Here's my Rose of Sharon "Althea". It just started blooming yesterday.

Every year it puts on just a few inches of new growth and then during the winter it seems to get the tips of the branches broken off a bit. But it's a fighter. It comes back every year, though since it's one of the last things to put out leaves I always wonder if made it through the winter. I've never had to prune it and it's about 5 years old. There is a nice big, purple one down the street but I cringe every time I see it. It looks like an upside down triangle because of the way they prune it. They must just take the electric hedge trimmers and make straight lines. It's horrible. When it blooms, it looks like someone just glued the flowers onto a flat picture. *shudder*

Kimberly

Kimberly,
Your Rose of Sharon is lovely!
I tried growing that one for a couple of years, but being a Hibiscus, it didn't survive out here on my windy site.

Thanks for sharing your photos!

Julie

Julie,
I was going to ask you which kind of Rose of Sharon bush you grew and recommend that you try "Althea" which is what I thought was the name of mine. However, as I did a search it seems they are all called Althea! So I can't tell you what is different about this one. It is planted right near the street and gets hit by some strong north winds. It also gets snow from the street and the sidewalk dumped upon it during the winter. About every other spring I might remember to fertilize it. It was one of the first things that we planted when we moved into the house so it is about 5 years old. I believe we bought it at Stein's but it could have been Milaeger's. My husband would probably remember.

I guess it doesn't get any wind from the west or east (we have a big Dutch Colonial that would block any wind out of the east and the neighbors house across the street is a 2 story as well) but we get wind from the north sometimes that will drive the rain in sideways and send us scrambling to close windows on that side of the house.

If you try one again, best of luck! I'm glad that mine is apparently so tough.

Kimberly

Kimberly,

After my Rose of Sharon died, I replaced it with a Snowball Viburnum, which is supposed to be able to handle clay soil very well, and indeed, it has done well so far. I have better luck with Hydrangeas than with Hibiscus.

Here's another "R" photo:
'Royal Standard' Hosta flower

Julie

Very pretty Julie! I have to admit, I was wondering what on earth you were posting a picture of when I first scrolled down because of the top of the flower stalk.

What are you doing to pass the time today since it's raining? I've been keeping my kids from fighting and making spaghetti sauce in the crockpot. Oh, and roaming the internet. :) I went to the Racine Library website and hopped back and forth between there and Amazon. Most of the books I was looking for the library doesn't have which surprised me. Usually either the Racine branch has it or I can get it on inter-library loan through the Share catalog. I was looking for books on Coral Bells and there are two that sound great but I'd have to buy them. I'll probably just wait for a bit and see if the library orders them anytime soon. I did find one book on hardy geraniums and a couple on daylilies that sound interesting. I was reading through a book I received for Christmas from my sister-in-law titled Gardening With Perennials (from the editors of Horticulture) and there is a section on daylilies where they talk about the older varities (pictures of "Autumn Minaret" and "Poinsetta" really caught my eye). I'd like to look for some of these heirloom varieties. My husband really liked the look of a "surprise" lily (not sure if it's Oriental or Asiatic) that came up with a hosta that was given to us. But it's just a baby (only two flowers) and he was disappointed that it will become bigger and not so delicate looking (the flower size) as the plant ages. So I've been trying to keep an eye out for something similar.

Do you grow any heirloom varieties in your garden? How do they fare in our winters?

Kimberly

Kimberly,
What am I doing to pass the time today, since it's raining?
Spending way too much time on this computer, I'll say.

I went out a little while ago to see if I could transplant some daylily seedlings(in pots)into the ground, but everything is soaking wet and muddy. I have 20 more daylily seedlings to get in the ground before we take off for an extended week-end up North. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunshiny in the afternoon, so will have to do it then.

I have been taking advantage of this time to update some of my computer maps of my gardens, as they change every year.

I do remember those days of having young'uns running around the house on rainy days - never a quiet moment! My kids are grown and have children of their own, and all we have around here is our dog, who's not very quiet when she sees squirrels climbing "her" trees.

