13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

I second the idea of roses... they look great with catmint, love the sun, and should bloom all season if you pick the right one(s). I have several kinds of roses and also the common Kockouts, which bloom continuously until fall and need no spraying. The rose forum would be a great place to go for advice or suggestions. Also, check out local garden centers so you could actually see roses in bloom now that grow in your area.

Awesome! Thanks!!

I like that you have basically a clean slate. Personally I would tuck a few low growing evergreens in the bottom here and there. Different height and colors. Or creeping junipers etc. nothing that needs a lot of maintenance.

You could also get an appointment with your local extension service to look at your property and have them assess what you have. Then get recommendations for native plants that deer and rabbits leave alone. Intermix those with some of the plants or shrubs you're drooling over.

If you are trying to cover a big area for cheap(er) some nurseries offer plugs of perennials. Yes, you start small, but you also only have to dig small holes. In three years no one will be able to tell the difference to a gallon size plant.

For shrubs to tuck into the back of the tree line, see if your town or county offers a spring bareroot sale of trees and shrubs. Check with your local master gardener chapter when or if they have an annual plant sale.

And of course you can grow your own cuttings, seeds. Still venturing into that myself, and I have only an acre to cover but I need shrubby stuff to screen the neighbors. YouTube has a wealth of videos on how to.

Looking forward to a picture two years from now :)
Good luck, Megan

IME planting garden plants in unimproved woodland soil may be a frustrating exercise. Your yard has a long edge, so planning the whole thing out now, but then executing it over several years in stages will end up giving you the most finished and cohesive look. I would think about design goals as Kevin suggested. Do you want to create a gentle transition between the woods and the yard? Do you want a bazzilion flowers? Do you want fall color or winter interest? Are you looking to reduce the "new" look of your yard? Or . . . ? If you put a single row or even a double row of perennials along the base of those tall trees, they will just disappear because of the height difference and it won't look too different. There are books on woodland design that you can peruse in a bookstore and may be able to borrow from the library, but in general, the edge of a woodland naturally goes from the tall tree layer to small trees and shrubs to perennials and lower growing plants.

When I started in a similar situation, I started with planning and setting up a beds during my first year or two. I tested my soil, watched where the sun and shade are at different times of the year, checked out sources for organic matter to make the soil better for growing plants, and found inexpensive sources for plants. In my succeeding years I planted native plants (mostly rooted cuttings and seedlings) suited to the area in unimproved soil area and more finished beds were planted with garden plants. I ended up planting my woodland edge with large clumps of plants rather than straight beds. That gave me "windows" into the woods, but still allows the woods to step down more gradually than simply tall trees to grass. I planted largely for spring flowers and fall color.

Possible sources for inexpensive or free plants:
- Consider buying a shrub or two each year that can be used to start more from cuttings (this won't work with all plants, but there are some like willows or dogwood shrubs that root easily from cuttings)
- Buy small starts of plants from your local conservation service, usually a state or county agency. For instance, in spring I can get from the NH state nursery seed-grown first-year or second-year woody plants for two or three dollars apiece. When planted in a prepared bed, they grow well.
- You might be able to collect cuttings or small seedlings from shrubs in the surrounding woods that are local natives and so will grow well, and start your own. I don't want you give you specific plant names since our growing conditions are too different, but take the time to learn what grows well where you are without being invasive, and then plan where you want shrubs, small trees and perennials.
- Are there plant exchanges in your area that might be a good sources for plants? (Around here new gardeners need not bring plants and may just take plants.)

Possible sources of free or inexpensive materials to improve and add organic matter to your soil:
- city compost
- tree trimming services for woodchips
- horse farm for manure

Is there a nature center or university or arboretum that has displays of ornamental native plants in a woodland edge setting, or are there talks or courses you could attend? Are there garden clubs in your area where you can hear other local gardeners' experience? That will help you figure out what critters other than deer might be problems for your plants, and what plants will grow happily in the soil and sun/shade conditions you have.

I realize that it may appear that I am raining on your parade, but having gardened on two properties that included open areas carved out of woodlands, I am hoping to prevent you from making some of my mistakes.(Also, since you mentioned ticks, get in the habit of checking yourself, and if you have them, your pets and kids, every time you come into the house from the yard and every evening before bed.)

TexasRanger10 - daylily foliage may be ugly where you are, which makes me sad for you, but here in the northeast it's an elegant fountain of green throughout the growing season. I can't think of any perennial in my garden that has ugly foliage once it finishes blooming.

Okay, I confess--I don't grow Scabiosa and I stopped growing oriental poppies because they DID have wretched looking foliage once the blooms faded.

