13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Thank you, Kirimarie, for the detailed info--I'll be adding these to my list!

my best rebloomer is pink Valerian.

A confusing range of heights are given on-line for Phlox paniculata 'Laura'. As said, a contributory factor may be P. paniculata 'Little Laura'.

Here, balloon flower can be quite long lived compared with many perennials. As you say, it doesn't favour being moved, though I've certainly had to move them (usually successfully). If your one was only planted this or last year, I wouldn't hesitate to move it if needed.

Obviously, informed perennial gardeners don't all have the same growing conditions, tastes in plants, styles of gardening, time available, etc..

That said, I've always cut herbaceous perennials down to ground level by the end of fall. For me, I'd say maintaining close perennial plantings puts a premium on garden hygiene. The point about difficulty in identifying individual (summer and fall) plants in spring is well taken.

Certainly do agree re avoiding winter heaving. More generally, the biggest thing here when planting, is not leaving the plant encased in the peat-perlite mixture they're typically grown in (viz. differential rates of freezing).

My feeling is that next year your Laura will grow taller. With few exceptions, the first season in the ground does not give a good idea of what the plant will actually look like once established. Generally, commercial tags that are in the pots at the nursery are supposed to give you an idea of height and width in the 3rd season of growth.

As to the Balloon Flower, I highly recommend waiting until spring. Right now it is in the process of going dormant. Any root damage it sustains in the move will not have time to heal before the ground freezes, and the result will be a stressed plant. Moving it when it first appears in the spring, when it is ramping up for a growing season and is full of vim & vigor gives you the best chance for survival.

Great advice. I will say it is most likely a Helianthus decapetalus. Does not look like Lemon Queen but could be a different var. Hate to see a question go unanswered.

Good advice, Ken. Will do. Thanks to Peren as well. They look like Helianthus decapetalus, yet not quite

I had a compact Nandina growing by a wall of the house for about 5 years until it finally succumbed to a cold winter.

Since it was not a particularly hardy variety, I suspect that another choice sited in a protected location would last even longer.

Have a number of different gentians.

Have had a number of plants of Gentiana dahurica (mostly 'Nikita') and one G. septemfida var. lagodechiana for close to ten years now. This matches the reputation of these particular gentians as easy-to-grow.

All of the gentians are located at front of sunny borders where they get watered regularly, but where there's also good drainage.

I don't grow plants from seed, but apparently, gentians (when planted out) are initially quite slow growing.

Thanks Rouge, although it's not a fall colour picture I was hoping someone might know which one this euphorbia might be as it doesn't have the red tinged needles. I just pulled this little bed apart and relocated my bush clover there, underplanted with 'Phuopsis stylosa' and some english bluebells. The ajuga and euphorbia are being moved to a narrow strip down our gravel driveway where they can duke it out :).

Annette

Just charming, annette. must look for that ppl tower Ajuga.
mindy

So I was going to leave them in their containers but I was curious how much they had grown so I checked and found one of the containers was completely empty, only dirt. The other had bulbs in them. What could have happened to them? Did they maybe rot to nothing? This is very strange to me, especially because they other planter was fine.

mice?
Many creatures think lily bulbs are a delectable feast.

If you have egg, I've got a half a ten pound bag of superK on mine. In the shed. And I read whatever I find written by Linda Chalker.

I swear as recently as a few years ago a really competent nurseryman said to put a handfull of super-K in the planting hole. Myths don't dissipate as quickly as they they multiply.
We all just want to take care of our plants. I concur with ken about profit motivation of agri-business, but at the local level we all just want our plants to thrive.
I'll continue to be part of the problem if I feel compelled to use up that 5 pounds of algae food.

What can I do with it? Put it on my cereal?

marie

Some of my past soil test results have shown a need for phosphate on my lawn and around a tree. And it is expensive. So don't get rid of it. Save it for when you might need it.

Shake out as much soil from the sod as is reasonably possible. Throw remaining sod on the compost pile or use it to sod/level/raise other areas of the garden.

