13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
its time to stop fertilizing .... its almost winter ...
and you can run into a lot of trouble.. having perennials and conifers on the same watering system ... they have very different needs ....
you can get IDs on anything.. in the appropriate forum .. including the name that plant forum.. by posting pix of things ...
its near impossible to answer your questions.. w/o really knowing what plants you have .. as i read your facts.. as saying there were more than astilbe
ken
Yes, it sounds too acidic to me. I would probably add some lime or dolomitic lime to bring the pH up.
We have alkaline soil so I use peat moss all the time to bring the pH down and to help with texture. In terms of mixing and wetting, as long as it's all mixed together it's just great. For me it all blends together really nicely to make a fluffy, appealing mixture.
If you want the same effect but without the acid, use coconut coir. You buy it in a small, compressed brick, put it in a big rubbermaid tub, add water and come back the next day, only to be shocked at how much it expands. Then you use it like peat moss. It is also much more sustainable than peat moss since it is a byproduct of coconuts.
Good luck, happy planting!
Thank you all for your help!
I dug out much of the bed, hosing it all as I shoveled it back in while adding a bit of wood ash and a little dish soapy water with a watering can. It looks pretty good but time will tell!
Love the coconut voir idea. Will check that out!
Thanks again and Happy Gardening!
Finally got rid of the stuff. Houttuynia was sold around here as an aquatic. It ran under a 3 ft wide sidewalk & into my bed of shrubs. Scared I'd kill the shrubs with Roundup, I used 2,4D since the label said it was good for broad leaf weeds. I sprayed each leaf top & bottom. It did the trick & didn't harm my Gold Flame spirea. I only had 2 sprouts this spring & got out the 2,4D to take care of them. It's Sept & haven't had any more this season. You might try it. In the meantime, I won't be bringing anything "Japanese" to my southern garden. Think "kudzu"
By chance I had a Persicaria "Painter's Palette" side by side with a "Chameleon" in very trying conditions ie under a tree with generally very dry conditions and lean soil. Within two seasons the "Chameleon" had disappeared with the PP just holding its own.
Great info, karin_mt.
I have been passing them along to friends and neighbors, taking them to plant swaps and posting them on freecycles.
I will post them on freecycles again next spring. Posting on craigslists resulted in only one taker who did not show up at the last minute. I suppose a car full of plants for $15 was still too expensive for people.
Maybe I will post an offer on freecycles again then add that I want potting soil so I can use it for winter sowing.
A poster here used to hold plant sales. I wanted to follow her foot steps, but never had the grumption to pot up the plants and be organized enough in spring.
Like Flora, they get the heel of my shoe here. This year they have been worse than ever. 10 years ago we just had slugs to contend with, then the snails started moving in. This year my Sum and Substance hosta looks like someone aimed a shotgun at it and let fly.
I covered one of the benches in the greenhouse with copper mesh this spring, the snails here must be on steroids because when I went out in the morning the snail trails were very evident, so at night I got in the habit of putting domes over my flats of seedling. Yes I use Slug and Snail pellets in the greenhouse, I'm beginning to think they just consider them the appetizer :(.
Annette
I feel for the gardeners. I heard on NPR that Britain is infested with slugs many inches long. I have seen those banana slugs in the Pacific NW. They are huge and long. Ours in the Midwest are puny by comparison.
I used to spray them with salty water or ammonia - I can't remember which. They dissolved before my eyes. They are slimy for sure and made my hosta unsightly. But I felt guilty killing them. :-( Slug go works until it rains. But I have not applied any for several years.
I suppose that doesn't answer your question very well. Though Debbie has a rather good idea. Since the ones I grow aren't extremely hardy, I keep them potted & during severe winter spells, bring inside (don't have a cool garage to put them in, to overwinter, anymore.)
If you are simply using them like expensive annuals, then do as she suggested, with the benefit of maintain them easily, over winter stored in a garage & cutting back. Bring out, after it warms up & you should have the same ones , to use all over again. Unless, as I mentioned, you locate the hardy variety & place them between your tomato plants & see if they survive the winter, as it appears it may be the southern exposure, against the house, which helps the chances of survival, a great deal
I'm in zone 5 in Maine, but don't have the patience to over-winter the annual mums they sell potted around here. They'd never look as good as when I buy them in the fall.
