Hello Sharon,
The big disappointment has to be my attempt at killing the weeds in my veggie garden using two layers of plastic sheeting. We had "showers" nearly every day in July with cool temperatures. Rainwater ponded on top of the plastic and grew algae. It certainly didnÂt get hot enough to cook the weeds.

The "Morden Ruby" rose gets discoloured or rots in a ball of mush in damp weather. Nice in dry weather though.

Clematis purpurea hasnÂt sent up one seedling!

Better to focus on what went right.

Ian

Sharon, my seed grown Salvia nemerosa Plumosa are identical to yours. About half made it thru last winter.

I also have daylilies not yet blooming this year. When you say yours are five years old and have not yet bloomed - do you mean this year, or at all in the last five years? Even Stella d'Oro didn't put on much of a show for me this year, but I suspect these as well as Catherine Woodbury and Siloam Baby Talk need to be divided.

A catmint - Nepeta transcaucasica Blue Infinity is a seeding out nightmare and I've already tossed the plants - I'll be battling the seedlings for a while though.

I don't think I'll grow Calendula again - nice enough, I suppose, but way too much deadheading required.

My biggest disappointments come from a design issue and many areas still do not seem to have that magic mix of perennials and shrubs, colour and texture and season-long interest that I keep trying to achieve. I also have too many plants crammed in which in some cases does not produce healthy results. And the holding beds are still holding.

Hi all
Some of my disappointments were a new canna I tried to grow, zinnias,'Chilean Glory vine', and the explorer series of petunias.

The canna was supposed to be 'Cleopatra', a canna that has a recessive gene which causes the flower to be either red, yellow, or both. I bought this one from two different sources and when blooming, one is yellow with red spots, and the other is red with a yellow border on the flower.

My zinnias are usually great, but this year for some reason they did absolutely nothing. I treated them the same as I always do lots of water (when needed) and fertilizer but hardly no blooms and some just died for no reason. Maybe something bad in the seed.

I agree with you Sharon the Explorer series petunias are a bit of a disappointment. They are very untidy and need deadheading constantly. The only good I can say about then is that they do stand up to the weather better than other varieties of petunias.

Another disappointment is the 'Chilean Glory vine', an annual I got from T&T. It was supposed to be fast growing and colorful. I planted it when they recommended it to be planted, it was slow to germinate, very poky in the growth department(about 4ft tall now), and is only starting to bloom now. Might try it again next year but will start it much earlier.

Thats all I can think of for now. It's raining here now for the fourth day in a row, so I am doing other things besides gardening.

Cheers Al

Interesting about the S.nemerosa 'Plumosa'. I was surprised when people were buying seed for this cultivar and wondered if it would come true. It definitely is worth getting the 'real thing'. A wonderful plant.

My biggest disappointment is in myself and my philosophy of 'giving it another year' which goes on for 5-10 years!

Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue' is a pathetic specimen in my garden and has been so for at least 5 years....it is getting junked.

Two roses, both own root, are going after at least 10 years. Consistenly pitiful performers for some unkown reason...perhaps just poor stock? Anyways both 'Morden Blush' and 'William Baffin' are on a one-way trip to the compost heap.

Hemerocallis 'Gordon Briggs' has been and still is a dissapointment. Out it went.

Amsonia tabernaemontana doesn't add much to the garden. Lots of unimpressive foliage with a very short bloom period. Will move this to a place I don't have to look at on a daily basis.

Nepeta nervosa, started from seed this year has failed to impress me. Will give this another year or two.

The biggest disappointment this year is my "Front Flower Bed" (which inspired my "help" thread the other day).

Also not too happy with a Shade Garden area either. I planted lots of impatiens and coleus there but they are just tiny plants yet and not filling in the way I had hoped. Two years ago I had only 2 impatiens plants out there and they just about took over!

Dissappointed with Cleome this year which was winter sown and sprouted earlier then last years winter sown ones but currently still only 3" tall. Last year at this time I was enjoying the blooms.

Same for 4 O'clocks. They were started outdoors (same time, etc as last year) and no buds yet.

I tried doing some Glads this year -- no sprouts at all.

Anemone Coronaria is dissappointing as well. The one that survived is doing well now and it is very pretty. I found it was tough to keep them watered enough.

