A Thousand Daffodils (front yard, spring, cutting, fall)
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Oh man, am I jealous. Having humongous gardens is a blessing that's really a curse. You plant and plant and plant and still they look empty.
Bulk seed packages are a god send. I've sown about 1000 gloriosa daisy seeds this spring. I've got at least half of them sprouted. I've got hundreds of petunias. And lots of lantana, datura, and other annuals that get really large. Next year, the perennials will bloom and the annuals will reseed. I'll spend the next several years pulling out unwanted plants. But I'd rather have that than grass. I hate mowing.
Flowers and shrubs and trees attract wildlife. Where I live, birds and squirrels are the normal visitors. I have never seen a rabbit in my yard. And only one chipmunk.
Beautiful bulbs! I planted about 75 daffodil and got a few blooms but not as many as I had hoped. One thing is many of the bulbs were quite small (though most did come up) so perhaps they were not large enough to set blooms? Anyway, hopefully next year I will get more. I intend to buy more in the fall and go at it again. I also hope to plant more hyacinths. Their smell is amazing especially when the sun hits them.
Last edited by citydweller; 04-05-2009 at 07:31 PM..
Reason: edit
I've sown about 1000 gloriosa daisy seeds this spring. I've got at least half of them sprouted. I've got hundreds of petunias. And lots of lantana, datura, and other annuals that get really large. Next year, the perennials will bloom and the annuals will reseed. I'll spend the next several years pulling out unwanted plants. But I'd rather have that than grass. I hate mowing.
LOL, so you know the feeling. I can't tell you how much $$$ I've spent on petunias over the years--if I can grow them from seeds I may try them again, but otherwise forget it! I never thought I'd be able to grow decent plants from seed, but if this works out I'll be thrilled. Once again I can have lots and lots annuals without breaking the bank!
Last fall I went a little crazy buying daffodil bulbs, and before I knew it I'd bought 1,000.
(Needless to say, my husband now hides the catalogs....)
Anyway, when I told this story you guys asked for photos. So here they are. BTW this probably represents 1500-1600 bulbs (since I've been planting bulbs for years and already had quite a few.)
Side yard
Further down the side yard. The globes are oversized christmas ornaments attached to legs from an old plastic table (I never throw anything out, I knew I'd someday find a use for that table...). Walmart was clearing out the ornaments last month for 50 cents, so I got a whole bunch of garden decorations for about $6.
More side garden. The snails are sitting on a statue I made out of two cinder blocks, old bottles, broken saucers, and cement. (Again, trying to find uses for things instead of throwing them out.)
Yet more of the side garden.
Boy, I really liked taking photos of the side garden, huh? It was hard to get it all in one shot because it's very long and windy.
A hilly spot. I actually planted most of the hill, but not all of them came up. I don't know why (unless maybe Mr. Squirrel and Mr. Bunny dug them up for a party, they seem to party a lot on this hill and dig up all sorts of things that they don't end up eating. Sometimes they carry them off as far as a neighbor's yard before they remember that daffodil bulbs taste nasty.)
Along the driveway.
This is a group I planted a few years back under a cherry tree.
What a lovely and eye catching garden. Thanks for sharing.
LOL, so you know the feeling. I can't tell you how much $$$ I've spent on petunias over the years--if I can grow them from seeds I may try them again, but otherwise forget it! I never thought I'd be able to grow decent plants from seed, but if this works out I'll be thrilled. Once again I can have lots and lots annuals without breaking the bank!
Petunias from seed you say? Like this?
Or how about wintersown petunias in the thousands?
These are from seed I collected from my own plants this fall. They won't always look like their parents, but they will grow and they will bloom. Laura Bush petunias are a vibrant pink/purple that reseed reliably and look the same year after year.
What beautiful pictures! And I also love White Flower Farm. One of these days I plan to visit them, since they are in Ct. where I am. They are open to visitors.
I love Petunias, too. Unfortunately I don't have the room indoors to grow them from seeds. I am a fan of the Wave varieties, but I love them all.
Petunias, here I come. You've convinced me, paper. I've just planted a few lasagna pans with petunia seeds. Can't wait to see how this turns out.
If these bloom, can I then harvest the seeds? This year I'm going to start participating in plant sharing but I'm totally new to it. I have no idea how to harvest seeds or the right way to dig up bulbs so I can send them to other people. By any chance do you have a link or suggestions?
Normie, Laura Bush is the only petunia that I know of that will reseed and be just like the ones you collected from. They'll even reseed on their own. My petunias were collected from a variety of plants, and most of them are coming out with purple blooms. But, they're much larger plants than what I have bought from the store, and they seem to be hardier. I had one that was a reseed from a wave last year that made it all the way through January of this year. So collect the seed, and give it a shot.
You'll find the seeds in late July usually. They're in a pod that will turn brown where the flower was. I just cut off the whole stem once it starts to crack open and bring it inside to dry.
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I never thought I'd be able to grow decent plants from seed, but if this works out I'll be thrilled. Once again I can have lots and lots annuals without breaking the bank!
It was hard to get it all in one shot because it's very long and windy. 
Thanks for sharing.
