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Good information on delphiniums and foxgloves. Along with hollyhocks, they're species that I've had trouble with...most don't even sprout. But I do love them and they're worth planting every year, if only I could just get them to sprout.

I need to think of different ways of dealing with them, perhaps by sprouting them indoors under lights.
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I'm disappointed with my redbud tree. Last year I thought it was still too small to put on a show but now I think I know what the problem is: there are plenty of blossoms but they aren't the vibrant deep pink that others around town have, they are much paler and washed out looking. I know from reading online that there are different varieties but unfortunately when I bought mine nothing identified exactly what it was. Well.... at least it seems healthy.
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Hi everyone, haven’t posted here in a long time. I lost 2 lavender plants and one of the humming bird mint varieties. I don’t know why the lavender died but I have several more of them in other places. The peony I planted in the spring of 2018 has its first flower bud. It appears there will be only one, lol! May be reblooms, I don’t know.

I hope everyone is well, enjoy the gardening season this year.
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CWillie, if you can take a photo of your Bedbud tree and upload it to a storage site to create a URL for it, you can then use Google Image, which sometimes works and sometimes locates a photo that MIGHT be similar, so you can get an idea what kind of Redbud this tree really is.

Another thought: soil and environmental conditions, including sun or shade exposure can affect growth, although I don't know if that includes intensity of bud color.

I did a quick check and found some lovely Redbuds, including some with intense rose leaves and another with pale pink leaves (a Chinese redbud).

Chinese Redbud: https://www.google.com/search?q=Cercis+chinensis&sa=X&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLUz9U3MCzJMa9U4gIx09NNjcxMteT8i9IT8zKLc51zEouLM9MykxNLMvPzgjNTUssTK4sXsQo4pxYlZxYrJGdk5qXmFWcW72BlBADpPIVDTwAAAA&biw=1373&bih=633&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=NJtW1mBNgjCBMM%253A%252C3nmUlAvP9vC20M%252C%252Fm%252F0gg5265&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kSejX9PlFpsq8RhXA-UBz_TxzNJiQ&ved=2ahUKEwiVyrnVs8_pAhWDbc0KHcnlAsoQ_B0wCnoECBEQAw#imgrc=NJtW1mBNgjCBMM:

Apparently there also are about 10 different varieties of Redbuds.

What kind of soil do you have?
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SharynMarie, welcome back. Sorry about the lavender plants, but glad that you still have some. I lost mine after several years of good growth; one winter it just died out. I'm not familiar with a humming bird mint...you mean there's a mint that I haven't discovered yet???

For a mint lover, take a look at these selections:

https://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?searchterm=mints&search_catalogue_button=Go

(I LOVE mints.)

My peonies generally produce more buds annually, assuming the Spring doesn't warm too quickly. This year their foliage is so dark it's unusual; it's a deep burgundy. Unfortunately, my memory is becoming shorter and shorter and I don't recall if it's ever been this intense before. I think the leaves used to be green...??
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GA, hummingbird mint is actually agastache cana. Had some at my old house the hummingbirds loved it. Have a different variety here I think sunset hyssop. Did not do well over the winter may have lost them all. They are slow greening so will wait another couple of weeks, then go in search of cana. Very drought tolerant for these dry western climates.

https://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/agastache/agastache-cana

https://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?product=XB1100&show=all&prodclass=&cart_id=1146554.31482

I guess you can consume it. Still not sure about that.


Don't think I would eat it, though.🌻🌿😉
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I accidentally lopped off a small branch of my hibiscus tree. I trimmed it a bit, threw som "root grow" on it, and stuck it in the ground. Lo and Behold it is growing new leaves !!! I was shocked. Wished I stuck it in a better place, ,but I think I will just lop off a small branch and stick it where I want it.

If anyone out there likes hibiscus trees, or your friend has one you adore, ask them for a small branch. It actually worked for me. I am so surprised.
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GA I don't really need to know what variety of redbud tree I have, it's not as though I'm going to swap it out for a different one. I fell in love with them when I they first started showing up in people's yards around 20 years ago and was thrilled to discover they are a native understory tree that will tolerated juglone, perfect (I thought) to fill in the open space and add some privacy between my back yard neighbour's yard and mine.
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I was at 3 garden centres today trying to get some bedding plants - a few veggies and annual flowers - and they were all pretty depleted. Oh, there were the more expensive larger pots of single plants at $3 and up each but no little 4 cells at all except for a few scraggly offerings. Staff says they expect a shipment later this week but selection will be limited, at this rate I may have to severely cut back this year.
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My three gardening tips for today:

Be wary of showy, easily grown perennials that are both common and inexpensive (or free), they may in fact be an invasive species (is my dame's rocket really so bad?)

