Week 22, Year 1: The Destruction

After a fairly uneventful, but beautiful September, the frost rolled in with the first of October. I had to deliver the death chop to almost all of my plants in order to save them for next year. It was pretty heartbreaking, but yesterday, I painstakingly cut all of their growth and brought them inside. Eventually, I plan to bring the pots down to our storage room in the parking lot/basement of our apartment building. It is actually not a "dry" storage area, so the semi-dampness might be the perfect hibernation zone. However, because it is four floors below, and I will need to keep watering the pots throughout the winter, the newly sheared containers are hanging out in our bathroom.

The frost is supposed to go away next week, so I plan to let the containers enjoy a few more days of sun before sending them into official hibernation. The only container that avoided the chop was the newest container of mums, which are supposed to be frost resistant - we shall see on that one though.

A couple others made it indoors to see how they make it throughout the winter.

Otherwise, it is time to start enjoying the store bought cut flowers.

Stay tuned for some final thoughts on this summer's success. But, for now, enjoy the rest of the pictures of the destruction:

Week 16 - Year 1: And Then There Were None

Like the character's in Dame Christie's epic thriller, my plants are dropping off like flies. This is probably not surprising as we are reaching the end of summer and transitioning torwads fall. This month my plants have battled with being indoor refugees, humidity, weird infestations, dropping nighttime temps, heavy winds, downpours and extreme changes between dry and humid air. Needless to say, not all of them have made it. Here's an update on the latest casualties:

Browallia

Sadly, it looks like these guys got the bug infestation. They began wilting and turning brown in early August and finally gave up the fight mid month. I left the roots in the container because browallia is supposedly a perennial. However, if it died from a disease, it may not come back at all and/or infect my other plants, so it is a catch 22. I think I will have to quarantine it over winter. I am still watering it though with winter in mind.

Sunflowers

These guys barely made it a week! They just wilted and never recovered. I had planted them in the container that was previously inhabited by the now departed campagnula, which had the little white flecks all over it and in its soil. We thoroughly cleaned the container, but apparently it wasn't enough because I found the same white flecks in the sunflower's soil. It's depressing to lose these guys so fast.

Begonias

Early this week, I discovered that half of the begonias had basically given up. It looks like the plant got too heavy for its stem and just keeled over. Fortunately, 1/3 of the plant was still standing up right so it is not totally dead. I was able to salvage the other 2/3 as cut flowers to enjoy at the office.

Week 8 - Year 1: The Clematis Files

Unlike Harry Potter, I do not have a Resurrection Stone, but there must be some magic in the air because the Clematis are back and in business. Back in May, it seemed like I had taken a wrong turn with the clematis and I had trimmed them back down to start over. 5 Weeks later and it seems to be working. I moved both plants to the eastern exposure of the porch and replanted their soil. They both have new growth and the purple one is even blooming, while the red one has 5 buds about to bloom.

The purple one is really taking off.

It has grown vines all over the porch spindles and is even attempting to attack the petunias' box (which should make for an interesting fight given the petunia's battle history).

The red one was a bit slower to respond, but seems to be on its way. It has a healthy amount of vine growth and tons of new buds ready to bloom. The only lingering problem is that it hasn't really stuck itself anywhere yet, so it just sort of hangs there hoping to get comfortable. I keep wrapping it around spindles to inspire it, but it just doesn't take.

If these guys make it, the next worry will be winter. These are perennials and I would like to try to save them is possible over the winter. I've started devising an experiment upon the suggestion of a great co-worker, who has been the best gardening advisor. She has generously offered to plant them in her yard to see if they make it through the winter. So, as an experiment, I'm thinking we plant one and then I winter the other in the damp storage unit in the basement parking garage to our apartment building. It will be interesting to see if they make it. However, this is only July, so I've got a lot of time to plan this experiment. For now, I will just continue to baby these guys and enjoy their progress.

***7/24/10 - Update, the red one finally bloomed and it's spectacular! It's actually more of a magenta than a red, but either way it's gorgeous!