Does anyone have something they're especially excited to see growing this year? I've always been more of a house plant person and I'm trying more outside stuff this year, so I'll enjoy anything. I have some morning glory seeds and moon flower seeds that I think will be nice. I planted some together a long time ago and they were really pretty, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they do this time. I put some in my grandkids' Easter baskets so it will be fun to hear if those grow.
We're re-doing the foundation landscaping in front of our house so we'll be going to the garden center(s) this week. I'm so excited to see all the flowers and little vegetable plants; there's no telling what I might come home with.
Nothing outside yet as there is still almost 4 feet of snow on the ground, but I planted some pretty greens in pots today and I am always excited to get plants into he garden.
I used to really enjoy growing veggies right outside of our garage. I had collards that I ate, a few giant leaves at a time, but the squash bugs decided they liked them, too, as did these obnoxious little green caterpillars who skeletonized one of my best plants, overnight. The collards thrived for three years, but the insects ended them. I used various natural dusts and soaps, but to no avail. Also, with the dusts, I could not use them up to harvest, for safety's sake.
I'm the same as you, Charlene. I've been a house plant person for the longest time, but the only "landscaping plant" I've messed with was a hydrangea I inherited when I bought my last house. I keep threatening to plant "butterfly plants" or things that are hummingbird-friendly, but so far, it's only been a threat.
Holy toledo; I got sticker shock at the garden center. 1-gallon little boxwood hedge was $39! Decent sized bushes were $60-$300 EACH. Good heavens, it's been a long time since I looked at landscape plants. Maybe we should just pave the front yard.
Even the little starts of garden plants, like tomatoes and cucumbers have about doubled from last year. When I bough the little ones last spring, they we just over $2 each, and now they are almost $5, and more for the larger size starts. I got most of my garden seeds at the dollar store, and Dollar Tree still has seeds 4/$1, and a good selection of basic garden veggies and flowers. I am not sure why landscaping plants have gone up so much, but I think that we are having a lot more people who want to grow something edible. I have been trying to decide which plant is my favorite. I love the Moonflowers, but I have not planted any this year. The Morning Glory’s usually reseed themselves pretty well, and Bobby and I enjoy how colorful they are. Every year, my peony comes up, and then it dies back before it can bloom, or it gets run over with the lawnmower and doesn’t come back. I think that this year, I may try moving it to a large container and see if it does better. My mom had lots of peonies, and they are one of my favorite flowers, along with lilacs. This is an old picture with her peonies all in bloom and ready to be made into bouquets for Memorial Day.
Some people are worried about the future and are trying to get orchards started. Many don't know that it might be several years before the fruit trees yield anything. The market is hot for berry bushes as well, as my son sells them and he is already getting orders. We sell vegetable plants, so hopefully demand will be up for them as well. In 2020, we sold everything we could market, even stuff that we would not normally have sold as it didn't look the greatest. We are beginning to get pre-orders, but I don't even have all the seeds started yet....
My friend owns a garden center. Things are expensive...if you can even find them. Fertilizer in going through the roof (the cost of oil is driving it.) A century-old seed company (Meyer) in Baltimore has shut its doors. The next generation is not interested, and sale of the property (they own an entire city block) is gonna yield two generations' worth of gross sales, much less profit.
I noticed that there was not nearly the selection this spring that they typically have. Not sure if this is still a result of the "Great Texas Freeze of '21" combined with other factors. I told my hubby we shouldn't have been so hasty in digging up the old stuff. We need about a dozen or so shrubs out there, and I want a tree, too.
There are only two peach trees that can withstand Wisconsin winters. I started one from seed (a Contender) and this is it's third year. It is surrounded by a fence! We have a lot of 'natural pruning' going on around here. Hope I get a peach. The other, a reliance, really should make a peach as it had one blossom last year. Hope springs eternal. At another house I had a Reliance peach tree. It did great. We had peaches in bags ripening all over the house. Then we had a baaaaadd winter and it died back. It recovered and bore again. But it was then girded by rabbits and died for real. We have a goodly number of berry bushes on one pie left in the freezer. I was going to try another pear tree as our old ones are dying but maybe not if they are so expensive. I have a grapefruit tree growing from a seed . That definitely will not grow here, outside, btut will see what size container I can keep it alive in. My impatiens spit seeds all over and I have flowers I can put out when it warms up. I love them, petunias and coleus for planters. You can eat nasturtiums. The flowers can make a nice display
I bet most of your stuff comes from Florida and Canada...just like everyone else. I'm in the process of shopping for an outbuilding for my tractor, and I am kicking myself in the butt for having waited until prices were "high enough." Dumass
Canada?? There are tons of wholesale nurseries in east and south Texas. Agriculture is big in the Rio Grande Valley. Most of the southern states have big nursery operations, though Florida probably leads the pack.