13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Perovskia, Russian Sage is what I grow in my driest, sandy area. I'm not familiar with clay hardpan and how that impacts this suggestion, but they like sandy, rocky soil just fine. Nice, silvery foliage once it gets going and then purple flowers when it's hot and dry out there. Bees love it, too.
In my garden, blue salvia grows like a weed,( though my climate is very different;I'm here in Tuscany...) I'd also think that stuff like gypsophilia (baby's breath),aquileigia (colombine)...any of those tap-rooted things would do well.Also, the aromatics, but there again, not sure about cold-hardiness...bart
I sometimes wonder if the "rattiness" of post-bloom daylily foliage is related to zones or humidity or some other climate issue. In my neck of the woods, the only way to tolerate daylilies is to cut the foliage to the ground after the plant has bloomed. The new leaves will look young and healthy. Then, I often have to do it a second time in late summer. Oakes Daylilies, one of the foremost growers, is just about 30 min from me and a visit to their open house in early summer will take your breath away. But, I promise you, by this time of the year, its just an acreage of ratty leaves.
I've never seen a "ratty" looking day-lily. Maybe a picture of what qualifies as "ratty" in the opinion of those who perceive rattiness in their day-lilies might be useful to the rest of us?
I love day-lilies. Perhaps the varieties I have grown were older or something, but to me, day-lilies do have a distinctive and pleasant scent. Just walking out of a city building the other day, I suddenly started swiveling my head around and sniffing to track down that scent. My son thought something was wrong with me.
Nope, all is good, its just that there was a daylily blooming in their perennial bed. LOL! I will say, the scent is nowhere near as sickly-sweet and overbearing as lilies can sometimes be. It's a bit ... greener? Woodsier? Whatever, I find it to be pleasant and subtle.
yep, d.lutea or d.grandiflora are good....but you could look out for the polkadot foxglove hybrids which are proving long-lived, long flowering (being sterile), well behaved and reliable. They also bloom for months, as will penstemons while campanulas, although they can be induced to keep going, tend to be more fleeting. Delphiniums - lovely but tricky (and snailbait).
phlowerpower: Thanks for your feedback! I do have red riding hood penstemon but it's only supposed to get 24" tall. I love delphiniums but I guess I thought those were biennials as well?? I better look into that. Any campanulas you suggest? I love hollyhocks but I just don't enjoy biennels. Too much work. :P
Gardenweed: What type of campanulas do you have? I also love delphinium but I guess I was under the assumption they were biennials. I am going to do some research though.
diggerdee: I will look into lupines! Thanks for the suggestion! Those are very pretty but I was looking for something taller like the biennials! I still might have to get some because I love that pale yellow.
Campanula: Thanks I will look into those. I feel like I saw the polka dot foxgloves somewhere. Now I can't remember where. Since your username is campanula... do you have any suggestions on a great campanula to grow? I may try delphiniums again... they are very pretty.
Thank you all for your suggestions!
This post was edited by thegardenat902 on Fri, Jul 18, 14 at 10:02
I agree that it is quite non-descript. I have never used it, as it has little to commend it. But it has its uses. It tends to smother out lower plants and presents a clump of plants with very uniform height. A good plant, en mass, if you have the situation and room for a clump. The foliage that could be used in contrast to other woodland plants. Such plants, as Astilbe, have nice foliage and value beyond flowering.
So weather has not been helpful, it has rained pretty much every day for the past week, some days heavily. The yucca does now have about 4 leaves standing up and it does look some mornings like more are standing up or at least trying. I think its also starting to put out new leaves in the middle, and I noticed something growing out of the side that almost looks like another trunk ?
Yep, Annette, that's just about what my Blue Paradise looks like right now... really purple. Still I love it ... for me it's a vigorous plant that grows bigger each year. Blooms earlier than my Davids and along with some pink/red shades of phlox.
Molie
That is really a very beautiful photo. I love how the grass adds such a nice visual contrast to the plant itself. I'm so used to seeing butterfly weed in rather stark, dry environments. This is so lush.
Kevin
Bogturtle,
There are multiple national campaigns to increase the number and varieties of milkweeds growing. If you google Monarch conservation or preservation, or pollinator conservation, you'll find lots of activities going on. We had a great project here on GardenWeb to connect new milkweed growers with veterans who could share seed and growing information. I think it was "Adopt a Milkweed Newbie" or something close. This year we're already encouraging established gardeners to begin collecting seed from host plants and nectar plants in preparation for another seed-sharing effort to help expand and create as many butterfly-friendly gardens as possible. We even had some media involvement in a large Monarch release that one member of GardenWeb staged. Monarch Watch is an organization based at the University of Kansas that grows and sells/distributes milkweed seedlings across the country. They accept donations of money or milkweed seeds, and grow milkweeds from seeds collected from specific geographic regions to redistribute back to those same areas.
Anyway, there's lots going on and we all try to do our part both in our gardens and in education those around us.
Martha