13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

First answer......bearded iris. I have a number of clumps around my gardens, and got to thinking that maybe I should divide or split them, as they have been in the same place for 5 years or more. I don't get borers up here.

Second answer, Primula....I have one plant, planted on a whim I don't know how many years ago.....at least 5 maybe 10. It comes back every years and blooms, but I am thinking maybe I should be doing more with it than just enjoying it! Yes I would like more!

I divide bearded iris when the clumps get crowded/are taking over neighboring perennials. Mine grow at a good clip - they are happy where they are growing. I divide in mid to late summer. Very easy to do, just dig and separate the rhizomes, replant at a shallow depth - I usually leave a bit of rhizome above the surface. I normally don't have problems with borer but have in some years; if I notice tunnels on the leaves mid-summer I cut the leaves back to the point where the tunneling stops - have to leave some green to feed the rhizomes. No, it isn't pretty, but I have the iris in a spot where other plants hide the foliage to a large degree.

Yes, Texas, I love the color of the columbine as well! I don't know why this one hasn't spread like all the others - its the only one I have of this color, which is why I worry that moving it will kill it!

That little red flower is charming - is it a portulaca? It reminds me of portulacas I had out by the street, in a very dry, hot, sunny area with poor soil, where they did well. They reseeded all around, including out in the street, in the cracks of the asphalt! Those I would definitely move, so they didn't get mowed over. Of course, I had to be careful that *I* didn't get mowed over trying to save them, lol!

Hope your tremors subside, and very soon! That's got to be a scary!

Dee

verbascums, campanula sarastro-a vicious thug-sunflowers-do the finches actually eat any of the seeds or just fling them around-eryngium bourgatii- beautiful but i dont need a thousand-would love to have dicentra seed itself though

phlowerpower, all 5 HB geraniums did survive this past epic winter. (I am so glad as I have been unable to source this variety anywhere).

But just like the previous spring they did take their time reappearing (Rozanne poked almost 2 weeks earlier).

Is it easy to find HB in the States?

Glad to hear they are growing this year. I hope they prove to be good garden plants again.

They have not been easy to find, for me.
Last fall I pre-ordered several through Santa Rosa Gardens but their crop failed over the winter and their plug supplier discontinued carrying them. The only other online supplier I have found is Munchkin but they have it listed out of stock. My nearby town has three decent nurseries, but I have not seen HB at any of them. They seem to carry Rozanne...and Rozanne. :) A local grocery store has a seasonal garden center and today I found a few HB there, much to my surprise.

Now to decide where to put them....The area I was planning on now has fading tulips, so I need to decide if I work the plants in between the tulip foliage of if I just give up on the tulips returning. They were Triumphs, so probably do not have much chance of returning, but i still have a hard time pulling the foliage.

I second floral's comment--it definitely isn't any yarrow I've ever seen.

You can also post the photo on the Name That Plant forum here on GW and generally get a definitive ID pretty quickly.

I would say that you lucked out. Beautiful plant.

I also like my astilbe very much -- definitely not invasive! In fact one year they made babies and I was thrilled, I re-planted them all and they all survived, but unfortunately that was the only time. They do come in all different colors and sizes so do what Ken says, plant them, note down, and move later. The one thing that isn't great about them is the blooms are not very long-lasting, but the foliage looks very pretty for a long time as long as they don't dry out, and they are very care-free.

The only one I can think of that is a real creeper is Astilbe pumila. In a few years, it can cover a decent amount of territory, but I wouldn't call it invasive - just robust. It actually makes a good groundcover in sun or shade.

Kevin

Quite possibly it has no name. As Linaria suggests it looks like a P elatior/veris/vulgaris mixture. Commonly just called Polyanthus.

Here is a link that might be useful: Something similar

OK, thanks. I kind of thought this was the case.

Kevin

Had two new ones this year, Klehm's Hardy sitting in the pot this cold, cold winter and Chuck Hayes planted in the fall. The Kleim's Hardy made it (it was purchased at 1/3 of the size of the other one) and the Chuck Hayes croaked. Go figure. Apparently, it really is true that if you neglect a gardenia, it's much happier.

I am in Northern VA. Had a 'Chuck Hayes' that is still alive but lost all of its leaves and has not put out any recovery growth. I potted it up for now.

I think Chuck is my favorite of the hardy gardenia cultivars. I also like 'Frost Proof' (smaller leaves than species) and one called 'Summer Snow' ('Chuck Hayes' X 'Kleim's Hardy' hybrid with large double flowers) which is supposed to be hardy to Zone 6.

However, keeping it in a pot (even a large one) rather than in the ground will significantly reduce its hardiness. Zone ratings all operate under the assumption that the plant is in the ground. The ground provides a great deal of warmth during winter. In a pot, the roots will essentially be the same temp as the air. Therefore, I don't think I would try a hardy gardenia cultivar in a pot unless you can move the pot to a protected location during winter (e.g., a garage or basement).