Since you're asking if they'd look better in your decorative pots or planted, do you have photos of your pots? I assume that everything you show for your tomatoes comes down, so you have the blank garage wall and the mulched strip? If your pots are on the taller side, they may added some desired height. If you're buying the large potted ones ( I see everything here from quart to bushel size!) you wouldn't needed the added height.
Thank you.
Making compost is work. There's no getting around that. A few times a year, I pitch-fork out all the material inside and pitch-fork it back in. Trust me, that stuff is heavy and not a pleasant task on a hot and humid July day, but you have to do it.
Karin - I have three bins. Here they are with a few comments. Least favorite first.
This one is as close to worthless as you can get. It's too small, the walls are too thin and all the air vents make it almost impossible to keep the contents moist. I think I got this one from Gardeners Supply or someplace similar.
This one is a lot better. It's larger, the walls are thicker, not as many air vents. However, one kind of annoying feature are these little doors on the bottom sides. They keep falling off and I never use them. Contrary to what a lot of ads say, you don't shovel the finished product out these bottom doors. It just doesn't work that way. This is by Toro.
By far, my absolute favorite is this one by Rubbermaid. I simply adore it because it works. It's very large, the walls are thick so they really keep the heat in. There are NO air vents and no little doors on the bottom. It took about a minute to put the whole thing together. Very simple and material inside starts to decompose very quickly. I would like to get another one of these, but I don't know if they still make them.
Kevin
Very nice Kevin! Your bins, despite some of their problems, make compost fairly quickly, it seems. I don't manage mine closely enough - keep throwing stuff in when I really should let what's already in there cook and start a new one.
It's very satisfying when you get a great batch of compost. Congrats!
Dee
Thanks for so much valuable information!
I'm still in "learning" mode, and today I'll be working on the list of plants to ship.
I was going to ship on Saturday, not thinking about the plants sitting at the PO office. I didn't consider that. Wow!
I almost made my first disaster.
This is an exciting new task to learn. Not only do we acquire lots of great new species of plants, we also learn more about gardening free! I love this website already. I am telling EVERYONE I know about it.
Thanks and wish me luck on my first trade. I want to make it perfect for the receiver. However, since it's my first trade I'm dividing extras for that just in case they all crock before they are received.
Happy Gardening!
Kat
Here is a link that might be useful: My Exchange List
There must be more to it than extreme cold as my bb have survived for more than ten years and even last year's extreme cold did not phase them. It may be a combination of wet cold winters. We generally have good snow cover but not always. And while I have clay soil one thing we don't have is wet soil as the soil remains frozen most of the winter.
I agree with the idea of poor drainage/wet conditions (esp in winter and spring). Unfortunately, that's when I get the most moisture...thus for me, a butterfly bush has never been more than an annual. I've never seen fit to build it a mound or something to make them more perennial, dunno if it would help or not..with moisture coming from the sky.
Posted by nhbabs z4b-5a NH (My Page) on Fri, Sep 5, 14 at 12:35
Posted by christinmk z5b eastern WA (My Page) on Wed, Sep 3, 14 at 11:17
I am sorry that I did not take other pictures of the pink flowering tree. But I took pictures of others:
This seems to be a great method for selling perennials :
I have never seen a cake with fig toppings:
What is this yellow flower:
English wall:
I wonder if the pink one is some kind of ungainly Fabaceae, it looks kind of like a cross between an Indigofera or Lespedeza and a Bauhinia. The yellow one definitely is...I'm guessing a Cassia but there are so many members of that clan it could be something else. Definitely a pea flower and leaf though.
piti, it is so great that you are satisfied this year; a great place to be, for sure! thx for the i.d.s; i am very un-savvy w/ PCs; is that a MAC program--the yellow circles and numbers overlaid over the photos? I don't have a MAC and i have Picassa for a photo program.
Thx much and big congrats. it's the June H. that made me gasp!
mindy
Nolina microcarpa-- hardy down to zone 6. I like the way the ends of the leaves curl. Mine is still not full grown but its coming along. I planted several from seed that are smaller. Its a 3ft tall evergreen and has white blooms. So far mine hasn't bloomed yet but its a very easy plant.