What is your longest flowering plant?

[Esther Knapicius]

here is one @alp from this spring.

 

[alp]

The white is so pure! Lovely! Thank you for sharing. There is an Irish living in the States showcasing his hellebores on youtube. He has soooooooo many varieties. Yours is probably a niger.

You can see mine here! Funny thing is that I couldn't believe they were mine

https://www.gardening-forums.com/sh...dening-toys-flowers-designs-to-everything.41/

Incidentally, I collected some freebies and on the way back, saw 4 bags of fallen leaves. We stopped the car and got them. We kept missing them. Then son said there might be some in a church nearby, so we drove there. Bonanza! Got 6 big bags... Shame my car is too small - could have got those 6 other bags next door!

 

[Esther Knapicius]

@alp your welcome to all my leaves at any time.

 

[alp]

Haha! One woman advertised her free dirt on a UK gardening forum! Does it sound familiar? Very expensive way to get free dirt .. Think she was some Malaysian living in California..

If I were you, I would turn them into leaf mould and sell them... I have only ££££ in my eyes and mind! Better than fouling the air. I am 100% mercenary!

Incidentally, on the news, a woman died from inhaling substances after cleaning her son's room. Her son died the following day for drug overdose or substance abuse and she unfortunately followed his steps.. Sorry so sorry for her. Just because you can see it doesn't mean the toxic fumes are not there. Mind you, even handling compost have been reported to have caused death..

 

[Esther Knapicius]

If I were you, I would turn them into leaf mould and sell them... I have only ££££ in my eyes and mind! Better than fouling the air. I am 100% mercenary!

Everyone in this area has leaves, it would be like me trying to sell air.

 

[alp]

Everyone in this area has leaves, it would be like me trying to sell air.

But you can use it for your meconopsis .. and all other plants.. I wish I had more to open up my clay.. which is thick, airless and even throwing the lumps into the wall or concrete floor won't break it up..

 

[Verdun]

Alp, sorry missed your question on hellebores.
I cut off the old leaves from the orientalis types. Does two things......allows me to see the emerging big fat flower buds at soil level in Dec/Jan through to the flowers on 60 cm leafless stems later. Also removes the possibility of helleborus black spot a debilitating disease they can suffer from. Other types of hellebores, ericsmithii, niger, corsicus are not cut back.
All are mulched though now

 

[alp]

Alp, sorry missed your question on hellebores.
I cut off the old leaves from the orientalis types. Does two things......allows me to see the emerging big fat flower buds at soil level in Dec/Jan through to the flowers on 60 cm leafless stems later. Also removes the possibility of helleborus black spot a debilitating disease they can suffer from. Other types of hellebores, ericsmithii, niger, corsicus are not cut back.
All are mulched though now

What exactly is orientalis types? OOps, I am clueless.

 

[Verdun]

Oops! Sorry alp. They are the hybrids so commonly seen. The lenten roses. Those with, usually, the most flambouyant flowers in colours from white all way through to black. Those that flower from mid winter to late spring.
I have whites, yellows, pinks, reds, purples, blacks and multi colours and singles and doubles.

 

[alp]

I need to get a showcase for my hellebores. I had a small one before. I love a picotee with nearly black ruffle .. I have a niger in flower, a dark pink single. Suddenly the nasty neighbour trimmed off the tree branches and this has opened up the sky .. Don't know if this is good ..

 

[roadrunner]

Mexican Petunias bloom virtually all year long. BTW, the bees and hummingbirds love this flower.

I don't have a picture available, but here are some others https://www.google.com/search?q=mexican+petunia+images&tbm=isch&source=iu&pf=m&ictx=1&fir=dAJrQ-PFhSt4rM%3A%2C2hQa-iYHIbzGVM%2C_&usg=__yQeog5KODiamXhuntTnAfsP0-fE=&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiHxNO_h8jXAhVI4SYKHWtdBiMQ9QEIMjAF#imgrc=dAJrQ-PFhSt4rM:

One month later and I've chopped and dropped all my Mexican petunias because they stopped blooming, I think because of the little cold snap we just experienced, but now it's nice and warm; however, the blooms didn't come back and the plants were looking bad and lost their vibrant colors.

I had that batch of M. Petunias for 2 years and I noticed the soil under it was somewhat depleted and that's why I decided to chop/drop and heavily mulch over, plus they were starting to spread beyond where I wanted them; they'll be back next year.

I do still have some milkweeds blooming, so maybe that should have been my answer to this thread And I have a surprise batch of Mexican Sunflowers that sprouted from the three plants I had over the summer (which are dead now) and they are adding a lot of orange to my yard....I should probably load up some pics

 

[alp]

Mexican Sunflower? You mean Tithonia? It's one of my fav flowers. I raised them from seeds and collected the seeds. Dumped the seeds in the fridge and totally forgotten them. One thing annoying about this beauty is that they flowered very late here in Essex and before you knew, frost sort of "boiled" them. Such a shame!

Funny thing is that if you can find an area of microclime, you can actually extend the flowering season. I still have a normal petunia flowering . and a bearded iris with buds..

Milkweed is lovely and it would be nice to see a photo or two, @roadrunner !

 

[roadrunner]

Yes, Tithonia. I'll see if I can't get some pic up here soon...

 

[alp]

I couldn't find mine. The one below is taken from internet, but its orange is simply stunning.