And what about VIOLETS ?????
Please don't turn this place into a kind of blog: talk about violets or nothing :-) THX :-)

Regards.
Thierry :-)

*Some* people who grow violets want pots with rolled edges so the leaves aren't so likely to touch the rougher edges and rot off. Plastic pots with rolled edges have been hard to find this year, ok? I was trying to help them find sources for them.

You don't have to become a forum police about it. If the people who run this forum don't like what and where I post, they will notify me.

Actually, I do think you meant to post this in a different forum - the one for African violets (genus Saintpaulia). This one is for true violets of genus Viola, and they're not nearly as picky about the edges of their pots ;)

Stefan

Yup you're right. My bad. I don't do African violets but I love violas and am planning to grow some. I don't know why they call them violets then even though the genus is probably violets.

Think I'll leave well enough alone. The original thread was in the African Violets forum. Sorry.

I just might plant some violas, a special kind I want, in pots with rolled edges that happen to fit in my candle stakes I painted. But that does not make it appropos this forum. When I first went to the African Violets forum, I thought it was mixed in with all kinds of violets . . .and violas, but all the talk was about the African kind.

Here is a link that might be useful: White pots with rolled edges & etc.

Of course it's fine to talk about most anything related to violets here, including pots. I think that Thierry just sensed that something was amiss because there was no context that made sense for this discussion like it would have for the African violet forum. You haven't committed too serious an offense, I promise. Anyway, welcome, and enjoy our slow but pleasant exchanges about true violets (and violas, and sometimes pansies)!

By the way, I have painted metal trough planters from Ikea with rolled edges that my violets are planted in outside my windows. I have to say that it's probably quite a bit messier than sharp edges would be, because when the outer leaves die, they glue themselves firmly onto the rounded surface and become difficult to remove. So it may not be as desirable for outdoor plants in that regard. Still, I like them for their durability and easy handling and certainly can't complain too much.

Stefan

Yeah, well there's always something amiss with me, and they changed the front page. I was having enough trouble keeping up with my threads and forums as it was. Self searches help sometimes, but often they don't show up for days after you've posted and you can't remember where you've been or whom you have talked with.

I didn't think about violets sticking to rounded edges. That would be a pain. I'm having enough trouble with the dead vines on the north side of my garage. I pull a few off every time I go back there to water, and they have these weird little hands that grab onto anything and won't let go even when they're dead. You have to pull each one off. Or use a wire brush. I think they should do a scientific study on those things and break the genetic code. Then maybe my sweet peas would climb better. I'm having to kind of coax them. Ooops, this isn't a sweet pea forum. The heck with it.

I've always been infatuated with window boxes but not had a lot of luck with them. The first one went kaput in no time, can't remember why, and the one I have now the geraniums have quit sending up buds and the iresina is out of control, the vinca died, I stuck in some alyssum to fill it out and it's got bug holes in it and one blossom, part shade. The alyssum in the window box that isn't under a window but in almost full sun looks great but I almost lost it yesterday in the heat. It's so packed, it dries out fast in the heat, you have to check it carefully. Oops. This forum isn't about alyssum. The heck with it.

What do you plant in your windowboxes? I see you are in zone 7, so you can probably grow things I can't.

I'm trying to figure out where to plant violas. They do talk about them in the perennials forum. One seed company has one I want and another has another one. I just hate to order one packet of seeds. I don't ever see the kind I want at the nurseries. It's always the same thing with them. So I have to try to grow some from seed. I don't like what everybody else has.

Those johnny jump ups mate with other violas and you get some interesting crosses. I would like to experiment with that some more. I want to see if I can get one I got before and didn't have sense enough to save the seeds from it which might not have been like the parent plant.

I really need a full-time gardener for all my grandiose plans, maybe two or three. I will have to make do with one. Me.

Sweet peas do take a bit of doing, sometimes... I never had good luck with them in the heat. They really like the finest wire or netting you can manage to climb on... anything too bulky doesn't interest them as well. And even then, they do seem to take a bit of work to get started up.

I think that any windowbox in summer is problematic... sometimes you know you'll be watering twice a day to keep things happy. Some people like those soil crystals to help hold moisture, but personally I've found they result in more trouble than benefits (after a while, it's as if they make the soil repel water!). A good, sandy loam makes the best potting soil in my experience - peat based media are all fluff and no substance. My permanently-planted windowbox currently has sweet violets, and the others are temporarily stuffed with potted roses. Last year I had herbs in them, the biggest basil you've ever seen in your life, but it kept tipping and falling to the ground!

