Howdy all I thought it would be interesting if we could all share our top performers this summer. May be you tried something for the first time and were impressed with how long it was in bloom, the fragrance it gave off, or the impact the color made in your garden. Which ones will you be sure to plant again next year?

The flower I was most impressed with was my cosmic orange cosmos. It may have had something with it being the first to bloom from seed I planted It's a great orange color, with tons of blooms and the flowers just keep on giving, as long as I keep them deadheaded.

Here's an early picture

That one will definitely be back next year

So, what was yours?

My is looking AWESOME....
The bright pink and lime green has been alot of fun..the kids can't keep thier hands off of it...

Looks awesome. My favorite this year was Touch-Me-Nots. I have had as much fun with watching their seed pods grow as I did watching them bloom up the stem. A definite keeper!

On another note, I have flowers that look a lot like yours and thought they were Single Orange and Yellow marigolds.


Weezie, that is cool. What is it? Lime Green? Okw e need to see that too!

Amaranthus....Love Lies Bleeding..

Ok I get it now. Pink flowers, lime green leaves. I really need some sleep!

Hey Triss, my neigbor gave me touch me nots this year...I'd never even heard of them before....had to look them up in my book...pretty neat plants though--and they were free!!!!

Cool plant Weezie!

And Mary...I love Cosmos....any kind of cosmos...mom has the orange ones...I have the pink and white ones...They are my favorite flower.

Have the pods started popping yet? Once they get to being a bit yellow, touch them CAREFULLY! I have already reseeded my garden without even trying

I haven't checked on them in a while...I'll have to go look tomorrow....does it hurt if they pop? Now I'm scared to touch them....LOL I'll probably have my eye taken out by a seed....My neighbor warned me that they reseed everywhere....I figured that was okay, it's more free plants...LOL

Okay, someone send me a picture of these???
Are they yellow jewel weeds???

These?????
Yellow Jewelweed/Impatiens pallida/Touch-Me-Not family (Balsaminaceae)

Amaranthus - that's going in my book for next year. What an awesome contrast of colors in that one!

Triss! I didn't get to send your lilac seeds today - the talk of touch me nots reminded me...I'll get them out tomorrow though, promise! Wow marigolds do look a lot like cosmos - I can't even find a difference in them - must be something I'm missing - even the leaves are almost identical. Did you plant yours from seed? Is it possible they were mis-id'd?

Loz I got kinda lucky with the cosmos - they were one of the packs I bought before I had any kind of clue about anything So, I guess I should add to the reasons I love em are that they were also reeeeeeeeeeally easy to grow.

FYI
Did you know, Cosmos' root along the stem...
So, if you start them from seed, and plant
them too deep, it won't hurt them, cause they
root all along it *the stem*

*Marigold's do this too and some lilies!!!!*

And the Amaranthus is tall,
can get up ther, mine is only about 3' tall
in those pictures..but can get taller,
I stunted mine by not planting them right away...

now I know what saved me! That's really cool to know. You do mean, once they're seedlings, if you plant too deep, right?

I thought the amaranthus was a chenille at first (hey, at least I was kinda sorta close) - do they get fuzzy flowers all along the stem, or is it just at the top? It's really pretty. Do they get leggy & have to be staked?

Nope, they have a nice sturdy stem,
as long as your dirt can hold them up..
:rolleyes:
I had planted mine in freshly sifted dirt
mixed with compost, cow manure with old sawdust and leaf mould...
and then it rained and rained, soft dirt,
soggy and a tall plant don't mix..
I thru a statue or two of some frogs under the
stem and everybodies standing up fine now,
the roots took hold...

You can see in the above picture,
the closest one is big and long,
and the one in the farther down the fence
is shaped different..
*I had 4 sets of them, they are all tall,
and each one has it's own charactoristic..

The long one's now, are drooping,
*they're kinda supposed to do that,
as the name, love lies bleeding,
and it droops, which cause's the plant
to want to flower more from the stems...

My gardens didn't fair well this year. The weather was at least a 100*C in the day and about 40-50*C at night. Everything is straggly and ugly. Even the hanging basket has given up and died.

Awwwe, sorry tamara!

Ok, I have to say...

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME, RIGHT? All the pics I've taken this year, and you want me to choose a favorite?! Are you



Ok, hmm.. ya know, my friend gave me a can of seeds from walmart, that was my wildflower patch. It did so much better than I could have hoped for. And it should reseed itself & come back next year! Wooo!