For new beds I lay down recycled corrugated cardboard over the garden bed soil and overlap the edges. The cardboard smothers weeds and doesn't break down as fast as layers of newspaper. Use a box cutter to shape the cardboard to your needs. Cover cardboard with bark mulch.

Thanks , I read a lot about that today. I was just hoping to be lazy, roll out a roll of plastic , and deal with it in the spring! Probably too cold for that .

I thought for sure Red Velvet and Karen North would not need staking.... oh well, I'll probably get them anyway and you can say I told you so when I complain.
Glad to hear the good comments about the bloom color of Scheherazade. It gets such great reviews, but the bloom pictures don't always thrill me, so it's on the 'must have list' again.
Better get off to the lily garden website! ;)
I like the idea of a tree lily, plants that I can walk next to are so important in a garden of ankle-biters.

Isaphan-I know this is an old thread but I really appreciate your feedback on sturdiness & heights of your orienpets. Even though we're in different climates, it still helps me with placement on a few I was wavering on, thanks!

If the tree is near enough to the sensitive plant for its leaves to fall on it, the growth can be stunted. For example I have three double file viburnum all planted at the same time 10 years ago. The one near a black walnut (although it is at least 10 feet outside its drip line) is sbout half the size of the other two. Good luck!

Thanks everyone for the info! I am investigating this further!

arbo,

We've had a couple conversations, the last I know of was as recently as Oct 12 about plant sales & SRG (Santa Rosa Gardens). HGC (High Country Gardens) is another online place that came up the other day along with SRG (again) in the "backlit plants' thread. I guess we all just know these names and figure everyone is in on it since this was so recent and we are probably lazy with our typing IYCR&I (if you can relate and imagine). The spring and fall sales at SRG always get threads on GW about people ordering and loosing their self control. I was joking just the other day here about being an SRG addict in need of therapy.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/peren/msg0922170716914.html?28

Thanks texasranger :-)

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' .... on this small portion I count a dozen bees. Happy bees!

I've heard the worse you treat them the better they do....unfortunately mine must be too prissy for that, because over the last months i've transplanted them, snipped & cut them, put them deeper in the ground, taken rootings and so far everything just flops...even the rootings taken from straight-ish stems have decided to corkscrew..LOL. I do love the idea of the tomato cage..think I might try that next year with some smaller plants and see what they come out like..

so odd how some people have theirs standing upright and others have floppy-no-mater-what plants.....seems like there's no real rhyme or reason to it. =P

logixSTI ... I haven't found many seedlings from this type in comparison to my other dianthus varieties that give plenty and some turning out to be very interesting. I'm surprised that your plants have grown so very short, do you have them planted in the ground or in a container?

they were in containers until a few days ago..but they are only just past the seeding stage...i forgot I had the seeds a friend had given me last year, once I found them I decided to just start them since I wasn't sure they'd do anything if I waited until next year....even though it was around mid-late august when I started them they came up pretty nice and now that I finally know they have a chance to make it through the winter I put them in the ground, otherwise I was probably just going to let them live out the rest of their short time on earth in the little seed starter trays (in hindsight it's pretty silly I even bothered to start them not knowing if they would make it through the winter and figuring I would just let them die if they weren't winter hardy. I wonder what goes through my brain when I make decisions like that... haha)

Our Labrador Retriever wanted to help with the tomato harvest. I guess the big ripe tomatoes looked like his ball that we throw for him to retrieve. (Color blind I guess) He "picked" almost every large tomato and lined them up in a straight line along one edge of the garden. When I found the row of tomatoes I was at a loss as to who could have done it... until I saw that each and every tomato had puncture marks from large canine teeth.

When we lived in pa we had a chain link fence and a pretty close neighbor. Our dogs ( his boxer and our bulldog) would run the fence line till it was bare and muddy chasing each other. My solution ? I'll put a flower bed there !
I probably wasted 200$ , lots of labor . I did a fantastic job . If it had filled out it could have been beautiful . Even with one of those wire fence borders , it did not stand a chance to my bulldog! He was determined . He also destroyed a batch of bare root roses I had soaking in a bucket . In no time at all ! I had no idea he would be interested in them , and left them on the porch , and him outside unattended. Oy.