Fall Winter 2020-2021 Garden
Fall/Winter Slide Shows:
Stolen Treasure, Tequila & Lime, Spiny Sea Urchin Daylilies
Lilliput Zinnias
Matrix Pansies
Lettuce
What Else is Growing in the Garden?
Stolen Treasure, Tequila & Lime, Spiny Sea Urchin Daylilies
Lilliput Zinnias
Matrix Pansies
Lettuce
What Else is Growing in the Garden?
Stolen Treasure, Tequila & Lime, Spiny Sea Urchin Daylilies
Most of my daylilies are labeled as reblooming. But to actually produce flowers in Sep & Oct would be the true definition of a reblooming daylily. The three varieties that actually rebloomed in the fall were Stolen Treasure (pink), Tequila & Lime (pinkish to yellow green) and Spiny Sea Urchin (ruffled yellow ... not true to supposed color per K van Bourgondian website). Click on upper left-hand corner to watch slideshow below.
Lilliput Zinnias
I have a 10 foot by 10 foot bed in front of our living room window. I planted Lilliput Zinnias (Ferry Morse from Lowes) the last week of April and by the end of May they were in full bloom. Toward the end of July I removed the plants, but didn't plant anything new in the bed. Lo and behold seeds began to sprouted in the bed from the earlier dead blooms. A bigger surprise was that seeds also sprouted in the grass surrounding the bed where I threw the spent plants before putting them in bags. So I began pulling up the seedlings from the yard and transplant them back into the bed! The first pic on Sep 07 represents the second wave of Lilliput Zinnias ... all of them so called volunteers! Nothing spectacular about Lilliput Zinnias ... other than how prolific re-seeders they are ... and their babies have blooms exactly like their parents ... which is something to brag about. By the way White Wedding Zinnias (sold by Burpee) which have larger blooms do not reseed easily and those seeds that do sprout produce yellowish blooms ... not the large white blooms of their parents.
Matrix Pansies
Planted 80 Matrix Pansies (look like soldiers ... lined up all in rows) in the 10 x 10 bed on Nov 6. This year hasn't been a great one for pansies ... not sure why. Was it too hot ... not enough water ... too much water ... or two much Calloways 7-11-7 Pansy food ... God only knows. Only about 1/3 of the Pansies ultimately made it ... but those that did were/are beautiful. See slide show below.
Lettuce - Overview of Season
I started lettuce seed indoors on 08-19-20. Fourteen different varieties of lettuce ... however, most were leftover seed from the prior year ... and guess what ... most did not germinate. I then ordered some more lettuce seeds which I started indoors. Lettuce seeds are so tiny and you end up with multiple seedlings in each 40 cells in two Styrofoam seed starter kits. So when I transplanted the little seedlings on Oct 3-4 into the garden, I separate them by individual plants so I don't need to thin them down the road. This year, the transplanted seedlings didn't do so well. I probably lost 25% of the seedlings after transplanting and another 15% to a mystery disease that caused the lettuce plants (all varieties) to shrivel up and die. I thought it might be cut worms, but most of the dying plants did have roots still attached. I did get lettuce though ... never a problem if you plant enough ... which I did ... and my neighbors and co-workers appreciated it when I brought some of the surplus by.
Lettuce - Bed 1
Far left row - Four Seasons in foreground, Salad Bowl in back
Middle left row - Royal Oakleaf - The best tasting lettuce - doesn't keep as long as other varieties
Middle right row - Red Velvet Organic
Far right row - Freckles Untreated
Middle left row - Royal Oakleaf - The best tasting lettuce - doesn't keep as long as other varieties
Middle right row - Red Velvet Organic
Far right row - Freckles Untreated
Lettuce - Bed 2
Far left row - Freckles Untreated, Rev Velvet Organic, Four Season
Middle left row - Freckles Untreated
Middle right row - Royal Oakleaf
Far right row - Freckles Untreated - The best germinator of 1 year old lettuce seeds ... by far!
Middle left row - Freckles Untreated
Middle right row - Royal Oakleaf
Far right row - Freckles Untreated - The best germinator of 1 year old lettuce seeds ... by far!
Lettuce - Bed 3
Far left row - Green Ice
Middle left row - Burgundy Delight - The most colorful lettuce ... by far!
Middle right row - Black Seeded Simpson
Far right row - Burgundy Delight
Middle left row - Burgundy Delight - The most colorful lettuce ... by far!
Middle right row - Black Seeded Simpson
Far right row - Burgundy Delight
What Else is Growing the Garden
This Slide show is a catch all for other flowers growing in my Fall /Winter Garden.
The Chinch Bug problem which appeared on Sep 09 was solved by the application of Bayer Complete Insect Killer. We get Chinch bugs in late summer ... normally Aug or Sep due the extreme heat. Not uncommon to have to treat part of my yard at least every other year.
On Sep 13, I found one of my two large pots with Hibiscus had filled with water. Turns out the Hibiscus roots had clogged the hole in the bottom ... not allowing water to drain out the bottom. I removed the plants and placed more rocks on the bottom with a root barrier to hopefully prevent this problem from happening again. By the way, about 3 weeks later, the other large Hibiscus pot filled with water also. The replanted Hibiscus have survived so far though they looked like they wouldn't make it for a couple of weeks.
Euryops (African Daisies) bloom all winter in Houston! The Gerbera Daisies are no longer blooming due to several frosts. I moved the three Hibiscus pots from the backyard which in the north of the house to the front porch which faces south to protect them from frost. I still cover the Hibiscus when a light freeze is forecast.
I transplanted probably 150 baby Mexican Petunias from my front beds to the dirt along my side driveway. I had trouble growing grass ... seems I could only grow weeds. Come spring they should start blooming ... so far so good.
The Chinch Bug problem which appeared on Sep 09 was solved by the application of Bayer Complete Insect Killer. We get Chinch bugs in late summer ... normally Aug or Sep due the extreme heat. Not uncommon to have to treat part of my yard at least every other year.
On Sep 13, I found one of my two large pots with Hibiscus had filled with water. Turns out the Hibiscus roots had clogged the hole in the bottom ... not allowing water to drain out the bottom. I removed the plants and placed more rocks on the bottom with a root barrier to hopefully prevent this problem from happening again. By the way, about 3 weeks later, the other large Hibiscus pot filled with water also. The replanted Hibiscus have survived so far though they looked like they wouldn't make it for a couple of weeks.
Euryops (African Daisies) bloom all winter in Houston! The Gerbera Daisies are no longer blooming due to several frosts. I moved the three Hibiscus pots from the backyard which in the north of the house to the front porch which faces south to protect them from frost. I still cover the Hibiscus when a light freeze is forecast.
I transplanted probably 150 baby Mexican Petunias from my front beds to the dirt along my side driveway. I had trouble growing grass ... seems I could only grow weeds. Come spring they should start blooming ... so far so good.