.

Not really sure how to take care of the hydrangeas. I had read not to cut down the stems as the new growth would come from them, however, last year, they got new stems with leaves and the old ones (with nothing on them) just existed. So I had a beautiful leafy bush with bare sticks in it!

Once again, I didn't cut them in the fall so I now have twice the number of stick bushes. I can see new growth starting at the ground level and way down on the bottoms of some of the sticks but for the most part, they're just dead sticks. Am thinking about spraying the sticks green and gluing different colored pom poms on the ends.

What should I do?

Magee :shock:

[sandar]

Am thinking about spraying the sticks green and gluing different colored pom poms on the ends.

Hey, now I know what to do with my 2 dead rose bushes! :lol:

Magee, I don't have any answers for you. We have exactly the same problem with an azalea bush here, though, so I'm hoping fantayzya, Ursulinda, Francine, or some other kind soul will take pity on us and offer assistance.

Sandi

[Francine]

I will say this, azaleas do not handle heavy snow very well. They are really more for a warmer climate. I know we don't see thme as much up here in Massacusetts as say down in PA where Tim is from. They don't seem to grow has hardy here because of the colder weather.

If the cold has damaged the plant you will see splits in the branches where the damage happened. You may have to cut it back quite a bit, cuttin goff all the split branches. It may come back next year. Depending on where you live, and I know some odd places got heavy snow this year, you may have to consider covering it in the winter. That is done a lot up here. You can use burlap with bricks to hold it from blowing around. You can even tie it with string under the plant. Also, be sure to put mulch around the bottom of the plant in the fall. Lots of dead leaves will work very well for that.

Hydrangea is another plant that may need to be wrapped in burlap in the winter. You aren't supposed to prune them. If it appears it needs pruning in the Spring, then prune only the older thicker canes to the base. From what you are saying I think your younger thinner canes may be getting winter killed, and that is why you aren't seeing them sprout new babies.

I hope this helps you. I see thumbs getting greener here every day!

Francine

[Magee]

Thank you Francine. I am "down in PA". Where's Tim from?

Anyway, tomorrow, when it's light, I'll be taking the "big eye" (magnifying glass) outside to look for split branches on those azaleas. Some things cannot be seen even with the trifocals, and I shall give them both spring haircuts. Then, I'll try to figure out which are the older thicker dead canes on the hydrangeas and try to remove those also.

If I follow your directions and do this properly, hopefully they shall flourish. If not, I will go with my original plan only I'll add the burlap and paint that green and add the pom poms and perhaps a ribbon or two.

Honestly, my thumbs are not usually brown LOL except from "soil".

D

[Tinkerbell]

Our yard will eventually be mostly gardens once the remodeling is done, which will happen within the year. I'll have to be happy with a potted garden this year. I can't wait until next year though!

[fantayzya]

That's where we're headed too Tinkerbell, it's a work in progress though as all gardens are I think.

Now's the time to start trying to get a vision of what will be. I have a large area that is my current 'baby' and I figure it'll be about a 3 year plan just as the veggie/rose garden area was. I'm going for a total cottage thing on that side of the house. with the raised beds of the veggie/rose area and now a more freeform kind of thing with little hidden 'rooms' in the remaining part of the yard on this side. Hubby bought me an arbor I'd been eyeing and he and the boys set that up for me. Cleaning out the brush and such around the compost bins and starting on the arbor is on the roster for this summer. I want to use the arbor as more of a bower covered with climbing old roses and clematis. (I'm thinking white and yellow roses and a burgundy clematis I found) The placement will be such as to kind of sheild the working area of the compost bins and my shed, but stll allow access to them. I'm putting a bench under the arbor so I can sit and watch the rest of the garden with a nice glass of iced tea (4 years from now anyway lol) I've also got an idea in my head for using some more flexible copper pipe(tubing) to create sort of a chandelier (that will use votive candles) so I can enjoy the garden at night too. I'll sit there with a nice glass of wine, listening to the music hubby piped out there for me, and marveling at how white flowers seem to glow in the moonlight.

But except for the arbor sitting in the corner by the bins, it's all a vision in my head right now.

What's yours?

[Tinkerbell]

:minnie: Unfortunately, we have new neighbors as of last weekend. They actuallydrove their HUGE SUV down our access road and started across our yard, I stopped them mid-way, because they were actually driving right over our neighbors septic system,(which is on our property), but we're responsible if someone does something besides nature to it!

So, on both sides I'll initially be building gardens so they realize without having to be told that you don't drive across someones' yard. The drive down our side of the house not connected to the new neighbors is owned by us & certain people have rights to drive down it & others (new neighbors) only have walking rights. That whole easement thing is new to us. We live on salt water and alot of it goes on & is quite confusing.

