13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
eeeeeeeewwwwwww.
Don't ducks eat snails and slugs? Maybe you could bring in a flock.... although I'm not sure how all the trampling and rooting about and pooping would fit into your garden scheme :)
ugh, even in pots things are not safe. I can't imagine.
Have you ever tried to loop a copper strip around the pot?
I do like the packaging, I've seen a couple pics from the UK of plants delivered this way.... also I love those Santa Rosa "socks". I hoard them for use in the summer to store dug up bulbs, they're just like those mesh bags usually used.... except I have no mesh bags, so socks it is! -socks, another good reason to order.... and they have a fall sale.... no. I will resist.
Unless I consider a few orders thrown out left and right to be "packaging research"? That might work!
I was working staining beams in a house and their yard had a major infestation of good sized snails. I took a bunch home for dinner and made my husband really happy. One could not walk in the yard without crunching on them. It was really creepy. They lined all the pots and the low fence. I parked on the street and scrubbed my work shoes off when I sat in my car.
As to the nifty packaging, It is good to see that some industrial arts packaging talents are being directed to these large nurseries. Annie's annuals and HCG have gotten both very different but ingeniously effective mailing systems.
I have a recent selection that maintains color till the seeds are matured. And it's a particularly deep intense color..let me link a photo I took last month...and they still look as good.
Here is a link that might be useful: Photo of TT Echinacea
Gardeners:
That seems to be the one thing I'm running low on.....patience ; ) Seriously, I need to try to add that virtue to my strengths! I'm definitely still trying to root them but it might take a while to figure it out on my own. You know what they say work smarter not harder. That's why I thought I'd cheat and just ask around to all those folks who have already put in the hard work.
Learn to take pride & enjoy satisfaction with your garden successes, big and small. I began designing my garden beds in 2006. They were "finished" and looking like the pictures in my head by 2011, mostly thanks to winter sowing. Now I look them and wonder what I'm supposed to do from here on?
Gardening teaches patience since plants have their own agendas and timetables but the rewards of learning are well worth the effort.
Ziyakr, just noted your information about the rose gloves.
Thanks.
Woody included pictures of some too quite recently.
Very interesting to see/read before and after garden pictures/info.
As said, I have had cleome, which was used as an annual filler, reseeding in mixed perennial beds. A problem (in that particular case) was the reseeded plants were too scattered.
On the other hand, I'd say cleome is a very attractive annual. The whole plant is elegant and I do think that it can compliment perennials.
I love cleome too. I agree they are vigorous reseeders though. They even poke through areas which I have heavily mulched--2-3 inches. Early in the season the seedling get attacked by flea beetles quite badly though.
I have started clipping off the lower seed pods every couple of weeks. I ask one of my kids to help and they hold a container while I snip them off.
You can let some seed pods ripen and collect the seed for next year.
TexasRanger, that is just lovely! I have been planning to actively veer away from yellow flowers in my garden, but I am really digging the cool and delicate blue/yellow combo there. I would try it if it worked in my zone, but it doesn't appear that it would.
Arlene, it's a biennial that blooms itself out in a season. All it requires is good drainage, mine are in sandy soil on a slope but some come up in back in regular soil. Too much water kills them but if you have a dry spot, you can grow it. I originally purchased seed from Plants of the Southwest - its a common plant and seed is available elsewhere. Mine come up in winter when its mild and take off in spring but many more plants also come up in spring and they grow quickly and bloom, they get bigger as the season progresses and love hot & dry. Its one of my favorite plants for filling in spaces. The color is stunning.
Baileya multiradiata is the name.
i would prefer a picture.. and an actual ID of the pest .. before we rely on the diagnosis ...
killing scale with oil.. is extremely hit and miss ... and timing is imperative ...
ignore the ants.. if in fact the problem is scale.. than the ants are eating the honeydew they produce... get id of the scale.. [or aphids].. and the ants go mind their own business ...
if you can not post a pic.. then cut off a small branch.. and take it to a local high end nursery ... as compared to bigboxstore ...
ken
A photo might help, but there are a large number of light blue/purple clematis and big box stores aren't known for accurate tags. In general, the bloom time is what tells you how to prune it. When did it bloom? If it bloomed with Empress, which is a type 2 (or B) prune, then it should be pruned the same way. Type 2 plants bloom on old growth and some on new growth as well, so spring pruning should be dead wood only. Some plants bloom better a second time (usually about September) if pruned lightly right after the first bloom to encourage new growth and to remove the old flowers. I don't grow Empress, and I am too far north to get second bloom on my type 2 clematis, so I don't know if you will get a second bloom if you prune lightly. Check to see if there buds forming on either plant over the next month. Even if they don't bloom a second time this year, they may in the future as they mature and get settled in.
You said "on the front porch." Did you plant them in the ground or are they still in their pots? It is much easier to grow clematis well in the ground for beginners IMO. They are heavy feeders (same type of fertilizer as for roses in spring) and have large root balls. They like even moisture, so a mulch is helpful as well.
There is also a clematis forum here on GW, though as far as I am concerned posting here is fine also.
I read that some Clematis can be cut back to a few inches during the dormant seasons and other like the taller variety you just leave alone.
