A DISCUSSION ABOUT SOLUTIONS TO GARDEN PROBLEMS

The best thing to do to avoid blights is to only buy your transplants from known (and local) source greenhouses where they don't mix huge crops of seedlings together and invite blight as carryover from last year.

THEN-make sure you've got a new area to plant your tomatoes (peppers and potatoes are also in the solinacea family)
SO the blights can hang around an area for several years unless you have some really cold winters.

I used to plant old fashioned marigolds among my garden plants but have found that while basil enhances a tomatoes flavor, so will added calcium and magnesium (Epsom salts and limestone powder)

I dug up the onions this week. Some were satisfactory, but about 15 of them didn't get much bigger than they were as starters. The bulbs are still healthy, just no greenery. I'm wondering if I could replant them as starters and have them grow a second set of greenery or overwinter for the Spring.

Any ideas?

They'll probably grow well but I wouldn't expect a large bulb. Like you said, Id use em for green onions or onion tops for Chinese cooking.

When we returned from the Bay, we were really blown away at how thickly our various thickets of CONEFLOWERS had bloomed out. We have some in areas mixed with black eyed Susans and they are stunning. Our neighbor took pictures while we were away and he drove over to show us his collection (He stuck em on an iPad)

MY QUESTION IS::

Some coneflowers have little spots of what appear to be green leafy growth in the center of the coneflower bloom. It looks as if the flowers send up a new "Volunteer" plant from the dying flower (not all do this , just maybe 1 or 2%. SO I broke these off and planted the flower with the spiny central mass pointing UP.
Does anyone know whether this is a way of plnt propogation (We have another sevrel beds of deep orange red coneflowers and vert fragrant ones of a nice white , like a daisy.

These are underappreciated plants that love to mass bloom .

anyone know if asexual propogation by flower planting is a valid technique

Your description of growth from the center of a flower bloom sounds like quite the phenomenon. Hope you took pictures of that. Perhaps it would help the understanding process. It reminds me of when all my pink periwinkles started blooming green. Pale green petals on every stem. I thought it an extra terrestrial pee-ed in them or something silly. Turns out it was just the nutrient levels mixed with the type of soil they were growing in.

Are you sure it is a coneflower? Not a type of helianthus or rudbeckia?

... Let's define asexual propagation.

Asexual propagation is used to maintain selections of known identity and quality and includes such techniques as division, air-layering, grafting and cuttings. Asexual propagation creates plants that are genetically identical to the parent plant.

Sexual propagation is a natural process resulting in a parent plant forming seeds that create offspring that are not genetically identical to the parent plant, as in asexual propagation.

Both types of propagation have positive attributes. Asexual propagation allows you to reproduce or clone the parent plant exactly. This is especially useful when the parent plant has desirable characteristics such as a white cone flower or hybrid appearances. 
Asexual propagation preserves the characteristics of the parent plant. The plants produced by asexual propagation will also flower faster than those produced by sexual propagation because plants grown from seed need to pass through a juvenile period before they flower. 
Asexually propagated plants are mature when they are propagated and begin to flower immediately. 
Sexual propagation has several benefits as well. Growing from seed is cheap and easy. Growing plants from seed produce offspring which are not genetically identical to the parent; therefore, the propagated plant will be genetically diverse from the parent plant. Such as a white cone flower reverting back to mauve color.  I've heard plenty of success stories in asexual propagation involving coneflower/echinacea. But, it takes patience. Division would be your best bet.

This sounds interesting.

they are echinaceae. Ive planted the plant flowers and will hve to wait till next growing season to see what happens.
Ill keep this as a , sort of , garden journal with several other garden adventures.
Weve been away for most of the time since August and, now that were back, Ive been checking the results of my raised bed garden experiments (Ive planted several tomato types in various garden soil mixes). While we were away I asked our "house sitters" to tke creful notes of the amounts and relative sizes of the tomatoes they get from ach bus. The apparent winner is an indeterminate Italian variety called 'Pomodoro Tuscanii". It may be a seed varietal but I haven't found anything on it. (I hope it wasn't a hybrid cause I am saving seed).

I also came back to a gourd/pumpkin garden that hs delivered probably over 75 different types of pumpkins and gourds. Ive got some "Ladle Gourds" that have climbed a Kawanzan Cherry and have dropped their gourdlings like fruit from the tree. Each one that is tree grown has a perfectly strait "hndle end" while those that sprawled on the ground have curved handle ends. So using a "fence" to let them suspend from is best for this variety.

I 'm thinking of acquiring some low-maintenance colorful flora for realty in south Florida.
I 've never been much of an expert in horticulture. Curious.





David

I think oso is the ranking expert on temperate/Mediterranean plants.
Get a book that talks about native plantings for USDA zone 9 (I think Fla is mostly zone 9)

You can basically grow anything in Florida that does NOT require seasonal stratification by a period of frost.

I'm in north Florida. Used to live in South Florida.
Just about anything you want will grow in south Fl.
It's not the same in North Fl. I have to bring everything inside for the winter.
South Fl. Is pretty tropical. You name it, you can probably grow it.
If you're really far south you can even get away with bougainvillea and various cactus. If you want aesthetics, mass blooms and color - I would suggest some flowering vines ... Like, mandevilla or clematis. At this point it all depends on what your sub-tropical landscape dreams are. It's easy to look around and see what your neighbors have flourishing.
If you need an extensive list, let me know. I can write a ridiculously long one.
How much space is there?
Position of the sun (taking into account the changing of season) ?
Interested in xeriscaping or is irrigation possible?

The chilopsis is thriving. Ah, good.

Ive cleaned up the raised beds and have planted my garlic crop for June 2014 harvest. Ive used cloves from my 2013 crop . (I use the biggest bulbs and select only the best cloves for planting)

Im growing hard top and red skins. Both are really fine and aromatic. I tried ELEPHANT garlic and, while its bigger, its flavor isn't spectacular (In fact Ive been told its more a shallot than a garlic)

PLANT YER GARLIC WHEN YOU PLANT DAFFODILS

I didn't know that. Thanks for the heads up.