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I was just wondering if this was just me. In the past few years, I've gotten much better at "gardening". The things that have done well for me in the past(zinnias, nasturtium, cannas, marigolds, glads, etc) just haven't performed as they have in the past. Granted, I did try a new type of zinnia, Candy Cane mix. So far, NONE of them is striped, they just look like my regular zinnias! I have noticed one that is starting to open that appears to have a bright pink center with yellowy orange petals. Strange. I did also try different nasturtium, the variegated Alaskan mix, which have done well. But, I also got the Carribean cooler ones, and they just haven't done well. Not to mention they're almost all yellow except for a few salmon colored ones, which don't seem to be as healthy. My cannas which normally do really well, are about 1/2 the size and not all of them came up. I always put them in the same place and have good results. Lastly, I planted some moss rose seeds, and have only had one come up...months after I planted it. It just seems as if this has been a weird growing season, with the weather we've had and everything. Or, I'm losing my touch before I even had a firm grasp on it!! Is this just me, or are other people having problems too?
I'm up near Chicago, but my garden has not been acting as usual either. I put it down to the late arrival of warm weather plus the ridiculous amount of rain in early June. Half of my well established stand of Shasta daisies died overnight, and my annuals are really slow. Plus my 2 clematis only put out about half the flowers the usually do. Oh well, there's always next year!
I'm not even in your area but yes it's been an 'off' year for my gardens too. I think the late freeze we had really set the plants back and that added to our drought conditions have really affected the plants negatively. Comparing to last year I have so many plants that act as though they are stunted. lol They just have not grown as well this year even though I have fertilized. The plants look healthy just much smaller than usual.
Us too. Cold, cold spring. Unusally cold nights so far this summer (is it summer yet?) I'm a month late and some things are blooming at the same time that never do. We lost more than usual to winter kill too this year. ok that does it, it's unanimous - 2008 is officially cancelled.
lol, this definately makes me feel better. Another thing I've noticed is that the toads are still babies. Normally by now, we have a whole bunch of gigantic toads hopping around the house. Right now, they're just little cricket sized babies. I hope it doesn't screw up their "growing season" too!
Our weather has been weird here, first it took FOREVER for it to warm up, then we'd hit the 90's. Then it would be cooler than normal. We flooded twice, and now we're back up to the 90's again. Which, that is at least normal. Up until now, though, we got into this pattern of "severe weather" where the temps would rise in a couple of days, bring severe storms out of the blue, it'd cool off. Then the temps would rise again in a couple of days and it'd start all over again. This is the first week that we haven't had rain every couple of days. I've actually had to water...my weird, scrawny plants...lol.
I hate to hear sad gardening stories--all the work and expectations lost to the heat, drought or flooding rains. In RI we have had fluctuating temps in the beginning of the season, followed by a couple weeks of tropical, but it has settled with the usual hot and muggy weather. I am afraid to say that most of my flowers and veggies are doing just fine because as is the case with gardening, I could go home to find deer, woodchuck and rabbits having a party or the rain we are promised on Monday might not come. We never know what the weather will bring but I think we are all optimists at heart, especially in January when all the seed catalogues begin to arrive. I hope for better gardening weather for all!
Trixie