I probably can grow a few things here that you can't, but not too many since I'm limited to a window ledge and no real garden in the ground. Root hardiness tends to be a little less than top hardiness, although it depends on the plant. Certainly our summer heat can be a limiting factor; it gets pretty hot and stays that way from most of May through October. Good soil, good watering, and adequate fertilization have given me a pretty satisfying little pseudo-garden full of more stuff than you could believe.

I find that many violas and most johnny-jump-ups will survive for several years, but they do get ratty in the warmth of summer after a glorious spring show. I suppose that you could order some seed, get it started, and then possibly have a good fall crop. Depending on what part of zone 5 you are, you can probably expect them to survive the winter well and you'd have a leg up on spring. I also like the impromptu hybrids they form, if for no other reason than for the sheer exuberance of all the minute variations growing in a mass. Kudos if you can do controlled crosses and develop something consistently to your liking!

I suspect you'll do fine even without the help - besides, what fun is that? Make big plans and enjoy the ride. So what if it isn't perfect?

We'll have to see what happens with the sweet peas. I'm still coaxing them, but they are grabbing.

I guess fuschias can really be bad in hanging planters, only had one once put in on the north by the back door, don't remember watering problems. Lately I've been watering three times a day. Three o'clock in the afternoon and I have to water, can't wait til 7, stuff is drooping. The heat wave has been awful. I can't keep that up, so will have to come up with some plants that do better in poor soil and tolerate drought or sink deeper roots. I wondered why everybody plants coneflowers around here. Now I know.

Yes, windowboxes and planters dry out more quickly I've found, and I haven't hit on the right combo of compatible plants to add color and interest. I've got geraniums with iresine and alyssum. The latter like moist, geraniums flower better a little on the dry side. I'm using peat-based media. You're right, it is fluff. For some odd reason I packed it in firmly but not that firm and it is popping up over the pot when it gets dry (that's for the herbs I finally got around to planting this week, many pots). I patted it down again and watered. I like it because it retains water better. But I overplanted alyssum in the stuff and almost lost it because it started to wilt, caught it in time.

Zone 5, eastern Iowa, thought it too late to plant viola seeds. Think I'll order some tomorrow, and plant half and save the rest. I'm not real confident they'll grow well enough to last through the winter; it's getting late in the season. Don't know if I can bring them indoors or not, probably better not to. I don't have many choices of where to plant them in the ground. I suppose I can dig them up in the spring and move them. Most of my plans for this summer have been thwarted, won't go into it and the frustration and disappointment. Will only say that front is rototilled either side of the walk, edging laid on one side, the grass was not removed, it's too moundy, I need to get two expensive arbors I ordered installed and don't know who I'm going to get to do that for me and how much more that will cost. The people who help me who I pay have problems and don't show up.

All this chatter and my gardening are my escape from probs in the family. It gives me something to look forward to.

My biggest regret in life is that I didn't get into plant science. I'm fascinated with crosses and genetics but probably not very good at it, and I don't tolerate the heat in greenhouses well, let alone when it zooms up in the high 90's like today. I was out watering. Hated to do it but had little choice. Stuff was wilting and was afraid to wait until 7.

Yes, well my plans are not realistic. I'd better learn to go with the flow. I always want to try things the neighbors don't have.

I spose you can't post photo of your windowboxes. I'd love to see what you do with them. Roses in windoboxes? That is almost funny, but why not? You gotta do what you gotta do.

I've got to find some new roses to root, then figure out what to do with them.

I know, I'll plant the violas in the six rolled pots I was saving. Hah. Just about all my outdoor pots are in use now or earmarked for something important. I can plant the pots in the ground for the winter and try to fool them, then if they survive, transplant them in the spring. I won't have many that way. Maybe I'll plant them in a bad place on the east of the house I don't have a plan for yet and move them if they do well.

Thanks for the encouragement! Sorry I rambled so. I so wanted to make things really nice and am not where I wanted to be by now, knew I couldn't do it all in one season.

A possible solution for your wanting seeds from two different places and not wanting to pay double shipping costs is to use the Seed Exchange forum.

If you purchase one set of seeds and post a message that you will trade a portion of the seeds ONLY for whatever the other variety is that you want, you just may be ably to lure someone into purchasing the second type for a trade (or who knows, maybe someone already has that variety).

It would probably be better to wait until the spring catalogs come out. I'm looking for a largish sky blue (not hint of purple or darker) viola. I think T&M has some, also some poppies I want, so I will check to see what they have in their new catalog first. There is alwals something else I can use, but if it comes down to one, I will try the seed exchange.

Maybe I will actually collect or buy some seeds somebody can use. I have a plastic contained of old ones, most of them aren't any good. On my end, I don't necessarily ask for anything in return if I happen to have something somebody wants down the line, I'm just getting this going this year.

Thanks again!