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Amy Parker

Dead heading flowers will encourage new blooms throughout the summer. However towards the end of the summer I don't dead head certain plants as I collect seed. Particularly sweet peas, marigold, calendula, scabiousa and snap dragons. But there's plenty plants that you can easily collect seeds from.

   
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Eleanor MacLaren

Liz Woods, "partial sun" means sunny during one part of a day, shady the rest of the time. Maybe sunny in the morning, shady the rest of the day or vice versa. Or in and out of the sun most of the day which happens where there are screening plants or bushes that allow some sun through. Most of what I've grown has been tolerant of a certain amount of shade, even tomatoes. However, there are plants, such as coreopsis, that require full sun all day and won't tolerate the shade even from a nearby plant. When you buy a plant at a nursery, be sure to read the tag so you know its requirements.

   
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Eleanor MacLaren

To all the novice gardeners, the internet is wonderful and full of helpful information but you should have a good gardening book too. I won't recommend one because I'm in Canada and know only my own region but it shouldn't be too hard to find one that covers your area. But it should give you the Latin name, perennial or annual, the size of the mature plant, its light, soil and water requirements, its resistance to frost, cultivation tips, if it requires pruning and when and probably a lot that I haven't mentioned. In other words, it should be thorough.

   

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