u/dawnpower123

I definitely made some mistakes that I won’t be making next year. First, I’m gonna be much better about spacing my seeds. I did ok with my sunflowers and dahlias, everything else I just threw caution to the wind and sowed a ridiculous amount of seeds basically everywhere. I did a lot of thinning.

Second thing, I need to actually pay attention to how big each plant will get, and how fast they grow. I didn’t do this at all and some of my taller faster growers snuffed out some varieties that were shorter and took longer to establish. I also planted a sunflower seed right behind a dahlia tuber. That sunflower shaded out one of my dahlia sprouts and I didn’t realize it until it was too late. Goodbye Cornel Bronze, it’s a bummer that we weren’t able to meet.

Third thing, and this helps with the second thing too. I should probably give everyone their own individual space. I had areas where cosmos and zinnias were planted together. Same with strawflowers and zinnias. My zinnias got so big that it didn’t leave a lot of room for my strawflowers. My strawflowers are actually beginning to bloom now, but I only have maybe 15 plants out of over a hundred seeds that were able to grow amongst my monster zinnias.

And lastly. I’m not going to buy random cheap seeds next year, or ever again. I planted a row of zinnias, cosmos, and marigolds in a prime spot with random seeds from Amazon. No variety names on the seed packs. The zinnias were wimpy, tiny little things, and the cosmos grew into trees that barely bloomed. But, all of my Johnnys seeds grew into beautiful plants. My dahlia zinnias that I bought from Amazon also grew beautifully.

Still, it was so much fun and my whole small backyard was just covered in flowers all summer long. I’m very excited for spring blooms. I bought a ridiculous amount of ranunculus corms….

First two photos are polka, and second two are Bohemian Spartacus. These two plants are my very last dahlia plants to bloom, and I think they may be my favorites. Polka is just so pretty. Its shape, its colors, I just love it. And, Bohemian Spartacus is just that perfect red color. It’s just so vibrant, and the yellow streaks look so bright against that red. Plus, its blooms are huge!

I gotta say, as a first year dahlia grower, I’m hooked! I’ve ran into a couple of issues, lost a tuber because I shaded it out accidentally by planting a sunflower seed too close to it. Had stem rot on one of my plants in my raised bed, but I think (big emphasis on think) I fixed it, we’ll see..And, with El Niño this year, powdery mildew is attacking almost all of my flowers in my garden. But, with everything, my dahlias are still flourishing, and they’re really just getting started.

It’s my very first summer growing cut flowers from seed and tuber. I made some mistakes that I won’t be making next year, but overall I think I did pretty good. I have so many flowers in my garden. My house is filled with vases of them everywhere, and I’ve been bringing them to the restaurant where I work for the last month or so. Every little vase on every table in there, has flowers in them that I grew. Growing flowers this past year (I grew spring blooming flowers too this past year) has just brought me so much joy. Working in my garden, listening to an audiobook, it’s pretty much all I want to do. I guess I’m a gardener now♥️

I posted my very first blooms not long ago, and I’ve been waiting on some others to see what the blooms are like, and here they are!

It’s my first time growing sunflowers from seed and I got a mix from Johnnys seeds and another random mix that I bought on Amazon. I also grew peach lite from Johnnys Seeds and those were amazing, but those guys are pretty much down now.

But, these are all branching varieties, so they’ll last a little longer. I will keep deadheading and allow them to grow new shoots until they no longer are able. And, I still have a bunch that hasn’t bloomed yet.

I absolutely love all of the surprise blooms from these seeds. There are so many different varieties of sunflowers! Every time one starts to open I get excited wondering what it will look like.🌻

This is my celosias right now. It’s from the chiefs mix from Johnnys seeds. The plants are huge and growing beautifully, but no blooms. I know they take a while to bloom, but are they close?

Lately I’ve been hitting them with some maxsea bloom food, and they have these little white flowers and these little green balls (last three photos). Are those going to turn into actual blooms?

It’s my first year growing summer flowers from seed, and almost everything is blooming like crazy, except these guys and some strawflowers. I’m not stressing the strawflowers, but these just keep getting taller and more bushy without actually blooming. It’s driving me a little nuts.