Don't skip the sunscreen and bug spray because "I'm only going to be out for a few minutes"

Gardeners really should avoid buying and using white wash cloths and towels...
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Cwillie, BIZ in a hot soak will whiten any grunge. Even dye from leather boots. Just FYI
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Big surprise - found two healthy looking delphiniums growing near the "mother" plant and they are not just seedlings. I am clearing out that bed but will keep them.

A couple of years ago we planted 3 roots from a rose shrub at one of mother's ALF's. The pale pink flowers had a wonderful scent. The next year we had one spindly rose "twig". This year we have that again, but also, I think, it has run underground (as did the plant we took it from)and produced an offspring nearby. Hoping they get more sturdy this year but they may not be suited to our zone 2.

cw I hear you about invasive species. I had a bad experience with tansy. Think I have pretty well got rid of it.
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When I walked by Canadian Tire's garden centre I saw they had a delivery today so I drove back and picked up a bunch of gardening stuff and enough flowers to fill most of my planters. I've got a couple of kettles (the big old cast iron ones) that I usually fill with impatiens but there were none of those, hopefully my tiny seedlings I've started will hurry along enough to flower before fall.

My strawberries are blooming (just a couple of plants) so I need to get busy making a squirrel proof cover for them.

The rose I started from a cutting 5 years ago finally has a bud - I'm so excited!
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So we went from snow a couple of weeks ago to temperatures in the 30's, now heading back to a few days in the low teens..... I don't know whether to open the windows to cool down the house or button up tight lest the furnace kick on.
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The young(ish) single dude who lives behind me has planted a tree and it's a norway maple, the ubiquitous suburban nuisance tree. That wasn't part of my landscaping plan, but I can live with it 🤔.
Now if only I could figure out how to get the other neighbour to plant something to block the view through to the street behind me....
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Offer to plant it if they buy the tree.

That might work.
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Been doing a lot of work in the greenhouse.

I have lots and lots of tomatoes of course. Herbs, Brocolli, Cucumbers and onions.

Lots of peppers and squash/zuchinni outside.

We are getting 24 hives of bees delivered this night, as you have to transport bees at night.

Fields are full of soybeans. That the deer love and I love to watch them all day on the edge of the woods eating the soybean plants.

I have been doing a lot of honey infused with different herbs. So looking forward to not having to purchase honey one day.

Baby chicks are happy and healthy and I enjoy them.
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smeshque - everything sounds so wonderful. Love it, love it.
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🐿️ vs🌱 = 😡

Sometimes I don't know why I even bother.
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How 'youngish' is the single dude, CWillie?
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He reminds me a lot of my nephew #3, I'd say 30ish?
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I am sick of the wind here for the last week. And a derecho on Saturday that just do not happen here. Even blowing some plants over. None of the agastache from last year made it through the winter. Lost a Norway blue spruce. The rose of Sharon really struggling, lost five of them completely. 😕

On the bright side, some of the cornflower seed I just tossed into the yard are coming up. Quite nice.🌿
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About 7 last night, in came the sudden very strong winds, about 60 mph and stayed that way for a few hours. Then the rain and more rain and more rain! Started about 11pm and still raining 6am and may start clearing by midday. And of course I watered the lawn yesterday evening. Now won't have to water for days if the sun ever comes out. Highs in the mid 50's today are expected.

The grass really needed a good soaking!🛀🛀🚿🚿🚿
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Glad, I'm so sorry to learn about the loss of your plants from the weather events. I've had some small ones, but the absolute worst was when a strong wind brought down a large branch from a cottonwood tree; it missed the garage, but just barely.

Losing an evergreen is upsetting though; to me they're very special trees.
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Arrrh - my broccoli is forming button heads. If I pinch them out will I get side shoots, or are they not worth saving?
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Upon closer inspection I wonder if my broccoli plants are a sprouting variety and are doing what they are supposed to do 🤔. I hate it when garden centres sell plants and the only info on the tag is "broccoli" or "peas" or "lettuce", as if there aren't a hundred varieties of each, all with different characteristics.
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I just realized that the strange little weeds I've been pulling out are actually the parsnips that I had given up on - oops.
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I quit pulling weeds until I could identify what is was from a similar experience.
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Anyone use of the plant identifier apps on your phone where you take a picture of what you’re wanting to know what plant it is?
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I use Google Lens. It’s worked pretty well with both plants and bugs.
my tomatoes look good this year and have set fruit. I have spinach and lettuce in a couple pots in a shady area and keeping them well watered. What’s great is they haven’t bolted from heat yet. I may have found the right spot to grow greens.
total aside...my woad plants are doing well in pots this year. I’ve been able to harvest enough leaves to extract enough blue dye to dye yarn a light to mid range blue. Woad is a form of indigo. The sweat bees are loving the coreopsis and lavender blossoms.
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