This is my first year planting annuals in great numbers, and it's been a struggle. First it was hot, then cold, and now dry. Some parts of Iowa have had a ton of rain--the river that goes within 1/2 mile of our home is almost out of it's banks. We, however, have been watering plants constantly. Everything perked up so nicely after we finally received rain on Saturday, but now it's back to dry dry dry and no rain in sight. Zinnias just started blooming, but they are short. The state fair variety looks more like my "cut and come again's" looked last year! Sunflowers are doing okay, but snaps, ageratum, salvia, everything else is pretty stunted. We're on the edge of zone 4 /5, and the weather has definitely been a factor for me. Good luck with the rest of your summer--I'm hoping things will smooth out for my later plantings...
Cathy

I have to ditto Cathy --- my rocket snaps are maybe 18" tall. And my lisanthus is maybe 12". My Benary ginat zinnias are 2' shorter than last year.

I'm discouraged also. I didn't water my lilies because I was struggling to keep the annuals alive so I have dinky little blooms that are shattering after a couple of days. I thought it was due to the really late freeze. But moisture levels do make sense.

I quit growing sunflowers because 1-- my customers rarely picked them and 2-- too many seeds ended up in my neighbors cornfield. Yea -- he sprays but I'd like to stay on his good side!! But I think it might have been a good year for sunflowers! They handle drought pretty well!

There is always next year .............

Cathy

I wonder if it would help to take out half or 2/3 or the annuals so that htose that remain get mroe of the mositure to themselves? Also, have you mulched them? I was reading about the early peoples of the southwest and how they grew crops and they would find a place sheltered by a rock or make aravines to tun any water to the plants, and leave a lot af space between the plants.

I Am wondering if you could give them a good soak then covere the soil with seeveral inches of mulch, would it hold the water enough to make a difference?

I think you might as well pinch your snaps off and hope they come up again in the early fall when it is cooler. IN my experience (Not that long, LOL) if they come up dry and hot then just forget them!

I thought it was just me. My Zinnias seem to be much shorter than last year. My sunflowers are doing o.k. but seemed to be bigger last year by this same time. We have had plenty of rain, sorry not trying to rub it in, but it has been cloudy alot, hence the rain. My perrenials are doing fabulous too.

Sounds like were in the same boat.

Steve

Zinnias are a late season crop. They're still growing -- give them some time. The first cuttings are always short. If you're growing these, you really need to have several sections of succession plantings. One can't plant one section and expect to harvest from that the entire season. Some of the later plantings yield better crops as well.

I agree with LizaLily on the snaps -- pinch them back and hope for better and taller stems later in the season.

Forgot to mention our Globe Amaranth just a blooming away on all of a 6" stem. According to Arnosky's this particular plant is drought tolerant. Himself has said he is going to plow the puny stuff under.

Sounds like we all are having crop difficulties! I decided to try reseeding zinnias. The new location is a bit further down my hillside, thus a bit cooler at night, but equally warm during the day, but only about 30% germination and the few that grew are very, very slow and short. Snaps might start blooming soon, and the cosmos has popped up...but it will be a while. The asters haven't popped up yet, so, am relying on perennials. The solidaster and veronicastrum have just exploded! Some lilies are done, others coming on, and I counted my FAMA scabiosa last night...had 137 great,usuable stems, and the colors are so BLUE! The crocosmia is blooming and the various rudbeckias and butterfly bushes are starting to bloom. Interesting year...definitely can't count on anything necessarily!
Wendy

I planted alot of annuals and now I am having to water like crazy. We have had 4/1o of rain in the last 50 days and it is drought conditions here in our part of TExas. I guess my comment is do zinnias that grow under these conditions have the same vase life as flowers that are grown when they are not stressed for water? We have also had many hot days. Today at 3:00 it was 101. I sure have had enough of summer and it is only july 7. I was on vacation for 6 days and came back to find powdery mildew on the zinnias in the greenhouse. I came across a post somewhere that said to use milk to fight the powdery mildew.Does anyone know what the receipe is?

Hot in TEXAS
Rita

Lately we have had a bit of rain, and more coming on tomorrow, I think remnants of Cindy. I think it's been a combination of all the drastic changes with heat, drought, wet, cool, ect...The perennials can handle this, but not the annuals. Thanks for the tips on pinching the snaps, I'll try that. Does the same apply to celosia? Flower farmer, I did have some zinnias at various stages, but no real succesion planting as you mentioned. I'll do that next year. The best zinnias I have right now are the few I started from seed in the greenhouse. Hopefully they won't get mildew in there. I water them from underneath to try and prevent that. My asters are starting to perk up a bit, but we were only around 60 yesterday, and I think this has been part of the problem. BUT, my asiatic lilies that are about ready to pop, have between 20 and 26 large buds on them. This would have been the year to have ALL perennials.
Cheryl

Even here in northwest Iowa (Fort Dodge), where we had WAY too much rain one weekend (flooding out cornfields), plus other rains, my plants are short, too. The 'Red Velvet' celosia started blooming about a week ago--very small and very short. I've stayed away from it, and I noticed today that the bloom size and the height are both increasing. The few trachymene (didiscus/lace flower, suggested by clink, Cathy L) that germinated are blooming short, too, though the last few days of heat have helped them, too. My zinnias seem to have a good bloom size, but they are shorter, too. I think heat and time have helped some, and I'll continue to cut zinnias for fun, hoping they'll continue to bloom with side shoots.

