13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
I bought approx. 2 dozen 'Cheyenne Spirit' seedlings at a local farm last fall, they were in 3 inch pots, on sale for $1.50 each. I scooped up all of them that were left. After reading this thread I now realize that is a pretty good price for these seedlings.
I could have started them from seed cheaper myself, and am growing other Ech. cultivars from seed with great success, but the farmers did it for me, and I didn't want to wait.
They are growing well and almost all of them are budding. They aren't huge, because they're only 2nd year plants, but I'll see some blooms. Can't wait!
Sorry to hear about the burglary loss, Camp; also your gardening/crop problems.
Gardening seems to be about holding all sorts of problems back. Some are very difficult to have any influence over at all; e.g. for me, the silver maple trees on my neighbour's and on the township's property.
Bloody buggers, I hate thieves. We had our car stolen once, it made us feel paranoid and violated. I'm wondering if anyone else out there got hit?
Also sounds like you have an acute case of Garden Overload with too many projects needing attention at once. When I get like that it helps to try not look at all of the jobs but just concentrate on one or two, see them through then do the next but then I do get overwhelmed easily. If I look at the whole wad of wax at once I get lost and seem to go around in aimless circles not really doing any of them like a spastic ball bouncing around. I probably look crazy when I'm like that. I'm no multi-tasker. Ugh, I just used one of those awful modern phrases I detest.
I was in a crummy mood today too, a bit of delayed reaction syndrome as I got galled at the gall of it and ticked off royally in fact. I'd started fuming over ugly business the other day so I got ruthless with thinning, weeding and attacked all the "to hell with it, I've decided I don't like it" plants which I pulled out with gusto. Made me feel a whole lot better. I can't believe I can let nonsense like that roll around in my head but its pretty flushed out now. T.Ranger had a mental chat all day with GP1 (may she rest in peace) who agreed 100% that some things are too stupid, petty and crazy making to think about.
Here's hoping your condition is temporary, the thieves get their
come-upence and you don't get robbed again.
At my old house I had her in a mostly shady area and she languished. Moved her to a spot with more sun and the difference was remarkable. In my garden now she gets about 4-5 hours of sun and does quite well. I never had her take over in my old garden, so this year I was a bit shocked by all the seedlings around. A little thrilled as well since she's one of my favorites.
In the trade they are referred to as standards. It isn't difficult so much as time consuming--the time, extra training of the plant growth, and stake are what you are paying for with the price bump. But they aren't difficult to do yourself. I provided a link that explains how to form them, because I'm not getting premium $ to write it out myself. ;)
Here is a link that might be useful: Standard Training
I got Bartzella two years ago and this is the first year it's bloomed... and Whoa! 14 flowers - I guess I was rewarded for my patience! I really want to divide it and put some in the front yard, but I don't want to risk having to wait years for it to bloom again.
I love Festiva Maxima too and the fragrance is heavenly. I had it at my old house... and have tried twice since to buy it from different sources and did not get FM. I'm going to buy it from Scheepers with my bulb order this fall.
Here's Bartzella yesterday evening
What fun, I love those kinds of sales. You lucky guys got to get stuff early and sounds like you got a good haul. New bed, even more exciting, it really helps to find stuff on sale if you have a blank slate in a new yard, congratulations on that.
The big one here I wait all year for is June 21 -- The Annual Midnight Madness Sale. My favorite part is what I call 'The Hospital' where they have expensive plants with a few broken stems or some sort of cosmetic flaw. You can find $50 or $60 dollar plants for real cheap, like $5.00 or 3 gallon size shrubs for $3.00 and many assorted perennials, some are mystery plants without tags marked down to almost free. Its impulse buying heaven. Everything else is marked 1/2 down so they don't have to get it through summer. I can't wait.
Good luck with your plants. I'm counting the days for our lottery.
I think sumac can be pretty inconsistent with the suckering thing. A very long time ago, I dug one out of a field ( just the wild type - no ID) and planted it in my garden. Only afterwards did I learn about their tendency to sucker and spread everywhere. Mine never did. Eventually the plant grew to the size of a small tree and then simply died after about 10 - 12 years. The next year I believe I found 1 sucker from the dead thing, but that was it.
Kevin
This is one of my favorite plants. I do get suckers and remove them, but it's hard to do since I want to keep them all! Last fall the color was amazing, but even just for the summer foliage it's worth it. But yes it does sucker freely for me and some of them come up several feet away from the main plant.
sort of a field (small) in the city. An allotment is an allotted space for community gardening - each plot is measured in ancient rods (or poles or perches) and equals around 1/8th acre.....or 55yards x 5.5yards (10 rods). Supposedly, we are meant to be supplementing our diet (when these first started, they were for the working class and urban poor) but in reality, as long as they are used, no-one really minds what we do.....but no, they are not exactly gardens as such.
Amazingly, the single watering space( a stand-pipe) is situated right outside my shed....but this does mean my hose has sort of become communal property and has been added to so much it is over 300metres long when fully unwound (I use a cable drum) which doubles as table and pot stand).
I looked it up, says it does very good with no watering but the more exciting thing is the grey foliage although I do like those light yellow flowers too. I don't think there is a plant out there sporting grey, woops I should say SILVER foliage I won't fall head over heels for. I'm on a mad tear for adding more silvery grey this year. I think I've pulled up just about every google site on artemisia. I just fell back in love with Southernwood, the 5' tall 'tangerine' is definitely one I really need. There is a Ukrainian variety that is really nice on Richter's website but then they have dozens to choose from. I've never ordered from them but I'm feeling seriously tempted.
I may have to check into those poppies while I'm at it. I read they are good for "the Mediterranean Bed' which always translates into "neat habit' to me.
In my 50+ years of gardening, I have never seen them do any damage at all. They can spit all over the place as far as I am concerned.
Actually there is only one bug that I can think of that I try to erradicate - Japanese Beetles. Anything else that does damage seems to have predators that take care of them for me.
Woody, that looks stellar! I really like the straight lines you have going back there. It's a nice mix with your more free-flowing beds out front. And since it was a necessity for the dogs, even better! It looks like a great garden design, and not designed around the needs of your canine buddies!
Ken, I'm really sorry you lost so many evergreens this winter. You have a great attitude about it. This spring I've pretty much sworn off evergreens (unfortunately) due to winter losses each year and trying to keep up with the deer damage. I tried to have them for winter interest, but if the deer devour them, they're the only ones interested! LOL!
I thought some of you might like to see what all those straight lines look like today - I took a bunch of pictures this morning while walking around yanking tree seedlings!
From the porch, looking up the straight path that heads under the pines:
You can't tell, from this angle, that there's a path along the fence on the right. But that path is now much, much easier to walk on since we put down the crushed gravel base and widened the path a bit.
The path down the south fence:
And the center path just to the right of it - ends at 'the wet corner' bed:
The shed area from a different angle than the one showing the new path material; you can see where the path under the pines comes out to the right of the shed. One of my big winter losses was all the Jack Frost brunneras that used to make a swath of silver where the path came out from under the trees - not sure yet what I will plant in their stead....
It doesn't take long for the plants to soften all those straight lines once they get growing in spring. The straight lines then just provide views deeper into the garden and, I think, help make the space look bigger than it is.
The problem with buying bare root plants this late in the season, especially from big box stores, is that they are usually either dried up dead or barely alive. They practically give them away near the end of the season to get rid of them. A lot of novice gardeners don't know what the bare roots of plants should look like. If bought it recently, I would take it back for a refund if possible.
Might be too late, but it helps get them going if you can soak the roots in water for about an hour before planting and then water well once they're planted.