Had I known it would rain every day for 2 months, I might not have bought so many cute baby succulents when they showed up at BBS's this spring. (Well, yeah, I probably would have, just not sent some off to my Mom's house.) A well-drained soil can only do so much when these kinds of plants are literally wet most of the time. Some of these have turned to weird green pudding (then just gone, like they were never there at all) but most have been able to manage. So that's a mixed bag of results. Then there was the late frost incident. About 10 days after I finished putting decorative plants in the ground to run free for summer, 3 mornings of frost at the end of March. Oops, my bad! A few plants were completely insulted to death, but most just had some foliage damage and have grown back well. Nothing lost in a pot except some propagation attempts. Really liking this pot right now, a little palm with some friends I added about 3 months ago, Tradescantia zebrina, an Alternanthera, Thanksgiving cactus cuttings, an angel wing Begonia, Impatiens. Palm ( photo / image / picture from purpleinopp's Garden ) What results has summer brought to your plants (for those in the northern hemisphere?)
p-- I like your pot! It came out well, several levels as well as some plants trailing over the edge. This summer I have been more critter challenged than weather challenged. Specifically a very cute but voracious baby bunny and then some equally cute but equally voracious baby deer! All in all though the garden has done well this year & I am anticipating putting it "too bed" within the next month. How about anyone else? Wins? Losses?
Summer is still in full force here. My battles seem to be with critters this year, from armadillos to stink bugs and seems everything in between. I did comment to myself about the Society Garlic I have growing... it has been blooming all year and is not showing signs of stopping. Gotta get more of those.
My Summer fails were veggies, the few veggies I planted produced 1 Spaghetti Squash, 4 tomatoes, about a dozen new potatoes, about a dozen garlic bulbs and 1 contorted cucumber before the heat set in for July through Sept. But my Summer win was that all the cancer tests I have had this summer have all been a big negative.
You are lucky that you still have your summer Cherylad And congratulations Toni, for once negative is a good thing
Virtual hugs, Toni! Woohoo!! I'd also consider the companion'izing I did a great success. Putting almost all plants together with at least one other in mixed pots has reduced the overall number of pots by a LOT, and no more small pots to worry about blowing away, constantly baking too much. A lot of them moved to hanging pots, so that's even less space needed by "plant footprints" this winter, always a good move in a fairly small house. The last step involves getting rid of all of the black pots I 'accidentally' used for a few plants that spend a lot of time in the sun. They just get too hot. Kinda shifted them around so shrubs shade the pots but the foliage is still in sun & that seems a lot better for now. Also managed to accumulate about a dozen used windows for free, some salvaged, some saved from being destroyed when the burned house next door was torn down. (If we'd known what day, we could have taken other windows out of there, bummer!) DH is going to make a greenhouse! Won't be ready for this winter, but the pre-excitement is, well, exciting! Did some really cool trades too & now have some babies of a lot of plants I'd otherwise never find for sale around here. That's my fav way to get a new plant anyway. Even if I was rich, I wouldn't have an interest in buying (most) plants already really big. ...and if I did, it wouldn't be a week or so before I had the pruners out, overwhelmed with swirling thoughts of how many clones I'm about to make...! Front porch. ( photo / image / picture from purpleinopp's Garden )
I put 5 Christmas Cactus outside to get them flowering as you do, and four are budding already. Which I count as a win! The last one is almost 30 years old and only flowers occasionally so not too worried. Will look amazing in a few months. My only loss this year was a ZZ plant. Summer outdoors and its been infested with Aphids which are proving harder to get rid of than any plant before it!
I was most impressed with my gardens this year! It didn't start out great ... had a very late frost that killed my cucumbers and beans. They were both sown 3 times actually My favorite greenhouse didn't open this year (they retired at the end of last season) so I had a lot of trouble fining my favorite annuals. I had bunnies .. a LOT of bunnies eating things, a neighbors dog running thru my garden (grrrr!) and cucumber beetles and squash bugs killing every vine in the garden. BUT my new perennials all took, my annuals filled in nicely, and the remaining veggies did very well. I took notes for next year and have already made a list. Next years gardens are going to be AWESOME!
