13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Um, AfterMidnight has hit the nail on the head, I think. Last year was a storming year for fruit of all kinds.....but this year, combined with a weird winter lacking in winter chill, we are seeing apples with hugely reduced fruit set, cherries which will drop the stunted crop over the next week or so, and redcurrants with no fruit at all. This is called biennial bearing....and often happens as trees and shrubs get older (although some varieties such as Cox pippin apples, have an innate tendency to have good years and bad years). Legumes, like laburnum and brooms are very much affected by this trait so don't fret, the tree looks perfectly healthy, this is just a natural hiatus.
When my dianthus finish I cut all the flower stems off down to the level of the foliage with grass shears. That way I have nice blue mounds in summer without stems sticking up which I do not care for. They bloom again in fall or will put out a few in summer if we get rain. I call that deadheading. I just did this last week, it took only a few minutes. I guess you could say the plants look "sheared". I do not ever trim the foliage.
Shearing is what you do to shrubs when you want a thick neat hedge, an artificial shape or a dense plant. Usually you do this by taking the hedge clippers to it and cut the whole plant flush into a row, ball, square, triangle-- whatever. Hollies are often trimmed this way. Some shrubs and plants look terrible treated this way and should be cut back instead since this forces all the growth on the tips and the middle of the plant suffers from lack of sunlight. In my opinion this is the most unnatural & artificial thing you can do to any plant. Corporate offices often have this done in formal plantings.
To cut back you cut out dead branches (or stems) or ones that are too long, crisscrossed, or older branches (or stems) to thin out the plant and trim some of outer stems at a leaf node for shaping. This leaves a natural plant shape and growth habit.
In early spring or late winter cutting back means cutting off all dead growth from the previous year on perennials and ornamental grasses, often people do it when they see new growth starting at the crown. In summer, some plants that get top heavy or lanky will benefit from cutting back 1/3 of the top growth to stimulate new blooms and leaves. Herbs are commonly cut back in this way around mid season.
looks llike a dasiy to me ...
you have to find the latin name.. of the specific daisy you have... and that will help you in google ...
of which.. i dont know ..
if you fail to get an answer here.. try the biologists in the name that plant forum ...
ken
Many if not mot nearly all my Digitalis seedlings froze to death this past winter & I'm near the Chesapeake Bay, in a warmer zone, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a very severe winter! Only survivors were those from germination in very early spring, or from the year before.
'Dalmation' is an F1 hybrid from my understanding & that usually means the seeds produced, revert to a weaker plant, differing somewhat from the original crossing of two different parent plants. Horrible germination, was my experience... But the quality of T & M seeds seems to have gone downhill, over the years..
wouldnt it depend if you bought a first year seedling.. or a second year mature plant.. which would not come back???
i found.. that if i wanted seedlings and current flowers ... i had to buy a biennial.. two years in a row... to get the cycle going ... not two in one season ... in theory.. seedlings wont bloom the first year ...
rate of seedling emergence is highly variable.. as per micro climate ..... all you can do is wait and see if you find any ... unless you already weeded them out... lol.. been there.. done that ...
ken
Shortly after we had this conversation, I saw this plant at the garden center looking very nice so I picked it up for my new house. I noticed that the newly open flowers did not have as dark centers as the older ones, but they got darker with time. Today I happened to notice the lilac colored petals as more time has gone by. So I think we have a solid ID on yours.
The camera didn't pick up all the lilac. There seemed like there was actually more in real life, but this shows some.
Notice also how the centers are darker on the older blooms with lilac petals.
Watch for 2 seasons before you do much. See what grows, see what spreads, see what you like/don't like. Maybe do some edging and trimming of things that are obviously too tall.
Year three is the time to get aggressive with evicting, dividing, pruning.
Take pictures. Take so many pictures that you want to throw up. No matter how many I have I can never find the one that I "need" (ie what a particular plant looked like during a particular time of growth). Make those pictures into a book (cheap and easy online). Reference it often. Make notes in it.
Have fun and don't take gardening too seriously.
