Pinching - growing plants in a decent climate :-)
- To: perennials@mallorn.com
- Subject: Pinching - growing plants in a decent climate :-)
- From: M* T* <m*@ecsu.campus.mci.net>
- Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 14:20:40 -0400
>
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 07:33:30 -0700
>From: Anne Long <along@ameritech.net>
>Subject: Pinching -- was: Is this the only part of the country that's early?
>
>I'm pinching a *lot* of things, including balloon flowers, phlox,
>salvias, shasta daisies, as well as the asters. I hope that doing this
>will mean some bloom will carry over into the later part of summer!
>Otherwise, it will be a green garden in July & August. Is this what
>gardeners in the warmer zones go through every year? What blooms late
>for you in zones 7, 8, 9?
>
>Anne LD
>Chicago
>
>
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"What blooms late for you in zones 7, 8, 9?"
Stuff you can't grow in coldworld. <BEG> sorry, couldn't resist adding my
$0.02 to group harmony.
A lot of this stuff will probably work in zones 5 or 6, but if you really
live in coldworld, you'll have to ask someone else.
Try rose of sharon, caryopterous (sp?) also known as 'bluemist spirea',
beauty berry, chrysanthemums, galardia, asters, cannas, dahlias,
waterlilies, etc. Don't forget to find room for the nearly everblooming
"flower carpet" roses. We have 8 of the dark pink ones in full bloom now.
They are 4 feet wide and 2 feet tall after 4 years. Love 'em!
A lot of my stuff never blooms, it's colorful foliage.
Taros, var. grasses, ferns, var reeds in the pond, various house plants
and large tropicals that spend the summer outdoors.
These plants, and small flowering trees and large shrubs round out our
garden more than the few (but well loved) 'flower plants' do.
We are fortunate to have wonderful weather (comparatively speaking) for a
lot of the winter. I rely a lot on evergreen groundcovers and shrubs and
hardscaping to make the garden a pleasant place to relax in, when it's 60,
on a nice sunny January afternoon.
Japanese anemonies and pansies will bloom during the warm spells all
winter, camelias will flower for several months, each in their turn.
I float a few red camelia blooms in large cobalt blue bowls, just to add a
bit more color in the winter to the main garden. (don't forget to empty
them during a cold spell, when the lows go below freezing)
On the flip side, I have a small indoor jungle to hide in for the
'coldest' 6 months of the year. This is for the nonhardy tropicals, while
we wait for the nighttime temps to stay reliably above 40.
July and August are for the pond, the pool, and the beach! I can always
garden the other ten months. :-)
Ahhh, a WARM zone 8 and sunshine! Y'all come!
Matt Trahan <matttrahan@ecsu.campus.mci.net>
USDA zone 8, AHS heat zone 7, Sunset zone 31, northeastern N.C.
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