The Almost Summer Garden

[mdehners]

Well, astrologically it's next week but here in East Tennessee the Temps have hit 90F a couple of times already. Nights are still Cool so I'm still getting blossoms on my Sweet Pea vines. It's been more than 20 yrs I've lived where I would get more than a week of blooms before the heat flattened them. This Blue tinted White cultivar(NOID) I'll definitely Save but I'm getting more to try this Fall!
Things are doing fairly well but a lot of them are tests for the area I now live in. Some that I don't have to worry about I've seen in neighboring gardens like Hellebores, Bearded Irises, Columbines and Daylilies(guess the Rust Plague hasn't reached here like my old location).
Most of my Growing areas are basically free-standing flowerbeds. I'm only planting Perennials one or more zones colder in them.
For some reason I've suddenly before enamored with Hardy Geraniums. Unfortunately, more than 50% of those I ordered didn't sprout. Sadly, many of the American sources are like Holland Bulb and such, well known for poor handling and storage of materials. I've found a few seed sources which I'll Stratify in Fall to start in late Winter. Sadly, I'm finding better quality sources on Ebay and Etsy....
Cheers,
Pat

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Well, astrologically it's next week but here in East Tennessee the Temps have hit 90F a couple of times already.<<

It went over 100F in May, here in Central Illinois. O_O

>>This Blue tinted White cultivar(NOID) I'll definitely Save but I'm getting more to try this Fall!<<

That's good to hear.

>>Things are doing fairly well but a lot of them are tests for the area I now live in. <<

Consider landrace gardening, and particularly, setting up a hybrid swarm of many different cultivars to find those that thrive in your area so can adapt to create a local landrace. For legumes especially, see if you can get your hands on any of the old Cherokee varieties. I bet they don't give up after a week of blooms. My recurring posts tag has a series on landrace gardening on Thursdays if you're into seed saving and local adaptations.

>>Sadly, many of the American sources are like Holland Bulb and such, well known for poor handling and storage of materials.<<

Burgess sent my order in mid-June and FedEx shipped it in circles for 2 weeks in 100F heat. :/ Unsurprisingly it all arrived dead. They issued a credit, rather than a refund -- after I had decided not to buy from them again because, obviously, they don't deliver anymore. For reference, planting season for dormant things in my area is March-April, so that's 3 months late.

Re: Thoughts

[mdehners]

I've run into better luck through Ebay and Etsy....as long as they're N American or UK. Outside of Japan I've had very poor results from Asian sources; either dead/nonviable or not what I ordered. Just got 1 order from vendors from each and ALL were healthy. Now, let's see how they do;>!
One should do well since it's location is about 500 miles SE of us;>
Cheers,
Pat