Can't wait to see how it looks about a year and a half from now! We did plant Tulips that my brother-in-law brought back directly from Holland and not a single one came up!!! :wink: If I put any further Tulips in, I think I'll buy them at the local Loew's or Home Depot or whatever. :minnie:

[fantayzya]

None of them came up? Not even the leaves? That's really odd.

Questions:

Do you have moles, gophers, ground squirrels or some other underground critters that may have eaten the bulbs?

How deep did you plant them?

When did you plant them?

I can't remember where in the country you are, but is it possible they didn't get enough of a 'winter'?

I've had a couple of bad years, and I've lost some, but never not had any I planted come up. Something must have happened to the bulbs.

[pixie]

Does anyone have problems with ticks? They are very bad around here this year and I want to enjoy my yard. I'm not a big fan of spraying DEET all over myself. Any suggestions?

Barbara

[Tinkerbell]

:roll: No leaves even! We planted in November, 6 inches, live in zone 8, moderate year round, Northwest Washington State. No moles or any bugs in the yard. The next door neighbor does flowers for a living and hers seem to be doing well. The Calla Lillies are gorgeous that came with the property. I'm hoping to grow a green :bounce: thumb to enhance the yard. Thanks for asking.

[Tinkerbell]

:girlears: Forgot to mention that we haven't had ANY ticks yet, which we used to have back east. It's certainly wet here in Northwest Washington state, so I don't know if it's tick season here yet. I had my normal October seasonal allergies in December this year.

I'm lovin' this thread! :clap: I will basically be doing a patio type of garden this year on our deck. Next year after the remodeling of the house will be when I can get started in the garden. I do love to get my hands in the soil~it feels so good & healthy! Love it! I actually love weeding! What's up with that????? :shock:

Right now, our living space is small, so it will be deck plants. I can't see any sense in starting the outdoor garden until the remodeling is done and I know exactly where the house will end, because that's where the garden will begin.

Someone mentioned not caring to know the names and caring for the individual plants/flowers, but I do want to know that. I'm simply an amateur gardener though.

Today on HGTV there was a lady from the Seattle area, Lake Washington that was discussing her garden & I was so into it! Love it. :bounce:

Any ideas for deck stuff for this year, I'm up for. Our neighbor that grows for a living has TONS of Azaleas. They are gorgeous! She comes over about once a week in the summer with enough extra flowers for at least three beautiful floral arrangements. Maybe I'll be able to figure out how to size my pix by then & could post pix. :girlears:

[fantayzya]

Does anyone have problems with ticks? They are very bad around here this year and I want to enjoy my yard. I'm not a big fan of spraying DEET all over myself. Any suggestions?

Barbara

Hi pixie!

I dropped in at Gardenweb and looked around for info on how to help in your situation and found this article. Don't know if it's what you need, but it was informative reading for me. http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/neweng/2002041958024193.html

This thread there is a discussion on the topic by folks sharing your plight. There were a couple of links shared that could have helpful info for you as well. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/ipm/msg051024487039.html

Reading this stuff has reminded me how lucky we are here. We're rather woodsy, with a lake across the street, and suffer with skeeters (mosquitoes are the Michigan airforce doncha know) but I've not suffered with, or really heard of problems around here with ticks thank goodness.

eta the second link. silly me, suffering from CRS today.[/url]

[Cinders]

They've been in for 2 years. All of the azaleas in my neighborhood are blooming..... except mine. They have a few red flowers on the back but the fronts of the plants look dead. These are in a bed in front of the house. We had a lot of snow this past winter.

Bro-in-law heard that azaleas dont like concrete so if your house is built on a concrete slab or concrete blocks this may be part of the problem if they are close to the house. I had...had being the key word...one once but lets just say I'm sticking to the things that I know will grow for me. :D

As for my flowers I have a mish/mash of flowers and colors. Right now I have dianthus, mums, 2 potentilla bushes, 1 varigated weigla bush ( I think the hail storm Friday beat all the blooms), several lilies, lily of the valley, peonies, yucca, 2 red hot pokers, snowdrop, snapdragons, marigolds, dahlia, a mini red rose, salvia, pompas grass, and blue fescue. I also just transplanted some flowers from my dad so no clue on some of their colors...daffodils, peony, tiger lily, and irises. Mosy likely the irises and peonies will be in shock this year and wont bloom. I also have a few other flowers that I have no clue on their names...2 look sorta like a wiry daisy but the flowers are orange on one plant and yellow on the other. Then I have this one perenial that looks like a little mound of grass with long, spindly purple flowers. Another perenial that I think is something like spirea??? its low growing and has white flowers. There's another lil mound of some sort of grass too. I also have a lilac bush in the backyard. I'll also be buying a flat of bright petunias for another small area and a few pansies to fill in around the lilies. I wish I could have found some garden markers when I bought all this stuff so I knew what everything is. We're thinking about moving to a bigger house soon but I told DH if we move some of my flowers are moving too!!!

