I grew white Sparkler in the past, and I thought the foliage was nicely lush -- but I can't compare it to the Senorita Rosalita because I've never grown that one.

Sparkler Rose and ditto. I don't know if it counts, but I've bred mine shorter over time and redder. :-) If the Sparkler is "sparse," then dense foliage must be very dense indeed!

Thanks! Do you have a photo of the Sparkler Rose? Redder sounds really nice. How about deer pressure? I'm planning to plant some Sparkler in my mom's (zone 6) beds, along with lantana, in yet another bid to thwart the evil, voracious deer. In addition, I'm going to plant a row of standard cleome behind a long stretch of Siberian iris to deter the deer that have made the post-bloom foliage their preferred bedding area. They love her yard. I've also advised mom to put up fencing.

Question for both of you, did you start your cleome inside or direct sow? I was told that simply scattering seeds about would work, but nothing came up last season and I'm certain that I did the scattering during the period where the day/night temperature swings should have been optimal for germination. That said, there may have been something usual about last year. A friend of mine who gets cleome volunteers for years, said that none came up.

This is from 2014, the last time they had space in the main gardens, and near the start of the breeding process (brighter pinks like that one near the center-right would be excluded from seed gathering, for instance, and darker ones like center-left would be favored).

And yes, I do like a riot of color, why do you ask? It's gotten worse over the last seven years. :-)

"Question for both of you, did you start your cleome inside or direct sow?"

Yes. :-) For years, I did inside on heat mat, without oscillation and with (both worked, the seed really doesn't seem to care). Then I allowed them to direct sow and stopped collecting the seeds since they have no trouble doing it here (eastern Pennsylvania).

For me, anyway, last year was no different than any other and worked fine. The cleome came up where they always do...but they may have been just a bit sparser, now that I think about it.

Thanks! It's pleasing to the eye and that's what's important. (Love that little patch of what looks like cleome way in the background!)

One more question, is that red salvia on the left and right? If so, do you recall what variety?

It is. It started life as "Red Hot Sally" ages ago, but it's been bred openly, again, for a long time with the seeds collected. The neighbor also has red salvia, so undoubtedly there are other genes creeping in there. It gets a little taller over time, and I've selected as much as I can for the shapes and deeper reds I liked better. Nowadays, they all look pretty much alike.

10 mid-season Red salvia...plus Casey.

Morphe your garden is beautiful! It must be so wonderful to relax out on that patio!

:)
Dee

Casey looks pretty vigilant (and cute). Is he/she your deer deterrent? I don't see a fence.

No fence, and the deer roam free (there's a corn field and other farms a block to the north; I'm the last housing set before the boonies). If there were a fence, the deer would simply jump it.

I repel deer and rabbits from the gardens with a homemade spray:

2 qt water in a pump sprayer (or whatever sprayer size you have, adjust amounts below to follow)

1/3 to 1 Tbsp Tabasco sauce (harmless, but tastes awful to them) (vary amount by severity of problem)

A tiny squirt of of dish detergent (I like Dawn) (helps it stick, also tastes bad)

A tiny squirt of Elmer's (or any other white) glue. I tend to use something from the dollar store, it's all the same (harmless, helps it stick even in a light rain, and tastes absolutely dreadful to animals). The glue is optional, but very, very helpful.

Spray from planting through about July 1st after heavy rain or once a week. By that time, they've learned the gardens are disgusting and won't touch them, and the plants are mature enough that they're not so attractive any longer anyway. If depredations resume, of course start spraying again.

Thanks! I look forward to giving your recipe a try.

mxk3 what a great idea. I was wondering how to handle the temp vacillation without a heating mat. Thanks.