Yes this does look more like a berry now ( sorry for the autocorrect above). Considering that these did not produce well before, would you just dig up and be rid of it or replant elsewhere?

By all means dig it up. I like to get my hand under it and if possible pull up the whole root. Anything left will grow again. Al

Patience, Grasshopper.

Thanks!

So in other words, it is not unreasonable for them to take this long. I have planted other bareroot plants before (not dicentra) but it was later, the soil was undoubtedly warmer, and I recall seeing growth very quickly.

I could tell where last yearâÂÂs cut stem was, so which way was up was not too hard to decide. A few were so long that they did get planted at somewhat of an angle.

Yep, I can do alliums Although obviously the rest of the plot shows the May rush to get the veggies in, only too clearly.

ginnier, thank you very much for that blog link.

pat

I went to the Chelsea Flower Show about 11 years ago as part of an English garden tour, it was my least favorite stop on the tour. But, as Gyr mentioned, I view it more as art I guess. I do have to say, one of my gardens currently was designed based on one of the display gardens there where I had a corner with a picket fence, so I did bring home some ideas from the show.

Went to Floriade 2012 in The Netherlands and that was pretty much Disney for anyone interested in "flowers". I still had a great time because I do love art and there were some pretty cool things there to "look at", but it wasn't like going to RHS Wisley which was probably my favorite place to really explore.

Like.....what does this have to do with gardening?

But still, I had a great time because I just like creativity in general even if it has no real "use" for me in my garden.

Campanula: congratulations, you are gardenweb's Jebidiah Atkinson. And I mean that with the utmost respect.

I suspect the Chelsea Flower Show has always seemed over-the-top to SOMEONE. These days it just has to be even more extreme to compete with everything else that could steal people's attentions. I thought I read years ago there was something like a "Chelsea Fringe" a la the alternative Edinburgh Festival? I think over-the-top spectacles like this are just part of the British national character, at least from my perspective. And someone always finds them revolting. That's fine. If Campanula wasn't disgusted, they wouldn't have done their job. At least they have been since the Great Exhibition, if not before. I quote the wiki:

Six million people "equivalent to a third of the entire population of Britain at the time "visited the Great Exhibition. The average daily attendance was 42,831 with a peak attendance of 109,915 on 7 October.[5] The event made a surplus of £186,000 (£17,240,000 as of 2014),[6], which was used to found the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. They were all built in the area to the south of the exhibition, nicknamed Albertopolis, alongside the Imperial Institute. The remaining surplus was used to set up an educational trust to provide grants and scholarships for industrial research; it continues to do so today.[7]

The Exhibition caused controversy as its opening approached. Some conservatives feared that the mass of visitors might become a revolutionary mob,[8] whilst radicals such as Karl Marx saw the exhibition as an emblem of a capitalist fetishism of commodities. King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, shortly before his death, wrote to Lord Strangford about it:

The folly and absurdity of the Queen in allowing this trumpery must strike every sensible and well-thinking mind, and I am astonished the ministers themselves do not insist on her at least going to Osborne during the Exhibition, as no human being can possibly answer for what may occur on the occasion. The idea ... must shock every honest and well-meaning Englishman. But it seems everything is conspiring to lower us in the eyes of Europe.[9]

FWIW I don't really like the Philly flower show, even though it's far less ambitious in overall scope than Chelsea. OTOH, for example, I was lucky enough in the 90s to go to an Architecture Association Projects Review Day. (avant-garde school of architecture in London). It was extremely pretentious but I enjoyed it. Likewise, though, some high minded architectural purist might see the event as a crass corruption of what it should be. (the definition of what passes for architecture was absurdly loose. One person's project just seemed to be a room full of male & female models standing around in togas) My point is, if it isn't clear, once you actually have specialized knowledge of a subject, an appeal to a certain interest in that subject may especially not appeal to you.

This post was edited by davidrt28 on Wed, May 21, 14 at 6:50

Phlox paniculata, pink echinacea (standard strain, not a new hybrid), joepye weed (if pinched in early June), helenium, New England aster ( pinched in June), rudbeckia laciniata hortensia (pinched in June).

UPDATE

Because of gazania's posts in this thread I did plant a Nepeta subsissilis in late July last year. It did survive the winter and is growing vigorously this season.

Here it is as of today:

Yep, it will keep its basal rosette through the winter (although it looks pretty tatty). Do be aware that this one is a slow spreader - nothing like the rampant rapunculoides and not a seed shedder...but it does have a rhizome which has a slightly wandering tendency(but nothing a sharp spade cannot deal with).

Thanks so much for your help, it was very informative. I can't wait to see how these turn out!