Thats about it... just keeping fingers crossed for a nice long Indian Summer and some happy surprises yet.

Ang

As Ian says, better to focus on what went right, however, in gardening I guess you have to take the bad and learn.

I have a daylily called "blueberry sundae" that is in it's second year and hasn't bloomed. I gave one to my Mom as well and her's has just finished one single bloom. Needless to say, as is probably common in the gardening world, the picture in the catalogue looked much more purple-blue than the actual real life flower.

Not disappointed in my Stella d'oro because I dug it out this spring. It would bloom, maybe six blooms, in July and then nothing for the rest of the season. Yet it was becoming a big mound. It's always difficult to throw out plants, you always figure "maybe this will be the year it will perform well".

My zinnias did poor as well. They sprouted in the pots and then just sat there for a month, barely growing. I planted tiny two inch high seedlings into the garden at the end of May. At the beginning of August they finally started to bloom and look good, but aren't these suppose to be among the easiest things to grow? Actually, my 'basic' zinnias are blooming, I'm still waiting for my cactus flowered ones to bloom. I gave the same seedlings to my Mom and her's are blooming, says alot for different types of soil I suppose.

There may have been something strange with my potting mix as my marigolds grew very slow as well. Or, maybe the plants didn't like being put into my mini greenhouse and they should have stayed indoors on the constant warm windowsill.

Overall though, the very soggy June and early July really threw some plants for a loop. My purple leaf sandcherry is anything but purple, almost a yellowish champagne color with ends that are more purple red. My ginkgo started to get shrivelled leaves due to all the rain. But, August has been drier though a bit cool.

I had one morning glory blooming. The vine is only a foot tall and getting some blooms. Oh well, at this point smaller plants mean less clean up in fall.

Glen

I'm just curious Jan, why don't you like your Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue'? I'm liking mine (at least I think that's what I have) this year. I've had a different Veronica which was very weedy looking, but this one has deep blue long lasting flowers and the foliage is glossy & healthy looking.

I am very disappointed with the Sun Power coleus I purchased. The tag said 'full sun'. I was doubtful, but dutifully planted some in full sun. They don't like it, and the ones in the shade are much healthier. Also I like gazanias, but must remember not to give them such a prominent location. They look ugly on cloudy days, of which we've had many.

North 53 - SBB is one of those plants people either love or hate. Every once in awhile, the perennial forum has a thread on SBB...fun to read. Either it is praised as the greatest Veronica or is cursed as the worse excuse for a plant....primarily because of problems with the foliage browining, falling off or mildewing itself to death. I am in the later camp....currently my SBB has only two green leaves on it. Not because of mildew...but just because the foliage turns to cr*p every single year. Don't know why there is such a difference in people's experience with this variety.

I am really impressed that you are growing it in zone 1 without a problem. Sounds like a keeper for you.
Jan

I had a few disapointments this year.

I bought two cannas roots/bulbs...the leaves got wiped out by hail at least twice.....they didn't get as big as they were supposed to ......but on a happy note....one now has a flower stem....I noticed yesterday.....well if it didn't get frosted this morning.

I also bought 3 calla lily roots......they didn't survive at all......they sent up piddly little shoots and then curled up and died. Not sure but again probably the weather.

Morning glory, Split Personality....am not impressed with ...out of 20 seeds only two plants. Find them to be very slow growing. Got first flowers yesterday..4 open. Wasn't impressed with the flowers either.

The sapiglossis this year were a total flop. The seed sprouted.....but didn't quite look right from the start....Then they all died except for a few that I transplanted into a 6 pak...only 4 plants made it into the garden.....they grew to about 3 or 4 inches and stopped. This is really weird because I have been growing saps for many Many years.

Can't grow 4 o'clocks or stocks for anything. 4 o'clocks look like 8 inch sticks and don't flower. Stocks usually get one tiny flower on the top....

My daylilies are blooming their little heads off now. Well all except for one......its a strawberry candy...not a bloom stem to be found. I have two of these....the second one had its first flower yesterday or the day before. So why isn't the other one blooming.......who knows...it bloomed last year.

I have to say.....if you haven't tried the storm series of petunias....they are fantastic! I have tried different colors in different years....this year I just got the mix.....The reds in this mix are gorgeous!!! But I like them all...will be getting this one again.