I’m in zone 10, Bay Area, California. For anyone who’s grown these flowers before, are they close to blooming? Anything I can do to get them blooming? I appreciate any insight you all can give me;)

Edit-I know it’s not celosia now, this nightshade must of just grown exactly where I planted my celosia seeds. I do have a couple plants underneath this crazy weed that I think are the celosias I actually planted. I will be digging this thing up today, I’m feeling a little stupid right now, but really, really happy that I asked. Thank you all!!

I planted nursery starts last year, but went all in on seeds this year. I planted marigold, sunflower, cosmo, zinnia, strawflower, and celosia seeds. I went a little overboard and I’ve had to thin a lot out…

I planted marigolds as companion plants for my other flowers, mostly for my roses. I have patches of them popping up everywhere. But, they’ve definitely been showing off in my garden. They’re so beautiful, and so easy to grow. The plants are much more hardy than any nursery plug I could have planted.

I’m very excited about the flower garden I created this year. And, it’s just so much fun watching my little seeds sprout and grow into such gorgeous plants. I love it so much that I’m already looking at varieties of what I want to plant next spring and summer….

First time growing any flowers from seed, and I’m obsessed with it all!

I have about ten patches all around my small property where I planted sunflower seeds, including my sidewalk strip. Basically, wherever I found space that got enough sun, I sowed seeds there.

The big ones in the first and second photos are peach lite from Johnnys Seeds. I also planted a summer breeze mix from Johnnys Seeds, and another mix I believe is from Seeds Needs. The last two photos (and a couple in the first photo) are from those mixes, and I still have a lot that hasn’t bloomed yet.

I’m excited to see what they look like when they do. I’m hoping for some darker, unique blooms. I love the basic yellow ones, but I’ve got plenty of those now. Hopefully, I’ll get some different varieties like my last two photos blooming soon. I can’t wait to see them all!!

It’s my first year growing these flowers, and every brand new bloom that pops up, I have to post photos and share them with you all!

The first one I believe (I didn’t mark where I planted my tubers) is Crichton Honey, and the second and third photos are Cambridge. I love the variations in color in each bloom. I planted ten tubers, seven varieties. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be doubling that amount (at least) next year when I’m deciding what flowers to grow♥️

Except for the Peruvian lilies. I inherited those with my house. It was a nice surprise to see them that first spring. But, in this bouquet I have dahlias, cosmos, one zinnia, and of course the Peruvian lilies.

This is my first time growing summer flowers from seed and the first time growing dahlias. Dahlias are definitely the star of the show. I planted ten tubers, seven different varieties, and these are my first blooms from my Tartan and Babylon red dahlias. Their blooms are huge!!

I’m also growing zinnias, marigolds, sunflowers, cosmos, strawflowers, and celosia all from seed. The marigolds have been blooming for a bit already, but everything else is just starting to take off.

I planted a bunch of cheap seeds I got off Amazon, but then decided to plant some better seeds from Johnnys Seeds, and I’m so glad I did. The cheap seeds are producing cute, but not spectacular flowers, while the Johnnys Seeds are producing huge plants with gorgeous flowers. In this bouquet you can see the difference in cosmos. One was grown from the Amazon seeds, and the other is a double click variety from Johnnys seeds.

My zinnias have just started blooming, there was only one that passed the wiggle test when I put together this bouquet, but soon I’ll be drowning in flowers. I’ve learned quite a bit this first time around, mostly spacing, I did zero spacing and ended up thinning a lot. I’ve also just let some areas stay crowded. I never planted seeds before, I wasn’t expecting them all to germinate. Next year, I’ll be much more conscious of spacing them out. I also learned that seed quality matters. I’ll probably only buy seeds from Johnnys Seeds from here on out.

I’m so excited for my summer cut flowers, and I can’t wait until everything is in full bloom. I’m going to be bursting from the seams in blooms. I’ll have to figure out what to do with them all…A lot of people are gonna be gifted bouquets of flowers this summer.

These are my second and third ever blooms, and I’m so excited!! First year growing these flowers for me and I’m completely obsessed with them.

My first bloom, I posted on here a week or so ago. I was actually wondering if anyone knew the variety because I think I got a mislabeled tuber on that one. It’s a solid purple flower, and the only tuber I bought that has any purple in it, is my Tartan (second photo). This one has to be Babylon Red (I didn’t mark where each one was planted). In this bed I have Tartan, Babylon Red, Bohemian Spartacus, and Cambridge. Seven tubers, four varieties.

