13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

I like to tidy up my garden as the season progresses. If I get too many seedlings or if anything gets diseased, I just pull or cut them.

I am especially more ruthless this year because I would like to show off my hostas that are getting larger. I also have thousands of bulbs among my perennials, so I need to remove faded leaves or stalks so that the bulbs can push through from early February on instead of them getting buried under leaves/stalks from the previous year.

I attempt a Fall cleanup but haven't finished it all ever because I just get to the point where I don't want to go out in the yard anymore!

The last two years DH and I used an electric hedge trimmer (with a heckuva long cord) and it works wonderfully! I grab/bunch the foliage up at the top (sometimes with rope it it's tall), and he "clear-cuts" it to the ground. Not much muss or fuss. We do the same only use a chainsaw for the tall ornamental grasses. We have a JD gator with a dump box--we just throw it in there--it's quite painless! We just start making our way around the yard. This year I plan to get 'er all cut back all the way around--or die trying!

Over the last few years I've been planting dwarf evergreens throughout the borders so it doesn't look so bare when the garden's asleep. Makes a huge difference. There are so many gorgeous dwarf evergreens/conifers in different colors, shapes, textures, growth habits, etc. I seek them out now almost as much as I do perennials!

I dread cleaning up the mess if I wait till Spring to cut back. Especially if I don't get to a plant before it sends out new shoots--then I have take the nippers and pretend I'm a surgeon--which is a painstaking--PIA!

I'm on a quest to tidy up the property in all manners. Goal is to go to the furthermost part and have it look nice. I've slacked on this for too many years and now I have the time to do something about it. Been on a mission inside the house, too. I'll maintain the look after I'm all done. That's the plan, anyway! LOL

Funny how many different takes there are on this, I love that!

When they are collecting nectar and pollen, they are oblivious to humans unless you grab them or step on them.

We cut down a storm-damaged palo verde that was in full bloom and the bees never stopped harvesting as we cut and shredded.

A few years ago I decided to move my S. 'Autumn Joy' one cool day in early autumn. I dug it up with a spading fork, pulled it over onto an empty potting soil bag, dragged it across the lawn from the front of my garden to the back & planted it in its new location. From start to finish there were a dozen bumblebees asleep on the blooms.

Normally I'm scared of bees. That pretty much cut my fear factor in half.

That's funny that you had a dream about 7 bunnies. I have a similar, overactive imagination sometime but the idea of 7 bunnies sounds alright to me. For some reason they do not eat our garden, and I sure don't understand why.

I liked reading what others do for their soil, seeing as how it's very different depending on where you live and what you plant.

I used alfalfa pellets in my greenhouse one late fall and for the whole winter it smelled like a cozy horse barn in there, loved that. I should try that again, just for the aromatherapy.

In the fall I don't normally do much of anything but I have 2 CompostTumblers full of completed compost so I think I will put them on the veggie beds post harvest. I think that would make a nice foundation for next year. I amend my raised beds in the spring normally but it makes it all feel so daunting to do all the amending and digging for 8 raised beds first thing in the spring. So this year I will try it differently.

Oh, one more thing is that another source for alfalfa pellets and all kinds of other organic yumminess is Planet Natural. Link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic fertilizers at Planet Natural

Morz, I have a lot of area to cover! Got an e-mail from the mushroom grower. The ingredients are:
straw
dried poultry waste
gypsum
sugar beet lime
mushroom mycelium
ground, hydrolized soybean (not sure what form it began as)

The landscape company that sells the compost is in the process of certifying it as organic.

I do let the fallen leaves stay on the flower bed surface though--years ago I used to rake them up--imagine that, duh!

Thanks for the encouragement, pitimpinai! I love worms and want to try growing them (again). Speaking of mosquitoes...hate them! I'm fortunate not to have any critters that eat my flowers--except a few weevils and slugs here and there...never seen bunnies in my area.

Mind if I ask where you get your bulbs? I need more bulbs. My piddly stands of a few daffodils look very lonely in the Spring.

Karin, would love to see your greenhouse--a dream of mine. Although I dream of a conservatory type structure that looks ancient!

I should have asked, if you were able to easily remove all four colors from the pot, or if the roots had become entwined & not readily separated & the entire pot of soil mix, came out as one mass, or with a light hosing, readily falls apart.... If you plant them all together, the longer you wait, the more difficult they may become, to separate.

Division, is another matter & involves dividing each individual separately colored plant & Echinacea can take some time, to recover, from that procedure.

For instance, I have had 'Milkshake' , 'Kim's Red Knee High' & both colors of 'Pow Wow' for several years now & never divided any of them. They look so much better as a rounded mass, than if I had a few flowers on a couple stalks, located in various places....

