Loving your tiled floor @Fire. Your red velours are magnificent @BenCotto. Inspired by the posts here I bought 3 in small pots but have yet to plant them into their intended container. But even where I have simply placed them in among the other pots they look good.
Just a quickie... I guess I could try cutting these petunias down and fleecing them in their troughs to overwinter them in situ? And what about the seeds... when can I harvest them...? And if I can, should I just plant them up in March again...? Ta
Last year I just took down the basket and stood it in a corner by the house, then in spring when I noticed that they'd started regrowing I chucked a bit of old voile curtain over it on those cold nights that we had in April and May. I might try to be a bit more organised about it this year. I should check to see if there are any seeds to be collected, but it was so windy yesterday that I might have missed the boat on that.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Just a quickie... I guess I could try cutting these petunias down and fleecing them in their troughs to overwinter them in situ? And what about the seeds... when can I harvest them...? And if I can, should I just plant them up in March again...? Ta
I would try fleecing them if you have any spare fleece lying around.
You pick the seed when the pods go from green to brown .If the brown pod has started to split the seed is ready to be sown so grab it then and store in a cool shed/garage over winter.
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
I’m much the same as Jenny - too slapdash to remember to harvest seeds. This year I’ll look.
Likewise I take down my haybasket and move it to somewhere sheltered - in the cold frame with the lid slightly propped open, or against the house wall, or in the greenhouse. It depends where there is space. I do the same with the biggish terracotta pots.
Once they’re moved I harvest about 50 cuttings which I’ll propagate and try to overwinter. I put a 3” shoot in a 50:50 compost and perlite mix and then pop a little clear plastic beaker over the pot. They should have rooted by November and then they’ll take their chances over winter in the un heated greenhouse. I might put some in the porch as well. Experience from last year says maybe half will survive the winter. Cuttings taken in mid Spring have a 100% success rate and are ready to plant out by mid June.
Meanwhile the plants in the haybasket and terracotta pots are trimmed to about 4” and unwatered until Spring is well underway and growth is apparent. I don’t cover them with fleece but it makes sense to do so and this winter I’ll be more interventionist. The deeper roots of the plants in the pots give them a much better chance of survival but, next year, they’ll be in impoverished compost so I dig them out and replenish the growing medium adding slow release fertiliser.
If all goes to plan, I should have about 80 plants next Spring. I need far fewer so there’ll probably be at least 50 to give away. As I walk around our village I frequently spot Red Velour and, next year, burnt orange cosmos in neighbours’ gardens. “One of mine,” I say to myself, “one of mine, one of …”
However the time for the plants’ hibernation is not yet with us. Taken just now, the front haybasket still has plenty of lead in its pencil.
I’m much the same as Jenny - too slapdash to remember to harvest seeds. This year I’ll look.
Likewise I take down my haybasket and move it to somewhere sheltered - in the cold frame with the lid slightly propped open, or against the house wall, or in the greenhouse. It depends where there is space. I do the same with the biggish terracotta pots.
Once they’re moved I harvest about 50 cuttings which I’ll propagate and try to overwinter. I put a 3” shoot in a 50:50 compost and perlite mix and then pop a little clear plastic beaker over the pot. They should have rooted by November and then they’ll take their chances over winter in the un heated greenhouse. I might put some in the porch as well. Experience from last year says maybe half will survive the winter. Cuttings taken in mid Spring have a 100% success rate and are ready to plant out by mid June.
Meanwhile the plants in the haybasket and terracotta pots are trimmed to about 4” and unwatered until Spring is well underway and growth is apparent. I don’t cover them with fleece but it makes sense to do so and this winter I’ll be more interventionist. The deeper roots of the plants in the pots give them a much better chance of survival but, next year, they’ll be in impoverished compost so I dig them out and replenish the growing medium adding slow release fertiliser.
If all goes to plan, I should have about 80 plants next Spring. I need far fewer so there’ll probably be at least 50 to give away. As I walk around our village I frequently spot Red Velour and, next year, burnt orange cosmos in neighbours’ gardens. “One of mine,” I say to myself, “one of mine, one of …”
However the time for the plants’ hibernation is not yet with us. Taken just now, the front haybasket still has plenty of lead in its pencil.
That's interesting @BenCotto I don't take cuttings now, but cut back the foliage in the hanging baskets and hanging wall troughs and stick them in the greenhouse for the winter and they just sit there until spring when they usually spring back to life at which point I take cuttings.
I don't collect seed from those I have now because last year the seed I collected from my plants which are reproductions of a 4 or 5 year ( I cant remember) planting from F1 seed in some cases did not come true to form so I go for cuttings now as the only way to get a copy of the original without buying new F1 seed.
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
Kili, I only take cuttings in the Autumn on a belt and braces basis in case the ones in pots don’t make it. The ones done in Spring are better just so long as the mother plants have survived.
Anybody else want some orange Cosmos seeds? The gardener was very efficient with the deadheading last week but I did gather in a second small packet’s worth just now.
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I would try fleecing them if you have any spare fleece lying around.
You pick the seed when the pods go from green to brown .If the brown pod has started to split the seed is ready to be sown so grab it then and store in a cool shed/garage over winter.
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
George Bernard Shaw'
Likewise I take down my haybasket and move it to somewhere sheltered - in the cold frame with the lid slightly propped open, or against the house wall, or in the greenhouse. It depends where there is space. I do the same with the biggish terracotta pots.
Once they’re moved I harvest about 50 cuttings which I’ll propagate and try to overwinter. I put a 3” shoot in a 50:50 compost and perlite mix and then pop a little clear plastic beaker over the pot. They should have rooted by November and then they’ll take their chances over winter in the un heated greenhouse. I might put some in the porch as well. Experience from last year says maybe half will survive the winter. Cuttings taken in mid Spring have a 100% success rate and are ready to plant out by mid June.
Meanwhile the plants in the haybasket and terracotta pots are trimmed to about 4” and unwatered until Spring is well underway and growth is apparent. I don’t cover them with fleece but it makes sense to do so and this winter I’ll be more interventionist. The deeper roots of the plants in the pots give them a much better chance of survival but, next year, they’ll be in impoverished compost so I dig them out and replenish the growing medium adding slow release fertiliser.
If all goes to plan, I should have about 80 plants next Spring. I need far fewer so there’ll probably be at least 50 to give away. As I walk around our village I frequently spot Red Velour and, next year, burnt orange cosmos in neighbours’ gardens. “One of mine,” I say to myself, “one of mine, one of …”
However the time for the plants’ hibernation is not yet with us. Taken just now, the front haybasket still has plenty of lead in its pencil.
That's interesting @BenCotto I don't take cuttings now, but cut back the foliage in the hanging baskets and hanging wall troughs and stick them in the greenhouse for the winter and they just sit there until spring when they usually spring back to life at which point I take cuttings.
I don't collect seed from those I have now because last year the seed I collected from my plants which are reproductions of a 4 or 5 year ( I cant remember) planting from F1 seed in some cases did not come true to form so I go for cuttings now as the only way to get a copy of the original without buying new F1 seed.
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
George Bernard Shaw'
Anybody else want some orange Cosmos seeds? The gardener was very efficient with the deadheading last week but I did gather in a second small packet’s worth just now.