So you're interested in heirloom daylilies....
They do very well here. After all, they've been around a long time and have withstood the test of time.
Here's a few I grow:

Autumn Red - 1941
Bonanza - 1954
Cherry Cheeks - 1969 (don't grow this, but want to)
Dark Star - 1953
Frans Hals - 1957
Hyperion - 1927 (I think this one is the longest lasting daylily of all time, market-wise)
Mary Todd - 1967
Patricia Fay - 1960
Prairie Blue Eyes - 1970
Red Magic - 1950
Ribbonette - 1951
Rocket City - 1968
Sweet Harmony - 1964

Watch out - you may get hooked on daylilies!
(not a bad thing)

Julie

I wish I had the time and space to "get hooked"! It would be a fun hobby. However, with my limited space I can only put a few in here and there where they will "play well with others" We were given some free daylilies from someone who just wanted them out of her yard. Now I know why. They are the tall orange ones that spread like gangbusters but instead of the regular orange, these have this crazy twisted center that I just find ugly. But in the middle of all of these are mixed in some other varieties. Like a double yellow and a pretty, shorter kind of orange with an eye. Also a nice solid yellow with large flowers. I know where the shorter orange one is and plan on moving it. Also the double yellows. But the others... I'll keep them for now but I really wish they were the ordinary kind, they look like mutants!

Other than these, I have Stella (who doesn't?) and Happy Returns. Plus a reddish short variety and a cream with purple eye and yellowish green throat. I have the tags for these last two but it's late and I'm not going outside with a flashlight! But I bought them for about 50 cents each last summer at the old Jewel-Osco pharmacy on Grove when they marked them down. I bought the Happy Returns there too.

Here's a picture of the surprise lily that grew out from under the hosta:

And a photo of my favorite bargain daylily:

It might be called "Pandora's Box" but I can't be sure. I can't wait to see how this one performs next year. It's really put on some size lately.

*yawn* Time to check on some laundry and then browse through my new library books before bed.

Kimberly

Kimberly,

Your orange daylily with the twisted center is probably Kwanso, a native around here. I have them growing wild at the woodland edges. You might want to dig it out and give it away, because it spreads wildly, and will take over your garden!

Your surprise lily looks like an Asiatic of some sort. Very pretty! They multiply rapidly for me.

Pandora's Box sounds right for your bargain daylily. I also have that one. Those are nice photos with the dark background!

Yes, I do have a lot of space and keep adding more gardens. The only problem is that it's more work taking care of all of them, with the weeding, mulching, dividing, and edging. Plus mowing all this lawn!

Julie

Wow! That suprise lily is very pretty!

Hosta 'Remember Me' -a very slow grower!

Okay, I realized that I rambled on for a bit down below and I should go back and post some "R" photos first!

Really pretty Red ivy geraniums (all geraniums are on sale at Milaeger's and they are surprisingly easy to overwinter)

My neighbor's Rudbeckia. I will be helping her divide them in the fall, when they are finished blooming. They have grown much bigger than she expected!

Isn't it nice when someone gives you a division and sometimes there is a pleasant tagalong? My husband's boss has a woodland garden and sometimes divides plants or takes some out to make room for other stuff. This year it was a few ferns, some trillium, and a jack-in-the-pulpit (which wilted immediately and then disappeared so I hope it survives) So last year it was hostas and there must have been a lily bulb mixed in with the soil because I didn't notice anything when I planted it. Unfortunately the stalk broke off so I had to put it in water in the house. It did bloom but I'm worried it won't come back again next year. There wasn't much stalk left in the ground to absorb sunlight for next year's growth.

Not all tagalongs are so welcome. My next-door neighbor gave me some fringed bleeding heart and some dark purple ajuga. She keeps calling it French bleeding heart though I told her I was pretty sure it was "fringed". Lately I've been repeating conversations with her. She's about to turn 80 so that may be why or it could be that she is just so busy with volunteer work, her children and grandchildren, Aquacise (sp?) classes, plus her garden that she just plain forgets we already talked about something! Great stuff except for some obnoxious weed that tagged along. It spread by underground runners, plus had a big underground bulb. I ended up digging everything out of that part of the garden and hosing most of the soil off so I could get every last root of the stuff. I think I was successful, but who knows?

