Nope -- you're not the only one -- I have (had) a ton left, but they've all died in the heat wave :(

I did the same thing last year but managed to get most of them in the ground!

Leisa

Ummm, let me check. I, um, see something back there, but darkness is falling... Oh heck YES!! I admit it - for the eight year in a row.

I promise I'll be good and put them in the ground real soon, OK??

Hand in the air :O
I planted some this afternoon that have been in the pots since LAST year........yikes!

You mean... wait... doesn't everyone? Isn't that the way it's *supposed to* work?

Are you saying that there are actually people out there that have planted ALL their containers?... Gee, what's up with THAT?

;)
Dee

P.S. I have some columbines in their containers for three years now, and finally planted out some lavender that was in it's milk jug for two or three years. A few months is nuthin in my book, lol!

lol. I thought I was the only one. I have ONE jug left and I think the cosmos in it might actually bloom where they are.

Now that they are this big I'm still trying to figure out HOW to get them out without doing them harm.

It is actually worse for me this year, because I still have tons of seedlings that are sitting in their containers waiting to be planted out.
The problem is I have to scout around for a bare spot.
It is also too hot to plant anything.
I hate this weather.

Beautiful evening here and the next two days are to be cooler, tomorrows temps are expected to be in mid70s, so I was planting until dark. Many of the ws plants still in jugs need to be potted up and held for fall planting or swaps.

My first year ws all my seedlings were in the ground by June 1st, only because I was gone all of June so had to get them planted before leaving.

Some of my seeds need two years or longer to germinate and some of those germinate late in the spring/early summer and are slow growing. Others, columbine for one, germinate sporadically resulting in different sized seedlings. I scoop out the larger ones and leave the others to grow a bit.

I agree with Dee, if they don't get planted out this summer/fall they can wait until next year, or the next, or...Okay, the most I have kept seedlings in their containers is two springs/summers.

I'd guess there are probably more of us out there who'd rather not confess to still having unopened jugs (soapwort, side of the garage, out of sight under the hosta leaves). Three opened jugs not potted up/planted out are buddleia sprouts that refuse to grow bigger than 1/4 inch. Don't know what their problem is--I have several other pots of them where they've grown a foot tall or more.

The astilbe stayed small right through mid-June, then started to take off so I may actually get those planted out this year. Just yesterday I planted a few dozen along the back of the garage while it was shaded--Rudbeckia hirta 'Autumn Colors' & 'Irish Eyes,' lupine, Maltese cross, Echinacea, feverfew, cushion spurge, Shasta daisy & rose campion, all WS this year. That bed's finally about full.

I've given away hundreds of perennials to friends, family, neighbors, even my doctor (we share a name & a love of perennial gardening). I've emptied a few hundred jugs and pots and am beginning to realize with so many I can afford to plant multiple plants together for a more impressive display.

The ones still in pots are sitting in plastic storage bins or aluminum cookie sheets on my breezeway where it's easier to water them and they get a few hours in the shade. So far (she says with fingers crossed) I've only lost a few to the broiling sun and dry conditions.
The pot ghetto is definitely shrinking but I'm absolutely 100% certain I'll be trying to find room for pots in the garage this winter.

Pot ghetto - that is funny! Well, thanks everyone - I do feel better - sort of. Lack of space and the intolerable heatwave has stopped me in my tracks, and a pansy is actually blooming out of a water bottle container. Every year I sow a lot (too much) - DH always asks, "where are you going to put all those?" For sure, the yard looks full, so some "ingenuity" is in order, not to mention simply getting rid of those plants that are "underwhelming" - but I have trouble with pulling even those sulking plants. I need to be in a ruthless mood to pull stuff.

Thanks again!

I have maybe 25 jugs. Only a few are remaining because of me - or my lack of planting.

The rest are too small to plant. I take solace that they are not weeds:)) The weeds would be bigger!!

But, I did have something (wind flower) sprout that I was about to toss - woo hoo!! I had purchased the bulbs from a neighbor kid and I was thinking - UGH - what did he sell me?? Come to find out, I was too impatient.

