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2020 gardening thread

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Monique

Monique

bounceswoosh
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Happy cucumber, melon, and tomatillo plants.
IMG_20200629_164124.jpg



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My tomato plants are all doing "fine" except for the cherry tomato, which true to form is producing like a champ. Should have way too many cherry tomatoes in a couple of weeks!
 
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Monique

Monique

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This is the time when the garden actually starts to feel worth it. Our first ripe cherry tomato:

IMG_20200630_065044.jpg


Then there's the case of the mystery strawberries. They invaded under the fence from our neighbors' yard a few years ago. This was an issue one or two years, and then they never invaded again. I hated to waste strawberry plants, so I dug them up and put them in with my potted blueberry bush. I've always thought they were just decorative. This year I realized that its little white strawberries never turned red. I got curious and ate some. They're tiny but sweet, except for the occasional one that tastes ugh. Wondering if they have been modified so that later generations just don't produce as well. They're incredibly prolific, and I have to trim runners every few days right now. I checked with my neighbor, and she says she also has no idea where they came from - at this point she's just given up and allowed them to border the fence. So it's especially weird that I haven't had any recent encroachment.

Anyway, it seems that they might be a variant of the alpine strawberry, which does stay white. I've been pondering replacing the with "real" strawberry plants, but they look so nice and happy ....

IMG_20200630_064716.jpg
 
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Monique

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Any of you flower gardeners have opinions on phlox? A neighbor gave me two white garden phlox. What I really want to know is, does it spread, does it need partial shade, and is it happy in pots? I have two pots I could use, or I could plant them in the back of my front flower bed along with all the other big stalky flowering things. Or ..?
 

LiquidFeet

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Here's my creeping phlox, with and without blooms. It used to get fully covered, luxuriously, with blooms when I lived in St. Louis. Summer here in the Boston area is cooler, and where this is situated it gets some sun but it's not all day sun. It's growing fine here, but slowly, and I know it's not as happy as it was in St. Louis since it never gets fully covered with blooms.

In St. Louis it liked the full sun and it liked 90 degree days. Here, without so much of that, this is what it does. It took a few years for my one pot to grow to fill this small space. I enjoy the foliage once the blooms are gone.

This is creeping phlox. There is also a leggy tall phlox that people buy. The foliage on the tall phlox does not grow dense here, so I wouldn't want it. But people do buy it, probably for the flowers. YMMV.

My creeping phlox is the totally green carpet of fluff on the right. I bought a pink blooming cultivar but it died. You may get better advice from people in your climate for how it does there.
phlox no blooms.jpg
phlox blooms.jpeg
 
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Thread Starter
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Monique

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bounceswoosh
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Thread Starter
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Monique

Monique

bounceswoosh
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Here's my creeping phlox, with and without blooms. It used to get fully covered, luxuriously, with blooms when I lived in St. Louis. Summer here in the Boston area is cooler, and where this is situated it gets some sun but it's not all day sun. It's growing fine here, but slowly, and I know it's not as happy as it was in St. Louis since it never gets fully covered with blooms.

In St. Louis it liked the full sun and it liked 90 degree days. Here, without so much of that, this is what it does. It took a few years for my one pot to grow to fill this small space. I enjoy the foliage once the blooms are gone.

This is creeping phlox. There is also a leggy tall phlox that people buy. The foliage on the tall phlox does not grow dense here, so I wouldn't want it. But people do buy it, probably for the flowers. YMMV.

My creeping phlox is the totally green carpet of fluff on the right. I bought a pink blooming cultivar but it died. You may get better advice from people in your climate for how it does there.
View attachment 105509 View attachment 105510

Is this what you mean by "leggy"?
IMG_20200701_150015.jpg


I was thinking I could put these guys behind the "penstemon dark towers," which are also pretty leggy. The way the plants are arranged in front, they go from short to talk, obscuring the stems.

But that's partial sun, though plenty hot. May be worth putting them in pots out back, though I'd worry about them getting enough water
 

VickieH

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Staff at a local garden center gave me some quick education on planting in the Denver area. One thing she mentioned was that the sun is so intense that I can safely bump the sun requirements down a notch for perennials. If it says Full Sun, I can likely plant it in Partial Sun.

