13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

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

It looks much better growing in a sunny spot. Not too late to take cuttings. I often root cuttings into the fall from broken off stems. Doesn't take long for rooting, a week or so.

I moved my black lace sambucus to a part shade area this spring. Too soon to know how it will look at the end of the season but is growing well and looks good so far. It also has to cope with the neighbors wide reaching maple roots.

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.

This was my "harvest moon" echinacea which only lasted 3 years. It was a gorgeous custard yellow.

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.

Thanks for the responses. Having a hard time locating plants locally, is it possible to get seeds?

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 guess would be soil is too moist or else retains water. Penstemons do best in well-drained soil. I have them in full as well as part sun, growing in healthy sandy loam and all are thriving.

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.

Bob, is also a host plant for the black swallowtail butterfly :)

Rhonda

Thank you all for the I.D. That's what my mom thought it was, but for some reason, when I looked it up, I just kept seeing meadow rue, and it didn't look like that.

And thanks Rhonda. That's good to know. I hope they can find it.

-Bob

Lol how brave!

That wouldn't happen in my yard with my dogs. Although this plant is unprotected by them. (not in fenced area)

Before and after 5days after planting. It's blooming nicely and never showed any signs of stress......

This post was edited by lilsprout on Fri, Jun 13, 14 at 13:47

After

Polychroma sounds very pretty. And the red one is very intriguing to me, David, as the bed I'm thinking of planting inis gradually changing over to a red theme with some yellow highlights.

Felisa, I had never heard of marsh spurge so Iooked it up - what a gorgeous plant. Too bad I don't have anywhere appropriate for it.

Patty, I saw Bonfire over the weekend, which is actually why I was thinking of getting an Euphorbia! The only one the nursery had left looked pretty forlorn, so I passed, but I was impressed by the leaf color.

wontonamara (love that name!!), I am too cold for rigida. Too bad, it is quite lovely. I have to admit, I am too scared to try myrsinites as the sap is highly dangerous if it touched the skin. I happen to be very sensitive to poison ivy and while not the same; I don't think I want to find out if I'm sensitive to this one also!

Here is a collage of Bonfire in it's different stages in the growing season. Love this Euphorbia.
Top 2 pics 1 Coming into bloom....2 Bloom finishing and seed heads forming (notice how much color has changed)...Bottom 2 pics 1 All blooming heads in seed.... 2 Seed heads now cut back and new more deeply colored new growth has emerged.

What is frustrating re "Evening Star" is that I find it impossible to capture its loveliness on film.

I have been mulling over planting a border of ES for a small shade garden.

I also have "Sparkler" and in this its first full season in my garden it grew to about 4 feet in height with white flowers...nothing outstanding...maybe it will be better in subsequent years.

UPDATE:

"Sparkler" is so healthy and vigorous. It is over 4 feet tall, (so far self supporting) and quite lush and floriferous. Here it is as of today:

Too bad these birds don't have better aim. I had a nice mountain ash tree spout up in my yard, would have kept it if it hadn't been a foot from my front bay window.

Mountain laurel and perilla - both of which just showed up, and taking over their respective areas along a ditch.

Now I'm going to have to look for that one. And I remembered why I was so fascinated with the garden I saw that was a collection of Cranesbills. Because they grow well in part sun. Which is what I have a lot of. Greatâ¦a new little collection may be developing. :-)

Could you please post a picture? I would love to see these geraniums. I have my white alba in full sun along with Max Frei.