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Do you want seed of Mirabilis cultivars? I have 'Alba', 'Orange Crush', and 'Limelight'. They are open pollinated but seem to come true. Also have M. longiflora but have not noticed seed set so far this year.

My mirabilis were so beautiful this morning that I took a few pictures even before feeding the cats or having my coffee.

'Limelight' with its chartreuse leaves and vivid intense fuchsia flowers had only one or two open flowers which did not photograph at all well. But I think you will enjoy 'Alba', 'Oranage Crush', and M. longiflora'


Judy




 

Mothballs did not work so today I practically mulched the pots with Milorganite.

Today I potted up the Mirabilis 'Orange Crush' cuttings that were prepared and stuck in a propagating box just over 2 weeks ago. Not only nicely rooted, they're making flower buds and showing color.

I guess when it's time, it's time.

Deer, I discovered yesterday, have been eating my Eucomis autumnalis, also E. bicolor, in pots set on pallet at edge of woods across lawn behind the house. They have also been sampling Canna 'Tropicana' in the half barrels at the bottom of the driveway.

I have - from prior years when they snacked on other plants - empty soda bottles with holes drilled which hold 7 moth balls and supported on a straightened metal coat hanger. They are now, after the fact, back in service. Barn door / horses, don't you know.


It will be interesting to see what the eucomis look like when and if they flower. Wretched deer.

Just a quick update - the several cuttings I took off the snapped off top, removed some leaves, dipped in rooting hormone and put in closed plastic box with bottom heat - which, BTW, feels like it took longer to write this than to do it - are looking very nicely green and turgid.

Te remaining mass of stems and leaves looks droopy but I have not decided what, if anything, to do with it.

P.S. And before tribbles ever appeared on the Enterprise there was Robert Heinlein's juvenile novel, the Rolling Stones which featured https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_cat

Martin, could it be Lachenalia bulbifera? To quote from PlantZAfrica -  " The specific name bulbifera is derived from the Latin words bulbi, meaning bulbs, and fero, meaning bearing or carrying, and refers to the bulbils that often develop along the leaf base margins in certain forms of this species"

Mike, I find hardiness zones of singularly modest help. How cold for how long with what kind of soil / drainage all have impact beyond minimum temperatures of brief duration that still define the zone.

When I was a child (much longer ago than I care to admit in public) we lived in Chicago not far from Lake Michigan. There were four o'clocks growing in the back yard against the house, a four story, four family apartment building. And the four o'clocks were there every year. No idea if they were original plants or annually from seed.


My Connecticut garden had that mythical gardener's dream of high organic, moist but well drained loam. Amaryllis belladona grew outdoors sheltered by roof overhang and flowered regularly. I've come around to believe that it was not my skill as a gardener, it was the growing conditions in Connecticut. Here in New Jersey, further south, I have a heavier soil, with shale. It does drain but not the same. Plants that would thrive in Connecticut die here in New Jersey.

Thank you for this very helpful advice, Mike. It's not like I need a plethora of 'Orange Crush' but I will try your various suggestions as a learning experience.

Yesterday I was off for a Designed for Nature Garden tour in Doylestown PA (managed to visit 3 of 5 gardens before my knee gave out.) Today I'll cut some leafy top shoots, trim off leaves, dip in rooting hormone and place in peat/sand mix in a plastic shoe box with bottom heat.

The tuberous roots look more vertical than lumpy. For winter storage I usually unpot and pack in peat moss, orienting vertically. The "vintage" M. longiflora I just use a hand truck to wheel the pot into the basement. It's roots, when I infrequently top dress, are a gnarly mass but it is an old plant. Seedlings pop up in anything adjacent to where the mirabilis spent their summers but as there are 3 cultivars it is only 'Limelight' I can distinguish, from its chartreuse leaf color.

Judy in New Jersey where the day is sunny and deliciously cool, with barely a breeze to stir the trees

A question for David - since I had posted my query in both the list and the forum I will copy this answer likewise. What is the preferred behavior - is to both acceptable or only one?

The fiddleheads taste . . . green, not quite like asparagus but that's about the closest I can come. Won't make you pee smell funny either.

Here's a picture of garlic mustard and fiddleheads, foraged but not yet prepared.


And another of chow fun stir fry with pork, asparagus, fiddleheads over broad noodles

Deer, raccoons, woodchuck. I do not shoot them but have been gifted part of a deer, an entire raccoon or woodchuck which I dress out and then cook

Mice, voles, chipmunks, gray squirrels. Rabbits. Flying squirrels but I don't think they damage plants. Bats ditto.

Red fox, hardly a pest. Have not seen skunks but have smelled them. Good mousers, and they'll dig and devour yellow jacket wasp nests in the ground.

Neighbor down the street recently (like a week or so ago) had a black bear.

Garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata. Young leaves are good for salad or pesto. Older leaves - feed to neighbor's sheep.

Ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris. Fiddlehead fronds in spring, quick blanch then stir fry.

Tawny daylily, Hemerocallis fulva. Young shoots, semi-blanched by nature with heaped up fallen leaves. Prepare kimchi style

Butterbur, Petasites new flower bud shoots before they expand very much

Today is very windy. A large, 3year old Mirabilis 'Orange Crush' has completely snapped off slightly below the soil surface. It has begun to wilt. Have stuck it in a bucket with some water for now. There is only a very small piece of root attached to the mass of growth.

Do I cut back the top growth to reduce leaf mass and hope for survival? Will the carrot-like root re-sprout?

Any suggestions very much appreciated.

In late February or early March I bought a bag of Caladium 'White Christmas' at Costco, a big box store. Mixed up peat moss and sand, put a layer in a plastic shoe box that my husband had put a heating cable in for me. Wet it down, placed the tubers, put on the lid. And left it. Took a longer than anticipated for the tubers to awaken but eventually they did begin to grow.

Fast forward to now. Very large pure white leaves. I've potted them up - about 8 out of 10 actually grew. I'll put them on a slatted shelf against the brick wall of the garage adjacent to the front walk. Pot up a Japanese painted fern, have a couple of  silver leaved rex begonia 'Moonlight' - should be an attractive summer combination in a shady place.