Wind has been another problem here. We had quite a bill after a storm caused us to call in a tree trimmer. The wind has really played havoc with my Asiatic lilies, which are protected from north winds by the south side of the screened/partially enclosed gazebo. I've found many of them lying on the ground, still connected to limp stems, but I've also found many on the ground, detached from the bulb and roots.

Despite these disappointments, I know that we are very lucky, especially compared to some of you who have had drought. May gentle rains come your way!

Cheryl
..been trying to think what to say regarding my annuals..I've been having the same good luck thus far with all the perennials this year but since I've put in a number of annuals new to me I can't tell what is 'normal'..The zinnias seem about the same as they were last year..My snaps are pretty straight and tall but I began with plugs..Growing a few types of asters, (so far so good, no dreaded yellows), tall argeratum is ok, the neon duo is about to pop and looks good to my untrained eye and I'm considering that an annual, dang it..The ammi seems kind of lack luster so far, cosmos, rudbekias ok..Dahlias doing beautifully, been cutting them for a while now..all the lilies beginning to do their thing..Growing alot of diff types of amaranths and since I've never grown any of them before save Love Lies Bleeding I have no clue if they are doing well or not!
But I guess I was just sort of WAITING for alot of the annual material to just grab ahold and pop over the next couple weeks..As I said I've put in a few things totally new to me so I'm feeling my way through..testing to see what the vase life is for them.
I think however I might have the distinction on this forum of being the only person NOT growing glads, just didn't get it together this year and now I'm sort of missing them!
Hang in there..We've still got some weeks left before FROST!
Randi

Like many other folks', my outdoors annuals are short, wet, and cold. The only ones blooming so far are the Costa snaps and a few ultrafast sunflowers (Premier Light Yellow, Mini-Suns, and Sundance Kid) in my raised beds. Rocket snaps are about 8" tall and barely poking along. Have I mentioned that I LOVE Costa snaps? Next year will be 2/3 Costas, 1/3 Rockets. Amazon dianthus plants are getting big and strong but no flower stalks are forming yet. The Sweet dianthus next to them are visibly slower. The celosia I'm trying in the greenhouse aren't sure they want to survive, much less grow.

It's a great year for perennials that like it cold and wet. Delphinium, foxgloves, lupines, Shasta daisies, and monkshood are throwing parties out there, whereas the planted-out sunflower seedlings are still trying to decide whether to live or not. Bells of Ireland are growing leaves like nuts but not making many bells yet. I'm trying to be patient. So far, it's not working. Today is rainy off and on all day, highs in the 50's. Welcome to northern Idaho!

Jeanne

I just wrote up a rather long reply to this and lost it all as I was previewing! How is that for editing? Suffice it to say, then tha here, 90 mi west of Chicago, I am experiencing all the same things as all of you. I depend heavily on annuals - maybe too heavily! And this may be a year I simply have to take my losses and turn attentions to other things that go undone because of the normally busy flower season.
Insect populations are rising as well. My equivalent of the dreaded Japanese beetle are the striped cucumber beetle and (esp) the green corn rootworm beetle, They are coming out of the surrounding cornfields in droves and way early! Young ones. Goes to show that the corn may look okay but it is NOt setting its ears as it should.
Also wondering WHY there is SO LITTLE "talk" going on in my region about just what devastation this prolonged drought and heat is or already has done, and what are the long-term effects. Almost no discussion of this rt here in the middle of the corn and soybean belt where many people derive all or part of their incomes from ag and ag-related endeavors!

Off my soapbox and off to bed!

It definitely makes me think about how many annuals I should be depending on. Ditto on the comment Jeanne made about the perennials, it's been a great year for foxglove, and the others she mentioned, my monkshood is pushing 5' tall. Last year the annuals were growing like crazy by this time and it seemed to be about the same weather as this year, although it did warm up a bit quicker, especially the night time temps. One thing for sure, I'll be taking lots of notes regarding these annuals, and starting and planting only the most useful varieties. (I say that now, without a new catalog in front of me) I did spend a lot of money and time on my annuals, lets face it, they are very labor intensive. One doesn't mind if the return is there. But, as farmers, we all know that these things happen, and we can never predict mother nature from one year to the next. Lets hope things turn around, and we all get a warm fall, with time for all these plants to take off, and plenty of good cutting.
Cheryl

Crowspice --- Thank you for saying everything so well. All we hear about is the incredibly nice weather for golf and the few references that "the farmers really need rain". We ALL need rain -- I'm SICK of people thinking that agriculture is only for farmers. Hopefully, they are not saying it with a mouth-full of food!!

I think I've got about a week, maybe two left unless we get rain. You simply can not water enough to make up for a 12" rainfall deficit. So this summer will be devoted to other projects. Maybe I'll get all my windows re-glazed! As if that's fun. I'd rather be growing flowers.

Cathy