13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Both of those varieties are fully evergreen in your climate so you should see foliage and perhaps even some signs of new growth. My Ascot Rainbow is beginning to set flower buds......
Compared to AR, Blackbird has not been proven to be a very robust or stable plant. They often don't last more than a single season and many local wholesale growers have simply stopped growing them. Too bad, as that dark wine red foliage is pretty stunning. I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope for that but the AR should come back strong. As in my previous post to this thread, these are best cut back to the ground - the old flowering stem that is - after the flowers fade in late spring/early summer. New growth from the base should be appearing by then and that should remain in place all through the season and into winter.
I seriously doubt it will come true from seed. I looked up Ohio, generally it shows you don't get more than 40" of rain per season, thats good for agastache. Any more than 40"-- forget it.
I have planted many plants that are listed as not hardy in my zone. Time after time the plant will make it just fine in spite of what I read online to the contrary. I take these zones with a grain of salt especially when I read info online which is all over the map.
This happens all the time.......Yesterday I bought Spanish Lavender because its supposed to take summer humidity better. Many sites say zone 8-9, some say 7 another said 6, still another says no frost or freezing at all. The tag says -10 degrees. Who is right? I'm planting it in soil amended with gravel with a couple large rocks close by to help protect the roots on the top of a slope.
We have many well established lantanas that make it just fine here in these parts that are listed over & over online as not hardy, along with several other plants I've looked up. Who comes up with these zones on tags anyway?
Three plants makes a nice visual clump of color (or it just gives you three times better chance for one to make it). One plant merely makes for a specimen so that factors in for me.
Wet winters, thats the bigger problem, but then, that would be the case with most any agastache.
It seems all the critters like Tulips - squirrels, deer, chipmunks, voles. I don't care for Tulips all that much, but there are a few pretty ones that the previous owner put in that have survived the shade, Vinca, voles, etc.
If you like tulips there's a few nice photos from Keukenhof in the Netherlands on these 2 threads (on the New England gardening forum).
Babera, saw your question a couple days ago, but just getting back. For a few years now I've used "Perennials Alive" and "Bulbs Alive" from Gardens Alive. I bought 5 lb bags and they've lasted a long time, but the bulbs is getting down there so time for some more. In the past I've also used some Espoma products, such as Garden-tone.
Most perennials seem to do okay with a top-dress of compost each year. Others grow better in lean soil and don't need any fertilizer at all. Over-fertilizing can result in floppy growth and too much foliage and too few flowers.
For bulbs, I sprinkle in some "Bulbs Alive" when planting or transplanting, in addition to whatever compost is spread in the garden. They seem to bloom better, I even get half-decent blooms from the oriental Hyacinths (those that survived the onslaught of voles 2 years ago that is).
Fertilizing is for specific times when nutrients are known to be needed, like when somebody has a vitamin deficiency. And likewise if your soil is low in one nutrient and you apply a product that has lots of another, you are buying and putting on that other nutrient for nothing - same as somebody trying to correct a particular vitamin deficiency with a multivitamin product.
And if you overdo one of them you can poison your plants and soil. Phosphorus, for instance is often over-applied and does not leach well at all - if you put on too much of it you may have to dig out and replace your soil to get rid of the toxic condition so produced.
In my area cultivated soils typically only become low in N. If I was using 14-14-14 year after year I'd be putting on a bunch of P and K I didn't need.
This post was edited by bboy on Sun, Apr 27, 14 at 13:38
"There are a few things awake in that bed--lady's mantle, black snakeroot, brunnera, primrose & columbine--but even the bleeding heart & Virginia bluebells are still sleeping."
With the addition of your hostas, that sounds like a beautiful shade bed. I have lots of shade so I'm always looking for examples of how others combine their plants. Maybe later on in the season you will show us some pics?