[pixie]

Thanks for the information on ticks LoriAnn. They are nasty! I got Lyme disease and a bad infection at the bite site last year so I am very timid this year. I will be checking some of the links in the articles too. I really appreciate it.

Barbara

[Ursulinda]

Sandar, you live very near a great source of perenniels for shade "the garden in the woods" is the name of it.

Barbara, if i was in your shoes and had actually had lyme disease, i for one would bathe in DEET! as it is, i only apply it gently, like fine perfume.


Deer and squirrels like to eat tulip bulbs.

LoriAnn has the finest garden pictures I've seen, but i'd post some too, if i could figure out how.

The snow is finally gone, thank goodness.

[fantayzya]

Taking notes...The Garden in the Shade eh? Got one area that when the dog is less rowdy I'll be needed to replace what he's destroyed and it's a shady area.

Thank you for your very kind words Linda, but I've seen shots of your garden too and you blow doors on my pics hun. We'll have to figure out how to get some of your beauties up here for all to see.

Spent last Saturday playing in the gardens and enjoying the tulips and such at their peak. It was a great year for Tulip Festival in Holland, MI too. Then Sunday the wind started. I still have tulips, but they are empty stems or bent over and the petals are all over the yard. Bummer, they were looking especially good this year too. I had put some doubles in and this was the second season for them. Wowzers!

Spotted my first rosebud Wed. too. I just love this time of year.

Here's a shot of some of my double tulips before the winds.
http://home.covad.net/~edavis/DCP_10315a.jpg

[Tinkerbell]

:D Your double tulips look great! Thanks for sharing.

[sandar]

Thanks for your tip, LindaB. Let's hope I get to check it out!

And fan, those double tulips are absolutely beautiful! Their color is striking and I love the "extra" petals (almost like mini peonies or something). Thanks for sharing your photo. :)

Sandi

[fantayzya]

Mini peonies is exactly what I thought too, except some of the color possibilities are amazing.

http://home.covad.net/~edavis/DCP_10228a.jpg http://home.covad.net/~edavis/DCP_10314a.jpg

[Cinderella]

I'm loving those flower pics. Are they gorgeous or what?
We just started on our landscaping plan (probably be done in lots of stages).
We moved last Sept. to PA and put in a few bayberry bushes and ornamental grasses just to have something out front and along side of garage. We had some beautiful plans drawn up by local nursery (no charge!) and just went today to tag some of the plants for our first stage. We're doing the back of our lot first for privacy and will have a colorado spruce, some norway spruces, some seagreen junipers, some ornamental grass, dwarf burning bushes, a golden maple (beautiful fall color), black eyed susans, scotch broom, day lillies (forgot the rest). That's phase one.

We will do a few plants out in front of the house and walkway next (some more barberry, azaleas, rhododendrons (dwarf) and pretty pine tree that has curly leaves that we picked out last fall, some holly and room for bulbs and annuals.

We have an area to the side of our driveway which floods all the time so we will put some redtwig dogwoods in there to soak up the extra water.

We will need some ornmental bushes to cover our utility boxes and gas meter etc.

Off the patio out back is my favorite stage: Alcatraz Island (I picked this name as this will be my bird garden - get it - Birdman of Alcatraz? LOL).
Anyhow, this will have a path from our outside patio to the bird garden which will have our feeders, birdbath, birdhouses, bench, and lots of trees for the birds - a butterfly bush, some bulbs, and lots of others.

All the landscaping was done with the idea that we will have color in all areas of the yard in all seasons (some bulbs first, azaleas, rhodedendrons, lillies, iris, grasses with plumes, cherry tree, burning bush, etc. all blooming at different times).

I can't wait. Just need Santa MoneyBags to stop by and pay for each stage.

Atleast we are starting off with one stage and though we may not have a lot of color this year, next year should be fantastic.

I'm hoping Santa will also bring a digital camera so I can post pictures as we go.

LOVE this thread. Please keep posting those pictures of your gardens!!

Claire
:clap: :bounce: :bounce:

[fantayzya]

WOW!

I'm hoping Santa will bring you a digital camera too! I WANNA SEE!!! Your plan sounds amazing!

I think my biggest problem with the planning part is that I have one visual in my mind and no matter how I describe it to hubby, his is different. Since he and DaBoyz do much of the heavy work for me, I have become a master at adapting the plan lol.

Another problem I have is that I fall in love easily. I'l go to the nursery knowing exactly what I'm looking for, but some cute little bloom nearly always catches my eye. (Does that make me a gardening floozy?) Now I have to figure out where this one will fit in. This has successfully turned me into a sort of plant collector I guess.

Keep posting about your progress, Claire, I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes for you. Most of all, have fun!

