Winners:

pale yellow and white 'rocket' snapdragons

'giant wine' zinnia: turns a deep magenta,large dahlia type flowers

ageratum 'blue horizon' good height and color

zinnia 'zahara' both cherry and a cherry pin stripe, loads of blooms from early summer

nicotiana 'purple perfume'

rudbeckia 'prairie sun' and 'indian summer' good for bouquets,large plants

Losers:

monarda 'bergamo' foliage problems,long wait for blooms
had to be staked even in full
sun,difficult color to use...pulled

viscaria(catchfly) a beautiful blue and an awful neon pink,
foliage problems,
kept falling over and drying out
...pulled

aster 'opus': 4 out of 6 got sudden wilt and were pulled.
the remaining 2 are just starting to bloom.
long wait from seed

none of my four dahlias have started to bloom! they're waiting for cooler weather?

stuff on my sunny balcony:

failure
Salvia horminum: it has lilac-blueish leaves/bracts on top of the flower spike. What a pitty that they faded just after some days. Had 4 plants in 4 window boxes, two are dead now, two almost, in spite of dead heading+ fertilizing

Anagalis monellii (Blue pimpernel): was easy to start from seed, transplanted once and then it sulked. We had a cold rainy May and June which it obviously didnt like. Finally the plants are about 3-4 inches high now and flower scarcely. Flowers the size of a thumb nail and almost true blue

Dahlia Top Mix Purple: couldn`t cope with the rainy start, got mildew, the flowers fade in the sun to pink. I grew Top Mix White before which did much better

winners
Basil African Blue/ Magic Blue (O. kilimandscharicum x basilikum `Purpurascens`). Edible leaves and non-stop flowers. Foliages with reddish veins. With just some fertilizer it keeps going till the frost gets it

Gomphrena globosa (globe amaranth?) it germinates easily. After a slow start it stretches and gets those funny flower heads (white, light pink or neon pink). Reasonably draught resistant, doesnt collapse when dried out, keeps going till the end. Mine are now almost a foot tall and about as wide

Cosmea sulphurea: orange Cosmos. dwarf cultivars and tall species. Great true orange, easy to grow, plenty of flowers, tough

My blue-and-white-colour-scheme for the balcony failed because I tried too much new suff. Next year I will do something in yellow-orange-red, with Marygold and some other reliable things.

So, good planing for the next season, cheers, Lin
(the most beautiful garden is next year`s garden...)

Winners:

Impatiens:
"Super Elfin" mix - clean plants that just keep going and going.
Mix of no name petunias, big flowers on both reds and the whites.
Bedding dahlias "Figaro" mix. Love these, they're inexpensive and bloom heavily until hard frost. I don't save tubers.
Dianthus Chinensis always performs.
Marigolds: tried a couple of market packs for the first time ever and they don't disappoint. Wouldn't want tons of them all over the gardens, however.

Failures:

Statice and I'm surprised because that's always done real well for me.

Tried and True Winners
Angelonia
Pentas
Melampodium
Salvia (Victoria Blue)

New This Year Winners:
Gomphrena
Lantana
Batwing Cuphea

Pleasant Surprises:
Portulaca
Annual Vinca
I've planted both of these before. Some years they do well, others not so well.

Disappointing:
Marigolds
Why do I keep planting these? The foliage always ends up yucky looking and they never quite give me the look I want anyway.

Totally Confused

Winners:

Black Pearl Peppers. They are gorgeous, accept crowded conditions in pots (with cutting back) and appear to be impervious to the heat. I started them 12 weeks ahead of frost and that was about right.

Zinnia elegans: Unbelievably I had never grown these. They are gorgeous and I have never had so many butterflies. Next year, I will pinch them early and often so they don't need staking.

Yellow Profusion Zinnias: Clear true yellow without gold or orange in it. A little taller than other Profusions, but just as floriferous. I did my mid summer cutback, gave them some liquid fertilizer and they were blooming again in 2 weeks.

Lavender Cleome: the color holds up in our sun. Beautiful and easy.

Emilia: Sweet, easy, showy little plants. Good for filler, not substantial enough to hold their own even in small masses. Still. Winners.

