Susan’s Annuals

January 2012 – New List Almost Finished

Susan Iglehart — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:53:41 +0000

Exciting plants for your garden this year….Lovely Snapdragon Twinny Peach will lead the way. Every garden needs a spike to give it a boost. This is a winner for color and structure. Add this to your thoughts for this years order.

The most delicious tomato ever is my new favorite, Cherokee Purple, an heirloom organic star. The craziest and most interesting vegetable ever is the Cucuzzi, Serpent of Sicily, a zucchini. Saute with garlic and tomatoes, oh my! Also it can grow to 2′ or more and amaze the kids.

Returning dependable favorites will be featured and to keep up with the times we are working on the option of ordering online. Not quite perfected yet. Stay tuned, more news soon.

The First Seeds Have Sprouted

Susan Iglehart — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:32:48 +0000

Oh my goodness, Heirloom tomatoes, dahlias from seed and Firecracker vine- they are up ! Some snoozy nicotiana seeds and verbenas are giving me concern, maybe a few more days will do it.

Being hooked on seed starting began years ago in my downstairs on my ping pong table with shop lights suspended by chains from the ceiling It is so easy to monitor and as soon as possible, off the seedlings go to the real light of the greenhouse. Under one shop light with 2 florescent tubes you can start hundreds of plants. If you like the idea of starting your own unique plants it only takes that one piece of equipment although there are lots of cool aids are out there to buy on the internet.

Today Susan Reimer gave a talk with lots of ideas of internet sources for design ideas, plant and seeds sources, and answers to questions great and small. Stay with her blog Garden Variety for all the kinds of good thoughts and ideas.

Susan Reimer Loves Flowers

Susan Iglehart — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:22:49 +0000

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/features/gardening/2011/02/custom_grown_flowers_by_susan.html

Baltimore Sun writer and garden blogger of Garden Variety, Susan Reimer, gave us such a boost by telling a bit about the unique plants we grow.

We are lining up all the seeds and starting the early ones right now! Maryland has its own conditions and some great plants are not at the garden centers. Check out the beautiful seed packets and start your seeds now or read my list of plants and see if there is something there that would be a thrilling addition. Who can resist Morning Glory ‘Flying Saucers’ or get along without tireless blooming of the white daisy Zinnia Angustifolia or “creeping daisy”?

Warm Greenhouse

Susan Iglehart — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 16:36:43 +0000

The dahlias are in their pots soaking up the warmth. Dahlias lovely foliage will fill spaces in the bed and landscape and have continual blooms all summer. The Karma tubers came from Holland and are gorgeous. My new favorite, Fiesta, is apricot to soft orange. Fuchsiana is beautiful bright pink going toward yellow in the center, not really fuchsia. Very similar to the Lantana ‘Confetti’ pictured at the top of the page. Naomi is remarkably elegant burgundy which makes the whole vase of flowers come alive.

Yes, there is still room in the greenhouse for me to take a few more orders. Spring is in the air!!!

Maryland Gardens and Susan’s Annuals

Susan Iglehart — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:00:20 +0000

Let’s share experiences with plants from Susan Iglehart’s Flowers and how they do in Maryland gardens, planters, and porches. What has done well and what wasn’t good. All comments are welcome so we can learn from each other how to grow each variety to be its most beautiful and delightful best.

1. Last summer both Nemesia ‘Raspberry’ and ‘Opal Innocence’ did really well in my garden bed, lasted all summer. – Frances

2. Emilia was wonderful, reseeded several times during the summer. I’m getting more this year. – Mary

3. I am interested in annual flowers that will be in bloom for July 15th that I can grow for table center pieces at a reunion. I live in Natick, MA 01760. – Joyce (today)

my answer…
Hi Joyce,

We don’t ship our plants at this time. I wish you were around the corner and I could start wonderful annuals for you.

I would suggest you find a grower and ask for ageratum ‘blue horizon’, cosmos, zinnias, lisianthus, nicotiana, snapdragons and small sunflowers. Tell them you are looking for varieties with long enough stems to make arrangements.

Or have 10″ shallow white plastic bulb pans planted with fancy leaf or scented geramiums, ‘lemon gem’ marigolds (which small like lemons) and euphorbia ‘diamond frost’, they can then be taken home and grown on the porch for the rest of the summer.

If I think of a grower I know in your area I will let you know. The only person I can think of right now is Allen Haskell Horticulturalists in New Bedford.

Good luck,

Susan