Almost all of my hostas are up and running as of today, with the exception of perhaps 3. Some are just pipping, some are a couple of inches high but still furled, but they're coming up. I was worried, with the extremely harsh winter we just had, but my hostas and heuchies seemed to have come through OK. Some hosta varieties are slower to emerge in the spring than others, that's for sure, so perhaps yours are the slower-to-emerge types. Give it another week or so before you give it up and by all means, come on over to the very active & friendly HOSTA FORUM, where you will pipped, NOIDed, scaped, etc. to your heart's content.
@diggerdee, I guess if some herbs just want morning sun or early sun, that would be a good way to achieve it. That brings up an interesting idea that because of this, then maybe tall plants could go in the front, lowest section.
If you orient it with a north/south direction, then all plants will get sun all day long, so then you'll have to consider about herbs that can't take all that heat or need additional water.
With a box around that size, though, it seems like just putting mint into a container would have contained it also.
How is the bottom constructed for each level?
The herbs I grow and use, either for food or attracting wildlife are: mint, green onion, chives, cilantro, pineapple sage, garden sage, rosemary, lavender, bee balm, basil, lemon grass.
Make a similar list of the herbs you want and then that will help you and us to see how they would be situated.
Hi guys- thanks for your help and your concern.
Yes, it faces east. My reason for orienting it east was that I didn't want more than 8 hours of sun. Some herbs can tolerate more, but most require 8 minimum in my experience. The plan is to put the tallest herbs in back so as not to shade those in front until quite late in the day. Even if the box faced north the tallest would shade the shortest at some point.
We planted this morning. 2 kinds of mint, rosemary, thyme, tarragon, lavender, oregano, parsley. I will have to let you know how it goes!
I also bought some bee balm, but I'm not familiar with it. What can you tell me about bee balm?
I didn't like the one I had. The blooms were kind of ugly (they were small and a deep nondescript red), which I could have dealt with, but the foliage didn't do anything for me. I like ferny foliage, but this one just blended into the background and was super-blah. Maybe if I would have had a bigger plant (like the one in the pic above) it would have been a different story, but as it stands, I don't miss it one bit (has long been shovel-pruned).
I have grown butterfly bushes from seed for several years. If it is a quart sized plant you can expect it to fill a gallon sized pot by fall and maybe even a few blooms. Some of those small bushes have very long blossoms. I had one with blossoms 11+ inches long. Kept it and gave 7+ Inch and smaller bloom ones away. Planted it in a bed last fall. Waiting to see this year if it continues to have those long blossoms.
I ran across this last night & am finding myself in love with narrow leaf zinnias. I like the bright orange/yellow or yellow ones, I had seen the pink & white ones but was never drawn to them. I like this natural wild look.
Is anyone growing this? I read it blooms all summer into fall. I've snubbed zinnias forever, until now.
Is it too late to sow zinnia seeds? If not is it easy & successful to direct sow?
if your goal.. is mowing the lawn.. as you state that is your NEED ... then mow the lawn.. and who cares what happens to them ..
the alternative is that when they start to yellow... you dig them up.. and that wont be fun... and plant them in a bed ... where your NEED will be fulfilled ...
a different way of saying what flora said.. was that after flowering.. they are using the green leaves.. to store energy in the bulb for next year ... if you do not allow them to store such ... then they will be weaker next year.. if not disappear altogether ...
define your NEED... and act accordingly ... but you cant have both.. as they are planted now ... and you can move them now.. and disturb the storage process ...
good luck .... did you inherit this with a new house???? .. if so.. get rid of them.. no need to cope with someone elses mistake.. when you have other needs ...
ken
ps: this is why planting them in the lawn.. is not the best idea... if you have tendencies towards the ultimate lawn warrior.. where grass rules supreme ... its a look that works better.. when your lawn is hundreds of feet deep.. and you can put them way the heck out there.. where you cant see the long grass .. and dont care ... IMHO.. it really doesnt work in suburbia ... not to mention.. in warrior mode... you cant use weed killers etc ... as these would be considered weeds to a grass-aholic ....
Thanks for the quick comments. I built my house on an old house place. There are several other flowers that have come up also, iris, spider lillies etc. I will try to cut around and might move them after they die down.