Losers:

Baby Blue Eyes: nice foliage. Lovely true blue blooms. Just couldn't get enough blooms on before our heat moved in. Such a shame.

Cosmos Psyche White Picotee: Oh yeah, now I remember why it's been years since I planted cosmos. So tall they fell over. The blooms were puny small. And worst of all, the color is either a very wimpy pink (maybe it fades in my sun) or a dirty white. Either way, they will not be planted again.

Sorta kinda:
Chinese Forget me Nots: beautiful blue blooms. Not beautiful foliage. However, they lasted into June before the heat got them. The seeds are stickery and get all over gloves, shirts, socks, etc. Still, beautiful blue blooms exactly like the other kind of forget me nots.

Winners:

Cosmos sulphurus: sowed later than planned but still gave me lots of bloom, and they're dwarfs!

Browallia: started later than should have, but started blooming in July and very clean and pretty

Loser:

Laurentia: started in February, and just finally gave me 3 blooms! Way too long, not worth the effort!

Its been a long time since I've gotten onto GW!

Winners:

Yellow Profusion Zinnias-Great disease resistance, easy care, drought tolerant

Buddy Purple Gomphrena-Did really great this year

Margarita Series Portulaca- Grew from seed, very impressed, bright vibrant colors.

Ice Plant (Actually a perennial)-Grew from seed, long flowering, neat plant.

Salvia Artemis- Grew from seed, nice foliage plant.

Janie Primrose Marigolds-Cute little compact plant, lots of flowers

LOSERS:

Pink Dreamland Zinnias- Wanted to love this, nice big flowers, good color, but they crapped out on me very early...mildew/mold problems.

Pink and White Easy Wave Petunias-Seems like the only ones that really fill in for me are the Blue ones.

Inca II Yellow Marigolds- I don't know what happened...not a fan!

Winners:
Zahara Yellow Zinnias-bright clean almost neon yellow, thrives on neglect

Gomphrena globosa, Las Vegas Purple, purplest purple I've seen in Gomphrena

Sanvitalia procumbins, Vanilla Sprite, great trailing habit, nice bright yellow sometimes with whitish petal tips-my favorite Sanvitalia so far.

Losers:
Thunbergia alata, Canary Eyes Poor name choice-not Canary yellow at all (faded, washed out, indecisive yellow) and much less vigorous than other "Eyes" varieties.

Marigold, Double Mr. Majestic- All around disapointment flowering much less than Mr. Majestic and inconsistent as to height and color.

Zinnia elegans, Candy Mix - Supposedly an improved strain of the scabious flowered types but very few plants have produced scabious blooms and the colors are muddy.

Winner: Apricot Blush zinnia - beautiful range of apricot,orange; altho they did not reach the stated height, the blooms are large and full, some dome shaped. Strong stems and repeat bloomer if kept deadheaded.

Loser: Candy Cane zinnias, suppose to be red w/white stripes. This is the second time I've tried them. Again, color disappointing. No red w/white striped blooms. I got solid reds, solid whites, solid yellow(!) and one small bloom that was yellow w/red splashes.

We still have at least 2-3 months of the gardening season left, and probably another month of high temperatures, so this is as of now and only the ones that come to mind as I type this.

Winners:
*Supertunia Vista Bubblegum Pink (see post on super plant and zonked cat for picture).
*Laurentia-I started mine from seed in April which was really later then it should be. This is the pink one, and it's blooming to beat the band despite the heat/drought.
*"Doublet" rose Begonia (double pink bloom, brown foliage). There is another wax begonia variety with double blooms that are larger and more "rose" like then this variety. Couldn't find it this year, just the "Doublet" variety which has performed admirably.
*Vinca "Cora" Pink. The "Cora" series is resistant to the rot(Phytopathora) which affects most of the other Periwinkle varieties on the market. A remarkable breakthrough that has (so far) proven true.
*Lantana Anne Marie-Many Lantana's shut down in the extreme heat. This and Bandana Lemon Zest are blooming even now.
*Zinnia-A red/white striped zinnia I picked up off a seed rack at Walmart last year. From Burpees, no variety name, just Red/white and a picture. Excellent disease resistance.