Don't be sad-- plenty of people love the heck out of them & there's no shortage of them around the city, the foliage looks exactly like all the online photos I've ever seen. Its not a big deal because I really don't think about it too much.

This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 22:41

Oh heavens, I didn't do the patio rebuild/stonework - it *was* professionally done. I did the basic bed design and planting, but not the hardscaping other than the stepping stones DH put in.

I'll try to post pics later of the whole patio.

This post was edited by mxk3 on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 15:49

I commend you on your use of Berginia. I love it but it always seem like an awkward plant that I don't know where to put. Yours is nice. :)

Hi hpny. Here's another look at my balloon flowers now that they are popped. My flowers are at least a year old and in a small space. How tall does these flower grow?

Lovely, Glen!

Stir_fryi, my experience is the same as rouge's. I posted earlier that I moved my three year old 'Sentimental Blue' to my new house last year and they have survived. There is some risk in moving them but if they are going to get crowded out anyway, might as well take the chance. And as SunnyBorders points out, a younger plant is likely easier to transplant.

I don't always deadhead mine... I find this cultivar's habit and clean foliage attractive even when not in bloom.

Thanks for the comments and advice. I do want more JL. Do I let reseed in the bed and grow there?

Let them reseed and then move them to where you want when they are still small. I would still deadhead the majority of the flowers though.

I purchased this bellflower over 4 years ago and it is very invasive but I used it to my advantage. I have areas around my property where it hard to plant or grow anything (too many roots). I placed some of these bellflowers there and they completely covered the area. I still keep a close eye on them.

aachenelf, I'm a sucker for most of the Campanulas, the only one that gets away on me is C. poscharskyana. I have it wandering through a low rock wall, when finished blooming I rip it out down to it's roots. I also have 'Sarastro' but it sure doesn't look like your beauty this year, I had to move it and it's sulking. The others I have are rotundifolia and glomerata, don't have a problem with either one. The primulifolia in the picture was supposed to be thyrsoides, I got the seed from the U.K. obviously a mixup, I got a replacement from them but waited to long to plant the seed, it didn't germinate :(, still looking for seed for thyrsoides.

SunnyBorders, 'Brantwood' is a stunner, another to put on my list.

Annette

It does grow very easily from seed. I Winter Sow them each January.

Can I place it in a pot until I transplant it in the fall?

So gorgeous

I love the yellow ones and stick them in among the different perennials for a flash of color. I dislike the pink because it re-seeds everywhere - the yellow stays in one spot. It spreads but doesn't seem to re-seed for me.

Given my knowledge of most wild rudbeckia's (both variability and longevity), it's all quite true and there's not much you can do about it, other than don't propagate from seed.
I'm always amazed how variable even very few (like 100) rudbeckia hirta wild occuring plants, really are. And pretty much the only survivors from year to year are those that are in biennial form and didn't flower this year.

Rudbeckia hirta/black-eyed Susan 'Cherry Brandy' is an annual, not a perennial as many believe. The link below takes you to Swallowtail Garden Seeds' website photo of 'Cherry Brandy' but they sell the seeds as annuals. It's true that R. hirta is a rampant self-seeder but the plants are actually annuals and live for a single season.

I checked Santa Rosa Gardens website and 'Cherry Brandy' is clearly noted as an annual.

Here's the link I copied and pasted: http://www.santarosagardens.com/Rudbeckia-hirta-Cherry-Brandy-p/rud-che.htm

ellenr - sorry you're disappointed with the performance/color/longevity of your Cherry Brandy rudbeckia. I've noticed & been disappointed to find there are short-lived perennials gone missing from my beds after a season or two.

Here is a link that might be useful: Swallowtail Garden Seeds

R.acris is, I agree, a better behaved plant than the dreadful repens, aka creeping buttercup, a downright invasive plant. They may both be buttercups but they are a world apart in terms of welcome.

UPDATE:

ispahan wrote:

The other one is Ranunculus aconitifolius 'Flore Pleno', which is also a taller, bushier clumper, but this time with very elegant and refined white flowers. It seems almost too perfect to be real.

Because of this thread (thanks Kevin) and specifically 'ispahan's' post I did go search out this plant and did put two in the ground last July or so. Of course they did nothing last season but this spring they have shown their promise ie perfect little white flowers which from a distance seem to float in the air. (But I must confess that I weeded one from the garden earlier this spring, not believing it was "Flore Pleno"...embarrassing.)

I think I will plant another one or two this summer. They seem to not take up much room and their flowers are quite unique. So far I highly recommend this plant.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Mon, Jul 21, 14 at 8:30

mostly paradoxa

I have several 2 leaf sized plants popping up. I moved the parent plant this spring and I see lots of evidence where it used to be. Out of 6 ech's this was the only one that survived so I'll just let it do what it wants to do.