Third year lucky for germinating sweetpeas ( Horizon and Old Fashioned) 80% so many kept me in cut flowers all summer. Golden beetroot bolted. Gazinia in cream and orange spectacular. Good plum crop for the first time. Autumn raspberries seem very large this year.
I gave up on lupins decades ago @Ericaheather. Slugs make them a waste of time trying to keep them alive, along with delphiniums and other similar plants. I grow nothing that gives me more work than I feel is worth the end result. I don't really have anything here that has failed. I had a virtually empty site to start with six years ago, and the only things that I planted which didn't do well was Clem Duchess of Edinburgh [which apparently can be a bit iffy ] and the white form of Escallonia which I knew might not survive our winters. I was right.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
First full year in our garden...the successes were the heucheras, particularly Paris and Palace Purple who have doubled in size and coped well with the sun and crazy weather we've had. My Rose de Molinard has tripled in size with extraordinarily healthy growth...even if the blooms didn't withstand too well the wet spells...but it's early days. All my hostas in ground and pots have been great but has taken a full on genocide of slugs and snails to get there. When I see Curly Fries in its pot and its lovely purple flowers it makes me smile. Also the crop of our inherited old Bramley Apple tree has been extraordinary...everyone that knows me has apple nightmares!
In the bad front two jasmines that failed to flower last year were given a reprieve only to fail to flower once more...next stop the green bin. Oh and of course...my gamble with box came to a grizzly head with a full on attack by caterpillars. Some of the cones will be relocated to front garden and sprayed if they get it again...the rest will hit the bin.
It is a long time since I grew much from seed, but this year I grew a number of annuals, but with limited success. Afew failed to germinate. Others remained small and unexciting, perhaps because of my clay soil - Ammi, Campanula pyramidalis, Centaurea americana, Emilia, Hibiscus trionum, Matthiola, Phlox drumondii. Ipomoea grew well but produced only a few dull flowers. Coreopsis, Venidium and Ageratum performed well, although the first two would have benefitted from support. Tithonia is starting to perform, but an earlier start might have been better. I will grow more next year, but not so many kinds. I also grew a number of daylily hybrids from seeds which I got from the American Daylily Society. These are doing very well, although I very much doubt if any will flower next year, it will probably be 2021 when I see what I have got. Dunno where I will put them all! Some named hybrids that I bought last year have flowered for the first time and I am very pleased with them. One surprise was the Tigridias, which have survived the winter in the border and have flowered again.
Anemone blanda popped up in my garden this year. I don't remember planting it. They must've been in a packet of mixed bulbs. What a beautiful colour! I'll definitely get some more this year.
This is the first year I've grown dahlias and they've all been in pots, even the larger Bishop of LLandaff and Leicester.
Had found very little online regarding growing larger varieties in pots but it's worked a treat. Will add to the collection next year, the dark foliage is the best canvass for the flowers.
Verbena Bampton is my new favourite. I grew it from seed a few years ago and it didn't do much, but this year it's been great for several months (so far) and there are self-sown seedlings popping up too.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
I won’t be sowing any veg next year apart from runner beans. I won’t be sowing enough seeds to fill 70 baskets and tubs, too much for me now. I have got several pots of Lupins and delphiniums growing on into big pots so they will go out next year and I’ve sown more foxglove seeds. I always grow lots of pansies, my favourite flowers and they bloom all year round, will be sowing those next week if the weather stays cool. Not so many annuals will concentrate on more perennials to cut the work load.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
New and successful for me this year were: Kniphofia Wrexham Buttercup, lots of stems for new small plants, has just reflowered. Floribunda rose Julia Child, healthy and amazing flower power. Dahlia Noordwijks Glorie, self-supporting, continuously flowering, nicer colour than anticipated.
Quite a few failures ( some heatwave related) Sedum Purple Emperor - flopped, lost all colour, looks miserable Agastache Blue Boa* didn’t thrive, flowers were pink, not as good as Black Adder Agastache Tangerine Dream - pink, not orange Geums - Lady Stratheden and Fire Storm - pathetic blooms, no reflowering. Penstemon Raven*- arrived with mildew, recovered, flowered a bit, then just died off Salvia Mainacht* arrived with mildew, flowers pinky, not purple Achillea Perrys something - small and insignificant, not drought tolerant.
* crap nursery plants, plus later discovered they were grown in the dreaded TEABAGS!!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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Golden beetroot bolted.
Gazinia in cream and orange spectacular.
Good plum crop for the first time.
Autumn raspberries seem very large this year.
I grow nothing that gives me more work than I feel is worth the end result.
I don't really have anything here that has failed. I had a virtually empty site to start with six years ago, and the only things that I planted which didn't do well was Clem Duchess of Edinburgh [which apparently can be a bit iffy ] and the white form of Escallonia which I knew might not survive our winters. I was right.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
In the bad front two jasmines that failed to flower last year were given a reprieve only to fail to flower once more...next stop the green bin. Oh and of course...my gamble with box came to a grizzly head with a full on attack by caterpillars. Some of the cones will be relocated to front garden and sprayed if they get it again...the rest will hit the bin.
You live and learn!
I also grew a number of daylily hybrids from seeds which I got from the American Daylily Society. These are doing very well, although I very much doubt if any will flower next year, it will probably be 2021 when I see what I have got. Dunno where I will put them all! Some named hybrids that I bought last year have flowered for the first time and I am very pleased with them.
One surprise was the Tigridias, which have survived the winter in the border and have flowered again.
Had found very little online regarding growing larger varieties in pots but it's worked a treat. Will add to the collection next year, the dark foliage is the best canvass for the flowers.
I won’t be sowing enough seeds to fill 70 baskets and tubs, too much for me now.
I have got several pots of Lupins and delphiniums growing on into big pots so they will go out next year and I’ve sown more foxglove seeds.
I always grow lots of pansies, my favourite flowers and they bloom all year round, will be sowing those next week if the weather stays cool.
Not so many annuals will concentrate on more perennials to cut the work load.
Kniphofia Wrexham Buttercup, lots of stems for new small plants, has just reflowered.
Floribunda rose Julia Child, healthy and amazing flower power.
Dahlia Noordwijks Glorie, self-supporting, continuously flowering, nicer colour than anticipated.
Quite a few failures ( some heatwave related)
Sedum Purple Emperor - flopped, lost all colour, looks miserable
Agastache Blue Boa* didn’t thrive, flowers were pink, not as good as Black Adder
Agastache Tangerine Dream - pink, not orange
Geums - Lady Stratheden and Fire Storm - pathetic blooms, no reflowering.
Penstemon Raven*- arrived with mildew, recovered, flowered a bit, then just died off
Salvia Mainacht* arrived with mildew, flowers pinky, not purple
Achillea Perrys something - small and insignificant, not drought tolerant.
* crap nursery plants, plus later discovered they were grown in the dreaded TEABAGS!!