All were in the wildflower mix.. and more too.. I had others that bloomed earlier & faded when the other colors came out. It was wonderful!

Meg

Weezie, yes it is the same plant. I did not get yellow this year. Will have to find some. Here are mine.





Mine bloomed in 3 shades of pink plus white and purple.

On the marigold/cosmos, my plant was identified here. My cosmos are on much more ferny tupe of leaves where the marigolds are on leaves that look much like the other marigolds I have planted.

Here are my cosmos. See the difference in the leaves?


So are my orange ones really marigods or are they cosmos?

Definitely the portulaca. Easy care and blooms the longest. Problem being that they are annuals. The cannas although very late to start are still at it and for a perennial are definitely trying to give the portulaca a run for their money. If the marigolds hadn't gotten wiped out by spider mites they probably would have been in the running too. I really liked the maroon ones.

Is anyone detecting a patern here? Yep I like bunches of my flowers and will have them again next year with a little luck.

Meg, you have to ask?

I love your wildflower patch (sounds personal Sorry.) Did you turn the soil, add compost, kill the grass, or just plunk your seeds down in the spring? I have a spot I want to do that to next spring - just don't know how much work I want to put into it

Weezie - (eye fluttering graemlin) if ya get seeds for the love lies bleeding, can ya keep me in mind?

Triss, I'm really confused now. I'm sure mine are cosmos, it was a burpee seed package. I'm going to vote and say it's cosmos - may be pop it on the mystery thread again?

I've have to say the daylillies were more beautiful than usual this year.

WOW!

Meg

Those are absolutely gorgeous Sheri!!!

Are they doubles???

No. Not doubles. Just old time daylillies. They've been here a long time.

I have never seen doubles like that..
Very pretty!!!

Here are my Touch-Me-Nots with Monkey Grass in front. I was hoping for, but did not get, white ones this year. My wife's grandmother had a yard full of Variegated Touch-Me-Nots. Each flower was speckled and swirled in two colors, like pieces of Christmas Candy.

Touch-Me-Nots

My favorites so far this year have been my daylilies and my hardy hibiscus.

Every bodies pictures are great!

Mary~ I do believe what you have is a Cosmos.
Cosmic Orange Cosmos

Meg~ I love the wildflower bed.

Weezie~ The name of the daylily Bestofour posted is called hemerocallis fulva flora-plena (Kwanso daylily) Kwanso daylily

Dang I am jealous of everybodies plants.

I love pictures!!!!!!! Keep posting everyone I love seeing all the pretty flowers.

I love everyone's pictures too..

**Tammy,
That is THE best to be able to see what
choices everyone's picked and how gorgeous
they turn out..

**Donna,
That is an unusual plant and flower..
Thanks for letting me know..
Are they related *more than obviously, I presume*
to the regular road side lilies?????????

**Thornius,
I have never heard of those either..
Very pretty plants though...

I love everyone's pictures too..

**Tammy,
That is THE best to be able to see what
choices everyone's picked and how gorgeous
they turn out..

**Donna,
That is an unusual plant and flower..
Thanks for letting me know..
Are they related *more than obviously, I presume*
to the regular road side lilies?????????

**Thornius,
I have never heard of those either..
Very pretty plants though...

Meg I take it you weren't too successful removing the hard @ss clay! So, next spring, I gotta do that...I have one area that needs some prettying up without too much fuss

Sheri - wow. are those common 'ditch lilies' in your area? Here are my daylilies (same as you find em everywhere here) See how simple mine are compared to yours? I'm jealous!

Thornius - my SIL was just telling me about monkey grass - I'm so glad to be able to finally see it. It looks GREAT with the touch me nots. How tall does that grass get? I don't have touch me nots (yet) so I don't know how tall that is either, for comparison... I love the contrast in leaf shapes and colors!

What a great thread - brilliant, whoever started it

Thorny, I have white Touch-Me-Nots. Would you like some? Hoping they stay white with all the cross polination issues that can arise, but I have been able to get several pods straight from the white plants.

On size, my TMN's are about 3 feet high and I think they would get even larger if they were not so bunched together.

Meg, Monkey Grass gets about a foot tall and makes a DENSE border. In late Summer you get those pretty flowers like in the picture.

Beautiful begonias, Weezie!

I am so glad you post pictures now.
I remember when I started on the forum...for a loooong time after that, you still hadn't posted any pictures. Everyone was always, like, "When are you going to SHOW us something???"

Thanks!

