So some of you should recall my article about the free flowers I purchased with Home Depot gift cards I earned here on Gather. I also posted an article after I planted them. This is an update article to those.
A few days after the planting occurred, we got a cold snap. Georgia had two nights where the temps plumetted to around 30-degrees. Both evenings I was covering up all the flowers with old sheets and pillowcases to try to spare them from the frost.
Plus I also had a few more filler flowers and plants my roommate purchased during this cold spell that still needed to be planted. These spent 72 hours in the garage and were fine. Since the original planting two weeks ago, I've added 2 more lillies to the front, 2 begonias to the lower driveway-side bed and 2 more leafy plants to the upper bed. These are in the same family as the others, but should definitely return next year. I planted the filler batch last Tuesday.
(Above: My two newer Begonias)
(Above: My two newer green leafy plants)
I did lose (am in the process of losing) the two green and pink leafy plants. I forget their name already, but it begins with a "C". I was told by a fellow geocacher that these plants don't do well in cooler weather and would not come back next year, eventhough they are supposed to. So I was kind of expecting them to die.
(Above & Below: You can see that they're not doing very well)
If anyone thinks they can be saved and has any advice, please let me know.
I received my $25 Home Depot card, that I cashed in for on 4/13, in today's mail (My $25 Borders that I redeemed on the same day has still not even shipped!) I plan to go get some more plants and flowers today with it since I cleaned out and readied another dirt bed on the back side of the driveway.
This area gets a decent dose of late afternoon sun, but is shaded by the house in the morning and early afternoon. Not sure what I will put here. I do have some Cosmo and Colored Daisy seeds I purchased, but I don't have any experience growing flowers from seeds. I'm not sure if I should grow those in containers and then replant or plant directly into the bed.
I'll post a follow-up article once I spend this gift card and get the new items planted.
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Comments: 67
Select a location that is shady, or does not receive direct sunlight. Caladium likes rich soil. The soil needs to be kept moist, but should be well draining. If the soil is poor, add generous amounts of compost and manure.
Fertilize outdoors once a month with a general purpose fertilizer. Indoors, use a liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks. Prune dead or damaged leaves.
Roots survive over-wintering outdoors only in the warmest areas of the country. In the fall, the tuberous roots are dug up, cleaned and separated. Make sure to have some buds on each divided section. Store roots in spaghnum moss in a dry, dark location.
this was a copy and paste from a Google cache! Salud.
The pink and green things are caladiums, and unfortunately, don't do well through our winters, so I usually plant them as annuals, but hopefully by the end of the year we will have a small greenhouse where I can overwinter them.
At this point I would go ahead and plant the seeds directly in the ground instead of trying to transplant them later. They will be fine.
Plant them in small pots, dig your hole and set the pts in the ground, some do better that way than if you plant them directly in the ground. You can cover the tops of the pots with the straw the way you have an no one will be the wiser.
Mariana, do coffee grounds keep rabbits away? Does anyone know of anything that does eter the bunnies? They ate all the blooms off the red Phlox shown above, but as you can see, I am getting new blooms.
Hope you get another giftcard soon so that you can get some more FREE plants!
For this year dig them up and plant them in a pot or somewhere more shady. To enjoy them next year - leave the bulbs in the pot, store them in the basement and fertilize and water again next spring. They'll come back looking just fine:)
As far as what type of soil and conditions they like I can tell you that they like a bit of shade and do well near trees and bushes that give them shade for part of the day. They like it moist if they can get it, but as long as you do a fair job of watering they should do fine, give them some osmocote to feed on during the next couple of months.
Don't worry, after a few tries you'll find more of what you like and the plants let you know when they are happy, which is exactly what is happening right now. In a couple of years everything will look fabulous.:)
BTW - if you had a cold snap, that might be the reason the Caladiums are unhappy.
The best natural product we ever got were imitation wasp nest, the kind that look like giant paper bags (closed at one end)l. THey keep away certain types of wasps, making life nicer on our deck.
The petunias, phlox and impatiens are really doing well. You can see how much they've grown in two weeks when you look at the photos in the original essays.
I also got a small flowering hydrangia, 2 smaller hosta (to go where I pull those calladiums out from), 2 large gazania (I love these) and 1 large Zinnia.
I've timed the sun exposure of the new bed shown in the last photo. The back part gets several hours and the front part only gets maybe 2 hours. So I think the Hydrangia will go in the front part of that.
I don't know squat about flowers or plants but got bit by the "gardening" bug last year. I am starting earlier this year. I did learn last year that scattering cayenne pepper ariund my plants kept the bunnies and armadillos out... don't know if you have 'dillos in Marietta but we sure have them here! They were having a field day in my little garden til I peppered them and have no more trouble with them.
One thing, though - a friend tells me deer LOVE hostas. So - be aware. I did not have any deer find mine last year but anything can happen...
I also planted everything else. When the next Home Depot card arrives (I cashed in today for another $25) then I'll get some more fill in stuff for the back bed. I want to see how all this does first and buy more of what is doing well.
I do have cyan pepper though. So I'll sprinkle that in the around the plants tomorrow.
I sent for a HD card on the 11th, according to my Moleskine, and it's not arrived yet. If it comes, that will give me $100 to spend on flowers. Last year I used an HD card to buy a $32 annual hibiscus. I probably wouldn't spend that much on one plant if not for the gift card. I tried to get it to winter over in the basement. This spring the little branches are still supple, so maybe it might bloom again.
You have a very pretty yard. For some reason I thought you lived in an apartment.
My HD card that I redeemed for on 4/13 just got here today. I bet yours was in that batch too. So you should have it this week. I just redeemed for another today too.
Great photos! I've never had any luck with caladiums.
Cosmos do better sowed directly in the ground (after all danger of frost has passed). You can start them in containers but they are fussy when transplanted. They thrive in poor soil and will usually reseed and come up again on their own the following year. There are two main types-- cosmos bipunnatus (white, lavender and fuschia colored) which are taller and cosmos sulphureus, which are yellows and oranges. Once they bloom, you'll have flowers all summer if you keep dead-heading them. They're one of my favorites. I don't know how well they do in warmer climes; I've only grown them in Zone 6.
Arlene,
Bainbridge Island flowers
BTW, - I sure love all the free advise from the 'green thumbers", - this is great!!
Nice job!
Thanks for posting to All Photo Essays Here @ allphotoessays.gather.com!