13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
No comment on the cultivars you named but general comments on Stokesia: my seed-grown, winter-sown plants come back every year, bloom generously mid-late July and produce lots of seeds afterwards in the fall. 'Klaus Jelitto' is a vigorous grower in my slightly acidic sandy loam.
I've attached a link (below) with additional information on 'Klaus Jelitto' that may be of interest.
My plants are growing in various beds, in part-sun mostly.
Here is a link that might be useful: Missouri Botanical Garden
Hello glorybrite,
That is an impressive flower bed you are planning.
I have been gardening for 28 years. It took that long for me before I am especially happy with the results.
Gardening is a process of trials and errors. Many factors affect the results: your own inclination, time and energy dedicated to the garden, your own terrain and most specifically your own microclimate.
I learned that plants and combinations that look stunning in books or any pre-planned garden or in someone else's garden do not translate well in real life because of these factors. You will have to try the plants yourself to see what works for you.
I have not found many perennials that bloom from spring through summer. What I did was planning for a succession of blooms, choosing plants that offer long interest, and varying the shapes, shades, textures, heights and colors instead.
My favorite grass is Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light'. It is stately, maintains its shape and stays beautiful from spring through winter. I gave a few pieces to a friend who has a garden in the country. He said the deer have not touched this grass.
I do not know if the following suggestions are attractive to deer or not but these are some of what I have for the succession from late winter through November/December:
-snowdrops to jump start your spring
-Iris reticulata (purple/white/yellow)
-Eranthus
-Daffodils (there are several white/creamy/peach Naricissi to choose from)
-Tulips (deer love this - so I heard)
-Schilla
-Puschinia
-Chionodoxa
-Epimedium
-Mertensia virginica
-Bleeding Heart
-Allium
-Anemone
-Ajuga reptans
-Centaurea montana
-Bearded iris
-Monarda
-Salvia
-Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light'
-Little Blue Stem
-Geranium Rozanne
-Penstemon 'Husker Red'
-Platycodon
-Jacob's ladder
-Nepata
-Feverfew
-Clematis (many white and purple/bluish)
-Blue annuals such as larkspur, centaurea cyanus
-aster
The choices are endless.
Have you checked Bluestone Perennials or Santa Rosa Gardens' websites? I know Bluestone has pre-planned gardens with plant suggestions, many of which mirror pitimpinai's list above.
As pitimpinai pointed out, few perennials have the extended bloom habit of annuals such as marigolds and zinnias. I created a chart on which I identified various perennials by bloom period and now my garden starts blooming in March (Hellebores/Lenten roses) and continues into October (Tricyrtis/toad lily).
An ornamental grass, perhaps less impressive size-wise than Miscanthus, is Calamagrostis/feather reed grass 'Karl Foerster.' It has a tidy, upright habit and doesn't take up as much real estate as Miscanthus. Dwarf fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) 'Hameln' is an elegant, low-growing (2 1/2 ft.) grass that requires nothing more than a haircut in Spring. Deer have never bothered either grass in my garden.
You might also consider checking out a book or two on perennials from your local library as an additional resource. I found it to be an excellent source of information when I was planning my garden beds.
It's been my experience that most of the items listed above are not on a deer's menu. I have all but a few of them growing in my garden beds and the deer prefer my sacrificial hosta to any of the listed plants.
Platycodon grandiflora/balloon flower is available in blue/lavender, white & pale pink.
Dicentra spectabilis/Bleeding Heart is available in a white ('Alba') variety.
Geranium 'Rozanne' blooms until frost sometime in October and is a blooming machine. The flowers are pinkish/lavender.
Hemerocallis/daylilies bloom in a rainbow of colors that include cream and white. I have a lovely creamy white one called 'New Falling Stars.'
Some others you might want to consider:
Agastache/anise hyssop blooms most of the growing season in feathery plumes of lavender.
Caryopteris x clandonensis/blue mist shrub blooms late (September) in lovely, feathery plumes of blue that attract pollinators.