I sowed way too much, but for some things that's not bad. I still have three aslepias left, and since the ones in the garden went in a sterilzed soil spot and are ailing, that's not a bad thing.

A few things are shrubs and are too small to go out yet.

And I did sow way too many tomatoes, and just planted out 15 more this weekend and will hope for a nice warm fall.

The rest I need to steal myself to toss, but I just can't do it -- so they sit waiting for a home that might never come.

Next year I'll be more selective :) (Uhtil February when the fever hits).

Caryl

...what Piti said.

I finally decided to convert my north-facing half-sun/half-shade bed into my holding pen for new perennials. Got a good amount of the 30+ containers tossed in there over the weekend. It's just been too hot!

Lots keeled in the heat; I managed to keep a good amount alive sitting in underbed boxes full of water.

But yeah, guilty as charged.

caryltoo - how far are you from north central CT? Maybe I could "rescue" your toss pots & give them a home. I've got a little green acre (well, it's not so green at the moment) that's inviting plants from near and far to help the planter reduce the ridiculously large lawn and increase the size of the flowerbeds.

My accomplice is the guy next door with the riding mower. When I told him I was going to cut the 30 ft. square flowerbed on the south side of the property in half diagonally, he revved up the machine and whacked down all the weeds. The man wouldn't know a daisy from a daylily but he's got some great, low-maintenance landscaping ideas plus he don't love lawn the way the rest of the neighborhood seems to worship the smooth, perfectly-groomed, weed-free, BORING green expanse between the house and the street. He just mows it if it needs it & ignores it if it doesn't.
I'm planting their south foundation area with WS perennials and mulching it to keep the weeds down. Next year it's going to really be PACKED with thrive-on-neglect perennials thanks to WS.

I have jugs a'sprouting and lots potted up. Too hot to plant right now. When it cools down they will go into the holding bed. I love winter sowing.....nice to shop in your own yard.

Guilty as charged! I was just looking at my pan of rudbeckia Irish Eyes, one of which has a beautiful flower and thinking that she deserves to be planted because she has survived this heat wave and was kind enough to bloom. I hope to get her in the ground this weekend.

I also have a Jacob's ladder that I bought 2 weeks ago still sitting in the pot.

Carol

Confess? No problem. I have a "nursery" for the WS'n plants - which includes plants from 2008 and 2009 (in their own individual small pots), and lots of containers still not planted or potted from 2010. There are easily over 100 small pots/containers out there. Oh, and that doesn't include a couple of pot ghetto areas, with large pots. Hehe

They aren't planted out for a variety of reason - laziness, not knowing where the heck to put them yet, unbearably hot and dry weather this Spring, garden beds in planning stages, and last but not least because winter-sowing just makes it too easy and interesting to start stuff from seed so I have gone overboard! Can you imagine??? (Trudi that is your fault, lol.)

I found a few annuals that I planted out yesterday. I can't believe they didn't fry last week.

Don

Whew!! I am not the only one!!

I really felt guilty and plain lazy when I had flowers blooming in my containers. I am feeling much better after reading you guys responses to this post.

I've still got *unsprouted* containers I didn't want to give up on, like Siberian iris. The snake's head iris I traded for finally sprouted and renewed my hope for the rest. They're tiny, and still in the juice bottle. I was sure I'd kill the seedlings if I transplanted in hot weather. We've had highs in the 90's for most of this month.

Which didn't stop me from sowing a window box with salad mix. It's sitting on top of the porch rail (not attached) and the plants are going to grow in there until they are eaten. I hope I'm the one who gets to eat them. I'm calling it my salad bar.

-Edie

still got hand raised...I'm so ashamed...

...um...I finally had to give up on a couple dozen tomatoes that were still in their little cups. It was heartbreaking. I had no more potting soil, or containers, and no one would take them. I couldn't even toss them in the cups because they were dying a slow death...I had to clip them off...quick and painless(I hope). I did finally(today)plant a small clump of perennial poppies and a tiny lupine. I'm such a bad WSing mom...