Good advice above. I'll add just this: ask questions. There are novice and experienced gardeners of all ages who have varying levels of expertise with perennials and who post regularly on this forum and others. Many of us have already asked the questions that plague & confuse newbie gardeners.
Oh, one more suggestion: draw your property on paper; include the dwelling, any outbuildings, driveway, patio, swimming pool, etc. Then add where there are trees, established garden beds. Orient the garden with the compass so you know where E, W, N & S are relative to your property. Unless you're planning major renovations, the map should remain fairly accurate in years to come.
Another plant I tried which worked surprisingly well was Silver King Artemisia --if there are a few hours of early morning sun it works amazingly well. You wouldn't think it would but it does-- since I had free rooted cuttings I tried it going against the 'rule book'. Its thick and upright and adds light, nearly white foliage to an otherwise dark area making a tall clump that fills in nicely by underground roots which can work their way through soil thick with tree roots quite well.
After this success, I now have a whole line of it planted in my dry shady area along the west side where it gets early morning sun only or some dappled sun. The only maintenance is a spring trim. Its growing in parts that get so little sun that I am impressed with what I always thought of as a full sun plant. This is unamended heavy dirt that is very dry all summer.
In the background you can see the Silver King making a white contrast in that dark shady area. A bit of very late afternoon sun comes in and it catches the light which is nice.
This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Tue, May 27, 14 at 15:27
columbine are annuals.. biennial at best ... it could not have taken years to bloom ...
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if the you can not maintain sufficient water for the gerber to not wilt.. it has to be moved ...
been decades.. but i seem to think they are very heavy water users ... which means... that it would be preferable.. to not have them in sun.. in the heat of the day.. when they use more water.. than their roots can pump .. never forget.. sun between noon and 5 pm.. has much more impact on water use ... than full sun at dusk and/or dawn ... [and as noted.. pavement is a problem .. many such stressed plants.. can survive... if they can grow the requisite root mass.. an/or.. have anight recovery period.. but if the darn pavement/brick.. stays hot in August .. until 4 in the morning ... then there is no recovery period ...]
full sun.. is 8 hours, generally speaking .... but it doent have to be.. all in a row ...
find a better spot ...
ken
I would guess that some zones may kill off the columbine, so it would be treated as an annual there. In my zone, it is most definitely a perennial -- or even seems to be evergreen for certain established clumps. Even one particular clump that I somehow messed up the taproot and ended up reburying it less than 1" from the soil surface -- it withstood the colder than usual winter (for this area) and is thriving this season.
That's how I sometimes find out, by accident, how durable a particular plant variety is -- by not giving it the best conditions to grow in.
I have learned to love them, beats stressing over them. Our lawn out front if you can call it that is now a mix of moss, white violets, we used to have some yellow as well but they seem to have died out. Veronica repens (blue), the odd crocus and I think some 'Chocolate Chip' Ajuga have also crept in, and let's not forget the wee bit of grass struggling to survive LOL.
In the back where my garden is I just pull where I don't want them. I love the fragrance of the purple ones in late february/march. I actually planted 'White Czar' under our Robinia tree some years ago. This one hasn't spread much at all, isn't that always the way.
Annette
I've decided to embrace them. Both of my neighbors have them in gardens, so I know they will always find a way to MY gardens even if I remove them, so, now I just dig excess volunteers out and enjoy the early season color. I have both purple and white ones. I like them more than the lily of the valley that came with the house, they are much easier to remove!
It was a very interesting plant, but I rarely spend a lot of money on any plant material. That one was an impulse buy and cost me $40. which I thought was a lot of money. And I don't really miss it. To spend a lot of money for a plant and then have to tip toe around it is not for me. The plants that give me the most pleasure are those that are vigorous and dependable and full of blooms and just high performers year after year.
Oh, campanula, by the way, you recommended a Daffodil to me, 'Baby Moon' and it is blooming right now. Really late for a daffodil in my garden. Everything else has been gone for a couple of weeks. They are very cute and unique. Good recommendation. Thanks! :-)
Looks more like Rudbeckia fulgida to me, probably Goldsturm.
I have Goldstrum and looks just like mine.