Dinnerplate Dahlias

I've finally gotten all of my Dahlias planted. As predicted, a few of them did not survive. I took way too long to get them planted. The poor things dried up or rotted. I've got 9 plants of 3 varieties each that were planted first and they've come up with huge stocks. I really can't tell you what varieties they are since I didn't keep track.



I finished planting about 4 more a few days ago so I'm waiting to see if they'll survive. Those are the empty pots in the photo. I will be ecstatic if I even get a few decent blooms!

Calibrachoas

Gulley Greenhouse has become my favorite nursery this year. I always get great service and their staff seem very knowledgeable and that's a good thing since I rarely have any idea as to what I am doing. The last couple of times I've gone, I've noticed these beautiful mixture of yellow and purple flowers lining their fence along the road. They seem so bright and cheerful that I decided I wanted some in my garden, though I wasn't quite sure where. I asked the staff and they said it was called Calibrachoa. They're like miniature petunias (about the size of a dime - see photo below) and they deadhead all by themselves so they will continually flower through the Fall! This is my kind of flower!



I had an empty self-watering container after transplanting my Snaps so I decided I would plant three of them there. They are a trellising plant, but we'll give this a try. I purchased two yellow plants and one deep blue (it looks purple to me) plant. Getting one plant to separate from the others around them was a bit of a challenge though. They had grown intertwined with each other and really didn't want to separate. They seem to have survived it ok. After a just a few hours in the container, they are already perking up!

Herbs

My container of herbs (clockwise from upper left): Flat Leaf Parsley, Basil, Sage, Rosemary, Cilantro, Flat Leaf Parsley, Parsley and Chives in the middle. I don't think the Cilantro likes the sun much. :(

Vegetables

Shortly after my last entry, I went to several of the local nurseries and bought some herbs and vegies. I purchased two tomato plants and what I thought was two bell pepper plants. I decided to go easy on the vegies this year since I had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with them last year. I purchased an heirloom Brandywine plant and a Sweet Snack Cherry Tomato plant. These were planted in my raised bed planter from last year. It has been about a month now, but I can't say I've seen significant results. The cherry tomato plant tried to fruit a few weeks after planting so I nipped it in the bud to see if I could get it to grow more before bearing fruit. It has grown an inch or two I guess. The Brandywine hasn't done much of anything so far. I guess I'll just have to keep feeding it and cross my fingers. The photo below shows the two tomato plants in the front.



In the back are the pepper plants. I purchased what I thought were two bell pepper plants. After a week or so of being in the planter, I noticed the larger pepper plant seemed to be splitting. When I looked closer, I saw that they were actually two different plants. One was a bell pepper, but I think the other is some sort of hot pepper. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what it turns out to be. The mysteries of gardening! :)