Gardens 2026

[Harriet]

Experiment - crazy woman counting out loud in her garden holding a watering can. But it's so I can spend money wisely next year, that I've been counting petunia blooms in the mornings. All have had about the same soil, sun, water.

I'm pretty sure petunias won't be one I'll start from seed next year - they're hard seeds to start, seeds of the hybrids won't be true anyway, plus the plants are such a value at nurseries because one hybrid plant can end up looking like 3 or 4 seed-started ones.

Bloom counts mid-summer, per plant:

Cool Jazz's small bloom and faint lilac color gets lost among others, so, not a keeper
Hoopla purple with white edges get attention, but only about 5 blooms a day each, so... ..
Bordeau purple/white are down to 9 blooms per plant a day, but was best earlier in the year
Saffron Finch yellow, complete turnaround, averaging 20 small yellow blooms per plant per day
SuperCal dark pink (cross of Petunia with Calibrachoa) over 20 a day, largest blooms
Jazzberry purple has gone completely uncountable - 30-plus small blooms daily, lush plants
Bubble Gum pink is uncountable - 30-plus of second-largest blooms, has the butterflies' vote

Anyway, ya'll don't worry - I'm still sane I'm pretty sure.

[Kittykatt]

Harriet, to me it sounds like a very sensible scientific experiment! After all, the mind can play tricks over time.amd.if your have a written record of what worked best for you, you'll know what to spend your money on next year. My DDeparted FIL was a great gardener and grew lots from seed, including petunias, and always had a "good show". I, OTOH, don't seem to be able to make them happy - when I've grown them in the past, they go "leggy" quickly (not enough light perhaps? Strange though, as the geraniums (pelargoniums) usually do well for me).

[Nancy]

I was up early to let the doggo out to P.
Did some watering on the grass.
Also painted the bottom of a side table after turning it upside down.
It's on the out door counter workspace to dry today.
Got the lawn furniture on the patio for now.
So it does not get fireworks on them.
Also so I could mow did that last nite at dusk and saw the head lite on my mower on!
Glad I did that already so I could walk watch games or what ever today.
Barely any of the seeds I planted came up.
I just focus on what reseeds on it's own and grow those!
Hoping for some marigold seeds that do that.