13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
An unusually cold winter + Ruellia could well mean no plants this year in zone 6.
If whatever species/hybrid it is is marginal in z. 6, it still might be worth trying again.
I never found Ruellia hybrids to be especially thuggy in the Gulf Coast region, but maybe that was because I was battling other thugs (like Passiflora "Incense", which was capable of submarining under sidewalks to pop up in new places).
I love this plant, but am about to give up on it because it has to be confined to a container due to a lack of garden space and its running tendencies. If it didn't get so huge, I'd just let it run. Container growing is fine for year one, then it gets so pot bound that it requires watering every day, even though the base sits in a saucer of water. The real difficulty is that splitting and repotting mean all of the old soil and roots need to be disposed of in the trash. :( I hate the waste. But I can understand your wanting to have this plant growing in your garden, njdevil. There is something special about those flowers.
No. Spring fever hasn't hit me yet, although I did buy seeds; my annual, vegetable, and herb seedlings are coming along quite nicely. I've also been busy fixing up the inside of the house - definitely in the buying mood for the house :0) Plus, I'm so overwhelmed with cr@p to do in the yard (since I left a big mess in the fall), I have all that to deal with - part of me is looking forward to getting to work out there while another part of me is dreading it. I plan on starting to tackle the clean-up this weekend.
I'm sure when the weather finally warms up and it's time to hit the nurseries for the yearly annual-buying binge, I'll be all gung-ho :0p
Over the winter, I didn't get to look over catalogs or update my journal or think a lot about what I needed to do this year. And so I've been playing catch up for the past month.
Last Fall, I decided to redo a few areas and put in an order for roses. The nursery sells out quickly so I had to put the order in early. I'm still trying to find disease resistant roses and keep trying a few. And that was the extent of my ordering until March when I had to order vegetable seeds.
When you order roses you have to choose a shipping date and you're supposed to get the barefoot roses in as early as possible, so I chose the last week in March for a shipping date. They came the day we had a week of freezing temperatures and I still had snow on the ground. [g] So I had to keep them in the refrigerator for 10 days before I could plant them. But they are doing great and I'm amazed. I thought for sure they were not going to make it. So that's exciting.
I did go shopping last weekend in that dreary cold rain we had, and had the nurseries all to ourselves. Brought home a few shrubs and native plants. One of the fruiting Sambucus which I am also excited about and have been trying to find one for a couple of years. And tomato plants that I didn't get started in time, that are now sitting under lights until the weather warms up. What about July maybe? :-)
Seriously, this weather has to change soon, right? Every week, I say to myself, this is the last week and the week after that it's finally going to warm up. As soon as we get a sunny week with temperatures in the 70s, we'll all be a lot more excited and motivated!
Anemone Robustissima has spread all throughout my perennial bed and gravel paths. The first year it looked so grand, clear pink flowers swaying in the breeze. Now I am constantly trying to pull it out, but it conveniently breaks off at the root and re-grows. I have a few of the others people have mentioned but they have not gone crazy yet. YET. I am trying to get crocosmia to put on a show, but the place it is in gets dry and hot, and I don't baby it. The other one I have is Major Wheeler Honeysuckle and some other red/orange honeysuckle that was popular last year - the name escapes me now. Both were vigorous growers but I just kept pruning them to the space I have allotted for them. They are playing nicely (for now) with a purple clematis and a deep pink John Cabot rose, all trained on the fence that is a backdrop to a driveway bed/hellstrip. The things I do for those cute hummingbirds!!
I haven't grown it here in OK, but I DID grow it when I lived in CO. Yes, it will appreciate good drainage, and due to the humidity in MN, I would opt for a very sunny site as well. As far as temperature, they are hardy to quite low temps and the foothills of the Rockies are not necessarily snowy but can be extremely windy and drying. However, they may not survive ice well, which the base of the Rockies does not usually get. Once it is well established though, it should be quite hardy in your area. You might want to make sure to cover it in the worst winter weather the first year or two.
Here is a link that might be useful: Penstemon/Beard Tongue
-SB, LOL! I can almost see the Asexual Reproduction Prevention Unit breaking down my little gate and scouring my yard for the offending extra plants, looking thru my tag box, doing dna testing....
Um, your tax dollars at work? Soylent Green anyone?
I have Black Scallop and there's nothing blue about the bloom, it is definitely a dark lavender in color. I have it, among other places, beside a Blackout Heuchera. Mine is just starting to bloom. Excuse the quickly-snapped pic, I just stepped out at dusk to grab one for you.
I'm preeeettty sure Bronze Beauty is also a lavender purple, but I don't have it personally, so I'll let someone else that does clarify that. Good luck to you!
They dig up all the tulips and sell them at the end of May. I've never bought any, but some people I talked to said they were buying more because they did grow for them in the past.
I know at least one of the big beds gets planted with herbs and annuals, but I also wonder what they do with all the other areas. I might find out if I go back later in summer when it's time for the roses, but it's always so hot by then that it's not as much fun.
If the plant is now growing under shadier conditions than where it was grown prior to your purchase, the newer leaves can become larger and paler to compensate for the lower light level. They also appear in the photo to have become softer in texture. That is a normal response for the changed conditions and/or just being younger leaves.
It's planted on the west side of my house so it gets quite a bit of shade, but is then hit by the hot Texas afternoons. I planted it in a small area leading up to my front door. I liked it because it was shorter than most of the liriope plants, so I'm disappointed the leaves are longer and bigger now.
I stack the big ones up along the side of the garage, which is out of the way and doesn't mar my view of anything. The smaller ones are rinsed out and stored in a big plastic container inside the garage.
I use them for various purposes - winter-sowing, spring sowing, over-wintering plants in the garage (this past winter I had approx. 40 containers of various sizes in the garage), plant swaps or giveaways, plant sales, and when I move from the current house I hope to bring LOTS of plants with me.
I'd like to know opinions on this as well! Seems like I am buying a new one every year because a seal or what not has cracked....then I end of getting more water on me and less where it's needed :O
I've seen a few being sold in my "Garden Supply" catalog, but haven't made up my mind just yet. I'm game for what others are saying!
Vera
Here is a link that might be useful: Gardener's Supply Company
I'm not a fan of many different spray patterns either. I always use the same one! I had a cheap one bought at Big lots that I loved. Not telescoping, though. Screen broke out of the head after long use, and I have been looking ever since. The one I have now telescopes, but all that means is that one section of the tubing spins when I don't want it to.
I'll be interested in replies you receive on this.
though it is only marginally perennial in my area (zone 6), I have been using Verbena canadensis as an annual here. They are typically sold at a nominal price....they are perfect for the cascading wall effect.. they bloom heavily but aren't a single blanket of blooms... a single plant can spread nicely within a single year.. blooming continually until the fall... and they don't need to be tended at all.
They will root down where the stems touch the soil, but are very easily to pull up after the fall or in the spring. And they come in a few color varieties.
lacyvail,
A bit late! Last year I planted a couple of Rozannes, which I believe are Geranium Sanguineum. I thought they spread by rhizomes and the seeds were sterile? I didn't expect them to shoot seeds all over. Guess I will have to keep my eyes open for that.
My other geraniums are Biokovo, and I love the fragrance of the leaves!