==>>> i dont know what you are reading.. but you need better sources...
there are 3 specific types of Cs.. and they have different rules as to when and how to cut on them ...
there are no general rules ....
the default is to leave them until spring.. and cut back.. just as you are seeing new growth ... a failsafe situation ...
ken
Wow look at all those berries! I love your description of the bird hubub, isn't that just the best? I had a chickadee doing a little dance all around the serviceberry, chattering all the while, and finally he dangled upside down, nabbed a berry, then flew away. I think he was saying thank you. Waxwings are a favorite too. No matter what I'm in the middle of, I stop and admire them. All part of the joys of creating a little wildlife haven in our gardens!
Looks great! I'm so happy to see when shrubs aren't all "meatballed up" by pruning. I cut just a few branches off my heptacodium last week and the difference was amazing, and even the weed sumacs around back look like a landscape once I trimmed up the bottom.
Summertime pruning is a good thing, it's just easy to forget since most people aren't itching to get going like they do in spring.
A visit from some waxwings would be awesome. They're such a fun bird, but all I have are starlings and robins gobbling up berries.
You could just cut the rosa glauca to the ground this winter, the leaves will be great when it sprouts back up!
I'm no botanist but in my experience annual plants generally sprout, grow, bloom then die once frost nips them when the weather turns cold. Perennials on the other hand send up new growth in spring, bloom during their annual growth cycle, then go dormant once frost nips them when the weather turns cold. They return from year to year and repeat the process.
Pennisetum is an ornamental grass commonly referred to as fountain grass. There are several cultivars. 'Hameln' is a perennial cultivar. ' Red Bunny Tails' is an annual cultivar that may perform as a perennial in Z7 - see the link below for more information. It would likely be an annual in my Z6 garden.
Here is a link that might be useful: Pennisetum messiacum
My brother planted peonies here 40+ years ago & I've added quite a few myself over the years. I've never done anything to them since moving here in 2005. The foliage gets discolored late in the growing season sometimes but I've never treated it and the plants just keep coming back every year with zero help from me. Since they also bloom heavily, I figure they're healthy and don't need my help.
I put peony rings around my baptisia to prevent flopping. They're perennials that are just really worth having in my garden beds--I have four. Like peonies, they need zero attention from me other than the peony rings for support and I leave those year-round. I do nothing either to or for my baptisias. They have incredible taproots so never need watering. The foliage remains lovely right through the growing season and once the weather cools they naturally go dormant. Basically all I do is enjoy them.
According to Perennials for Every Purpose by Larry Hodgson, baptisias grow 3-4 ft. tall and 3-4 ft. wide. I've had mine for a number of years and that's been my experience with each of the four I have planted. I don't know where you're located but don't guess yours will exceed those measurements.
Peonies can suffer from something called botrytis blight. I Googled it and found a picture on the Missouri Botanical Garden website (see link). Judging by the photo, your plants don't have it.
Sorry: I don't grow kiwi vine so can't help with that.
An established perennial garden generally shouldn't require a great deal of maintenance unless it includes roses. Mine doesn't for that very reason--I purposely have no roses in my garden.
Here is a link that might be useful: Botrytis blight
The peonies undoubtedly have botrytis, a fungal disease common to peonies, though they don't get it every year. Just leave them alone until frost kills them. Then cut them back, but never put peony foliage in the compost; put it in plastic bags and send it out with the trash. Clean your pruners with a weak bleach solution and just go on with the garden clean up.
Glad it's acceptable for you Dee. I guess I've felt that way too. One of mine is looking really good this year and seems a little bit bigger, but I moved the second one in the spring because it was slower growing than the other one and I thought it might be location. So now they're both about 6 ft away from each other and will get the same conditions. The one I moved has settled in but hasn't grown much at all, so maybe next year it might start catching up? The one that is doing well, is almost to the size that I'd be happy with. It's adding what I wanted to the bed and couldn't be easier. I don't have a problem with the color either.
On the other hand, I've pretty much decided I may rip out my Weigela Wine and Roses. I've been paying attention this year and although it looked pretty good in the spring and flowered well, since then the foliage has faded and looks washed out. I have a gold leaved Kolkwitzia in the border and I wanted the dark contrast in the bed with it. I also have a dark leaved Hibiscus Kopper King on the other side of it and I tried something different with that this year. It has been a little gangly for me in past seasons, so this year I took someone's advice to cut it back when it was about a foot tall and it has become bushier and not gangly at all. Tons of buds on it, clean foliage for a change and I noticed it has a little gold tone to part of the leaves that is working really well with the gold Kolkwitzia, so I am thinking I'm going to put another KKing in place of the Wine and Roses I'm taking out.
.....one month later, now it's a wait and see if it's winter hardy here. I have lost a few Echinaceas when we've had a really wet winter. I never been a fan of orange flowers but so far I'm loving this one. Picture taken in the rain.
Annette
too late to get a picture i guess? ... remember both mites and asters yellows cause the distortion of the cone and lake of petals to some extent... but only asters yellows will cause the petals to turn green.. and to have the mini flowers (stem and all) grown from the cone itself.
I have seen plenty of plants that are completely infected with asters yellows and the plants still look healthy enough... it's just the blooms that give it away.
In regards to the asters yellow virus living in the soil... from what i have read... no it doesn't... it needs to be living in a host plant. Plenty of common weeds can get asters yellows, so if you get true asters yellows in your garden.. it could be in the neighborhood just lurking around. If you are ripping out a plant, i would still wait a while to replant a potentially suitable plant so that all existing plant material (roots left in the ground) is dead. But why not just plant something else anyway?