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What are yours from the past few seasons.....

Misses:
I used hollyhock and larkspur seeds for the first time this year. (I need something tall)

Well, they came in.. but not in full, and what did come in was not all that impressive. Don't know if I'll try them again.

Pleasant surprises:
- GORGEOUS amaranthus...5 foot tall, full, large red/purple plumes of feather like flowers. Not the weeping kind. These are like tall full celosia.

- I recently saw tall coleus. Again, gorgeous deep red purple. These must have been 3 feet tall. I didn't know they got that tall. If only they were perennial I still might try them. Have to make sure I get the tall ones though.

- My friends snapdragons that returned. They may not be perennial but I night try them instead of the disappointing larkspur and hollyhock.

What an interesting thread this is going to be.

Disappointing misses - zinnias this year. No germination on saved seed or bought seed..weird. The only zinnia's I had were volunteers in both the beds and the veggie garden. Those in the veggie garden made for some interesting row shapes but I would not let hubby till them under.

Another miss - two gift mandavilla vines, one overwintered last year, the other a Mothers Day gift this year. Neither grew much, nor bloomed this year...and I did keep them watered.

Regarding the amaranthus - had disappointing results with it last summer...so did not plant this year. Agree, it is a beautiful plant. Love the leaf colors on the varigated too.

Pleasant surprises - the Diamond Frost. Bought one plant a few years ago to use as a filler. Knowing that it wasn't winter hardy, I put it in the root cellar with the other plants for the winter....each year it has grown and performed beautifully - I've transplanted starts to other pots and even directly into the ground.

The plume celosia and Lady in Red Salvia return every year to delight the eye and brighten the garden. Two of my summer favorites.

ve

Disappointments...a LOT this year. My wisteria didn't bloom as full as usual, my Lady Banks rose didn't either...due to warm/cold/warm/cold weather in early spring.
My zinnias were like VE's..the saved seed didn't want to germinate but I also had some volunteers. This year I pulled off seed heads & buried them next to the plants so I should have plenty of volunteers to move next year.
My hollyhocks got a super bad case of rust & killed 3 of them...I only had 4. I sprayed the last one with Natural Yard when it started showing signs of rust...and so far it has prevented it from going any further.
We had more rain than normal this summer & I've had more destructive insect damage too! I've been invaded by about 4 kinds of worms I hadn't seen before down here.
Worms are eating my hyacinth bean vine seed pods. I'm not getting near as many seeds as I normally do.

Pleasant surprises....
My brugmansia (angel trumpet) has been steadily blooming for over a month...just love the smell.
My carrots did wonderful. My bell peppers are still producing.
My black/blue salvia out did itself this year & is still putting out blooms for the hummers & insects.
I discovered a FANTASTIC nursery (thank you FFG)!
Some of my non-reblooming day lilies did rebloom. That was a super nice surprise.
I've had about 8 hummers most of the year & lots of butterflies...and more bees than normal for me including a few honey bees.

So not a totally bad year!

really enjoyed first year of my iris blooming. only 4 of ten flowered but the ones that did were beautiful beyond what i expected. i'm real excited about more of them flowering next year.

the surprise sunflowers from dropped birdseed produced an abundant crop. that was fun.

new daylilies? not so great. one creamy yellow was lovely, two more were OK but the other 6 (which are now in other members gardens from this board) were just meh.

Misses were most of the veggie garden.. For some reason I didn't have the abundance I usually have.

Pleasant surprises.. the 6 x6 bed of corn I put in. Got many ears and I'm getting ready to pull the dried up stalks for Halloween decorations. Also the cardinal flower vine that showed up in a flower pot in the back yard.. Its still blooming and the red flowers really show up.. and of course my humongous elephant ears. Had no idea how they'd do where I put them, but at 6 1/2' high I guess they like it.

Disappointed in roses this year, they didn't bloom as profusely as in past.
Lost a Korean Spice Viburnum that was a full grown bush and bloomed in spring, first planting, now it's dead.
Having a hard time reestablishing wisteria that the chipmunks detroyed chewing/tunneling thru the roots.
Very happy with some replanted daylilies and allium that made a nice showing in the spring.
Surprised about other oriental lilies I planted and forgot.
Also very happy about a gorgeous red water iris that got moved because it wasn't meant to be in soil.

First time planting veggies in a raised bed and the Red pepper got some sort of Wilt disease and had to be pulled out.
Then, my squash got powdery mildew. I got exactly one baby squash the whole summer. I hate squash, they spread out and take up so much room (for nothing in my case!).
My matos were okay. Got a lot of cherry tomatoes, love them.
My neighbor gave my DH something from her garden last month. She mentioned to him that she didn't get any tomatoes this year. I kept telling my DH I didn't see any tomatoes on her plants. (I can see them right outside my window) What a shame, she planted about 10 tomato plants this year again and they all started looking really terrible. I think she may have to treat her soil, I think something is in it, probably a fungus.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Wavy,

Some of my Pleasant Surprises actually started out as Disappointments!

My Pleasant Surprises:
1. I survived the gardening season and an almost complete reno of my garden!
2. My roses survived the winter without being babied. Even a potted gift rose that has now survived 2 winters outdoors. It had 3 blooms altho is still only about a foot tall (may not grow larger). This summer I planted it in the garden without it's pot. Usually I've buried the pot but since it seems to be a survivor it can be permanent.
3. The maple tree that appeared dead early in the spring returned and looks healthy (altho needed a severe pruning to remove dead wood).
4. Bought some dark red snapdragons which is a color I don't usually use. They started out slowly (pruned by the squirrels!) but soon bushed out, bloomed, and were very pretty. I'll use them again.
5. Didn't fertilize as much as usual but almost everything grew very well, even plants in containers. Just tried it as an experiment as I suspect over-fertilizing is a common practice for many of us. Still going to use compost but won't bother using as many other organic amendments/fertilizer.
6. The common day lilies the marmot ate tops off and dug up and even ate some of the tubers came back well after replanting close to my house. Even a few blooms.
7. First year ever I've had Autumn Joy bloom and continue blooming without being eaten by the deer as I now have deer fencing.

My Disappointing Misses:
1. Biggest disappointment was my Limelight Hydrangea which never really bloomed, the blooms started late and never developed fully. Only reason I can think of is that I amended that bed with old manure last fall. Other plants there grew much larger leaves than usual so I think the N was high. It got compost this fall.
2. The chipmunks ate many of my petunias and 'pruned' many other plants. Little so-and-so's!

Last Thanksgiving, my sister gave a hibiscus that she had bought. She couldn't remember if it was a tropical or hardy. Anyway, i planted it in the spring, on the south side of the house. it didn't bloom this year, but it is about 3'tall.
Another wonderful surprise is one that i got from bana. i saw the bears breeches that she posted and I just had to have some. she went on an on about how invasive it was. I have 33 acres and i need something that is invasive. She sent me some and I planted it. Can't remember how many months ago it was but today I noticed this new sprout that i've never seen before. I was beside myself, I was sooooo happy.

Fun thread. It's nice to know we have company with our hits/misses!

I finally reworked the front garden bed and was happy with the result...for a little while.

The yellow canna that were so pretty...for a little while...are gone. Discovered that they have a virus with no recovery. So out-out-out they went.

On a good note, blue porterweed sent off shoots and is filling in some bare spots for free. Love that!