Also tried the fillytunia burgundy.....I was amazed that they stood up to the weather this year....all the hail and rain and wind. They did very well!!!

Glen....I gave up on the purple sand cherries and pulled them out....after a few years of disappointment with them.

Dentaybow.......I am very surprised to hear you don't like Veronica 'Sunny Border Blue'. I have had to divide mine several times. I really like this one.

Sierra

I am disappointed in my lack of weed control, I have too many "irons in the fire" and things went awry. Next up, I planted annuals for the first time, all from seed and I think I hate annuals, except for gazanias and anything from the wild. I grew Syringa reticulata (Japanese tree lilac) from seed a few seasons ago, three grew on and looked great this spring, now two look like crap and one is excellent, all in the same soil, I am crushed about this.

Lastly, I am disappointed I spilled my beer last night onto my keyboard and destroyed the keyboard, my DH kindly gave me his keyboard until I get a new one today, we are purchasing a spare as well.

So many daylily problems! When they're good they're great but when they're not... they suck. We all know about my Edge of Brightness which is still sprouting noxious leaves in preparation for a whole new season of being ugly next year...

other things that didn't turn out how I planned them...

- My nicotines were supposed to be tall. They were short.
- Slugs ate most of my salvias and Sweet Williams.
- I killed three clematis
- My mom's garden looked better than mine. %*#@^&$.
- Zucchini didn't do anything
- Some roses got chlorotic
- Delphinium "Black Knight" had something horrible happen to its leaves - so horrible I can't even describe it.

Everything else was GREAT! :-)

I tried moonvine this year, envisioning the large, fragrant white blooms that (I understood) would come out in the evenings. The vines themselves are only perhaps 1 1/2 feet high, in a large container with a trellis, and no sign of any blooms! I had also planted some lobelia in the container, thinking the vine would grow tall, and perhaps they somehow overtook the vine plants.

Ornamental purple millet was also new, and is doing OK, although I'm not sure whether it will produce the seeds I was hoping to harvest. Have the plants in a variety of locations, in the ground and in containers, but have not yet seen any "seed spikes." And our Alberta weather isn't conducive to the hot dry days I think the plant would like!

However, as others have said, there are always offsetting successes--for me, black and white scabiosa that while are not black, are quite striking! As well, lots of zinnias for cutting, and terrific bells of Ireland.

Petunia2,

Are you lurking in my garden??? LOL. I can make exactly the same comments that you have made about exactly the same plants. My moonvine and morning glory combination trellis have done nothing. I've got some heads on my purple majesty millet - hoping that they'll give me seed but they didn't fill out as nicely as Pudge's does. And my black and white scabiosa 'Ebony and Ivory' have just started blooming. They are quite pretty, aren't they?

Other disappointments for me include my Tiarella 'Black Snowflake' that wasn't - not sure if I like what I got enough to keep them yet - and my Helenium wyndley - not sure what I expected out of this one but what it is isn't it. Most of my problems are positioning, too much of something, not enough of something else or location adjustments.

Shauna

With all the rain we've had this year, have had a lot of slugs in the flower beds. This year, the annual poppies and the forget me nots have taken over the flower beds the foget me nots look awful now that they are not flowering.
Can't really complain this year as parts of my yard have been the best ever. My Polish Spirit clematis had huge almost blue flowers and my lilies were great. Stan

I guess its a bad year for morning glories. I grew some from seed and bought some bedding plants - the worst ones are the ones I purchsed, but the ones from seed aren't so hot either. I must have a dozen plants, and so far I've seen a half dozen blossoms.

I am also disappointed in myself for weeding out some perennials I planted at the end of last summer. I have to remember to label things!!!

I took a walk around the yard this evening to see what was disappointing me this year. First and foremost is the veggie garden, but we've talked about that here before, and dh and i have a plan of attack for next year.

My dear Miss Sunrise disappointed me this year (pining for Henry, maybe?). After surviving the winter with most of her canes intact, she has had yellow leaves for much of the summer and fewer blooms. She, Martin Frobisher and Simon Fraser had sawfly larvae on them (Martin was hit the worst while Simon looks none the worse for his troubles).

Most of my winter-sown annuals were a disappointment too. They really haven't done much and i don't have a lot of blooms from them. Probably they should have been started inside, but i didn't have room for everything.

