AG3 English Cottage

[ocarolina]

Those are beautiful! I am so impatient that I would have them divided and planted outside.  You did a great job!

[bab43]

Thanks Caroline!

[Liz]

I've never paid much attention to petunias before but those are stupendous!  What a magnificent burst of color!  I love the possibility of growing something that beautiful even in winter.  Great job, Marianne!

[bab43]

Thanks Liz!  I wasn't thinking about flowers when I first got an AG, but my Mom said at one point, Oh - you can grow flowers in them too!  Now I have a few other flower kits lined up.  Going through the different GLOGs on this forum, there are such nice ones being grown.

I always used to find petunias quite easy to grow outside.  A nice plant that wants some water, but otherwise not fussy and continues to bloom throughout the summer.  I don't remember even deadheading them, but I did with the tulips so probably I did. 

On another note, this silent AG3 could be heard way over in the other room after I removed some of the branches.  Moving the plant around a bit didn't help.  I moved the machine itself half an inch and it's silent again.  I'm definitely going to have to take a good look inside...

[bab43]

After 21 weeks in the AG3, I decided to move the petunias outside.  I was keen to start a new garden and the airstone was making a terrific amount of noise - cleaning certainly did help that.

I used a pot that fit inside the main one but left about an inch in the bottom for water to collect.  I filled it with black earth soaked with tap water, made room for the long roots to go right down so they could get to the water reservoir at the bottom.  I wanted to take off the plastic pod piece, but there was no way - decided not to try and cut it off.

This is after a week outside.  I find if I keep it watered so that the saucer stays full, the plant is happy.  The first blooms were intense in color.


A bloom 3 days after a branch had been discarded on the lawn:


A quick shot before the lightning storms today.  It's been outside for 12 days - the blooms are not quite so intense anymore but still a beautiful colour.  Some blurriness in the right-hand flowers because of the wind.

[graycyn]

They are gorgeous and look happy to be out there!

[bab43]

Thanks Cynthia!  I'm hoping to keep them out there until the snow arrives. 

[graycyn]

I'm pretending I didn't hear anything about snow!

[Corinne]

So very pretty and colorful...but you didn't say the "S" word!  Please tell me you didn't!

[bab43]

The farewell to the petunias, this was the last good picture of the petunias moved outside, taken mid-October.  It was already beginning to suffer from a couple of cold nights, but there were at least a dozen healthy buds - I think it would have done well if the weather had held up.

Due to indoor bug issues it didn't come inside.  Sad, but there's always the next one. 

[Bobbie]

It's always hard to say good bye to our plants.  They become almost like pets.