I absolutely love these blooms. Unlike my first bloom, these two have long sturdy stems that don’t droop at all. The flowers are huge and gorgeous. I can’t wait to see all of my other new blooms (I have three other varieties planted in the ground besides these four varieties in this bed). Pretty sure I’m going to be growing dahlias every summer here on out.

I went there mostly for the philodendron. I have some hooks I’m planning on putting in my ceiling to hang two more plants in, and I already have a lemon lime (last photo) that’s going in one. This dude will eventually go in the other. I wanted a philodendron ‘brasil’. They had them last time I was there, but only in larger pots for way more money, so I didn’t get it. They had these philodendron ‘silver stripes’ in small pots, and that’s close enough, so I scooped it up.

I love this nursery because they have an area where they sell little baby plants for $5 a piece. I was stoked to see this variety of fittonia there! I got this exact variety last year and slowly killed it. I’m pretty good at growing plants, but it was my first fittonia and apparently everything I read about care for them online was wrong. But, I learned through the murdering process on how to better care for them and got another one a few months ago that’s doing much better than my last one. But, that one is a ‘white tiger’ they didn’t have the ‘skeleton’ variety last time I was there. But, they did this time;)

The other two are plants my husband picked out. He doesn’t know as much about plants as I do, but I just told him that I didn’t want any trailing plants because these plants are gonna live on a shelf and can’t hang over it. He was really happy I was ok with his picks, since I’m the one who learns and cares for them, I usually pick them. One is a zebra plant, and the other is a moon plant. I’m stoked for these guys too! Apparently the zebra plants blooms are really pretty.

All of them together cost me $30. This nursery isn’t necessarily cheap. They had bigger hanging philodendron silver stripes for $25 a piece and they weren’t huge, but I go for their area of baby plants. I’ve bought lots of plants from them this way and they always have a different selection. I think it’s probably what the owner is propping that month. Anyway, just thought you’d all like to see my little haul. I think I’m done buying new plants for a while. Every space I wanted filled is now filled.

I’m so excited about my dahlias! This is the first time I’ve ever grown these flowers and I’m so stoked to see all the blooms!!

In this bed I planted seven tubers and I have three others that are in the ground. Those ones got planted a month after these, so they still have a bit of time before I see blooms, but my bed is about to pop.

However, I only planted one variety that’s purple. The others are red and yellow. I planted two tartan tubers, two babylon red, two cambridge, and one bohemian sparticus. At first I thought this one was my tartan (I didn’t label where each on was planted), but the more it opened up, the more it seemed to be a full purple/maroon flower. And, I’m noticing another bud that’s starting to open (third photo) looks much more how tartan is suppose to look. All of my buds that are starting to open up seem to have purple in them.

I bought these tubers from Longfield Gardens, I know, I know, big companies like this aren’t the best to buy dahlia tubers from, that’s why they’re in a bed and not in the ground. My much more expensive, small farm tubers are in the ground. I’m thinking I got shipped mislabeled tubers. Honestly, I don’t even really care. They’re all going to be gorgeous and I’m a little excited to see what I got.

But, can any of you folks tell me what variety this is? It has very droopy flower stems, was like that when it was just buds. Is about three feet high (maybe?). And, seems to be all purple. I appreciate your help, and wanted to show them off at the same time. First ever dahlia blooms! Yay!!

Hey fern peeps, I’m looking to see if any of you all may be able to identify my fern. I got it a little over four years ago, it was one of the first plants I got when I bought my house. It didn’t come with an ID tag, or I just never looked at it and marked it down.

I’m not great at identifying different fern varieties. I only recently started to care about specific species and varieties of all my plants. I’ve been growing plants for years, but how they grow and what they need to thrive is what interested me the most.

I did a little research and I think is it’s a macho boston, but there are so many different ferns that all look very similar, so I can’t be sure. First photo is the whole plant, second is a newer frond, third is my attempt to get a photo of the base, and the last is an older frond. The stems get darker as they age, if that helps.

Thanks in advance for any help with this!!

I got some pups who like pillows♥️

My new Scentimental rose has taken a bit of a beating since I planted her last fall.

Her first blooms were a little distorted and had black and browning on the edges of the petals. I soon figured out it was thrips, so I had to cut all of her brand new buds and blooms off and treat. Then we had two days of crazy high winds that knocked a giant potted plant off of my deck and landed on part of her, breaking two of her new healthy long canes completely off.