The biggest thing for me is impatience. I'm always disappointed that things don't look like i picture how they should look, like a wish for instant gratification. Time is the only cure for that - and a better work ethic on my part! I should quit mooning over how it should look and get working on it! LOL

In two words or less...MY GARDEN is disappointing me. Not just this or that flower, the whole *(^^^&*% thing. I am newbie and I planted everything terribly wrong ...Was so excited about getting in things that I had bought. Fast growers are up and shading slow growers. Too much red over there. Short ones behind talls one. AWFUL. I have learned alot in the past 2 months. I will be ripping the whole thing apart next spring. Thank you for listening to me whine!
Wendy

Wendy, we've all been there! After you've been gardening for a few years, make yourself a new bed somewhere and really plan it. It makes a difference! The one i have like that has received the most compliments.

I need to rip out another garden, though, and rearrange things in there. Big job - i keep putting it off! :)

I had the same problem with the Veronica, horrible mildew, dropping leaves. It's headed to the compost heap. No luck at all with the morning glories and my clematis performed poorly this year. Otherwise a pretty good year. Spectacular roses.

Mainly the Morden Sunrise Rose.
First there were the rose slugs.
Then there was the black spot.
Then there was a breif glimmer of hope were I actually thought it might bounce back.
But since yesterday it just looks dead... :-(

Morden Fireglow and Alexander Mackenzie so far look excellent. Alexander Mackenzie is sending of big thick shoots right now that are starting to get higher then 1 meter... At least I didn't kill all my roses like I normally do.

Andrew, that's what Simon Fraser has done for me. He seemed pretty insignificant when i first planted him about three years ago, but, wow! He has really put on the growth (steroids??) and some of his canes are at least a metre high if not more. His foliage is very healthy-looking too, in contrast with poor Miss Sunrise, who is having a bad year.

Forgot to mention that I went to Jasper on Friday nite last weekend for a couple of days. Before I left I did a quick check of the yard, fed the fish in the pond, watered some containers etc. I thought I would quickly top up the pond before I left so got out the hose and turned the water on. Did some deadheading and then my wife called me to get going. So, away we went. Came back on Sunday around 7:00 and the first thing I noticed was the fish floating on top of the water and the grass around the pond very soggy. I left the water on all weekend and I guess the fish got chlorine overdose. Not looking forward to the water bill!

Well my main disappointment is my Echinops ruthenicus, which I grew from seed. It was an experiment. I have two growing outside and two growing in a pot. The one's outside havenÂt grown much. I wont be disappointed if they do not survive the winter.

My T&M seeds had poor germination. I probably will not order from them again.

My daylily that bloomed it's first year has not bloomed for two years now. I split it, so I could have two disappointments for next year.

better to focus on what went right....oh but we do, we do, check out the weekly photos, we brag all the time ;)

Pudge these daylilies have been here since I moved here in the year 2000. IÂve divided some, moved some too a sunnier spot, added bone meal, compost, you name it and nothing or just a few scapes. Nice big grassy foliage taking up space! All the new daylilies that I ordered from Parkland gave me a good show being their first year, so I plan on ordering more again from them next spring.

Me too, I need to focus on my design and colours next spring more than starting or buying more plants. Yeah right ;) LOL

Oh my gawd Stanly! Sorry to hear that, but on the other hand, very amusing story ;)

After 10 days of cool and wet, we are finally going to get some sunshine this weekend!

Sharon

Stanly, your story cracked me up! When we get the conversation forum going, I'll post a little thing about age activated attention deficit disorder - it's all about starting one thing, going on to another thing, getting distracted, forgetting the first, etc.

This white peony poppy has been a bit of a disappointment. The first bloom (on another plant) was really insignificant and i never even noticed until the petals had fallen off (within a day, probably). This one i noticed blooming yesterday (through the living room window) but only got out this morning to take a picture. It's already starting to look a little ragged and not peony-like at all. It was winter-sown, btw.

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Maybe i would have liked it better if it wasn't called a peony poppy - i was looking for something completely different!

Marica, it's not overly full and peony-like but I think it's really nice...

It's okay - just not what i was expecting. I wonder if it will come true from seed? I was thinking of saving some and also sprinkling some over in another garden. Last year's Shirley poppies didn't come true - very disappointing as they were a lovely double red and this year came back as a sickly single orange.

