13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
I suspect the tiny bugs you are seeing a Thrips. Some are vectors of plant viruses.
If you had a high powered...at least 10x hand lens you could get a closer look at them.
Here is a link that might be useful: Thrips-UC IPM
For aphids I would only use water so you won't poison the ladybugs when they get there. I see earwigs, too, but they are just part of the garden. I'm surprised yours are so bad they're ruining anything, especially when you're trying to be as organic as possible.
Do you attract birds to your gardens? They eat insects and are part of keeping a healthy balance.
My Shasta Daisies aren't even budding yet, but from one seed packet, I have them all over my yard now. Shasta Daisy Alaska if that sounds good to anyone. They put on a good show!
We get boxelder bugs every year. They usually congregate on the warm side of the house. They're here in spring and then kind of fade away, doing no harm that I can see.
One time one got inside, and my cat ate it before I could stop her. Her mouth foamed up a bit, and it seemed unpleasant. So avoid eating one, lol.
My wintersown plants did well in full sun zone 5b- 6a at my old place. They LOVE consistent moisture and that is the key!! I mulched mine with straw and grass clippings (left to dry first). Can't wait to get more started for the new gardens :O
BTW Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) and Joy Pye Weed (Eupatorium spp.) are from different genus/species/families and one has nothing to do with the other :)
Vera
One more follow-up on my Leucosceptrum 'Gold Angel' showing its current color and condition. Without the damage from voles it had during the winter of '12-'13, it is much more vigorous and full this season. The color is quite nice.
From early June 2014
Rouge - How did your Aralia 'Sun King' make it through this difficult winter?
'Gateway' planted in the open ground is always pokey to appear in my cold zone 3, though has been very reliable. I recall one winter with scant snow cover and temps that had plummeted to -40 F and I had thought I had lost good ole Joe, as all eyes near the surface had been killed and the plant had needed to flush out from deeper below. He was slow and not at all vigorous that summer, though was back to his normal self the following year.
I WISH there was a variegated 'Gateway' !!!
Thanks for all of the feedback. The ones I planted were good-sized and weren't end-of-season clearance plants, but were still planted after mid-summer so probably didn't have time to establish well.
I won't give up hope on those that haven't sprouted yet, and for those that have just a couple tiny stems, I'll hope for a better year next year!
good luck
the problem i had ... in crossing things.. not glads in particular...
is the year or 3 for the seed to develop the corm.. to actually end up flowering ... especially if you ant to keep track of your crosses ... [that equates to whether i would have a 2 or 3 year attention span.. lol]
on the other hand.. if you just want to dedicate a small section of garden.. and just throw seeds there... just have fun ...
ken
I've also solarized a large section of my yard that was about 25x25ft. I had just about given up fighting witch grass that had ruined my vegetable garden. We had leftover plastic from a backyard skating rink and we put one huge piece of clear 3ml thick plastic covering the whole area, weighed down with bricks for an entire year. That took care of about 95% of the witch grass and we reclaimed the area. The only thing that survived it was a small fringe of witch grass that was under the drip line of a tree, so I assume the stronger sun in the rest of the area made a big difference.
Thank you so much. I am going to put it down right away. I remember years ago when I noticed my neighbors ground cover came under our fence and took root in our yard. I pulled it out but it just kept coming. After many attempts to eliminate it, I finally put dark plastic, weighted down with brick, over it and left it all summer till the next year. It was gone and never came back.,
If the Aralia creates berries, it will probably seed all over. I have Aralia Racemosa and get babies in quite a few places. It's important to move the babies right away if they grow where you do not want them. With Aralia, make sure you put it where you want it. They have tap roots and I have yet been able to MOVE an aralia by shoveling it out...they always come back. Last year, someone accidentally "killed" my Aralia with Roundup. It looked dead by fall, but it is up and in full swing, very large again already. A gorgeous plant, just make sure you put it where you want it.
I hear ya. I have some shade areas too. Here is what I have had luck with thats easy from seed you could try. They do better in full sun but they will bloom in shade and stay upright. You name it, I've tried it. These are all easy to grow wild flowers about 2ft tall. You can dead head them in fall or let them naturalize which they will very easily. These are all easy to find in seed packets.
Annual gaillardia--comes up super easy, grows fast blooms non stop all summer until frost.
Mealycup sage--native perennial that blooms well and stays upright in shady spots, very easy from seed.
Purple coneflower--need to sow seed in fall for cold stratification. Takes a season to develop into a blooming sized plant.
Lanceleaf Coreopsis--super easy from seed, plant can be practically pulled out of ground and transplanted elsewhere if you want, they fill in fast and make a good filler until other plants fill in. Blooms in spring only but makes a nice green ground cover. They will carpet an area if you don't thin them but its easy to pull unwanted ones out.
Purple Winecups--they are blooming right now on the sides of the roads here, impossible to miss, you can buy seeds or collect from wild. There are also White Winecups.
Black Eyed Susans--- I have Rudbeckia 'hirta' which is a biennial out there blooming like crazy in a shady spot. Plant now and next year they will be fabulous.
I've purchased those mixed wildflower packets before, very disappointing and usually they only have a brief bloom time, I did two packs this year and said never again, waste of money. My description is "puny". These I listed are good, reliable and have presence.
Oh and I do have a "wild-scape"--maybe not what you visualize when I say wild, Its 95% natives here, very natural but still a garden. Ha ha, just had to throw that in.
This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 1:03
I think I had some gaillardia, Lanceleaf Coreopsis and coneflower in the seed mix. Some of the plants look like it anyway so I will let them live and move them later on. I figured they needed plenty of sun too.
I do have a purple coneflower growing in mostly sun that is in its second year. I could collect seed in fall and then sow them in the other area.
I've not seen any Purple Winecups on roadsides here. Yellow flowers bloom everywhere on roadsides now. I'm near Anderson, SC.
Mealycup sage looks like a great plant. It will go on my list.
Thank you for putting so much thought and effort into your replies.
No more "puny" plants from seed for me lol.
Notice I didn't say anything about taking action against a jerk of a neighbor, what I was talking about was putting having taking the action in writing where it can act as evidence.
As anyone who reads the Mid-Atlantic Gardening Forum knows I have been dealing with the A**h*le neighbor for years now. Every time they do something really over the line like cutting down their tree from my property and trampling all of my ferns in the process, they always claim they have the right to do it. But I always know the county laws better than they do (I used to be a reporter and I know how to use the Internet). So I usually let the County fix their butts with a warning letter and more recently a ticket for various violations. Have I ever taken direct action against their property? Dangedest coincidents I've ever seen.
Does it bloom the first year from seed? It wouldn't survive the winter here, but if it seeds it might work as a nice self-seeding annual like Nicotiana or Verbena bonariensis. I like the foliage.
Never had it reseed. Just runs. And yes it like moist. It blooms rather late so you would mist likely have frost before.