But, she’s bouncing back! Bloomed these two gorgeous flowers this week. I’m so excited to finally see what her healthy blooms look like. Her scent is incredible even though she’s so young, and I’m obsessed with her beautiful flowers!

I’m new to growing sunflowers from seed and I’m finding conflicting advice on whether or not I should be fertilizing my plants at this stage.

These are from Johnny’s Seeds, and they’re either procut peach lite f1 or they’re from a pack of branching sunflower, summer breeze mix. I can’t remember which one I planted here, I’ve planted a lot of seeds in general, and have like six little patches of sunflowers everywhere and at different stages of growth.

So, I figured I’d ask the experts. Do you guys fertilize your sunflowers? If so, what are you using and how often are you feeding them?

I’ve had this nanouk for almost nine months, it’s my first tradescantia plant (I now have another one and a callisia repens), and I repotted it for the fourth time this week. Granted, the first time was the initial repot when I first brought it home, but still….

I love these plants, and I was blown away by the growth rate when I first got this nanouk, it was in a two inch nursery pot with three little stems, so you can imagine how pleased and surprised I got with how quickly it grew. But now, I’m a little like-dude, do you think you could slow down a bit? You make me work harder than most of my other plants…

This repot I bought a set of wider more shallow pots, it’s in the smaller of the two now, and will eventually be in the bigger one. But, after that, I don’t think I want to go bigger. So what do I do? Do I split her up? Basically, just take sections off her and then repot so she’s smaller. I don’t think I can just prune her and keep her in the same pot because, as you can see in my second photo, she was starting to get a bit root bound in her old pot. She was only in that pot for about four months…

So, I’m asking. What do you all, who’ve had tradescantia plants for a few years, do?

Like the title says, my INDOOR nanouk is blooming! Brought this plant home at the beginning of last September (last pic) and it’s the first tradescantia I’ve ever owned. I’ve had houseplants for years, but just got into these recently when I saw a little pink and green striped plant at my local nursery one day for $5 and scooped it up.

I’ve learned a decent amount about them in that short time because this is the fastest growing houseplant I’ve ever owned. After just a month with this thing I started researching and also found this sub. I wanted to learn more about these plants mostly because 1, they’re pretty with all of their pink and purple coloring, and 2, their growth rate is just bonkers.

Anyway, from what I’ve learned, my understanding is that it’s somewhat rare for an indoor nanouk to bloom, right? My newer zebrina pink princess blooms all the time, but that’s pretty common with that variety. And, my nanouk does get great light next to a window, but still is a bit leggy and does get occasional browning on the leaves. I chop and prop her often.

Except for this and one other long stem she grew because she branched out from those stems. I wasn’t expecting her to branch out on her own like this, so when I saw it, I left it. And, then I saw a flower today and was stoked! But, I’m not a veteran tradescantia grower, so I’m asking, is it really rare for a fully indoor nanouk to bloom?

I do realize it’s because they have a food source, as you can see in my photo. But, I’m gonna get aphids no matter what this time of year. At least I have helpers!!

I planted four new roses last November, plus I have two old ones. Everything is blooming now!!

Photos 1&2-Koko Loko. By far, the fastest and healthiest of my new roses. She was the first to bloom out all four new roses.

Photos 3&4-Ebb Tide. This rose took her time. She’s not the fastest growing rose, but she gets there, and her scent is incredibly strong.

Photos 5&6-Bathsheba. I love this rose, has grown a ton of canes that I’m already training to a trellis. Her blooms are absolutely gorgeous. She’s not very fragrant yet, but I’m hoping as she ages she’ll get more smelly.

Photo 7-Scentimental. I haven’t actually been able to see what this rose can do yet because she got infested with thrips. I had to cut all of her blooms and buds off. I’ll post photos when she blooms again, but here’s one before I realized she had thrips.

Photos 8&9-Cecile Brunner. I inherited this rose when I bought my house. She’s a beast. Incredibly vigorous rose. I love this rose, this rose is the rose that got me hooked on roses.

Photo 10. Grocery store petites. I have no clue on the variety, but I love these little roses. Perfect size to keep on my deck and are actually pretty fragrant. I’ve had these roses for a few years.

Just wanted to share and show off all my roses with you all. I know you get it♥️