David Austin Roses In Containers. 3 Aug 24

 The patio David Austin Roses are doing very nice, in their first year.  I need to dead-head pretty often.  From top to bottom, Bring Me Sunshine (with a honeybee), Boscobel, and Darcy Bussell.   They are making another splash of new buds now, too.

Two are in the vegetable / fruit garden, less ideal due to being shaded by the peach tree, and I don't pamper them as much.  Below, Vanessa Bell.

Not including Silas Marner here, only a couple of flowers.  

This winter, I might remove these two from these containers and pot up same as the previous three, in potting soil and on wheels, for the patio.  Especially Vanessa Bell, which has the best (myrrh) fragrance.  That's a lot of container roses.  I don't know.  Plus there's a rooted cutting from a fragrant old rose, unknown ID.

So far the container roses don't have strong fragrance.  I get faint myrrh from Bring Me Sunshine and fainter old-rose from Boscobel.  Maybe it's the growing conditions?

Container Zinnias And Marigolds. 3 Aug 24.

 These came out pretty nice this year.  Plus, pollinating insects are buzzing and feeding on them all of the time,

Potting Up Some More Alpine Strawberries. 3 Aug 24.

 I had another container come available, so potted up another 8-pack batch of alpine strawberries.  They are well rooted, but not very potbound.  I didn't think it necessary to try breaking the roots up.  In this hot weather 90s F), I don't want to risk that much root trauma.  It doesn't seem necessary with such minimal root matting.  Unlike the first two batches, these were planted two seedlings per cell.  I don't know if that matters.

They have a lot more root space in this container.  I've never grown alpine strawberries before, so I don't know how much room they need.

Dividing And Replanting More Chinese Chives. 3 Aug 24.

 First, the clumps that I cleaned up, divided, and replanted, on 15 April 24.  Some were in a smaller container some in the container that I cleaned up and replanted them in.  That reestablished a nice colony.  I was careful to mulch deeply with tree leaves.  They are on the irrigation drip line.

Those are ready for a harvest.  I do give some nitrogen fertilizer about once a month, since they are a leafy vegetable and already have a deep, vigorous root system.

This week I also replanted another container, dividing the plants and replanting in rows in a raised bed.

I mixed crushed eggshells, coffee grounds, and chicken bone meal into the soil.

They also have a mulch of used coffee filters, covered with a leaf mould mulch.  They are on the drip lines.  I don't know if they will re-invigorate enough for a crop later this year.  Maybe.

Rufus Rolling In Grass. 3 Aug 24.

 Rufus loves rolling in the grass while I'm working.  Happy dog!

Mandevilla Vines In Bloom Again. 2 Aug 24.

 Here's the red Mandevilla vine.  I overwintered it in the garage, then prune heavily an repotted in larger container.  That was 20 April.

The pink one is a bit behind but has lots of buds.  I can post when it's more dramatic.

I occasionally gave them a diluted balanced fertilizer to get the leaves to fill out, then a bloom booster.  No high nitrogen - I don't want long straggly vines.

These don't seem to mind the heat at all.

Four O'Clocks (Mirabilis jalapa) Mostly Seed Grown. 3 Aug 24.

 Here are the 4:00's in bloom at about 9am.  They don't follow the "bloom at four o'clock" rule.  

These are my reliable favorites.  The yellow ones and magenta ones were my own seed saving.   I bought the seeds for the variegated ones.  Two were overwintered tubers from container plants.  The rest were seed - grown this Spring.  They actually have some shade, overhead and on their west side.

Deer and rabbits don't touch them.  They do need slug bait during wet Spring.  Supposedly, Japanese beetles eat the leaves which have an insecticidal toxin, but I don't know about that.

I water them about every few days.  They have an arborist chip mulch.  

Four O'clock roots usually overwinter fine, in place, here with no special treatment,

Seed-Grown Dwarf Dahlias. 3 Aug 24.

 These dahlias came out very nice.

They handle the hot weather just fine.  Deer and rabbits don't touch them.  The flowers are lovely.

I think I'll dig a couple in the fall, to overwinter the tubers for containers.

The single flowered ones are also beginning to come into bloom.  Bees like them.  There are also white and yellow ones, from the same packet.

I do water them every few days, and they have a arborist chip mulch.

Mini-Rose Update. 3 Aug 24.

 This is the pink rose that I bought on sale at the grocery store.  I tentatively identified it as ¿Light Pink Felicitas Kordana?     I repotted it 13 June.  It's done fine.  It started blooming during the past couple of days.  

This rose hasn't had any problems with weather in the 90s.  I keep it on the East side of the house, close to the house.

Now I've acclimated and given TLC to four different grocery gift mini roses.  Each has done great, and each is very different from the others.   My conclusion is, it's doable and they make nice plants, and re bloom nicely.  I think the main strategy is to repot them as soon as possible, in new, good quality potting soil.  Then TLC and no extreme conditions while they recover.  I used a diluted, balanced, general purpose houseplant fertilizer.

Bearded Iris Bed / Recovery / Rescue. 28 Jul 24.

The first bearded iris rhizomes that I cleaned up and replanted in the new bed, have recovered and are growing nicely.  They look sturdy. The most recent ones are still in a recovery mode after digging them, cleaning and pruning rhizomes, and replanting.

I've had too many years when they started out good, only to have infestations of fungal spot and bacterial rot ruin them in the Spring.  All I can say is "Wait and See".  But I can't help but feel good about the growth on the first group, and that I am going by my own observations and experiences rather than web-lore.

I did give them 1/4 strength balanced fertilizer.  I have to restrain myself, I don't want them to grow too lush.  That will be the only dose.

The geraniums are just sitting at the edges.  Doing very well.  I think I like older types, not the interspecies hybrids (zonal x ivy geranium).  Some of the hybrids are nice, but the leaf growth is so compact they shed water out of the pot, and the flowers are so prolific they cover the entire plant and look almost fake.

In the center, the Eucalyptus are growing nice in containers, as is the lavender.