13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Too cold there?
I pulled it all up from my Mom's yard, I kill Vinca, but I haven't been to your house.
Growlove, that's how I always start a new bed! If you wait until the grass is definitely dead to pierce the smother, you'll have less grass in the planting holes, if that's why it's there. It's hard to wait, isn't it? Could just be from seeds dropped there already, previous years or earlier that year. Mowing with the chute facing away from beds helps too, as well as a border, like bricks, landscape timbers, something easy to trim against or drive mower tires along. If no new seeds are dropped and it can't creep in from lawn, grass won't reappear in beds, except the very occasional sprout. Pull as soon as you see it the first time, while easy to do.
Jim, you have posted in the conversations part of the Perennial forum, space for things discussed that do not pertain to gardening. You aren't being ignored, just not seen.
The regular Perennials forum (reached by clicking on Return to Perennials above) or even Growing from Seed would have been better choices.
Helenium grows best in full sun. There are many types, grown as both annuals or perennials, but neither need stratifying (period of moist chill) before they will germinate. Seeds will do best surface sown or just barely covered, some light may be beneficial to germination. Keep seed bed moist. At temps averaging approx 70 F, Helenium seed germinates in 10-21 days.
This post was edited by morz8 on Mon, May 19, 14 at 12:36
Ow, that hurts!
Splint up the broken flower stems with chopsticks or something and wait a couple of weeks. Then trim off the dead parts of the plant and let them keep as much live material as possible. They need the leaves top make food to store in the rhizomes
there is an iris forum .... lots of great experts there ... if you want to double check us... i usually dont hang there.. because of pix envy .. i want them all ....
but flora is spot on ... even damaged leaves.. photosynthesize.. to store energy in the rhiz, for next year ... so leave them be.. until the usual time to cut them back ...
ma nature damaged them enough.. no piling on ... lol ...
ken
Hpny2, what size do you let them get to before you finally transplant? My seedlings are so small right now. They have true leaves, but are just tiny. Do you usually wait until fall when they're a bit beefier? I've been debating on when to plant them out.
SweetKate,
I have that same planting in my front yard and you may want to re-think the sage by your front door. The sage attracts big bumblebees and although they are not at all aggressive, (I work in my garden right next to them), some people are terrified of bees.
Linda
Landscaper and Beekeeper
no, don't throw them away.....you can try a Chelsea Chop - cut them back by half, water and feed and inspect the new growth - which will be bushier and more able to support itself. It will be later in flower and the flowers will be a little bit smaller than usual....but this is a very good treatment for many late flowering perennials. One of the most notorious diseases of phlox is eelworm.....which this is not. With an eelworm infection, the leaves tend to curl and grow in very thin strips, looking almost like there is only a central vein and no green substance. This does look like a fungal disease so rather than using copper sulphate (an accepted organic spray for fungal disease), I would be inclined to try a systemic fungicide.
I'm pretty sure davidrt28 is correct after googling it. I thought it might be rattlebox, but after looking at pics of yellow baptisia online, I'm 99% sure that's it. My plants are very thin because they were completely choked by phlox and weeds which had overtaken almost the entire bed. The thinness threw me, but I imagine now what they can look like if they actually get sun.
I haven't but they sound beautiful. I am going to find a picture of them.
I did find rudbeckias growing all over this season where I didn't plant them.
I don't know what kind they are yet.
It would be wonderful if they turn out to be reseeds of the cherry brandy that I lost to the brutal winter.
Some plants yes, others no. Plants grown up against the house seem to most require it. Not really surprising when you consider that they are only getting good sun from one direction and tend to lean a bit that way to begin with.
Lupine is a bit of a trial at my folks' place. They bloom beautifully, but the when their sprinkler goes on or a good rain comes along, the flower heads get so heavy with water and the flowers that they flop over ... sometimes snap completely.
For my gasplant, I cut off the pointy ends from a tomato cage, invert the cage over the gasplant (hopefully before it has leafed out) and then shape the metal pieces I cut off into "U's" to anchor the cage to the ground. Works like a charm and it stays in place indefinitely.