That lily changed color as it aged. Is that normal? I don't have any other lilies like that. Just some tiger lilies (without spots though) that were here when we moved into the house. Here's a photo of the two buds:

It went from peachy to pinkish and the petals recurved slightly. Still pretty either way. My husband tried to find out the name of it from Tom (his boss) but he didn't remember. He was more annoyed that these kind of lilies are doing fine in the garden and his more precious native ones were mowed down by rabbits. Doesn't that just figure? The ones you like the best are liked just as well by the local wildlife. My main problem is chipmunks. Last year they destroyed so much (undermining the roots with their tunnels) that I made them a nice swimming pool. I think I did away with about 8 of them. I don't want to exterminate them, just control the population. They don't seem to have any natural predators around me. I'd get a cat if my 5-year old son wasn't scared of animals. One of my friend's cat kept leaving dead chipmunks all over their lawn. She never had any tomatoes left half-eaten on the vine! I haven't had much of a problem this year so I've left them alone.

Kimberly

Jen,
I can't wait until my 'Remember Me' hosta looks as good as yours. Mine is only about 6" across, and seem to just sit there, not growing, but not dying away either. I hope all the rain we've had will speed its growth.

Kimberly,
I love all kinds of geraniums, ivy-leaved ones for baskets, the zonal types for bedding & baskets, and the fancy-leaved ones for close-up viewing. Your red ones are very showy.

I suppose it's normal for Lilies to change color as they age. I know daylilies can change color from morning to evening. They're Beautiful!

Julie

Julie,
They had all of the geraniums really cheap at Milaeger's. A lot for $1 or $2. Those red ones are the ivy type. I'm going to overwinter them and then mix them in with the ones from the hanging baskets that I have outside my front door. They were supposed to be ivy type but it turns out they weren't! That cold room that I mentioned off of my basement is where I stuck some other geraniums last year. Just put the entire basket down there and forgot about it. About February, I noticed that it had spindly yellowish/green new growth coming up from all of the dead stuff. My origianl intent was to trim back the plants, shake off the dirt and put them in paper bags with another paper bag over it. I read somewhere that was something to try and I had done it the year before with a 60% survival rate. But I forgot all about them and they did fine. So I'm going to cut back all of my geraniums this year and stick them in that room and see what happens. The worst thing could be that I have to buy new geraniums next year. *shrug* that's what I've been doing for years anyway. :)

How do you like all this rain? Glad that the sun is peeking out a bit at the moment. I'm tired of the house feeling like a cave during the day unless I turn the lights on.

Kimberly

Kimberly,

I'm doing very well avoiding Milaegers.
I still have two Clematis sitting in pots waiting to go in the ground, but have to wait and wait and wait, until the ground can be worked. I also have a 5-cubic-yard-pile-of-woodchips sitting on our parking slab, waiting to be spread in various areas. So I don't dare buy anything more from Milaegers. Gee, but maybe they'll have some Hostas...buy one, get one free...I'll just go in sometime and browse...
Actually, DH is worse. If he sees a going-out-of-business sale somewhere, he'll strike a deal with the manager. For example, he'll offer $2 for every Hosta left, or $5 for every shrub left (after all they'll go to some compost heap anyway). Then I'm stuck with the job of finding a new home for all this stuff.

How do I like all this rain? If we were still living in Racine, I'd certainly be cursing up a storm, because our basement always got 1" of water leaking in on the north side. But our house out here in the country is on a hill, and everything drains away from the house. I am soooooo grateful for that. And all the gardens are on gentle slopes, so nothing stands in water very long. In fact, the plants are blooming longer than usual, and leaves are larger than usual, and some are putting out new growth (thinking it's Spring?) Unfortunately the weeds are also doing well.

The problem is the huge expanse of lawn we have (about three acres) that looks like a hayfield, because it keeps growing, but hasn't dried out long enough for us to get out and mow! I'm afraid that when it finally dries out, we'll have to set the mower deck to its highest setting and just take off the top third of the grass. But another problem is that the grass lays over when it gets so long and I end up with an unevenly cut lawn.

Oh, I need to stop complaining......the people in Southwestern WI are flooded out, and many have lost their homes and some have lost their lives. Hope they get some Federal aid.

Julie