13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Thanks for all the nice compliments everyone!This is garden #7 I put in over the last 3 yrs and all have some type of hummingbird attracting plants in them.Little buggers are fun to watch.

It looks lovely! But you might want to add some plants to feed your particular butterfly caterpillars. I don't know which butterflies you have but a internet search will tell you what plants your caterpillars need.

Sounds great! Now to find enough sources of cardboard.

Cardboard should be sufficient. Any weeds that grow will have come up between the cardboard edges. I've done that. You could top the cardboard with black plastic to be sure. Weeds are determined, but not unsmotherable.

Try Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia). Mine are about 24" tall and long-lived.

They are initially grown under really strong lights and trimmed for bushiness. And deadheaded if any flower buds appear.

And that's the way to handle them from seeds at home.

Well, never mind. I ended up buying two more Bobo hydrangea to offer more congruity to the area. That Peacock BB is still in the area so I'll get to enjoy those blooms right there by the Lamb's ear :0)

If you have a favorite one, this is the time to take some 6" tip cuttings, use a little root hormone powder and get them started for Fall planting.

My Rodgersia Fireworks is about 8 yrs old and looks like it is going to bloom this year for the first time.

Ruth - the picture in the link you gave looks like the R. podophylla in the Missouri Botanical Garden link below. See the RHS picture of R. aesculifolia at:

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/15918/Rodgersia-aesculifolia/Details

to see that it doesn't have those extra lobes at the ends of the leaflets like the R. podophylla does. I like the look of that extra lobe detail, which is why I'm now looking for one! (I see it listed in the catalog of the same nursery that had the huge Astilboides by the irrigation pond - I'll have to go check it out someday soon....!) The R. podophylla is also supposed to be bronze in the spring while R. aesculifolia is green (although, for mine, the initial shoots emerging from the ground are browinsh but they unfurl to green right away). Are the leaves on yours green or bronze in spring?

Here is a link that might be useful: R. podophylla

Can't help but resurrect this thread, as I am passionate about my 'True Blue.' Mine is in the shade except for about 3 hours 11am to 2pm. Seems quite happy. This photo was taken September 9, 2012. This year the plant is healthy, but it's too early for blooms just yet. I highly recommend it.

I also love my true blue. Mine also gets bright shade most of the day but a couple of hours of hot noon sun and blooms heavily and has been returning for several years. I have not tried to divide it but would like more. Does anyone have experience dividing this in the Fall after the long bloom period is over?

My long lived (18 years) phlox garden suffered a massive, fast dye-out two years ago. I did see webbing on the plants but the destruction was unstoppable in spite of religious pesticide spraying. The plants looked exactly like those pictured. Fearing that fungus was introduced by the insects I also sprayed fungicide to no avail. Last year a few sad little plants came up and received both fungicide and pesticide spraying starting very early in the spring. I did not see any webbing. This year is a repeat of last year. A few Phlox in another location are not affected (yet) but they are in too much shade to bloom. I was hoping to find an answer here.

Apparently there are phlox people and nonphlox people and I'm one of the latter. I pulled up my next-to-last David this morning after years of trying all of the remedies listed above. I think I can get the same general effect with white cosmos, at least it will be cheaper.

Out of the 4 I have, the tallest is 3ft. The smallest (near maple)is about 2 inches :/

Seems like a lot of you are having the same issue. Mine look very healthy and are definitely growing, just seem to be short for this time of year. Yea, yea, I shouldn't complain - I'm impatient, what can I say.

Yes, the original pic is Firewitch and that would be yours as well green_go.

What a striking color!

Dee - that reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where somebody BO'd Jerry's car LOL!

I'll have to try some of the other products mention when I go through the Liquid Fence. It does seem to working, though -- haven't noticed any chomped-off coneflowers (the woodchucks LOVE those!) or worse - my beloved Oriental lilies!

Some awesome visuals here! Thanks for giving me a nice laugh

You are doing nothing wrong apart from hoping too hard. I waited 6 years for my yellow delavayii paeony.....I enjoyed the foliage and convinced myself it had enough value as a foliage plant. Year 5, there were 3 blooms, done and dusted in a week. year 6 - transformation - many blooms, lasting almost a month (a lifetime in paeony terms). During this time, I neither pruned nor fertlised - the bare stems looked a bit grim in early spring but easy to ignore as spring bulbs were doing their thing. Those fat leaves, expanding in the sun, are wonderful and the whole shrub has grown to around 7 feet high and wide - this year, for the first time ever, I cut back the herbaceous stems by about half, and did a bit of thinning.

I don't fertilize my peony tree or any of my perennials very much. Must say even tho it only has one flower, I really like the foilage and how nice it has grown this year.

Too long since I read Hardy and what I read didn't have that passage. But in my callow youth would I even have noticed that passage?
I was thinking, Dylan? Joyce? (how pretentious of me, I never read Joyce)
One can get tired of strawberries, even bought ones. When they are in season I don't even think of a grocery budget. I buy local strawberries when I see them and eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. My car is littered with dried up strawberry 'tops', I arrive at nursing homes with red stained fingers and sticky lips. And I am relieved when the season ends because my compulsive appetite for strawberries can't be indulged and my digestive system gets a break.
Strawberries are like tomatoes for me: there is so little resemblance to the "real" in-season fruit I can't bring myself to spend money on the out of season imitation.
Of course, sometimes I can't resist buying those "virtual" strawberries out of season. They never fail to disappoint.
Marie

feh, no-one actually 'reads' Joyce - they might have to drudge through various bits for exams.....or even enjoy some of the more florid passages.......but entire books?

The strawberries are out of control - I swear I started off with a dozen plants but they are now occupying 2 large beds, escaping onto the paths and making a bid for world domination by sneaking along the hedge lines.

The first picks of our fruit and veggies are always special (tomatoes have another month before I will be eating any of them)....but the most eagerly awaited crops are the humble potatoes. For the past decade, it is barely possible to find potatoes for frying (chips) in the UK. Soggy, horrid things (and for sure, I have tried the various double and triple frying methods)- I blame the supermarket practice of washing everything and long storage because the same varieties are still available and consistent.....but our own Kestrel spuds are a delight and mark the start of chip season. The ancient frying pan comes out of storage (because it is a frightening sight with half an inch of encrusted solidified oil baked on the outside of the pan) and we gather about waiting for the CRISP and delicious potatoes to leap out of the frying basket and into our mouths (even better with home-made ketchup). The humble potato - a gourmet treat!

I had SIS grow into the daff area, and neither one seemed to care.

Wow your comments are so amazing! I am surprised the daffodils could get through the ground cover but happy to hear your experiences with it. Good to know as I covered the daffodils with the ground cover without thinking. It is nice to know it probably will work and they will both do a show. Thanks so much. I am encouraged!