13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
I saw this on the O.Grass forum. Its nearly impossible to ID a grass not blooming. Its also impossible to tell what size that grass is in the picture.
You might try googling different grasses and see if you find something to suit your needs.
New Zealand wind grass, Anemanthele lessoniana (formerly Stipa arundinacea), will provide a similar look and stay about 3'x3'. It is an evergreen species but takes on some rather dramatic bronze and orange colors in late fall with colder weather.
I guess no luck with this question?
I doubt pinching would help since the stalks branch and sprout from the base anyway. I like to prop these up with shrub prunings like butterfly bush twigs. The twigs get stuck into the ground next To the plant and give it something solid to lean on. It's much easier than staking I think.
Here in KC that's pretty typical for mid to late summer, although this year we've had plenty of rain. Two or three years back it was so dry that people were advised to water around their foundations occasionally to try and keep them from shifting due to the shrinking, dried out soil next to them. Around my neighborhood, which is older, a lot of lawns dried out pretty bad and were subsequently invaded with more drought-resistant weeds. I saw a lot of dead conifers around.
Out in the suburbs irrigation systems are common, but to me the better (and much cheaper) strategy is to plant drought-tolerant natives. This has really caught on here in public/commercial plantings, but not so much yet in residential ones.
What about a gravel garden? I've heard that's a good way to plant more drought-tolerant things in the north and east where it's usually wetter. Here's Roy Diblik talking about it:
http://wpt.org/Wisconsin-Gardener/Segments/gravel-gardens-drought-tolerant-gorgeous
Interesting video. We did something a bit similar here, brought in a thick layer of sand and then we added gravel on top of that but not as thick as they did in the video. It made a big difference. The roots love it and its easy to water. I can walk around right after a rain and in winter it makes for good drainage, snow melts very quickly, it raised my climate zone somewhat and its also easy to weed, they pull right out. Supplemental watering is also faster and easy to do, it soaks in deep with no runoff and stays damp longer. Before doing this, the soil would dry out and bake hard as a rock in summer, watering was needed all the time and the plants didn't grow nearly as well.
On the downside, the gravel collects seeds and they germinate better. That can be the good news or the bad, for me its a good thing. Its more difficult to make changes because I have to scrape an area clean of gravel before digging, otherwise I bury it or just can't get the shovel down through it. Its not a real big deal but its a factor.
I don't like gravel hardscapes that are too barren and overly planned. Some of the professionally done 'artistic' ones remind me of an outdoor living room that look like they should get regularly swept with a vacuum cleaner rather than being a place for nature. Its like you'd feel you have to leave it like that to maintain the look the designer intended in the same way people think of professionally hired interior decorating. It looks unnatural, controlling and sterile.
I have the same experience NM.
I love hot magenta and not just because Gertrude Jekyll preached against it in gardens.
Read a suggested reason, sometime back, why Jekyll hated magenta; namely that fuschine (magenta) was the second synthetic chemical dye of the Industrial Revolution. Reform-minded people associated such a colour with the harsh working conditions of the Factory System. This implies that Jekyll carried her politics into the garden (or I should say, into other peoples gardens).
Ok it's been a while but I just needed to say what a great set of pictures this is. Really my kind of garden with all the interesting plants and the echinaceas.... What can I say about the echinaceas? Outstanding!
The carnivorous beds are really cool, I love all the types and they seem quite happy with their home. I wish that was the case with my tiny pitcher plant!
the 'cherry brandy' seedlings are also nice to see. I was wondering what they would seed out as since mine always seem to catch some kind of bad luck and never amount to anything.
thanks for the pictures!
Maybe the soil is too wet? Cimicifuga likes moist soil but when too wet for too long a time it can get all kinds of fungus diseases (Rhizoctonia being the main one). Poor air circulation in combination with prolonged wet weather can also cause leaf spot disease.
