13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Well Texas Ranger, I don't think my bookkeeping technique is really a product of my personality. I am by nature a very messy and spontaneous personality. That trait has resulted in some big gardening mistakes in the past, like digging up and discarding the roots of much valued perennials. So I am forced to adopt a more structured recording style. I'm still spontaneous but I have a bit more discipline in keeping up with what is where. And records of color and height aid my less than perfect memory. For me, just a matter of necessity. :)
I used to know the names of all my plants but I'm forgetting them! I learned the Latin when I began gardening, now I feel I need to know them! I don't lose sleep over it, though.
I also want to know for the sake of others who ask about particular plants. Uh....uh...it's on the tip of my tongue!
I'm heavily considering retiring so this is just one of the goals on my many lists...wherever they all are! LOL!
Thanks for the interesting conversations!
Those bamboo stakes have become my best friend!
David, I have some plants that aren't doing too well because I moved/ planted them too late in the season but after seing your current picture, I am hoping they will be ok next spring if they don't straighten up before the end of this season.
My gardens didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted either. I have tall plants around the front and shorter plants in the middle. It's a bit of a mess to me but everyone who visits says it looks beautiful.
Since this is only my second year gardening, I really am kind of doing a test run, watching how everything grows, taking lots of pics and next year I can rearrange.
you add more pix to the same post.. to make it easy for the reader... as the posts will get separated over time..
and you do that.. by replying to the original post ...
now i have to go find that.. because this one makes no sense at all .. as it was the first one i opened..
this is a common mistake of newbs.. so dont sweat it ... live and learn ....
ken
Since no one's jumped in yet, I'll give this a whirl.
Are you certain that the verbena sold to you is indeed Homestead Purple, or could it have been mislabeled? Have you contacted your supplier to find out more about this? Perhaps other plants marked HP have bloomed in the same manner.
Verbena can be propagated by cuttings or seeds. Cuttings will be identical to the mother plant, but seeds can be variable, especially if other varieties of verbena are growing nearby which may have cross pollinated, but even pollinated by the identical variety. A lone specimen of white Phlox paniculata David set seed here (so self-fertile) & one of the seedlings bloomed lavender. Checking to see if this was unusual, found David's Lavender, a sport of David introduced & patented by Itsaul Plants in Georgia. Assuming theirs originated in the same way as mine and has been continued from cuttings of the seedling (vegetative propagation), but it's possible the Lavender grew from a branch of David.
The link is to some varieties new for 2014. There's a slideshow & Lanai Twister Purple looks something like you describe. There may be others.
A sport usually arises as a branch different in growth on an existing plant & is considered a mutation. If cuttings from the oddball branch grow identically, and cuttings from those plants down the line, it's considered a stable mutation & can be considered a new variety. Sometimes a stable mutation will revert & show the characteristics of the plant from which the sport arose. That's all memory turns up on the subject, but others likely know more.
If you determine yours is a new variation, you could always fool around with cuttings to be sure it's stable. Don't know anything about patenting plants or selling distribution rights to such plants.
Rosie, how exciting to have met Dr. Armitage & how lucky to get a special plant before its official introduction!
Here is a link that might be useful: Verbena new for 2014
Sue,
Thanks much for info/clarification, et al. Right now flowering is slowing on all the Homesteads so I will have to update later.
Don't know about mislabeling. These were grown for my SIL who owns a landscaping company.
Interesting about the P. paniculata. And what a coincidence. I gave Bobby Saul some of the Homestead Purple when Dr. Armitage gave it to me. The rest is history.
My daughter got her degree in Horticulture at UGA and I spent many, many days going to lectures by Alan and Dr. Mike Dirr. They gave me so many great plants and the memories will always be with me. What a pair those two best friends were!!
I'll be back with more when reblooming resumes and I can get a pic.
Rosie
brilliant... stick a pot in there.. to assuage your neurosis ...
or garden art ...
an old shoe ...
heck.. that old bowling ball you havent pulled out in a decade ...
a hubcap ...
a piece of rotting wood ...
time for some garden art ... THAT YOU DONT HAVE TO BUY I MEAN ...
how about a whirlygig from aco.. they are 60% ...
ken
rhiz ...
i used some old media.. that i used to hold some plants over last summer.. and then planted in fall ....
so i DID FERT IT ... lol ..
but i didnt do it because they are children ... that need to be feed.. educated.. diapered.. etc ...
i did it because the media may have been a bit spent ...
ken
Hmm, I must have forgotten to click on the preview copy as know I commented last night on the amazing growth of your Huldine, woodyoak. What a sense of accomplishment to see it so full of blooms.
I think I have finally found a good place for my Huldine so maybe it will look like yours in a few years.
Understand about the secondary plants getting overwhelmed by the super growth. Have the same issue with Gillian Blades this spring completely covering Comtessa de Bouchard. Next year I will cut Gillian Blades back as soon as it has finished blooming so Comtessa can shine.
I think a good part of the reason it's so big this year is that I didn't cut it down so low this year - I mainly trimmed it back to the tuteur frame but left it about 3-4' tall. The Nike on the tripod by the garage is treated much the same - i.e. trimmed back to the frame but left tall. It's always covered in a sheet of bloom. ... which reminds me... I forgot to fertilize the clematises this spring. After all this bloom, I wonder if they need feeding or whether they can wait until next spring? Roses and clematises are the only things I fertilize, and I forgot to do both this year! They seem to be doing fine so far without it.
Bluestone, you might consider Poet's Jasmine - Jasminum Officinale - for those trellises. Hardy to zone 6, loves the sun, blooms from June to frost here in central VA. Loses its leaves most Winters, but the stems remain green so still ornamental in the cold & with deep blue/black berries. Lovely fragrance emitted that carries late afternoon through evening, or anytime you stick your nose close to the flowers. Not a heavy cloying perfume, but sweet & clean. Hummingbirds love them & so do I.
I'd wanted this for years & planted one in this garden 16 years ago that I'd grown from a cutting. Took off easily. There are several varieties, some with pale or variegated foliage that may have trouble in that baking position. I grow the dark green one, with hints of pink on the outside of the buds that open white. Logee's Greenhouse usually carries them, but website says sold out at the moment. Looking for a link, found this one for BC that sells gallons & ships till the 15th. Others found have mainly suspended shipping till September or on backorder. Brushwood carries it.
Here is a link that might be useful: Jasminum Officinale
This post was edited by vasue on Mon, Jul 7, 14 at 13:35
Or as you suggested, there is nothing wrong with putting nothing on the trellises. From the way you describe them, I would imagine they are attractive as is and add some visual interest to the area. I like the idea of putting a potted something in front of the trellises - possibly elevated a bit and leaving it like that.
I have a couple of wooden trellises mounted on my fence which I've never used. I always meant to plant a vine of some sort, but never did. They've been there for years now - bare - and I like the look.
Kevin
I have noticed that there seems to be a reduced number of earwigs this year, which is good, but also a much reduced number of bumblebees, which is not so good! Also, have hardly seen any slugs, despite having a fairly wet growing season so far.
But I have found some earwigs on the milkweed, which is normal. They hide in nooks and crannies of the growth tips and flowers. I flush them out and smush them!! Along with any other predators that might get the Monarch larvae (haven't seen any Monarchs yet this year though).
I've gotten over my squeamishness of smushing earwigs and beetles and such with my bare fingers...
How gorgeous, Rouge. I have to ask, are the prickly bits hard like thistles, or soft? I would love to plant one of these but am a bit of a suck when it comes to things that jab...
Pam it is quite thistle like. I also don't like the feel but it is worth it for the other worthwhile attributes