Stanly, sorry to hear about your fish. I know my fish are part of the family and I do worry about them outside.

Slugs are a big problem this year. Some years I am lucky to see two. This year everytime I lift a pot or something that's on soil, they are stuck on the bottom. Yuck. Next year I may have to start some sort of control. Despite that, however, only one hosta, some smaller variegated one, looks ragged. The others have some holes, but the plants still look okay.

My purple millet is about two feet high, and just turned fully purple in the past three weeks. I don't know if it will have time to bloom and set seed by frost, however. For one thing, things are rather coolish and probably growing more slowly. Overall though, I like the look of the plant, but like alot of plants it looks it's best the last month of summer.

I guess that's part of my 'disappointments' as well. Plants that might grow to a spectacular size and bloom nice, but only in the last month of summer before frost. I mean, not that my morning glories did well, but I had one bloom and they are starting to grow longer, one month before frost. A clematis planted instead would have filled the vine as early as June and gone through two bloom cycles already.

Glen

I forgot to mention this year all my Aconitums landed in the Disappoinment Category. Maybe 'What-the Heck-Happened?' category would be a better description.
For years, these tough plants, which are in full sun, have just thrived and bloomed wonderfully. This year.....all of them,(and I have about 6-7 different species/varieties) slowly and surely, starting in late June, browned and lost their leaves....and for all the world look like they have died! One bloomed as the leaves disintegrated. Lack of water is not an issue. I am guessing they didn't like the prolonged periods of very hot weather? Hope they reappear next year.

Marcia - it is not at all uncommon for the fancy varieties of annual poppies to reseed and revert to singles of the orange or red persuasion.

As far as focusing on 'what went right rather than what went wrong' ....I find I learn a lot from the 'what went wrong'....probably as much or more than just from successes.
Jan

1. I didn't get as much done in the garden as I had thought I would...that is by far my biggest disappointment.
2. Something ate my brand new delphinium (that I had bought to replace one of last year's 2 new ones that didn't survive, that had been bought to replace 2 that had died after 15 years), and I don't think the roots were large enough to make it through the winter without the greenery to feed them. And it was my favorite color, too. So of course not easy to find.
3. The yellowjackets ruined so many raspberries that I'm not certain I'll have enough to make jam.
4. It doesn't look like my native poppy is going to bloom this year.
5. I should have thinned out the native Mimulus seedlings. They were so thick that very few grew large enough to bloom. On the other hand, they were so thick that I never had to weed around them.

" I didn't get as much done in the garden as I had thought I would...that is by far my biggest disappointment." You're not alone in that, Mytime! I still have so much that I need to do (let alone want to do) that I don't know where to start. The season is just so short, the days often too hot or too wet, and the energy so limited...

Jan, you mentioned Aconitums as a disappointment. I can't think, off the top of my head, what could have happened to them. I hope they do better, again, for you next year. A couple of years ago, I bought a new variety called 'Stainless Steel'. Last year, the blooms were sparse and insipid. This year, they were plentiful...but still insipid. I don't know if I got a dud, or if this variety is just overpriced and ugly. In either case, it's leaving my garden this year to make room for plants I really like.

Doris

Another disappointment, today I noticed that my Nepeta nervosa that I WS'd are not what they are supposed to be, it turns out to be Monarda citriodora Lemon Bergamot.

I think what happened was that the seed jumped into the NN container when I was watering!

Sharon

Wow. Looks like I'm not the only one who's annuals just didn't grow. They sat there (and are sitting there still) in a bed that was ameneded with compost and watered when needed and just sat there. Last year the bed was full of flowers. This year they stopped growing at 6"! Ummmm. . . . what else?
- My first ever (in a pot) Begonia produces flowers but they are small and drops it quickly.
- Clematis didn't grow (though you guys have given me hope for next year)
- Planted 1 sunflower seed (I had 4 different packets- I am such a lazy SOB) and although it grew and flowered, I failed to notice the ants that ate right through the stem behind the head! I never knew ants would do that!
- eggplant planted too late, I doubt I'm going to get flowers much less fruit
- Garlic seem to be dying on me. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. (However, I'm going to try growing a second crop in the fall).
- Watermelon only produced 3 fruit to maturity
- Cucumber produced HUGE cucumbers when I thought I had a small pickling variety
I think I'll stop there. :>
All of this being said, this is only my second year gardening and I have learned so much from my mistakes (although some are still a mystery) and from some of you here that this does not disappoint me all that much. I feel that I will be better prepared for next year, that's all.

