Comments on: The Complete Flower Gardener: Book Review and Contest http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/ Hardy plants for hardy souls Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:32:16 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jeff Dahlberg http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/comment-page-1/#comment-27625 Jeff Dahlberg Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:02:38 +0000 http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/#comment-27625 My worst flower story is when my wife and I planted 5 pounds of wildflowers in a large area around our property between our lawn and the wild area that surrounded it. The flowers started to grow after about 10 days. It was a large area but my wife is very picky about weeds in our wildflowers so she convinced me to help her. We knew what most wildflower seedlings look like so we started picking the one we knew was a weed. We picked that weed for at least a month an a half. As it always is the case we missed a few of the "weeds" we were picking and to our amazement it turned out to be a beautiful looking purple wildflower named dames rocket. We knew of the flower but had never grown it and didn't realize it was in the mix. We laughed so hard we almost passed out. We had almost killed ourselves trying to get rid of every last one. We still get a kick out of the story over 10 years later. Jeff My worst flower story is when my wife and I planted 5 pounds of wildflowers in a large area around our property between our lawn and the wild area that surrounded it. The flowers started to grow after about 10 days. It was a large area but my wife is very picky about weeds in our wildflowers so she convinced me to help her. We knew what most wildflower seedlings look like so we started picking the one we knew was a weed. We picked that weed for at least a month an a half. As it always is the case we missed a few of the “weeds” we were picking and to our amazement it turned out to be a beautiful looking purple wildflower named dames rocket. We knew of the flower but had never grown it and didn’t realize it was in the mix. We laughed so hard we almost passed out. We had almost killed ourselves trying to get rid of every last one. We still get a kick out of the story over 10 years later. Jeff

]]> By: Trishia http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/comment-page-1/#comment-18261 Trishia Tue, 03 Jul 2007 19:51:51 +0000 http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/#comment-18261 I sadly can't give any garden-gone-sad tales of woe... I don't have a garden! After years of saying to myself "someday" I am doing it! I have 5 young children (my oldest is 8yrs old, my youngest is 1 month old) and I figure that even if I stumble along the way, they will learn with me! My mother gardens in pots (they built their house on an old corn field and are still working to get an actual lawn) and I love photographing the florals there. Some day soon I will have my very own garden to photograph! So I guess I am saying this book would help me to start my first garden with the kiddies! I sadly can’t give any garden-gone-sad tales of woe… I don’t have a garden! After years of saying to myself “someday” I am doing it! I have 5 young children (my oldest is 8yrs old, my youngest is 1 month old) and I figure that even if I stumble along the way, they will learn with me!

My mother gardens in pots (they built their house on an old corn field and are still working to get an actual lawn) and I love photographing the florals there. Some day soon I will have my very own garden to photograph!

So I guess I am saying this book would help me to start my first garden with the kiddies!

]]> By: Nicole http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/comment-page-1/#comment-18233 Nicole Tue, 03 Jul 2007 02:16:56 +0000 http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/#comment-18233 When I was a child my mother and I used to read the flower seed packets ( from the US and Europe) and buy the ones that claimed the plants were "hardy". Of course we didn't realize it meant hardy in terms of cold, not heat (which is what the term means here), and kept planting the all these temperate flower seeds! When I was a child my mother and I used to read the flower seed packets ( from the US and Europe) and buy the ones that claimed the plants were “hardy”. Of course we didn’t realize it meant hardy in terms of cold, not heat (which is what the term means here), and kept planting the all these temperate flower seeds!

]]> By: kate http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/comment-page-1/#comment-18119 kate Sat, 30 Jun 2007 16:54:03 +0000 http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/#comment-18119 Well, if I had read a book like this before I wandered into my first garden centre, I might have realised that Pelargoniums are not perennials ... at the time I thought well, Geraniums are Geraniums, right?, and the interesting, although mostly incomprehensible (to me in those days), garden writer in the newspaper said that Geraniums were wonderful perennials to get started with. If only there had been a picture, I might not have had to ask my neighbour why the Geraniums were not returning. He was such a sweetie and kindly explained the difference between annual Pelargoniums and perennial Geraniums. I learned a good lesson. Well, if I had read a book like this before I wandered into my first garden centre, I might have realised that Pelargoniums are not perennials … at the time I thought well, Geraniums are Geraniums, right?, and the interesting, although mostly incomprehensible (to me in those days), garden writer in the newspaper said that Geraniums were wonderful perennials to get started with. If only there had been a picture, I might not have had to ask my neighbour why the Geraniums were not returning. He was such a sweetie and kindly explained the difference between annual Pelargoniums and perennial Geraniums. I learned a good lesson.

]]> By: Oldroses http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/comment-page-1/#comment-18066 Oldroses Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:14:47 +0000 http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/#comment-18066 Am I the only gardener who is willing to admit that she has made a fool of herself in the garden? Well, here goes. There was a time when I wasn't clear about the difference between the common names of flowers and the botanical names. Most of the catalogs that I ordered seeds from at that time did not list the botanical names. I love sunflowers and when I saw perennial sunflowers in a catalog, I ordered them immediately. I WAS clear on the difference between perennial and annual, so these seemed really "exotic". I planted the seeds and waited. And waited and waited. None of them germinated. I did get a lot of weeds, which I removed, but no sunflowers. Luckily, I missed a few of the "weeds" which turned out to be the perennial sunflowers, Helianthus maximiliani. They look completely different from annual sunflowers, Helianthus anuus. I definitely could have used a good book on flowers to explain all this to me and warn me that perennial sunflowers are prairie wildflowers that spread (and spread and spread. I'm still trying to get rid of them!) by underground stems. Who knew? A sunflower is a sunflower, right? Am I the only gardener who is willing to admit that she has made a fool of herself in the garden? Well, here goes. There was a time when I wasn’t clear about the difference between the common names of flowers and the botanical names. Most of the catalogs that I ordered seeds from at that time did not list the botanical names. I love sunflowers and when I saw perennial sunflowers in a catalog, I ordered them immediately. I WAS clear on the difference between perennial and annual, so these seemed really “exotic”. I planted the seeds and waited. And waited and waited. None of them germinated. I did get a lot of weeds, which I removed, but no sunflowers. Luckily, I missed a few of the “weeds” which turned out to be the perennial sunflowers, Helianthus maximiliani. They look completely different from annual sunflowers, Helianthus anuus. I definitely could have used a good book on flowers to explain all this to me and warn me that perennial sunflowers are prairie wildflowers that spread (and spread and spread. I’m still trying to get rid of them!) by underground stems. Who knew? A sunflower is a sunflower, right?

]]> By: Carol http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/comment-page-1/#comment-17968 Carol Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:13:15 +0000 http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2007/06/27/the-complete-flower-gardener-book-review-and-contest/#comment-17968 Great review. I have a lot of books on gardening and growing flowers, but the ones I don't have always sound better than those I do! I'll have to think what aggravation flowers have caused me. Most of my current aggravation actually takes place in the vegetable garden these days. Great review. I have a lot of books on gardening and growing flowers, but the ones I don’t have always sound better than those I do!

I’ll have to think what aggravation flowers have caused me. Most of my current aggravation actually takes place in the vegetable garden these days.

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