13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

There is always next year for Easter flowers. Or perhaps in September for Mother Mary's birthday.

Here is a link that might be useful: flowers delivery

spammer

thanks for all of the replies. I took them out last night and the smell was nasty. I guess it was root rot. They were sitting in a ton of water. We got so much rain in a short amount of time and with my clay soil, guess it was too much. I will ammend the bed more and find a more tolerable plant.

Something to think about for later when you get new plants to put in the heavy clay soil of your beds: if the plants are potted up in a light peat based medium you might want to remove it when you plant them into to your soil. If you don't, and you water the plants then your soil acts as a basin for the water around the root ball in the light soil and they tend to drown easily.

Maybe one of the "Flame series" phlox paniculata? These are dwarfs at 20" tall & come in a wide assortment of named colors with high mildew resistance & prolonged bloom beginning earlier than taller (3-5') phlox. Not usually a fan of minnied classics, find myself appreciating these for their retention of that sweet phlox fragrance, their versatility where their taller brethren would be too large & their kindred ability to lure the fliers - hummingbirds & hummingbird moths, butterflies, bees.

Tried a couple of the Early Start pink ones last year - Pink & Light Pink. Like them, but wanted something with a bit more height & heft. Added Flame Blue this year, a bicolor with blueish buds that open to white flowers marbled with the color of the buds. The individual florets are as large as tall phlox, though the flowerheads are shorter to match the proportion of stems, which are densely clothed with leaves. Lots of presence & flower power early to late. Would like to find Flame Coral and White next...

Yours looks a bit like Flame Lilac in the link below. Clicking "previous plant" & "next plant" will show a number of these Flames & other dwarfs. In the shorties, there's also the Early Start series, the Junior series, the Pixie series & more.

Here is a link that might be useful: Short phlox paniculata

This post was edited by vasue on Fri, Jun 20, 14 at 16:35

Thanks everyone for your comments añd links.

I ordered some shrubs from Bluestone lasts year. Yes, they were small, but a couple of months after I planted them I decided to move one of them. You should have seen that root system! It would have easily filled a gallon pot even though the plant hadn't appeared to grow that much.

As as been said many times, the first year in the ground, a shrub spends its time expanding its root system. There may not be much top growth, but that doesn't mean it isn't doing anything.

Kevin

Kevin, that's great to hear. I know a lot of people are unhappy with the changes made by Bluestone in that last couple of years, but I find their plants to still be exceptionally healthy.

I have it also. Third year its come back with very good increase after the first year. Gets some sun so leaves retain a little coppery color. It's been divided into three plants and put up with my moving it several times before getting the right spot. Nice and healthy plant. Like plants that stay healthy and return each year. Yah!

shadyplace, I'd probably put it near my Astilbe, so that's already getting supplemental water when it's hot and dry out, so no biggie.

Rogue, are you saying that yours doesn't turn red? Mine would go in dappled shade.

Patty, that sounds perfect!

sorry almost forgot your question-seed pods do need to mature on the plant-the only way to get rebloom is to cut off the stalks just before the last flowers fade

Thanks all. I just can't cut them all down with all the hummers and bumble bees enjoying the last of the blooms. I still have seeds from years ago in the frig and will just use them next year.

I think if you cut back a healthy plant growing in the ground then it jettisons a corresponding part of its root system, and then both recover as they can. I think this response will be different between plants. Anything that evolved with being browsed, like a shrub or a perennial, will come back more easily than something like a tree that isn't usually browsed. That's why there is a rule of thumb that if a tree loses more than a third of its canopy in an ice storm then it's pretty much a goner. If I damage roots on a perennial, shrub, most houseplants in pots when I am moving, repotting, or whatever, then I cut back the top growth to even things out some. I find the plant will jettison top growth anyway until it has an amount that the roots can support. (If I trim it then I get to decide what gets jettisoned.) I wouldn't be afraid to cut back the Russian sage, and in fact I think it would be helped. Also I am a big fan of lawn chairs over the plant until it perks up.

"Actually, what happens when plants are cut back is that they divert their energy resources TO replacing their cut leaves, in the opposit direction of the roots. Plants can't do both things very well so the most important function wins the battle.

The leaves are the energy producing factories without which the plant cannot make new roots, grow, fend off diseases and insects. "

That statement is not entirely accurate.
lils and aseed are correct in their posts.

In addition:

Yes, leaves produce food for the plant, but roots also store that energy as carbohydrates in addition to providing water to the foliage. When the leaves are stressed - wilted - they cannot produce energy. In order for photosynthesis to take place in the leaves, the leaves need both light and WATER. If the leaves are wilted, they aren't doing anything for the plant. In fact, they are a liability to the plant.

What happens when a tree is extremely stressed by drought? Eventually it drops its leaves. It can't support them. If the drought ends in a reasonable amount of time, the tree will grow new leaves because it has stored energy - carbohydrates - in its roots.

What happens in the spring after a long cold winter? Plants in the garden have lost their leaves. The roots with their stored energy (in addition to rising temps and water) bring the plant out of dormancy and make it possible for the plant to regrow its leaves. Yes, leaves are important, but a plant can survive for a much longer period without leaves as opposed to without roots.

One more example and I'll shut up:

2 years ago I dug out a peony. I guess I missed some roots because this stupid plant keep sprouting new growth and I keep chopping it off. It's a weekly battle. Evidently, there was a lot of stored food in those roots to allow this continual resprouting process to take place.

Kevin

Pitimpinai, I tried and tried to use my 'Annabelle'. I moved it twice, then tried giving it support and now it has moved to it's final resting spot, out of my view in an area that I rarely pay any attention to where it can do it's own thing. :-) I put another Hydrangea in it's place called 'Madame Emile Mouillere'. It is a white mop head with pretty edges to the petals that remind me of pinking shears. I just moved it this spring and after last winter it has only one flower getting ready to bloom, but I have high hopes it will be an improvement over 'Annabelle'

That's funny, I wanted to get 'Minnesota Snowflake' but they were out of it and I ended up with 'Buckley's Quill' which definitely is a double and I believe is a dwarf as well. Unfortunately, it has no fragrance that I can detect. Your Minnesota Snowflake is fragrant, yes? I wonder if you can keep it pruned to the size you need? I'm still looking for another Philadelphus that is fragrant.

Yes, prairiemoon2, that Philadelphus is fragrant - lovely fragrance, just like Betty Corning. I gave up on making the Philadelphus stay short. It has not grown terribly wide, because the area no longer gets much sun after my next door neighbor extended the house upward.

The purpurea are biennial... but there are many more variants that are perennial... or short lived perennials.

Thanks for the tip campanula, on the Polkadot hybrids. Their colors aren't especially appealing, and I'm not even sure they are widely available here in the states. I'll check for them the next time I'm at Groff's Plant Farm. But your post was helpful - in investigating them, I found out about a new yellow one called 'Goldcrest' which seems promising as a replacement for 'Spice Island'. Alas, the handful of American sources have sold out. But at least that means they might reorder for next year.

http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/blogs/graham_rice/archive/2010/08/23/digitalis-goldcrest-new-foxglove-hybrid.aspx

Here is a link that might be useful: http://mygarden.rhs.org.uk/blogs/graham_rice/archive/2010/08/23/digitalis-goldcrest-new-foxglove-hybrid.aspx

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Thu, Jun 19, 14 at 16:59

I'm in that boat. Two years ago, the neighbors had their trees butchered. There was no place to move the plants, so I planted several 8' potted trees I had handy for some help. The rest of the plants had to tough it out, or be replaced. The species fuchsia handled the sun much better than expected; the star magnolia declined until he gave up the ghost this spring.

Last year the city trimmed my street tree--a sycamore that had a lot of lopsided growth over my front yard, but provided shade. I have noticed that a good section of the protected plants under my pines get full, hot sun for the entire afternoon now. Some beautiful orchids and bromeliads that I have grown for years are going to be cooking from July through September--if they live that long. There isn't any suitable place on the property to move many of them. I'm weighing options, such as planting a small tree where I don't want one, which would also necessitate a revamp of the irrigation system and kill the view through our living room window.

I'm in the process of changing my perennial bed designs also, but because our trees are getting larger, and the beds that used to have sun are now in the shade. In fact, I'm now scrambling for spots to plant flowers that need full sun. I'm learning to pack them in real tight in the limited space I have.

shadeyplace: I asked myself a few weeks ago what have I done! lol I like your gardening style as well!

my gardening style is what i jokingly refer to as "garbage gardening"! each area has a edger, whether it's catmint, salvia, lamb's ear or daylilies, then i add a few perennials that i repeat throughout the bed, e.g. shasta daisies, sedum, coneflowers. everything must be low maintenance and drought tolerant. so far this has worked for me.

I'm not even going to bother clicking on that link...but thanks. Here's the question: what other organic chemical routinely lasts "centuries" outside? It would be a rather different world if they did. When trees die, thankfully, they don't last centuries either. Saprobes start breaking them down. It would be reasonable that large poison ivy vines themselves could live for > 100 years, maybe that is what they mean by that. A specimen stored under controlled conditions could last for 100 years. The Mona Lisa wouldn't have lasted 500 years in a compost heap, no matter how great it art. (haha) But outdoors under normal atmospheric conditions, any poison ivy that could have grown in a place, will decompose in that place.

If you must just spray your glads with a warm detergent solution, then give them a rinsing spray. It will wash off the oil just as it would wash it off your hands.

I would just leave the glads alone as long as the foliage is still green. They need to continue photosynthesizing to replenish the corm. In the fall, or whenever you clean up old foliage, I would wrap my hands in a plastic bag before grabbing onto the old glad leaves.

If you want to dig them up, I'd wait until the leaves have died back on their own. Wear gloves if you handle them.

Each fall I dig up about half of my glads. I dig up clumps, shake off the soil, let them sit in a semi shady but dry spot for a day or two, then remove the brown foliage and put the corms in a cardboard box. I store them in my basement. Last year I left done in the garage and they over winters fine as well. I dam in a colder zone thsn you do the glads are less reliable on returning.