Look Out 2006!

Mitanoff, you got 3 ripe watermelon!!! I wouldn't be disappointed with that! I've been trying to grow watermelon the past 7 years. The first time I grew it, I had 10 melons and thought 'hey, this is easy'. Unfortunatly, I now know that was beginners luck, as I've only had 2 more ripen in later years, total. Right now I have 1 the size of my fist on the vine, and am hoping for a nice loooong fall. :)
It's interesting to have a disappointments post, as I don't know where to even start.
-3 daylilies never bloomed (Matt, Morocan Red, & Ice Carnival)
-after 5 years clematis 'Ville de Lyon' up and croaked
-dry shade bed, all the plants are getting smaller
-monkshood in the last week has dried up and looks dead
-Guacamole hosta is half the size that is was last year
-calla lilies never bloomed
-no flower spikes coming yet on cannas
-bell peppers are still very tiny
-peas mildewed
-pumpkins and squash still tiny
-late frost in spring killed off a lot of the apple blossoms, so now have very few apples.

I've also got a few things that I haven't been happy with for a while, but just don't have the heart to get rid of them. I think I need a 'tough love' course.:0)
Those are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head. I know if I walk around the garden, there would be a lot more........I now need to focus on the positive.;)

Laurie

Hey Laurie!

I don't know if your problem with the watermelon is similar to mine, but if it is, then next year, hand pollinate the female flowers (ones with the little watermelon on it) with several different male flowers. See if it makes a difference!.
Good Luck!

Stanly, sorry to hear about your fish. That has to be very hard as they would become part of the family.

My disapointments this year are mainly due to weather. I have had so far a big five tumbler tomatoes off of 4 plants! The rest could still be used in a game of softball. :( Beans? What beans? The only things the scarlet runners have produced is flowers.

My Grandmother-In-Law sent up Dahlias for me to plant in late June. She is on Vancouver Island and thought I would have lots of time for them to bloom! They went in the ground as soon as possible but I don't know if I'm going to get any flowers or not. Mine are just getting there which went in almost a month ahead of hers. Oh well, I can always sort by height as all her tags fell off. :(

The biggest disapointment was probably the walkway I started to put in. We tore our front walkway which was heaved and dangerous to walk on. This is what I started to put in with sand inbetween.

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Unfortunately I counldn't find any gravel small enough to put inbetween. It looked nice but my floors inside were being scratched. I didn't want cement as that would just crack and heave as well. So this is what DH and I did yesterday. I was going to make some rhubarb leave stepping stones to put down randomly in the gravel next year. It works I guess. I still liked the other one better.

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Syreeta

Syreeta

Beans have to be started inside early to get a crop. I tried for several years with scarlet runners and other climbers and even bush types. Now I just plant bush types but they are started end or april or in may...and I get a crop now. This year they were doing so well, they flowered nice and early...then the hail knocked most of the flowers off. :-( But they did bounce back and we have had two meals off them so far...don't know if there will be any more or not.....I planted 12 plants...6 yellow and 6 purple I think it was.

I doubt that I will see any ripe tomatoes this year either...in fact hardly any tomatoes at all on the vines. The tumbler tomatoe...DH had 3 tomatoes off it..I think it was before the plant went to tomato heaven...the composter.

My dahlias go into the ground....well depends on the year...but usually end of april or early may if the weather is bad in april.....they are flowering now. Planted any later and I haven't seen flowers.

Your walkway looked nice.....its to bad you have had to remove it. I'm sure the stepping stones will look very nice as well.
What many do here because of the heaving...is they use the interlocking blocks or the square cement pad blocks and of course the gravel. I have cement, it was here when we moved here....but it has heaved and cracked and doesn't look very good....another project for on the list.LOL!

Gardening in these lower zones is certainly a test of trial and error and patience!

Sierra

Thanks Mitanoff, I'll give that try.....I don't have much to lose :0)

Syreeta, I like your idea of adding the stepping stones. I think that'll look great!