I decided to check out 'Cheyenne Spirit', as afterall, it did get Fleuroselect & AAS, award... Produced by Kieft, the germination rate was rated at about 70%. Also, with a 'Utilty Patent', whatever that means...Rights to its production name, for the next 20 years, for the years of time, work, efforts, care & money, that went into it?

It appears the producer had originally started it, as a cross between 'Magnus' & 'Knee High' & then more complex breeding after that, over quite a few years (over ten?), to come up with stable uniform plants in a variety of about 7 different colors.
At a cost of about $5. for 15 seeds (not to mention shipping costs), it may be easier to buy another pot of your favorite colors, if you really like it !
I did not see if it is actually an F1 hybrid, but if so, then any seeds you collect, may not be quite like the named variety, in the size & series of colors of what you have now.
If I liked it that much, I'd buy another pot full, as opposed to trying to chill (vernalize the sown seeds in the fridge) & then have to wait, until next year, to see which colors you get. For those reasons, I would be opposed to buying & sowing seeds, not knowing what colors appear.
Instead, since they are locally available, I would go back, selecting a pot of four more, in colors more to your liking & preference, separately plant them & have fairly nice sized plants,& a great looking collection, next year...

I have some willow gentians (no picture) growing in the planter around my koi pool, and this G. septemfida was growing in the edge of a gravel path in full sun, it's since been moved to a small hypertufa trough.
Annette

As above, have a Gentiana septemfida var. lagodechiana in semi-shade. It always does well. Have had it about ten years.

Thought I'd try (spring) Gentiana acaulis Group this year.
Below: May 30, 2014.

I do find the selection at van englen great! I am going to try out several smaller daffodils this year as the foliage of some if my bulbs is just now dying down. I am hoping to find varieties that have less noticeable dying leaves through the summer.

Last fall was my first with costco bulbs and all went well. Those bags just find a way into my cart...I try to be sure I actually count the total number of bulbs I am buying as a reality check! Last spring I tried some spring bulbs but they were dried up in the bag. Costco has always been good about returns though. Not sure how they'd deal with the wrong fall bulbs though...hmm.

When I have had wrong items from van engelen, they have sent replacements, resulting in now hundreds of odd ball daffodils in my woods. I kind of wish now I had just received a refund.

So this is the second time Ive posted something on the forums and not been notified that I had a response. And here there have been LOTS of responses! I waited for a few days and then I forgot all about it. Eek. My apologies everyone for posting a question and then not checking back in!! And thank you all for your input. I'll be trying one of the top two mentioned and let you know how it goes : )

plantman, those sound like the wild camara 'ham and eggs' type, not native to the US. Those are easily hardy in zone 6, my grandmother used to grow them. You can trim the stems back at the end of summer and they will bush up and bloom into fall. The native Texas 'horrida' has orange and red flowers and they have small barbed thorns on the stems. I'm using these on a border where the dirt is bad for easy to grow ground cover in a war with vinca major. Lantana is winning.

Thanks for the info. TRanger. That would explain why they keep coming back so easily.

It stopped doing it on mine too.

Mine wasn't doing this BUT I kept getting repeats of emails from the forums every several hours. The same ones, over and over. That has cleared up too

yes, i know it gets v. big for you, but i doubt it would here.

camp, you do know that British (and PNW) gardeners garden in Paradise, yes? Things grow quite differently here on Earth for us z.5 New Engand gardeners... (btw, the chionochloa is o.k. but it's those stipa seed heads that have me lusting......)

I meant to say that things grow quite differently here on Earth for us mortals in z.5 New Engand . :-)

How about the gorgeously tiny but detailed acaena buchananii? My previous experience with acaenas had been the prickly New Zealand microphylla...which has lovely foliage but annoying (to my mind) reddish burrs.......whereas the buchananii has survived total seasonal neglect in a shallow pot with odd jovibarbas and comes through the winter magnificently. The glaucous foliage veers towards turquoise while keeping a filigree delicacy I have rarely encountered in a foliage plant.

How about the gorgeously tiny but detailed acaena buchananii? My previous experience with acaenas had been the prickly New Zealand microphylla...which has lovely foliage but annoying (to my mind) reddish burrs.......whereas the buchananii has survived total seasonal neglect in a shallow pot with odd jovibarbas and comes through the winter magnificently. The glaucous foliage veers towards turquoise while keeping a filigree delicacy I have rarely encountered in a foliage plant.
Even better (with paler flowers) acaena magellanica.....I love these alpine evergreens.

Very nice!

Thanks.

Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't!

Very nice!
Is that a a Border Collie I see in the back ground? Maybe Aussie? I have a BC so just wondered!!

Thanks That is my neighbors Aussie Shepard Boo,he is a great dog!