Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I didn't hear about the wind. We are expecting 10 inches now. They keep increasing the amount. I suppose someone noticed our gravel in our driveway was showing here. Can't have that in February.

You do any gardening?

 

[21hens-incharge]

Soooo, I think I have a plan of sorts.
At least for that corner.

Light post surrounded by my iris and pink salvia then creeping thyme or creeping phlox. I can sprinkle bachelor buttons in with the iris without causing harm too.

I would have to be on the lookout for bachelor buttons seeding everywhere lol. It can get weedy looking when they run amok.

I have creeping Jenny on the other side of the driveway. I like it BUT it can get nuts too. I need to thin it. To tie the beds together I think I will plant it along the inside edge of the rest of the black fence.

As long as I keep it cut back off the other plants it should be ok.

Last year I neglected my front yard. Long story behind why. I will leave it at no one will be allowed to make me uncomfortable tending my gardens anymore.
I want people walking by to enjoy some pretty flowers on their walks.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I wish I could get bachelors buttons running amok here. My goal is to get some self seeding annuals established. I'm gonna try again this year. My beds may be slightly too crowded for little seedlings to get a foot hold. I don't generally scratch the seeds into the ground, so this year that's what I'm gonna try. I am tired of starting flats and flats of annuals like i used to, and buying them gets expensive.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I had to go get feed this morning. I saw they had the native flower seeds in stock.
I picked up firecracker penstemon (red), Rocky mountain penstemon (purple) and native bee balm (lavender).
I will try starting as well as direct sowing.
I have a lot of self seeding calendula (and dandilion). I think I am good on yellows.
I wouldn't mind more orange calendula.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I wish I could get bachelors buttons running amok here. My goal is to get some self seeding annuals established. I'm gonna try again this year.

Same, my bachelors buttons would kind of sprout and then just disappear. Might just not be the right plant for me. I have a pretty ugly mounded flower bed that has various bushes and a magnolia tree, so can't get rid of it, but it tends to turn into a weed patch so if I could get stuff to just grow there, it'd help a lot to smother out the weeds.

I got California poppies to self seed for about 3 seasons there, but they're pretty sparse plants and don't help with the weeds. Trying to get strawberries established as ground cover - I have some alpine strawberries that did very well in one patch and self seed there, and also plunked down some heirloom strawberries with runners that I'm hoping will spread out this year. The dogs and chickens both enjoy them!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I had to go get feed this morning. I saw they had the native flower seeds in stock.
I picked up firecracker penstemon (red), Rocky mountain penstemon (purple) and native bee balm (lavender).
I will try starting as well as direct sowing.
I have a lot of self seeding calendula (and dandilion). I think I am good on yellows.
I wouldn't mind more orange calendula.

Annual rudbeckia are also gorgeous. They aren't a true perennial, or annual. Sometimes they survive here over winter and sometimes they self seed. They come in yellows, to oranges, to reds. They also have double flowers. I would love to get more established, but I'm out of seeds. So I guess I will keep my eye out for them.

Calendula self seed here too. I like them. The dandelions the rabbits and geese enjoy.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Same, my bachelors buttons would kind of sprout and then just disappear. Might just not be the right plant for me. I have a pretty ugly mounded flower bed that has various bushes and a magnolia tree, so can't get rid of it, but it tends to turn into a weed patch so if I could get stuff to just grow there, it'd help a lot to smother out the weeds.

I got California poppies to self seed for about 3 seasons there, but they're pretty sparse plants and don't help with the weeds. Trying to get strawberries established as ground cover - I had some alpine strawberries that did very well in one patch and self seed there, and also plunked down some heirloom strawberries with runners that I'm hoping will spread out this year. The dogs and chickens both enjoy them!

I love anything that self seeds. It's crazy when I didn't want stuff it was everywhere, but if I try to get it going it won't.

The few times I grew bachelor's buttons they always fell over after a while and they were top heavy. Could of been the varieties, or the position. Gotta find the right place for every plant or they won't grow here too.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

There was some rudbeckia in this bed. We took this bed out a few years ago when the shrubs got big. It's just the shrubs now there. It was a pretty bed.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Being a lot drier here might be why bachelor buttons do well. Mine are self seeded from the neighbors up the road. I blame the birds.

I am embarrassed to admit I pull many as weeds.

Very few are blue. Most are white, pink and purple that come up regularly.

Rebecca was a problem plant for me. I am just to dry for it to really take hold.

Crocosmia are not supposed to be hardy here but my Lucifers have done well.....even on the north side.
Widows tears are a good one for me....at least in the hot dry bed by the big rose. They largely died out when I moved them to what is supposed to be a preferred area.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Being a lot drier here might be why bachelor buttons do well. Mine are self seeded from the neighbors up the road. I blame the birds.

I am embarrassed to admit I pull many as weeds.

If it's growing somewhere you don't want it, it's essentially a weed anyhow.

I think my most prolific self seeders are the alpine strawberries. Started with 3 plants and now they've shown up in vegetable beds, in gravel under potted plants, under trees - between wild birds, the chickens and the dogs all eating them, the seeds get distributed all over the place. At least they're easy to pull out of places I don't want them, and will usually root if I just shove those same starts in a patch of soil somewhere.