@RoriTx: Me too it is the only thing with color that the deer didn't eat as the years went on here. It has been the only decorative... I have had success growing.
Is there anything that you cannot grow in your Texas soil? I started some seeds in Chicago several weeks ago and they look terrible. I really need to buy one of those heat mats to get the seeds to germinate. We had 10 days of 80 degree weather a month ago and have not gotten out of what seems like a cold spell since then. I overwinter my plants in a badly heated room so I have to rely on the temp outside and the sun to warm the room with lots of windows. I tried caladiums last summer and they only did a fair job of growing.
@jerdeasy: I sure hope you keep trying! I won a heat mat in the YGS contest I am happy to get it and it will help in the two months of freezing temps. I wish I could share it with you! I really don't think they are too expensive. I have had so much trouble g... flowering plants. I can't tell you how many $ I have lost to cut ant and deer. I have finally found some ways to coexist wit... them, but it has taken years!
@Clenram: I use heat mats all of the time for seedlings and tomatoes an d peppers until ... can go in the ground or into the greenhouse. You are going to love it! :)
@Queen_of_Green: I really need to invest in at least one heat mat for next year. I started 9 packs of expensive seeds and the success rate is dismal. Spindly growth with about a 30% growth rate. I bought these fancy cell packs and some starter solution and should have just waited to buy the plants at a greenhouse.
@Clenram: Heat mats are not that expensive but I really am on a tight budget for this summer. It is amazing how easy it is to spend several hundred dollars and feel as if you haven't bought anything. Several years ago I spent several hundred dollars on dirt to fill my containers. I now try to recycle every bit of dirt I can from plants that grew in them last summer I wonder where the dirt goes that fills a container which is half filled with roots by the end of the growing season?
@jerdeasy: If your plants are spindly, they also need more light. The key to using lights inside is to place them only an inch or two above the plants, so the plants don't have to 'reach' for the light.
@jerdeasy: I understand about $...and dirt. We have a nice size place (5 acres) but the soil is all sand. Building it up to grow things takes time. If we want to do it fast it cost $. Compost and mulch materials are available but moisture, and time to build them are needed. Do you have friends with big lawns? Ask them for their grass cuttings. Most of all celebrate little success ...I say don't be afraid to grow.
@Clenram: I have a rather small back yard and the former owner had a garden in place. I did need to get soil for the 75 containers and flower boxes that I added to the yard however. I did take advantage of a local park district that provides a mulch of sorts that I mixed half and half with soil to grow the cannas and elelphant ear plants in. Home Depot had a half off sale on a brand of potting soil they were trying to discontinue three years ago and I invested in 15 bags of the large bags which really helped. I figure that your plants are only as good as the soil that you grow them in.
I love the leaves on caladiums.....I just got a tropical collection of caladiums in the mail the other day with my dahlias.....so I'm excited to see what these leaves look like in comparison to the ones I normally have.
@RoriTx: Try giving your dahlias a dose of an organic 'Bloom' fertilizer, such as Dr Earth Rose & Flower Fertilizer 5-7-2 or Espoma Flower-tone® 3-4-5 . You could also try bone meal or any other organic flower food. Make sure the middle number is higher than the first number, since you want to promote blooms.
@Liz: That will be a pretty addition to your garden! I keep thinking I should get some too, and I always wait too long and they are sold out! If we have any left at work, I may get some now! :) Thanks to you and Melissa for reminding me about them! :)
@Queen_of_Green: I saved the email notice on this post to my phone so the next time I get to the nursery I can pull it up and look for those. Thanks, I'm going to try it. I don't even know what color it will make.
@Clenram: Bulbs do OK for me if I can keep them where I plant them.I'm not sure even chicken wire on the bed bottoms would help. I don't have gophers I have little snouted nose things the size of super large hamsters.
@Clenram: For thirty years they've been referred ... as salamanders by everyone around here. I know good and well a salamander is a lizard looking thing. I wasn't sure if they were moles or voles or what they are but they are a royal pain.
@Clenram: Are you saying that your elephant ear plants died back over winter and they are emerging this spring? I stored mine in a cool dark basement room in Chicago and I hope they are as healthy as they look when they start growing. We had a record warm March and an average April so far. Our latest frost date is not until middle of May. I hope to get things going before then.
@jerdeasy: Yes the Elephant ears are coming out again nicely. It is already getting hot here. We do have rain in the forecast next week. I am keeping my fingers, legs, arms, and toes crossed.
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