Cimicifuga racemosa/black snakeroot has white plumes in August.
Check out Aquilegia/Columbine for both white and blue varieties. It's a spring bloomer.
Gaura lindheimeri/wandflower is a delicate and elegant bloom on thin stems that wave in the breeze. Mine is blooming now and will continue until frost. The bees love it.
Liatris spicata/gay feather/blazing star blooms purple or white and is another favorite of pollinators.
Lobelia siphilitica/great blue lobelia is another that's popular with pollinators.
Perovskia atriplicifolia/Russian sage is a maintenance-free perennial that blooms mid- to late-season in both purple & blue.
Nepeta faassinii 'Walkers Low'/catmint blooms early and continues all season with zero care.
Stokesia laevis/Stokes’ aster blooms mid-summer with large, frilly blue/lavender flowers that attract pollinators. It's also low-maintenance.
Veronica spicata/spike veronica/speedwell also blooms mid-summer, has a long bloom period and attracts pollinators.
FYI--none of the plants identified above require any help from me to thrive--once established, they're all self-sufficient in healthy garden soil.
I saw them locally. I was at the nursery again the other day, but passed on them, reason being I doubt they would show up in the location I had in mind for them. Plus, they were a little pricey. Maybe when the 80% off blowout hits, I'll try them just for the heck of it. :0)
Transplanting this time of year should be fine in your zone. But the bed you are moving them from has sun iin the hottest part of the day; if you are planning to replant it with shade loving plants, you may be in for trouble. You'll need plants that can take very hot sun, but not too many hours of sun--tricky.
I LOVE surprises! Probably more than things I've actually planted lol. I had some different potentilla/cinquefoils pop up in the front along with many many MANY weeds. Some goldenrod (I know, most say its a weed, especially this one, but I still love it). I also had a sunflower pop up... that was a surprise to say the least! I found a wild geranium at some point and a little campanula of some sort (I call it "cluster bells" because it looks like a plant marked "cluster bells" that I received from a plant exchange my first year of gardening... my dog was a puppy and he grabbed the little pot and ran off with it and it never pulled through). Surprises are a wonderful thing (in the garden - I'm not wild about them elsewhere in life)
wantanamara, Every time I pull this up I get another gander at that funky bizarre plant. Ya know, its actually kind of gross in a creepy but really cool way. It looks like a naked flesh colored stem with flesh colored polyps dangling from it. Key word here is FLESH. Are those bladdery things seed pods or what? That is one weird looking plant. Brings to mind the movie 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'.
nevermore, All the plants I bought had multiple flowers that looked fine at the time of purchase. I have not seen clustered cones. What I see are normal looking stems and early cones that develop green tops and never produce petals. It looked so much like online photos I've seen for AY that I did not take a photo of my plants. I did not notice any lack of vigor in the plants. In fact they seemed very healthy. Some have suggested living with the disease, which will not manifest until August.
My real question is whether I should throw out the plants or tolerate the disease, given that it is said to originate from leafhoppers that winter in the South and infect wild carrots etc. which exist here in abundance.
If I see these symptoms again, I will post photos on this forum.
MBWD
from my experience, the immature blooms can look similar with either issue... so if you can let one develop fully... you will be able to verify what's going on.
My father has a patch of standard purp echs that are partially infected with AY... and have been for years. I don't know if it's killing any and infecting later generations or if the infected plants just aren't being killed by the virus. The infected plants always grow quite vigorously.
In regards to keeping them... i say remove them since they can then be a vector to other plants (rudbeckia, some veggies, goldenrod... even you precious dandelions!). They won't be attractive by any means either... so pitch them.
Infected echinacea...
Infected rudbeckia....
When it rained it was not light. It was torrential! Not like the gentile rainbow at the end of the seeding episode. I expect the same again today. I need to go out and flag the new plantings so I do not LOOSE them in the litter . My leg is better but I am not sure that traversing a slippery slope on it is not advisable today.