Loosers:
-Gaillardia "Mesa". Bought in April, pitched when the heat moved in in June. Droopy blooms/foliage when the sun hit it for one. Not tolerant of our heat+humidity.
-New Guinea Impatiens - 2 different colors, 2 different pots, moved around all over the place trying to find a spot that suited them. Spider mites found them before I found a place they liked. They are both gone.
-Hibiscus Sinensis (tropical Hibiscus)-Bold and Spicy. 4" pot from Logee's that when repotted did nothing but sit there until it turned toes up and died. An expensive mistake.

The unimpressive but O.K.'s:

Lobularia Snow Princess. I made a mistake and planted this in a coconut fiber lined hanging basket. This plant DEMANDS moisture, and the quick draining fiber means it must be watered 2-3 times a day at least. It ceased blooming once the heat set in, so I will wait to see what it does when cool weather returns.

That's all I can think of now....Maryl

Hits:
Babywing Begonia (pink) This plant is tough as nails it is in continous bloom and does not require frequent watering.Can take full sun or part shade. I just need to figure out how to propagate and overwinter it so I can have many more next year. In my opinion it is much tougher than dragon wing begonia which was my favorite for 2009.

Sun Coleus: Henna, Red Judy, Alabama sunrise and sunset the Alabama series when paired with the new lime green sweet potato in a pedestal pot with the sweet potato spilling over the front is so beautiful.

Misses:

Mumsy marigold
Tango New Guinea Impatiens

Familyman: I tried that Mumsy Marigold last year. What an ugly bloom that is in person. Mine never really grew well either. Big Looser for me too.

Maryl;

Supertunia Vista bubblegum pink you listed as a hit was also a winner for me in 2009, I can't say enough supelatives about it.

I was able to overwinter it and it reseeded itself. I really like petunias and supertunia vista pink is the most vigorus growing and blooming one I have ever grown. Second best is Tidal wave silver which when planted near vista bubblegum pink will pollinate it and cause it to reseed.

I also grew some surfinia giant petunias this year first time they are still blooming and growing. I hope to be able to overwinter them. One thing that I learned about the Surfinias is they don't like the full Ms sun and wilt early in the day; I was about to dismiss them as worthless and then tried them in part sun (morning) and they don't wilt as much I now refer to them as shade petunias. If they overwinter I will like them a lot more and plan to do more experimenting with them next spring.

I know that you are probably already aware of this and that I am preaching to the choir here but one of the secrets to wave type petunias is consistent fertilization and regular pruning most people get the fertization but miss the pruning or wait to late. Proven winners has and excellent article on their website on growing them. I don't work for them.

I was also unable to find your super plant post with the pictures

I also didn't have luck with the Tango New Guinea Impatiens. I got one bloom off of the two plants I bought...luckily they were on sale for a $1 each!

Tried 60 types from seeds this year.
Winners:

1. Cosmic Cosmos. Will buy Limara Lemon also next year from Geoseed. Actually I will only buy from Geoseed. All other seeds did poorly except from Geoseed (no s).
2. Melampodium
3. Cora Vincas
4. Lemon basil
5. Mr. Majestic marigolds(not from Geoseed) early, good show, then got chewed up.(Also yellow petite, which were the only ones that lasted. Slow to start.)
So many bad things that I will not even list them.
I will never buy seeds again from the box stores. The big name seed companies generally had very poor results. From Geoseed, everything grow. What's with that?
Actually my number 1 new seed was Yvonne's salvia. Not available commerically. Have to hunt it down in forums.

This is a great posting..I'm sorry that I tried the PW raspberry blast petunias this year. I didn't think they performed that great. Last year the PW vista bubblegum pink was fabulous! It will be back in my beds in 2011. One of my favorites was Dwarf fairy candytuft in mixed colors(mostly two shades of purple/white/rose)carpet of snow allyssum. Had two patches that I wintersowed and they are still flourishing. Of course, snapdragons that the birds dropped back in 2009 that were yellow. This year they look like peppermint candy. First time planting liatris sent to me by a DG poster. Black eye susans(rudbeckia "Goldstrum" I think. Portulaca grew in a cracked bird bath. Will plant more of those in bird bath again and in other spots. Malva Zebrina..wintensowed that and it really did great.

