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Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Okay, I thought of something.

Please, please help me with these flowers. I bought them at Lowe's about a month ago and put them in two hanging baskets on my porch. Now, I love these hanging baskets. I picked them out for Mother's Day one year. And when I'm in the kitchen I can see them. So I see them often. And I really love them.

You should know that I'm a terrible gardener. I'd like to be a skilled gardener -- someone who can walk into a yard and know exactly what to do to shape things up. But I am so not that person. I walk into my yard and go "huh?" I've mastered raking and general pruning of shrubs. But that is it.

I'm such a bad gardener that I can't even find the little tag for these plants. I think they are creeping phlox. But I could be completely wrong.

We started out strong together. I bought some Miracle Grow potting soil and planted them in the baskets. And I watered them every other day or so. I've noticed the water drains very quickly out the bottom. Which means the soil dries out quickly too. Now the plants seem to be losing blooms (the idea here was that the plants would fill out the baskets, not shrink) and there are some yellow leaves. Which I thought means overwatering. But the soil's dry. Which leads me to water them.

I don't think this is how it's supposed to go.

Of course, we have had tons of rainy, dreary weather. Maybe they just miss the sun? Maybe I jumped the gun and planted too early? Maybe I have no idea what I'm doing?

Maybe you know what you are doing and can advise me?

8 comments:

hchybinski said...

sorry Marci - my thumbs are both brown. . .how about a festive bow??? some cute paper flowers or birds??LOL

good luck -
Hillary

Anonymous said...

hello marci,

wow hanging baskets with flowers! so jealous..we are barely seeing the green peek out of hte snow banks! ick...

you might put your creeping phlox in the garden and let it spread and do it 's thing there. for hanging baskets you need things that trail, continuous colour and a bit of variety. i put ten or twelve different types and colours of flowers and foliage in my baskets. variety is the spice of life after all!

go for colour..and more kinds and you will love it.

donna, london ontario canada!

Anonymous said...

Marci...

Finally a subject I can help you with! I live in Memphis as well and I think you just planted too early. I love container gardening and usually mix my media(flowers) in them. But, I never, ever plant before April 18. They just can't take this cool, wet, overcast weather. You might can save them but you might have to replant...sorry! Gardening is a learned skill over time just like scrapbooking!

De <><

Anonymous said...

Marci...

I just thought of something. You might also need to replace the moss liner if your water is spilling out too quickly. You probably don't need to water as often as you have been until the heat of summer. Once or twice a week should be enough until the sun and heat appear in Memphis. But think about replacing that liner!

De <><

Patrice~ said...

yep.
check the liner.
and check your fertilizer.
esp the phosphorous
and potassium numbers.

Natalie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Natalie said...

Hey Marci! That's a Candytuft plant. They have a hard time with damp soil and should be watered maybe twice a week. And they like sun. Other than that, you could always Google them and see what "real" gardeners have to say about them. Good luck!
Love,
~Natalie
PS Sorry I deleted the previous post but I had a computer issue. :)

Mrs Pretzel said...

I don't know you, but I can help you with those... You probably need to prune them. They look like they need to be "dead headed" which simply means cutting off the flowers to encourage more, NEW growth. If you don't do this, most flowers will stop producing flowers. When you dead head, the plant creates more flowers to aid in pollination. If you don't, the plant thinks the job's done, and stops making flowers.
The advice about watering was good to.