13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Three cheers for arachnids! A few weeks ago, I noticed small black beetles doing a number on my sedums and was sick with worry. Then about ten days ago, I suddenly noticed small black spiders with white marks on the abdomen hiding in some of the sedums, too. They don't spin webs and I think they're nicknamed "wolf" or "jumping" spiders.
Most of the beetles seem to be gone now. I think I know why. :D
For what it's worth, I have a terrible dislike of earwigs. I see them crawling around and invariably reach out with the trowel and try to swat them into the next county. I know they can't hurt me, but the sight of them still freaks me out. :o
I don't know about seed. But H calycinum is a robust spreader which is easy to propagate by division. Seed would seem a long way around to get new plants and I doubt that this cultivar would come true. If anyone is offering seed I would be extremely sceptical.
It's probably time to divide the bulbs. Also, alliums reseed massively, so if you don't deadhead, they may be more crowded than you suspect. Mark the bulb places, wait until the foliage begins to die back and divide. A little bit of bone meal might help too.
A shovel may not do it -- my husband cracked the steel blade of a shovel last fall dividing a clump of Ceasar's Brother. No, it wasn't a cheapo Home Depot shovel, it was a good one from Lee Valley. An axe might be more appropriate for a ten year old clump.
Caesar's Brother is a tenacious ground gripper by the ten year mark - the "hole" in the middle is generally old dried rhizome stock. Once big chunks of it are out of the ground, a pruning saw works fairly well to get transplanting sized pieces - it just laughed at various types of knives.
The white counterpart, Snow Queen, doesn't seem to enlarge on that scale.
desert jewels which is a hybrid of firespinner and cooperi-firespinner does ok, is planted in gravel-desert jewels is 3 ft across from a 3 inch pot 2 years ago-the hybrids sold as desert jewels and mesa verde seem tougher-they are sort of evergreen here.
Ken - yeah, lawn-moving is not a big chore here :-) DH uses a reel mower and it takes 15-20 minutes or so - mainly because of the ditch in the front yard and slopes at the sides adjoining the neighbours' driveways slows him down a bit :-) We've pretty much gardened every available inch! Even the remaining grass is part of the garden by being shaped grassy paths, and the ditch has spring bulbs in the grass. We grow veggies in pots on the driveway so the driveway is part of the garden too....
This is a view of the house from the road in early August last year:
This one shows the 'moat bed' (narrow bed along the top of the ditch) at its showiest at the end of May 2013. Sadly, the brutal winter just past killed off the wisteria flowerbuds so no spring display this year :-( The clematis 'Henryi' that grows into the Chinese wisteria is doing well though - once it blooms we will cut the Chinese wisteria back a bit to remove deadwood and encourage a good secondary summer bloom. We miss the wisteria display!
Rouge - it's going to be a year or two before we can tell if the haskap experiment will be successful but I'm sure I'll have something to say about it whatever happens! And you're right, making changes in established plantings is exciting. I've been making smaller changes and will continue to do that, but removing the BB is the first really obvious big one - a lot of neighbours have noticed and asked about it!
yes, that it a lovely pink - I like it with simple cowcockle (vaccaria hispanica), pale california poppies, legousia speculum veneris and linum perenne.....an easy filler for a patch of dry and not very fertile ground. All these little pinks (gratianopolis, deltoides etc.),are a pleasure....compared to the showy (and floppy) greenhouse and malmaison carnations....although I do enjoy a fragrant dianthus.....
Around the same time last year when planting this Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) I also put in one what I think is a "Chinese Wood Poppy" (Stylophorum asiocarpum). I see just today that it has begun to bloom.
It seems to not be as upright as "diphyllum" and has dandelion like leaves? (Is it Stylophorum asiocarpum?)
Well it sure sounded good lol
Thanks!
floral_uk - got a good laugh out of the "strip of death."