Never had luck with pentas in previous years. I will not plant calendulas again. The type I have is yucky color with ugly foliage. I didn't get my Yvonne's salvia planted until too late. It's only about 18-24 in. tall now.. Coneflowers did well, as did white scabiosa.

vinca..bought starter plants from HD..doing well and very showy. Columbines became invasive..cut them back after they bloomed and gathered the seeds, now the plants are back and one plant is blooming again.

I'm sure I've missed listing some.

Regarding Yvonne's salvia:
Growing this plant is a good way to test your soil. I planted it several places in my garden, in soil that ranged from poor, which some plants do better in, to super soil.
It grew in poor soil but plants were short and bloomed late (still OK with me) to the super soil where it bloomed early and all season and grew tall.
Bob

If there is one plant I had to recommend it is Cappuchino Rudbeckia. I just love this plant. It has a daisylike flower about 4 inches across with a large brown button The petals are a beautiful orangy brown, but it is impossible to describe the color. The flower stems come from the bottom and I counted the blossoms on one plant and there were 17. Once they start blooming they don't stop and the flower lasts a long time. They started blooming at the end of June and are still blooming.

I have many favorites. Some years they do great and others not as well, but I cull out the undesirables.

Annuals here must be very heat and humidity tolerant. None more so then this summer which seemed exceptionally brutal.
Aside from the plants I noted in my previous post, I want to add a few I saw at our local teaching garden that still seemed fresh as daisies after surviving this summer.
**VERBENA Lanai blue - Many Verbena's slow down when temperatures climb over 90, but here in high summer if it's ONLY 90 we consider it a cool spell. This Verbena was lush and full of blooms.
**I've used VERBENA Sissinghurst for many many years now (available as plants from Bluestone) and it gets top marks from me also. In milder winters it will even survive.
**Petunia -Supertunia Sangria Charm. This was planted next to Verbena Lanai Blue and the color combination was very striking.
**Periwinkles-Nirvana mixture. Not a sign of rot. As good as the Cora variety I bought. BUT a big boo! to the non Nirvana/Cora periwinkles. I bought a cheap Periwinkle in a pot from Lowes that was not the resistant type and it lasted maybe a month before wilting from the rot. My Cora is still pumping out blooms.

Something new I tried this year and was pleased with was Violet/Purple Tubeflower, Iochroma cyanea 'Royal Purple Queen' -- quite the name, I know.

It's related to Datura and Brugmansia. It's kind of like a tiny, deep purple Brugmansia flower in clusters of 20-30 blooms. Plant is similar to a scaled-down Brugmansia as well.

I bought 2, and they have bloomed well all summer. I'm going to bring them in and try to overwinter them the same way I do my Brugs.

Here is a link that might be useful: One link about this plant

I like hearing about non-hardy plants used as annuals. I've read about Iochroma and can't remember now why I haven't tried one. Where do you live denni?.....Maryl

To name only a few~
Love:
Hunnemannia fumariifolia-Mexican Tulip Poppy 'Sunlite'-my new favorite annual.
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Tanacetum niveum-Snowy Tansy/Silver Tansy-attractive foliage, an abundance of fresh white flowers, very nice plant.
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'Red-flowering' Oak Leaf Geranium-lovely in every way.
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Don't love:
Tropaeolum peregrinum-Canary Bird Flower-an unusual flower with nice color and attractive foliage, but it just didn't thrive in my garden. Has anyone had any luck with it?
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'Crimson Rambler' Morning Glory-I've grown it before and I forgot how much I don't like the color.
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'Appleblossom Rosebud' Geranium-I really like 'Red Rosebud' and 'Pink Rosebud', but just don't care for this one. If my deadheading practices were a little more thorough, I might like it better. It looks pretty 'icky' when the flowers are going by.
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I like it (Snowy Tansy) so much I included a perennial--oopsie.

I love the pictures you included Jaynine. Here's one taken about a week ago of my hanging baskets. In my previous comments I said that Lobelia Snow princess stopped blooming when temperatures went into the 90's, but now that it's cooled down to the 80's it's blooming like crazy. The pink Petunia is Bubblegum pink and it's bloomed without stop all summer. It has just recovered from a later then usual catapillar attack and now, a week after this picture was taken, it's totally dripping with blooms again. A wonderful plant.
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