Perennials Forum

The second picture with the edger and the shovel leaning up against the house - how deep is that bed right there? It's hard to tell, but it looks too narrow to me. Wouldn't anything you plant there be under the house's overhang?

If the bed is planted with nothing but perennials, they will disappear for the winter, and it will look pretty much the same as it does now for half the year. That may be fine with you. If it isn't, you'll need at least two layers of plantings. An evergreen backdrop and perennials in front. That takes space. Unless the planting are going to be nothing more than one line of fairly small perennials, the bed has to be a lot deeper than it is currently.

White eye flame, which reverted after the first year, lilac flame and a no name in back.

No one has said a word about mildew. Are all these beauties mildew-free? Even now at the end of the season? I am mighty impressed if that's the case.

Looks great Lauren. Good job!

I like it. I would make a comment though - when I make new beds, I lay down cardboard instead of newspaper. Much easier to handle. I put down the cardboard, wet it thoroughly, let it set for an hour or two, and then it's very easy to trim with garden scissors to the exact shape you need. Spread mulch over, thickly. Done! Plant in a week or two. Or a month or two. Or next spring. :)

Ditto Carolinaflowerlover, if it catches my eye I bring it home then try to find a place for it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, sometimes it does the musical chair thing around the garden and sometimes it goes out the gate to the next garden club plant sale :).

Annette

I think of the shapes of the overall PLANT, not just the FLOWER. Actually, my gardens are not flower-heavy, as I probably have more strictly foliage plants than flowering plants.

I focus on balancing the differing shapes of hostas/grasses/heucheras/butterfly weeds/black-eyed Susans/button bushes/astilbes/impatiens/etc.

Thanks,

Sandyslopes, I do add perennials to the beds, mostly in spring and some in fall, in order to maintain plant diversity from year-to-year. I move things around in fall (especially in renovating a section of a bed). I think that cutting things back is the most important thing to do here in late summer.

For me, the main reasons to move a particular plant is to give it more access to sun or to prevent it limiting another plants access to sun (both, for next year). Plant division also often necessities moving (if not disposing of) parts of plants.

I try to limit the number of runners (like Monarda) that seem to move to the front of a flowerbed. I avoid seeder, in part, for the same reason.

Our summer monkshood hasn't been so great this year, Maureen, but, as you suggest, I do have high hopes for the Arend's (fall) monkshood. Such a useful plant in a mixed perennial garden!

So beautiful, thanks for sharing.

Annette

Purple coneflower tends to germinate better after a prechill, though some will certainly germinate no matter what or when.

If I start some from seed would the young plants be big enough to survive winter in zone 5?

==>>> i highly doubt .... outdoors ... that they would sprout in fall ... soils cooling .. sunlights declining.. etc ...

if you are asking.. can you force them indoors ... and will they harden off at a big enough size .. to go outdoors this fall ... i highly doubt it.. in z5 ...

besides.. they would probably frost heave right out of the ground in mid to late winter ...

i thought you meant.. could you fall sow seed ... and sure you can.. its what the plants are doing right now .. but none of those self sown seed.. will germinate in cool/cold fall soil ..

an easy way to think about this.. is you need 3 basic things for germination ... usually warm soil ... a viable seed ... and sunshine, for sure after germination ... you have the seed

but in fall.. in z5.. you have cold soil ... and weak sunshine as the sun is in decline ... [and keep in mind.. no matter how warm the day ... if its falling into the low 50s at night .. then that is not 24/7 warm soil .. not much germinates at that soil temp]

ken

We have two identical threads going. See Maureenś Late August Bloomers

There are some pictures there as well

Recommended reference: The Garden In Autumn by Allen Lacey

See New England Forum continuing thread ¨What's blooming in your garden¨" for

a few pictures

new york iron weed (very tall)

aster Jin Dai

eupatorium sp or Little Joe

grasses even as they turn buff are lovely until they disappear mid winter

dont discount annuals; some of them don t hit their stride until mid-late august and can withstand frosts.....thinking of salvias

lobelias great blue, cardinal flower

chelone, particularly Hot Lips

agastache, in my experience, purple haze

fall cyclamen

autumn crocus

the fragrant august blooming Hostas, derived from h. plantaginea or plantaginea itself. Plantaginea flowers are 6" long but on short stalks so when the flowers pass there aren't those foot long stems that scream "cut me back" every time you look at them

hereś a link that might be helpful

https://www.hostasdirect.com/learn/hosta-info/hosta-types/fragrant-hostas/a

trycirtis esp a tall white one I've not often seen in the trade

Frosty Morn is a variegated foliage sedum that has good vigor

hardy hibiscus

shrubs their color and substance carry the season: amazing foliage on

itea, fothergilla

..amongst others...Sedum 'Matrona'... as loved by Mrs Bumble...or is it Mr.. I never can tell...

I can appreciate the questions....not all native soils are as stable as ours, with its tons of rocks....heavy clay soil might present a drainage problem....those issues you brought up might be a problem for this type of wall somewhere else. :-)

really stunning! Thanks for sharing pictures of your lovely garden :)

I could not have torn myself away if not for moving to a much warmer zone. And like wantonamara I knew what I had! All the love I put into the perennials, the elderberry, paw paw, wild flowers, steeled me against all low offers. My realtor balked a little but she thought I would break down after the first month on the market. I got my asking price in five days. It was a fair price so I did not need more. Two gardening seasons have almost passed and when I just saw the google image of what the new owners did, I figured the best plants removed ended up somewhere else on the same block. It was a street of opportunistic gardeners probably circling around with potato forks.

My buyer, even though he liked my garden , was not much of a physical worker and the neighbors dove in like vultures. My garden has good bones and I think the neigborhood gentle pilfering has kept it "weeded". It still looked good till this year. He has let the siberian elm and pecan seedlings get away from him. It is gone over the edge in messiness. I almost got out of the car to do some weeding. Some people are not in their physical space. We had a chalkboard out by our shop for clients and it still says that we will be back by 11,....... 11 years later!

My motto is "If it doesn't look good, you can always move it!"

In my zone and with my native plantings, the sneezeweeds, the rudbeckias, the milkweeds, goldenrods, lobelias, and salvias are blooming happily. The pollinators are happy.

OMG, rouge, what town is he in that he can grow brugs in the ground?
mindy
supposedly you don't put them in the ground until the soil is a certain temp; same for cannas. did he tell you if he puts them in a pot and brings it in in the winter? Maybe they are already in a pot that he just sinks down in the soil?or does he just grow on cuttings in water? thx rouge (she sighed, w/ her glorious but SINGLE pink brug bloom because she didn't give them new soil or fert. them enough.)
mindy
My brug motto is:
"Paying the Price for lack of due diligence."

UPDATE:

Our first colocasia because of this thread from last season.

My partner doesn't like it as the proportions to the container are all out of whack but I like looking at it and seeing each leaf slowly unfold just in time to take a dying leaf's place.

Welcome, Jadelite. I had wanted opinions on more southern conditions. I appreciate your chiming in. I really am not accustomed to growing shrubs, just roses. We have had an unusual year this year, and I really need to know how to take care of my plants.

Sammy

Texasranger, thanks for the picture.

Sammy