You did good by cutting all the ugly/broken foliage off, that's all they'll need. Yes there are mixed opinions on cutting back in the fall. I don't myself as I have found they are less prone to powdery mildew if left alone. Of course if it is a rainy humid summer like this one... Nothing helps, it was a bad year for phlox.
Have you ever tried selling on Craigslist? Not sure if that interests you, but it would save you on shipping and time.
Good for you on your good buys! Gotta love those sales.
Your driveway sounds like what the call a "pot ghetto"...luckily mine are all planted...until my fall shipment arrives ;)
Santarosagardens has a great sale online now if you want to add to your collection lol.
Good luck and happy planting!!
If I may bud in here, When I read the message from min13, I did not perceive any harsh or abrasive tones as you seem to see. It looked to me as from someone that has to be more conservative with water and that it was in awe that you have it.
Some people have a high water table, others don't. I don't and hold approbation for those that do.
Thank you SO very much for understanding me Emerogork2! You are exactly right about my intentions and it is a great comfort to me to have your message.
I am making you my new best friend, and wherever you are, I hope all your gardens are growing better than any in your wildest dreams. Min3
Wantonamara, I find the thorny things their favorites here - they love roses and blackberry.
They never bothered hydrangea at my former house just 6 minutes away. Here, they would occasionally take a bite or two of the three large mature hydrangeas, nothing too damaging. Last weekend I moved the two 5x5' plants on each side of the front entry, cottage look deciduous shrubs just didn't make sense to me there. I dragged them on a tarp about 75' and replanted them under and with camellias and cherries - the deer have been seriously feeding on them just like they'd never seen hydrangeas before. I put on shoes and went out in my robe this morning and had a serious talk with a doe and her fawn, shoulders into the already insulted, dug up and moved hydrangeas and she did finally go next door. I'll get some deer repellent on them today when I've never had to spray them.
Thanks.
It's obvious to all gardeners (in our growing conditions) that the photography has to be a bit more selective/ creative at this time of year. Can't fill in all the gaps with fall mums.
In fact, I do feel uncomfortable at times posting any pictures. It's like somebody comes to your garden but you only let them look where you want them to look; namely, where the gardening has been more successful.
Failures may be less inspiring than successes, but perhaps there's more to learn from them.
:-) This thread makes me smile. :-D This bantering warms my heart after reading negative things on various webs.
lilsprout, Coeropsis! I just dug out all the shoots of my coreopsis to make room for a miniature Solomon's Seal last week.
I got rid of my Aster 'Purple Smoke' a long, long time ago. Frost always zapped it before the flower buds began to open. I don't understand why it bloomed so late in my garden, because it blooms much earlier for my friend who lives only 3 miles away.
Thanks for that info Woody.
Appreciate the warning.
As said, I like well-behaved perennials.
It's a pity that you can't be sure what they're doing beneath the surface.
Pitimpinai mentioned Solomon's seal.
Am sure that the miniature one's fine, but digging out blocks of the EurAsian one was quite a surprise to me. The tubers were layered and interlocked. Pulling them apart was a bit like separating out irregularly shaped Lego bricks.
Thanks, woody. It looks like there are two plants together. Perhaps a dormant seed germinated a year or so after I planted the light blue there and it is finally big enough to bloom. Think I will leave them together as I like the contrast of the deeper blue with the pale blue. The branches are intermingled with both colored blooms throughout.
I've gotten them to survive winters in zn 7 if they were planted on scree. The problem is, even planted on scree, a heavy enough rain storm at any time of year, but particularly summer, will cause them to rot. Even the summer rainfall parts of South Africa tend to have very consistent rainfall - not too much, not too little - as you'd expect for a quasi-maritime climate. And they are dry in winter. (and at the high elevations where plants like that are from, always cool at night)
Thanks for all the replies!
I'm guessing I won't need to worry about the invasive factor. We have such wet winters here that I doubt I'll even see it again next year, lol.
CMK