Planning for shrubs gets a little wonky. First consideration is what direction (N, S, E, W) the planting area faces. Then you get into "shaded, you say?" Do you mean shaded by deciduous trees that will leave it exposed to the blazing sun when they have no leaves?

For the tall phlox, I'd try the partial sun area. If they don't perform well, you can always move them. In pots without enough water, you may not get a second chance.
 
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Monique

Monique

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For the tall phlox, I'd try the partial sun area. If they don't perform well, you can always move them. In pots without enough water, you may not get a second chance.

Yeah, that's how I'm leaning. Thanks for the second opinion (third?). I think they'll fit in nicely with all the tall stuff there, anyway, whereas they'll be a bit out of place in the back yard.
 

LiquidFeet

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My orange daylilies are now in bloom. They usually last about 3 weeks.

They greet you along the driveway as you drive up to the house.
orange #5.jpeg

Afternoon light ...
IMG_8718.jpeg

Here's the view across one driveway bed towards the marsh.
There's a housing development going up behind those distant trees.
The noise has scared the deer off this season.
orange #2.jpeg

Here's the view up back from the end of the driveway.
IMG_8607.jpeg

One of my favorite parts of the garden is the bed in front of the rocks.
orange #4.jpeg

Here's the bed at the far back, my lily hedge.
Orange dayliliy hedge.jpg

I tried putting in several types of evergreen hedges up here,
but it's too shady for those shrubs to grow and they all failed.
So lilies it is. They bloom just fine in the partial shade.
orange #7.jpeg

That back hedge shines strongly behind the hosta bed.
orange #3.jpeg
Orange #8 hedge.jpg

It shines in the background no matter where you look.
orange #1.jpeg
 
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socalgal

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My orange daylilies are now in bloom. They usually last about 3 weeks.

They greet you along the driveway as you drive up to the house.
View attachment 105603

Afternoon light ...
View attachment 105610

Here's the view across one driveway bed towards the marsh.
There's a housing development going up behind those distant trees.
The noise has scared the deer off this season.
View attachment 105600

Here's the view up back from the end of the driveway.
View attachment 105606

One of my favorite parts of the garden is the bed in front of the rocks.
View attachment 105602

Here's the bed at the far back, my lily hedge.
View attachment 105609

I tried putting in several types of evergreen hedges up here,
but it's too shady for those shrubs to grow and they all failed.
So lilies it is. They bloom just fine in the partial shade.
View attachment 105605

That back hedge shines strongly behind the hosta bed.
View attachment 105601
View attachment 105608

It shines in the background no matter where you look.
View attachment 105599
Double, triple like!
 

kimmyt

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Yeah, that's how I'm leaning. Thanks for the second opinion (third?). I think they'll fit in nicely with all the tall stuff there, anyway, whereas they'll be a bit out of place in the back yard.

They grow happily and abundantly in the wooded hills of Boulder Canyon so I bet partial sun would be good for them.
 
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Monique

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My roses are continuing to do their thing. I deadheaded them for the first time ever this season, and I actually gave them some compost tea, so I have high hopes. This one only grows one at a time.

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I have also been playing with growing plants from food scraps. Eventually, they'll need to be transplanted into soil. I'm using water beads instead of water; I did it just for the pretty factor, but I think it helps keep them moist without getting soggy.

IMG_20200707_075454.jpg

IMG_20200707_120247__01.jpg
 

David Chaus

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Some pics from the greenhouse, which gets “redecorated” each year. A lot of these plants migrate indoors in the fall.

Fish pond, with taro (colocasia), a philodendron, tricolor ctenanthe, and (I think) a cerecenis. Hops growing in the back, and grape vines overhead (not pictured, but trust me, they’re there).
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More of the greenhouse with a large fig on the left and beyond that more plant starts.
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Fuschia
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I forget the name of this. It’ll come to me.
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Coleus.
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Ti plant.
7B6544C0-7EE9-4507-B16E-6AAF64D0513D.jpeg
 

LiquidFeet

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@David Chaus, you are a serious gardener! That's a big greenhouse those plants are in, isn't it? Is it humid and temperature-controlled, like a rainforest in there? I'm jealous. Or envious.
 