Laurie

Sounds like we all have had a few disappointmens this year..mine has been the weather..the annual Hollyhocks that were gorgeous last year arent blooming yet but the bi-annual ones are..go figure..the Polish Spirit clematis has lots of buds but hasnt opened one up yet..its at least 5 weeks behind last year ..and I have been over whelmed with aphids.....arrrggghhh...good thing there is always next year...lol..savona

Sierra, I started my dahlias in pots in March. Put them outside during warm days. They are the dinner plate type 'color spectacle', and had one bloom so far. They are getting alot of new buds, however. I must say, however, that one bloom is getting sort of weathered looking, but has lasted quite a long time.

When you say your dahlias go into the ground in late April, do you mean you place the rhizome directly from storage into the ground? If frost threatens do you cover for the night? Always looking for ways to get an earlier start on things. In your opinion, is it worth it to grow dinner plate dahlias in our climate? I mean, I started mine in March, babied them, etc. and all I got was one bloom thus far. Then again, like I said, that one bloom is fairly long lasting. I know some of the smaller dahlias bloom early and grow spectacular.

Savona, I wonder why your polish spirit clematis would be so late? Did it suffer any major dieback where it came back from the root but less vigorous than last year? For example, my jackmanii clematis usually fills a 4 foot wide trellis easily. Once every few years, however, it seems to be late coming up in spring and when it does, itÂs quite pidly and small, almost like the root suffered damage over winter.

I planted a polish spirit clematis two weeks ago and now I look, the 10 inch high vine has a tiny flower bud. I probably should just remove it so it puts itÂs energy into establishing itself (though I may just figure what the heck) but hopefully thatÂs a good sign of things to come. Mine, however, probably didnÂt bloom earlier in the season because it was rootbound in small pot and abused at a nursery.

Glen

Hi Glen,

I tried starting them inside in pots like you do.....when they are small.....and I almost gave up too. Then a friend was moving away and she gave me tons of dahlias.....yellows like the one I posted and purples.....they are not dinner plate but the roots were HUGE.....so there was no way to start them indoors in pots....and yes I did divide them and they were still toooooo big. She said.....oh just stick em in the ground in April or early May and they will grow.....you can't hurt them......So that is what I have been doing with them every since.

I prefer the dinner plates......and yes I plant them and treat them all the same way. Once I quite trying to baby them a long..they have done much better. Yes I take them right out of storage...which is my basement....and plant them right in the ground. In a nice year...they may even get planted in Mid April. Usually when I take them out of storage they have already started to grow.....I just bury that new growth and everything. The tubers are planted a good 6 inches deep.....so no I don't mulch or do anything....They just start growing when they are ready...it usually takes quite a while before you will see the growth above the ground. By then there isn't any frost. Oh I put bone meal in the planting hole and turkey trot if I have some.....

I have found that the dinner plate tubers don't get as tall as those other smaller flowering ones. I've had a white dinner plate for a few years....it produces huge flowers....It got planted behind a yellow this year and its a bit shorter....so the flowers are slow to open....but it is opening....Last year I added a red one.....the flowers weren't quite as big...and each one only had a flower or two.....this year there are several flowers...and much larger. The Lavender ruffles dinner plate..that I planted this year was the first to bloom....that flower is now finished and two more are open on it......Yes I think it is well worth the effort to grow the dinner plates here......I was hooked as soon as I got the first 12 inch+ across flower.

I have to say I was very leary of planting them out that early the first year and was concerned about frost and such.....but I planted at the risk of losing them....and to my surprise...found she was right and it worked much better. I have never lost one from planting to early.

I will have to look up 'color spectacle' LOL!

Sierra

Gosh Sierra I'm surprised that you have problems with beans. They are one of the most reliable things in my garden. I posted a pic last week of my scarlets going over the garage and they are longer now. Producing beans well too. Oh well, you can have your beautiful dahlias and I will have my beans... LOL I can't grow dahlias. They were disappointments of previous years.

Gillian, I think you must have more heat in the summer that what we do here. Beans love heat. My most reliable crop is peas and lettuce.

Sierra

Peas & lettuce... Yup that would be a sign of cool weather - LOL. Lettuce is awful for me. I guess this spring it would have been fine...