Lori

[sandar]

Another problem I have is that I fall in love easily. I'l go to the nursery knowing exactly what I'm looking for, but some cute little bloom nearly always catches my eye. (Does that make me a gardening floozy?)

LOL, fan! That's so true for me, too. Well, except for the knowing exactly what I'm looking for part. :lol:

I've got a couple of plants to ask you about. These are candidates for a sunny space:

* blue bellflowers
* evening primroses
* cranesbill geraniums
* sweet alyssum
* dianthus

The plants already in this little garden are purple liatris, yellow coreopsis, some purple thing I can't identify, and blue delphiniums.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Sandi, still giggling about "gardening floozy"

[fantayzya]

Blue Bellflowers-http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Campanula+rotundifolia
I haven't grown this variety, but I do have some 'Clustered Bellflowers' Same family, but very different in appearence. What I was able to find on this one is that it works in Canadian gardens, (translation-winter hardy) One person who had posted a pic in the Hortiplex on Gardenweb mentioned alpine gardens. Not neccessarily known to be wetlands. So I'd guess they do well with less than huge amounts of water. They are gorgeous, and from what I've read, Bellflowers are supposedly easy to grow. I know the ones I do have pretty much take care of themselves. I kind of ignore them except to yank the ones that wander out of their beds and dead head after the blooms fade.

Evening Primrose: I checked out Hortiplex (I love that can you tell?) to see if there were some photos to share but they weren't so hot there. I didn't know if you were looking at the yellow or the pink variety. I've not grown the pink ones but I have tried (several times) a yellow one. They are easy to grow, but do prefer to avoid dehydration. Not unforgiving, but will wilt on ya. I grew Missouri Sundrops and just loved them. They did well for me for a couple of years and then a critter discovered them and now I can't seem to keep them. The plant is very tolerant as it still tries, but it keeps getting bit off just above ground level. Even if I cage it. The flowers are gorgeous though and worth the effort.

Cranesbill Geranium: This one scores pretty high on Hortiplex too. Says it will go dormant in a drought which is good as it will help it survive even if you forget about it for a time. Mentions multiplying too which is good if you need it to fill in an area eventually. I've not grown these either, but they are very pretty. http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/jour/p/57/gw1018157/page.html

Sweet Alyssum: I have grown this a few seasons. It's an annual here so I have to replace it each summer but it makes a great edging plant. It also does a great job as a cover-up for taller plants that have kind of a 'leggy' look, to help hide their lower stems. It's easy to grow and fairly forgiving, but it does need a drink now and then. They stay nice and short, but will seed themselves and the clump will seem to grow. If they start to get kind of spindley looking, just give them a trim and within a short time they'll revive and start all over again, till frost gets em. http://hortiplex.gardenweb.com/plants/jour/p/13/gw1023813/page.html

Dianthus: I have a few different varieties of Dianthus. All very similar, but differing colors. They are sold here as annuals, but a few I have are several years old now. The ones I put in last year as companions for some roses are looking amazing despite a winter that was harsher than we've had in a long time. In fact, I'm thinking of digging them up and dividing them after only one year. They have bulked up that much. As for care, they will need a drink now and then, but are also quite forgiving. They will bloom all summer for you if you dead head. You can either be persnickety and trim them properly at a 'joint' or do like I do and simply yank out the faded bloom and go from there. They snap out quite nicely. They can get kind of spindley looking too so what I do is grab the clump in one hand and simply give it a 'haircut' It will recover nicely and start blooming again for you without getting floppy. When looking for these at a nursery, you might see them listed as 'pinks' or 'sweet william' too.

Hope that helps. Feel free to holler if there's anything else you think I might be able to help with.

Lor

[sandar]

Lori ann,

Thank you so much! You are a dollface. I appreciate your sharing your own experiences with some of these plants, as well as the links.

You are amazing. :D

Sandi

[Tinkerbell]

:minnie: I also thank-you for those links. I go to all of them and save them to my favorites. Thanks!! :minnie:

[fantayzya]

http://www.gardenweb.com/

http://helpmefind.com/

http://www.pallensmith.com/

http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/index.html

http://www.thegardengeek.com/ a little funky to navigate, but great photos.

http://bhg.com/bhg/gardening/index.jhtml;jsessionid=MMW1RQKM2YT2PQFIBQNSBHWAVAB B4IV0

http://diynet.com/DIY/categoryHome/0,1018,DIYG,FF.html

http://www.rebeccasgarden.com/

https://www.reneesgarden.com/default.htm

http://organicgardening.com/steps/

These are some general garden sites. (there are tons out there) Snoop around and have some fun! I have a bunch of great sites for roses specifically as they are my most recent obsession, let me know if you want them too. Some of these are very informative, others not so, some just nice to look at and dream lol.

Have fun!

Lor

[Tinkerbell]

:minnie: Thanks so much!!! They're all added to my favorites.... :minnie: