13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Nothin' for me this year.....because bloody great builder's boots and scaffolding stands ended up right in the middle of mine. They had not a single bloom (just many tiny aborted budlets....damn!). Gritting my teeth at the miserable garden devastation (new roof - not my choice), I have to avert my eyes from the entire bed. Thankfully, I did remove a few of the plants before the chaos but the paeonies were enormo-size. Next year, they should recover.....or the year after.
Good for you - free plants are always a bonus.....but good free plants are the tops.
Lol mxk3. The light pink is my favorite also.
The other 2 were the same...dark pink.
Sorry to hear camp. Those who do not garden are totally clueless!
I've had people just stomp thru my beds! Of course I'm always quick to correct their clumsiness (to put it nicely). My daughters friends saw a new side of me after running/cutting thru my beds. They haven't been near them since ;)
Another pic of the light pink peony.....
Many Baptisias are from the south of the US and don't have hugely long periods of cold stratification periods but usually a wet summer and short periods of cold. so maybe cold/warm periods in winter are what they like, and sprouting immediately in the summer rains.. They don't much like my hugely alkaline soil. The B. leucophaea grows wild in the Lost Pines area 40 miles east of Austin. I drool for them. I never see Baptisias in gardens around here. I tried both with an established plant and seed. I neither cold stratified but I might have scared them. Getting them germinated was easy but establishing them was not. I might have been a bit too harsh on them.
I always just assumed this was one of those plants that can tolerate some warmth and maybe a little drying out, but really prefers the cool damp life. If you want to check out Ian young's bulb log, he usually has a few posts on them since they seed all over his garden. Try looking through June for the blooms scattered throughout the garden.
He gardens in Aberdeen and also has things like blue poppies selfsowing, so if you've ever needed to pull up excess Himalayan blue poppies then this might be the plant for you!
Here is a link that might be useful: Bulb log
There are an awful lot of terrestrial orchids that can be grown in ordinary potting mix - maybe with a bit of extra peat or sand or perlite depending on their needs. I grow a few which aren't hardy here, but they do go outside in the summer protected from the squirrels by a wire cage. For winter when they go dormant, they simply get stuck in a cool spot in my house. The only one with a bit of a special need is the Hab. rhodecheila which likes small pebbles added to the potting mix. The small rhizomes like to attach themselves to these. It's really odd to see the rhizomes wrapped around these stones.
Kevin
My Postman's Pride pulled through, although I didn't get it moved in 2013 due to a family emergency.
I moved it in May and it's growing very well.
It wasn't big enough to divide, but I'd like to take a cutting or two. Is it too late?
Thanks!
Lennie in Grand Rapids, MI
I think the darker leafed Sambucus cultivars will typically "green out" the more shade they are put in. 'Sutherland Gold' is very toothy (not as "lacey" as BL) and does part shade well.
A little lacey Birch? I am growing increasingly fond of Betula pendula 'Trost's Dwarf'. Mine is in full sun, but I've read it can take some shade. Wonderful golden fall color too. Reminds me a bit of certain JM's. I'm training mine to be more tree-like than shrubby, as it is most commonly grown. Will reach around 4 (or more) feet tall.
CMK
I am doing them myself this week - nothing easier. roots quickly, resists rotting off, piece. Do lots and have a nepeta hedge (I am doing this to replace my gnarly lavender). Might mix with salvias for the full-on aromatic experience....and the bees.
My problem with the Nepeta Walkers low is that my cats love to nip off the bud tips carefully and judiciously. I have it growing beautifully at they garden that I take care of, but at my house, never a bloom and always a focus of careful nibbling. They make sure it grows Large.
Given the preponderance of yellow daisy types, it is an absolute mystery why we, as a cohort of gardeners, have persisted in throwing away money on these ridiculously unreliable plants year on year. Here in the UK, sense has finally prevailed - few nursery people bother with any of them and they are now as rare as hens teeth (given their propensity to die, hardly surprising).
Try heleniums, anthemis, heliopsis, rudbeckias, coreopsis.....anything, in fact rather than these hybrid echies........or stick with the ultra-reliable pinks and White Swan
Just wanted to mention that in anthropolgy, such spaces are often called liminal and can exist in real life but also as metaphorical boundaries. These places tend to be intersections between differing habitats such as the coastal edges, woodland clearings, hedgerows and field edges, foothills and those troubled borders between the urban and the rural....as well as geographical, social or political boundaries.....and as such, tend to create both their own problems but also give rise to some innovative solutions. Gardening on the edge - difficult, even subversive....but always exciting and potential.
aseedisapromise Boy can I relate to all that. The first year I switched to xeric we got rain rain and more rain. I was pulling plants out of the ground trying to save them from root rot. It was also the year I'd planted cactus. Next few years it was that severe drought all through the midsection. We can get a very rainy June and then the rest of the year is dry but one month can do some serious damage to certain plants. Point is, its hard to plan. I got cocky with the zone thing too after a series of warm zone 8-like winters.
I finally quit covering things for protection and fighting this. I discovered very quickly that covering plants in winter or heavy mulch can cause rot. My overall attitude is now "Survival of the Fittest", I'm becoming a real Darwinian when it comes to the whole affair. Generally speaking most xerics have adapted and the ones that can't have been culled out by nature. I found native plants are the best for standing up and successfully adapting to the extremes.
Campanula, I've always heard them called Transitional Zones. I wish I had one to separate my property from the neighbor. As it is, there is a drastic jump from low growing plants in full sun on my side butted up next to a straight line of 60ft trees and its visually jarring. Its impossible to transition into that so I just try to not focus on it, but not very successfully. Everything, including the fence posts embedded and being shoved by big tree roots, leans away from those trees which makes you want to crank your head at an angle back there. Even the trees lean this direction, add to that the fact that the ground noticeably slopes downhill. The trees to the side are on ground which is several feet higher than the opposite end of my property so the sensation is one of feeling like the trees are bearing down you in an oppressive way like a wall of black, its like being in a carnival Fun House where all is distorted or having a dark three story apartment (that leans) erected right along the edge of your property.
Hmmm, I might even be tempted to cut back the top growth since they look a little frail and prone to flopping. There is plenty of time for them to catch up and grow a bit bushier and self-supporting.
Phlox are terribly prone to fungal diseases, especially leaf-spot and tobacco mosaic virus, as well as my nemesis, eelworms. Also, lots and lots of rain can increase nutrient lock-up (and some of your leaves look a bit chlorotic). An application of sulfur might help or a copper based fungicide.
Dig these up next year and divide them - phlox really need this every couple of years in order to maintain vigour......and yes, if you decide to remove them, excavate carefully and check for either voles, weevils or other ground based pests, along with any signs of fungal presence (yeasty smells, fungal hyphae).
Jean001a..there was an herbicide sprayed about a foot away, the bottle said safe for plants. I dont know what my neighbor has used, as it could have gone through the fence perhaps.
shadyplace 7, there were voles in our yard this year, but I do not see any holes nearby.
campunala- thanks for the tips, I think I will cut them back and see how it goes.
I noticed today that my butterfly bush is starting to do the same thing, I just put in a 50ft perennial bed and I am concerned it is going to take over my bed.
Thanks for your help.
If you want Hermanns Pride you can't grow it from seed. Mail order is the only way if you can't find it locally.
If you are looking for L galeobdolon. I really wouldn't advise it. I've never seen seed for it. Most people get it by unsuspectingly accepting passalongs.
My penstemons grow in sandy soil, full sun, gravel mulch. As Cheryl said, they need good drainage, and I killed a bunch I planted in average soil; it held too much moisture. I don't know if yours can be saved, but if they were mine, I'd move the mulch out of the way, dig them up, and plant them in a mound of sandy soil so they are above the surrounding soil, and mulch with gravel.
Annette - I think that's it! At least, it sounds familiar.
Now, does anyone have both Pink Double Delight and Butterfly Kisses? Just wondering how similar they are.
I think the main difference between the two is height. Butterfly kisses is short, only getting to about a foot tall.