13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

vala,
The same here. Also without all the extra walking deep knee bends and bending that gardening provides boy am I out of shape come spring.

Pattyw5, you sure have quite the wonderful collection of daylilies :) ... I need to add more myself!

Always a good idea to check nurseries at Dave's Garden website for experience of others.

The butterfly bush and the caryopteris will be at greatest risk. If you sink the pots in the ground I would suggest in addition to mulching that you cover each plant with a large pot (don't forget to weigh it down with rocks or bricks). For the others, sinking the pots in the ground and heavily mulching should be sufficient. Keeping all the plants in an unheated garage will also work. I routinely overwinter butterfly bushes in my basement emergency exit window well which is similar to your unheated garage. However, the plants will need to be sparingly watered from time to time so you need to check them every 2-3 weeks. Good luck!

Wish to H*** I could get Corydalis to even live in my garden. For some reason, I have never been able to get any of them to survive through even one year. I have tried at least a dozen times in different places and different depths of shade but no luck.

Hellebore, Pulmonaria, Epimedium, Brunnera, Asarum and Begonia grandis go wild But I just can't seem to get corydalis to live.

BingBingBing!!Rouge et al, youse is de WINNAH!! Corydalis lutea it is. In fact, I challenge ANYone in a z.5 garden to show me a true shade tolerant perennial with a longer bloom. Dicentra luxuriant made me pause for a minute, but I still think it loses to old CL. Wow, such a workhorse (a dainty workhorse-- is that an oxymoron or not!). And are we LUCKY or what? that it has a lovely lemon yellow flower and not taxi yellow!

geoforce, you ARE including corydalis LUTEA in your mention of corydalis failures? I have certainly lost the blue ones, but lutea is a whole different thing.
best,
mindy

Just a couple of my faves...

Clematis viticella 'Purpurea Plena Elegans' (she's a beauty, too)!

Filipendula rubra 'Venusta'!

When I began gardening I learned the botanical names because it was the sure fire way to find the plants I wanted.

I find the less time I spend in the garden with the plants the more I have to pick my brain to remember some of their names--trying to remedy this!

I tell you, when (and if) you get into Plant Etymology - the origin of names, you can be fascinated from here til eternity! I actually own a book of this, and some winter i'm going to pour over it. But meanwhile, I have looked up many many many name origins over the years. Some I see over and over: wilsonii, davidii, kirilowii, all named for explorers and collectors.If you're a "history fan", you can't help but get pulled in. There are web sites for it too.

I love reading all of the posts here. What fun!
best,
mindy

It's now Nov, my first-year dwarf asters (which didn't fare too well) are pitiful stalks of brown foliage with a very few spent blooms. Do I prune them down now?

Mine aren't dwarf but the regular ones. I just cut mine about 1 inch to the ground. No idea if that's the right way to do it but they looked so awful. If they don't come back, oh well.

I was on the fence until I read Ken's post. I'd say go for it and plant them rather than bring them indoors. I don't like mums and therefore don't grow them but I'd plant things now just on the knowledge that the ground won't freeze yet awhile. The plants likely won't do much other than establish their root systems.

Normally my guideline for fall planting perennials is mid-October but that's just what works for me.

Planting potted mums (especially those without new growth at the base) in fall is typically a recipe for death over the winter, especially as far north as zone 5.

Rather than stick them in the ground now, I'd let a few frosts knock them back and then keep the potted plants dormant in a garage or crawl space that doesn't get much below freezing. In-ground planting in a cold frame is another option.

I have a bunch of small mums (with Minnesota origins) that were planted back in July and which have grown and flowered. I'll have to see how they overwinter, but I think I've improve my odds considerably by allowing them to establish outdoors for nearly a full season.

Seeds are much easier to hide than plants though. And cheaper most of the time I think.

I can relate. I went overboard with PLANTS and bulbs this year as I was just converting back yard (grass) to garden beds all around the yard. I read about wintersowing and was so excited, I started ordering my seeds in the summer, only to find other seeds I had to have....and order more!
Do you winter sow or direct sow in the spring?

I used to have one dry as a bone spot where I could plant ground cover sedum and it would stay short and grew very slowly. All of my ground has been redone so as to hold reasonable moisture and air. If I want to have spots of low growing sedum and I do. I just pop them out of the ground each spring take a piece off and replant or they will take over. I believe in the last 25 years I've tried just about all of them. Give them good soil and a little miosture they cover the ground with gusto. So I agree with gardenper. You can also use a very low container with holes for drainage put your sedum in there and place it where you wish. Lime zinger is a gorgeous low sedum. Have it in pots and the ground. Seem to have dealt well with miosture but is close to water sucking daylilies.

