Why I Oughta...

Back in June, I planted 36 tiny plugs of Titan Blue Lavender Halo Vinca in a mass planting in the (mostly) front of the Island Bed down by the sidewalk.  I grew Annual Vinca in the front porch bed last year and in addition to planting more there this year, I also decided to give it a try down in the Island Bed.   The 36 plugs were tiny when they went in .  And, maybe I spaced them too far part.  But, after all of June.  And all of July, they're finally starting to put on some size and fill-out the space that I gave them.  Not all of them survived, but I'd say that the great majority of them have made it to August.  I'm not sure, but I think a few of them might have been over-watered (vs struggle from drought).   Below is a as-current photo of the Titan Halo Vinca.  I recently watered them, so they're a little 'tipped over' from the weight of the water.  But, this gives us a sense for spacing.  And color. Turns out, 36 isn...

August, already?  Yeeesh. The heat is here, but for the first time (for me as a gardener), so, too are the Lisianthus. As a cut flower in our garden.   That means that I'm learning something new.   The garden continues to reward patience.  In this case it is patience to see the blooms change color.  To their intended color.  Turns out, that's just what Lisianthus does:  it changes color as it blooms.   Back in Spring, I bought some Lisianthus Metallic Blue (Celeb 2) plugs from Garden Club .  They arrived a bit early (my fault), so I potted-them-up and tried to keep them alive for a month-plus until I could plant them outside.  They went in the newly expanded Saratoga Ginkgo bed in late May .   All eight plugs survived the first month indoors and have made it to August in the ground.  I protected them from rabbits with a little chicken wire cage , so I'm not sure if the rabbits would have gotten to these. And...

Another day and even more dahlias cut off their stems.  And, these are cut deeply as the experts suggest one does early (is it still early in the dahlia-growing season??) for more prolific-blooming plants later in the year.  *Cue the Sheryl Crow* This mixed dahlia arrangement (below) includes Ivanetti, Wizard of Oz, my first Great Silence (decorative) dahlia and the two semi-cactus/cactus "surprise" dahlias.  A dark one and a bubble gum pink one.  This is (maybe?) my tallest set of dahlia cut flowers in a vase since I've grown them.  There are also a significant number of buds that came with those long stems. Here, below, is a closer look at the first Great Silence Decorative Dahlia .  This one is mostly uniform in color with a pink/peach hue.   I bought two Great Silence tubers back in November of last year.   And, put them through my usual Spring dahlia program (starting them indoors in pots, moving them outoors) and planted two Great Silen...

I think I was in a dahlia-tuber-induced fog when I bought Mero Star dahlias because I never posted about them in my garden diary here and I have been listing them in my on-going tuber diary as "Metro Star dahlias".  They're NOT Metro Star.  They're Mero Star. And they're, well....huge.  (or"yuuuge", if you prefer.)  Here, below is a look at one of them: Mero Star Dahlia Bloom - big and spectacular. I mean...they're big.  And real.  And....As Sidra once said: That first photo at the top doesn't really tell the story of size.  But, have a look at the photo below showing this first Mero Star Dinnerplate Dahlia in amongst some others like Blue Wish.  This bloom is huge.  The individual petals are huge.  Bigger than anything else I've grown.   I mentioned that I must have been in a fog when I bought these because I don't remember them.  Here, below, is the front of the package of Mero Star tubers.  The packaging shows whi...

All the way back in August of 2024, I posted a "Getting to Know" post about a number of dahlias that I had come across in that growing season that jumped out to me.  Enough, at least, to write that post about.  One of those varieties in that post was Burlesca.  I'm growing those this year.   And another one was Jowey Winnie.   I bought two tubers of Jowey Winnie from Longfield Gardens this past Winter and have put them through my normal dahlia tuber program of starting indoors, moving outdoors and planting in the beds.  One of them IB2DWs and one of them in the Pizza Oven West bed.  The one in front was a dud and didn't grow.  The one in the back by the pizza oven is throwing off its first bloom.   But, is it Jowey Winnie?  Here is the bloom on *my* Jowey Winnie Dahlia before I cut it: As for why I'm questioning if this is, indeed, a Jowey Winne, let me turn to the seller, Longfield Gardens, and their product page ....

We're seeing the second flush of blooms from our Disneyland Roses (Floribunda Roses) that are planted in the sideyard (full sun) bed in mid-July.  This post is going up at the end of July, but they started to bloom right around the middle of July .  The first flush of blooms was at the end of May , so we're about six weeks apart from beginning-to-beginning cycles.  I've fed these three times this season (Right around the first of the month of May , June, July).  And, have been regularly spraying them with both a foliar insecticide and a stand-alone fungicide.  The granular fertilizer is a three-in-one systemic treatment (fertilizer, insecticide, fungicide), so they're getting treated for everything-all-together-at-once.  Or something like that.   I've fought various pests and diseases over the years on these roses .  Sawfly larvae.  Even what I think was/is some drought stress .  I tried everything.  Neem Oil.  Dusting the...