Okay, you're right. I found this BlogSpot (link below) that talks about it. I think the person who posted this blog would think you were crazy for growing lantana on purpose. LOL But it still doesn't tell me what the actual name is besides just Lantana Camara. :-(
http://earthonthewing.blogspot.com/2011/09/alien-invasion.html
L. camara is the actual name. Only the commercially sold hybrids have made up names like 'Miss Huff', 'Dallas Red' or 'Carnival'.
Wild Lantana horrida has orange/red flowers. Wild Lantana camara has pink/yellow flowers. They smell the same. Both are cold hardy. L. camara is hardy to zone 6. I am unsure about L. horrida but its probably that hardy as well. Both have thorns and produce lots of viable seeds.
The common name for wild L. camara is 'Ham & Eggs'. Wild L. horrida is often called 'Bacon & Eggs' based on the different flower colors. There are six species indigenous to parts of the southern United States.
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Most named hybrids are a mix of two South American species: L. camara & L. montevidensis. Lantana montevidensis is a trailing ground cover type with lavender flowers. Its tropical and not cold hardy at all which is why the hybrids are sold as annuals and don't survive winter. The hardier cultivars often have L. horrida (also called Lantana urticoides) in their lineage.
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I now think the orange one in the photo I posted above is L. horrida. L. horrida is a Texas native but L. camara isn't. Its considered an invasive pest all over the south.
The 'Ham & Eggs' that I have is wild L. camara, people have grown them here in Oklahoma for as long as I can remember because they are so hardy and will grow in our dry heat. They were commonly grown on farms as ornamental plants. They aren't invasive here because of cold winters but further south both types stay evergreen and bloom all year.
I read that L. horrida varies in leaf size, form etc in that site I posted above. I ordered seeds from Native American Seed and those plants have much bigger leaves and the plant has a wilder looking habit than the orange one I like so much that I posted in the pictures above which was started from a cutting from a plant growing up the street, I was disappointed in the plants I grew from seed I ordered.
The orange I started from the cutting up the street obviously produces viable seed, I have a few baby volunteers I noticed. Its leading me to believe its L. horrida (which definitely has thorns) except I think this one happens to be a slightly different type than the ones I grew from the seeds I ordered.
None of the cultivars I have purchased have thorns. BTW, I realize now that the one which wintered over in my hell strip is a Miss Huff. I'd forgotten what I planted, it happens around here.
I tend to push hardiness zones so it's not just 'tender' perennials I need to worry about in winter but also a number of suspect shrubs. And because I no longer have a lot of gardenable real estate, I grow most of them in containers.
On the whole, I tend to let them fare for themselves in winter.......I certainly do not have the ability or space to bring indoors a bunch of containers of woody plants! I do group them together and will sometimes wrap for additional cold protection if very cold weather is predicted but otherwise, they are on their own.
I also grow a lot of succulents, most of which are not winter hardy. They go outdoors in spring and come back indoors as houseplants in winter. The only other plant I am considering attempting to overwinter indoors is Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' simply because my hummers adore it and it is now a big, robust, non-stop blooming plant and I'd hate to start over again with a small version next spring. Otherwise, with any other 'tender' or temperennials, if they make it fine - if not, also fine :-) Will try something else next season!
ps. Have attempted to overwinter kangaroo paws (Anigozanthos species) indoors several times but with no success. They just dry up and die, even with bright light and regular (but not too frequent) water. Anyone have any luck with overwintering these in colder climates?
Sorry for the confusion 'Marie'.
Clearly T2d's specimen is able to get so large that she has the option of pruning it to look tree like.
(A couple of weeks ago I impulsively pruned ours with power trimmers to get it uniformly ball like. It looks stupid and I have left it alone to now grow itself out more randomly...live and learn.)
Thank you all!
dowlinggram! Beautiful pics! Thanks for sharing!
Woody, thanks for that! This DL bloom is pretty big and the fans are really beefy! I'm going to have to divide it again this year!
Hydrangea 'Preziosa'
The non-invasive Imperata cylindrica 'Red Baron' Grass--is being slow to establish but i love it!
Lobelia tupa is blooming!!!!
Persicaria (no ID) is happy!
Rosa rugosa 'Rubra' showing off in the evening sun