I know, it was like I was a hidden gardener...

Like yeah, she doesn't really garden,
she just sits at that computer typin' answers..


That other camera we had for like ever,
was really slow, really hard to take a close up shot,
let alone one at a distance... and
it was soooooooooo slow....
This one is a dream to operate.
*even for someone like me that's electronic
eliterate* and that PHOTOBUCKET is/was the
clincher for me, cause it was sooooooo easy
to load pictures, that WEBSHOTS was a wee~bit
confusing for this
ole brain!!!!

I thought for a moment those were camellias. They are so pretty and remind me so much of my Grandmothers camellias.

Here's the front bed I've been working on..
Between my house and my mom's.

Ok, here is my "best of show" as I call them. They are, like yours, common ditch lilies. Except mine did triple blooms this year!!! Talk about a pleasant surprise!!!

Gee...I'm still trying to figure out which picture to "submit" here.
I love that!!!!!

Great space Weezie. Great mix of colors!

So pretty Jenn. When they look that good it is hard to call them common!

How come sometimes those lilies do that "double" thing?
I always wondered about that.

Some years they are double, some years they are single...
...just like ME!

Those double lilies are soooooooo pretty...
Sheri has those types too!!!
Way cool!!!!
Mine have always been on layer...
But I like them still...

The camera I use is an Olympus D-580 Zoom. They cost about $300.00 and use 2 AA batteries. You get about 3-5 hours of constant picture taking off those batteries, but, I USE RAY-O-VAC 15 MINUTE RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES!!! Two batteries with the recharger cost about $20.00 but the batteries can be recharged 1000 times!!! I have had my camera and rechargeable batteries for 1 1/2 years now and take 20-40 pictures a day, every day, and haven't had to buy my second set of rechargeable batteries yet!It comes out to at least 100 pictures for a penny!! And the camera is small enough to be carried in a T-shirt pocket!

The one I've been using is a
KODAK EasyShare Z740....
I think it has something like a 10x Optical Zoom too, but not sure completely..
It's so cute, little, and very easy to work...

Thornius, I looked up your camera on Amazon and they have it on sale now. Maybe you don't want to know for how much.

Wow Weezie, that is one sweet camera! I'm wondering if I spent my money on the wrong one! It looks a lot like the one I bought (a Canon PowerShot S21S.) only it seems to have a bit more features I think, and it cost less than mine! *pout* Mine has a 12x optical zoom.. so maybe that 2x more zoom is why mine cost more than the kodak one?

The other camera I took most of my photos with this summer, was an HP 733. It was more like Thornius' camera, small, 3x & 4x zooms, pretty nice little camera. I had no reason for getting the canon, other than the fact I wanted even more close up capability.

Meg

I am really enjoying reading everyone's favorites, and am especially enjoying the great pictures!

I think my favorite this year is the gazanias that I planted around the bathtub pond. They aren't in flower too much right now, because I didn't deadhead them much while I've been in my funk, plus my daughter is away with the digital camera this week. Hopefully when she gets back, I'll be able to post a few pictures.

Thornius ~
THOSE BATTERIES AND RECHARGER ARE THE BEST!!!
Did you get the car charger for the unit? Last year, when I purchased the recharger (the 4 battery unit) they had a mail-in for a free car charger - makes traveling with the batteries and camera a dream!

I am too, I just love to see gardens look
and for ideas!!!!

l love to see and pets in the garden here are my best performers this year. My wind Anemonies also my Fatsia looking so healthy, Mitzy loves the Fatsia.
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sorry posted wrong try again.

I don't have pictures, but I tried a Moonflower vine for the first time. A neighbor gave me seeds & boy it is wonderful. Beautiful white blooms at night & a wonderful odor (kind of like vanilla). Hope to save seeds for next season. Happy Gardening, StanetteTN6

You'd love a white night garden,
by the sounds of it Stanette!!!!

There's all sorts of ones along the
same lines that are white and flower and smell
at night...or late in the afternoon.

Datura's have a heaven scent..
and so do the Nicotiana x sanderae.

Hey, Welcome by the way!!!

Surprisingly enough, my Hydrangea look fabulous, and are still blooming. I ripped out all of my Tickseed(or is it Tickweed?) because all it did was get leggy, and bloomed for about 2 seconds. I replaced it with Black Eyed Susans. Most of my gardens are relatively new, so I am hoping for a spectacular show next year. Really looking forward to seeing my pernnial hibiscus and rose of sharon bloom full tilt next year.