David Chaus

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@David Chaus, you are a serious gardener! That's a big greenhouse those plants are in, isn't it? Is it humid and temperature-controlled, like a rainforest in there? I'm jealous. Or envious.
Actually it’s Shamora who’s the serious gardener. The greenhouse is 50’x20’. I think her friend suggested turning it into a tropical garden after visiting Hawaii, and we’ve kept that up over the last 10 years. It is not climate-controlled, as the plastic is torn along most of the cross pieces, and we need to completely replace the plastic. We do water plants frequently. But no fans or humidity control.

There are some mature thundercloud plums nearby that shade about 1/3 to 1/2 of the greenhouse in the summer, which helps with not overheating. Also when the hops and grape vines grow, that provides a lot of shade as well.

In the summer, the sliding glass door on the front end stays open, whereas in the spring and fall we’ll close it at night. At the back end the barn-type doors are left open in the summer. It’s all DIY and rather Mickey-Mouse construction, one of these days we’ll get the plastic replaced and the ends done up professionally, and with a double plastic layer can run heat in between the two layers to insulate during the winter. Winters in the PNW are pretty mild, so the greenhouse wouldn’t be too expensive to keep going (I hope). Otherwise we’ll have the annual plant migration back to the house.
 

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Here’s a side view of the greenhouse.
51714260-EE0B-478B-B9E8-29C87E3CE8B2.jpeg


The back end with torn plastic. That was real interesting when it snowed a few inches this last winter.
A582CDB7-1E53-4ECE-8125-8497A4CF2E65.jpeg


Here is a Douglas Fir, actually two of them, right behind the greenhouse. The photo does not do justice to the light contrast, as it was a cloudy day and then the sun sets lower than the cloud cover and it can be pretty dramatic.
7075AD22-562C-40EE-A9D0-5D308FEB075F.jpeg


Closer view
2CBD1F0C-EF0C-45D5-AA1D-CD55CE58C519.jpeg
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A selfie for perspective of the base of the trees.
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This is near the Doug firs and adjacent to the greenhouse. A year ago this was all blackberries and I’m still working on clearing them out nearby. The center of this is a eucalyptus that was in a pot until last year. After we planted it, it seemed to Not do well and lost a lot of foliage, then sprang back with new growth this year. The Rose Campion grows like crazy around here, and the lilies are starting to open.
66A03FE4-BC50-4011-B2DB-8A1ADCD2F87A.jpeg
 

Tricia

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The cucumbers are finally cucumbing, but the peppers are still not pepping.
My herbs are doing great but the intense heat this year has stunted my tomatoes.
My peppers have lots of blossoms.
I didn't plant cucumbers, but I got some incredibly good cucumbers at the farmers market. They had a very pungent cucumber smell when I sliced them
 

LiquidFeet

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Here’s a side view of the greenhouse. View attachment 105855

The back end with torn plastic. That was real interesting when it snowed a few inches this last winter. View attachment 105856

Here is a Douglas Fir, actually two of them, right behind the greenhouse. The photo does not do justice to the light contrast, as it was a cloudy day and then the sun sets lower than the cloud cover and it can be pretty dramatic. View attachment 105857

Closer view
View attachment 105858 View attachment 105859

A selfie for perspective of the base of the trees. View attachment 105860

This is near the Doug firs and adjacent to the greenhouse. A year ago this was all blackberries and I’m still working on clearing them out nearby. The center of this is a eucalyptus that was in a pot until last year. After we planted it, it seemed to Not do well and lost a lot of foliage, then sprang back with new growth this year. The Rose Campion grows like crazy around here, and the lilies are starting to open. View attachment 105861
Gardens take years and years to mature, and all those years require a gardener to attend to the plants' needs. Yours shows the love and work that's gone into it. Thanks for taking the time to share those photos.
It feels good to know we do more than ski.
 

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