Thank you gardenper and pattyw for sharing your experiences!

It's all in the soil, for sure!

As long as we keep a westerly wind I believe it's a warm winter (still have frost) but depending on the easterly we may have a cold white winter at times but still very cold.
Our temps are more stable throughout the winter but it may stay minus 5 for days/weeks I believe.

I'll bring them in ;too much hassle.

Floral_uk I have herd people sinking pots in sand too. And covering alpines with glass just to keep dry.
Thank you

'....it may stay minus 5 for days/weeks I believe...' No it won't Mushibu. -5 is rare and never prolonged. I don't know where you are in Wiltshire but in Swindon the coldest month is February and the average MINIMUM temperature is 1.1. (33.98f) The average MAX is 6.8.(44.24) So the range is indeed not huge.

The pot sinking story was Campanula's, not mine.

SunnyBorders~ Do we ever stop learning? lol..... Thank you for your help and the beautiful pictures!
Snow! I'm in MI, so know all about that... Just hope it holds off a bit longer. Your Monkshood looks pretty... even covered in snow!
Aren't those tough blooms!
Mertie

I probably would have agreed w/ you, before, about animals sensing what they should not eat. But I think you are ASSUMING that the animal has a brain. Not always the case. I.e.: My parents had a mini schnauzer who once ate slug bait (iirc) and went into a physical crisis . She would have died had they not rushed her to the vet.
mindy

I have seen no evidence of the burning bush invasive habit anywhere around where i am at. There are rural and wooded areas around here with nothing that looks like the pictures posted here. I guess the conditions here arent condusive to this plant being invasive. I see them growing in yards in the suburbs.

Sherry

Like real estate, invasive potential is all about location. What may be considered invasive in one area may very well not be in another. But going by zones is not the way to determine, nor is actually physically viewing the plant in the wild. Each state maintains a data base of invasive species and the US Forest service and various regional councils do as well. Before anyone jumps to a conclusion that a plant is or isn't invasive, check with your local authority first.

Burning bush is becoming increasingly invasive, spreading across a much wider range than when initial counts were made. It is now listed as invasive in MI,OH, WI, MN, IN, Il, MO and KS in addition to the midAtlantic and New England states. It is also encroaching southward, in NC, SC and Georgia, northern FL and along the Gulf Coast.. It has also been seen in eastern Montana.

Lovely! Lilies are something I've never really thought of sowing from seed, only from bulblets. I am rethinking :)

Hello everyone. I found this thread when googling, so I joined.

I live on the Gulf coast, mine came up in my back yard. I transplanted them to my more southern exposure front yard, and left them alone. I didn't know what to expect, they got gigantic, then all the sudden WOW. Gorgeous white trumpets.

I just picked my seed pods today. Sounds like rattlesnake rattlers. There's hundreds of them in a pod. I'll post pictures later if you would like. Curious about what to do with the 8ft tall brown stalk.

Tworosz, do the stems on Bonfire stand up if I can find a less yummy spot for her. I like her because it's growth has been leafy enough you can't tell the stems are laying down. I have one spot where I put Calamintha Montrose White and there it remains at It's stated size. Would you have a picture by any chance. If she's hardy up where you are I'll try a pot with poor soil.
You really get winter up there. If I remember correctly are you on the dry plains. Was wondering if in the long run in ASK might live a longer healthier life receiving less moisture.
Thank you so much for your kind information.

Pattyw5, your 'BF' looks perfect to me with its natural tendency to sprawl a bit ... though, mine had done so in extreme to expose the crown with stems being broken off in times of high winds. My soil isn't particularly rich, though had been deeply dug and amended with peat moss. It was a real beauty early in the season, though I hadn't gotten around to taking a photo as intended. I later cut it back and divided and moved the pieces to a holding area to be replanted next spring in non amended soil.

Yes, we realllly get winter up here, lol. Though, just like most places, some winters are much worse than others, such as 2014. I live the rolling forested hills of central Alberta where we "generally" receive adequate rains and low humidity along with pleasant summer temps that make for very comfort gardening weather. When it comes to winter the deep blanket of snow is a life saver for my perennials and other plants.

Tex, do you look at texasstormchasers.com? Thinking of ya!

catkin we have lots of storm chasers around here, its a regular deal every year. Those guys love danger.

This sucker that is getting ready to barrel down on us come Tuesday is an Alien Invader, a strange phenomena caused by that typhoon, the cold air in the north is getting bullied and shoved out of its normal range by that huge mass of warm typhoon air all the way down to the south end of Texas. Most of Texas will be OK except it looks like the panhandle is going to get a hit. Oklahoma is not so lucky. As far as we are concerned, this is not normal. We are literally going to shift from summer-like weather to January in a matter of hours.