13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

I had the double for a few years, but it disappeared. It just never seemed to have the vigor as the single. I've also read it's sterile, so no seedlings.

Not sure about the weed and feed stuff.

Kevin

I used to use Weed 'n Feed on the lawn, and it never killed the Chionodoxa. I don't have scilla there so I don't know about that one.

I was wrong. The plant arrived today and it's the quart size. Maybe I can expect something significant this season.

Kevin

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?

Can't help.
Below: where we're at today.

Crocus flavus.
Seems less affected by the continuing cold spells than the larger purple and white Dutch crocuses.

Does it look similar to this?
This is Crocosmia Lucifer, which is possibly the biggest and brashest crocosmia.
Daisy.

Thank you, all - it came to me while I was sound asleep the other night - clivia!!!

Anyone giving away their lemon balm?!

cajun ...

use 100% RU .. in the very expensive applicator at the link.. snip a plant.. and drip it on the cut ... [that concentration is around 41%] .. and keep at it until it understand.. who is boss ... return unused product to properly labeled container ...

spraying is not really the way to go... in my experience ...

spraying is for self contained plants... what is probably happening here.. and i am too lazy to research it.. is that this plant is rhizome based.. which is basically an underground vine ... and if you spray on part.. it just resprouts a few inches back on the underground runner ... took me 3 years to kill PIvy due to this ... when it was all gone.. i found out.. there was a one inch underground running vine... [i am sure there are better scientific words for what i am suggesting]

good luck .. tenacity is usually the cure...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

I like all image of cool furniture.It's most useful to me.
Nice post..

The coffee table is amazing and maybe u can redecorate it with some flowers to make it look beautiful.

Salvia greggii are actually very easy to grow if you give them sun and good drainage. The good drainage factor is especially important in the winter. Last summer, I lost several that I've had for years due to the non-stop rain. The ones that survived had exceptionally good drainage.

Since you are on the coast you may also have even higher humidity than I do, which wouldn't be to its liking. You may want to try Salvia microphylla instead which seems to be more humidity tolerant. Salvia microphylla and Salvia greggii are very closely related and interbreed easily so many plants on the market are hybrids between the two. The flowers look identical but the leaves are slightly different. Nurseries seem to constantly mislabel the microphyllas as greggiis which doesn't help matters. A few of the cultivars that are easier to find are Salvia microphylla 'Hot Lips' and the 'Heatwave' series of S. microphylla hybrids. Of the Heatwave series, I like my 'Blaze' and 'Blast' the best. I actually bought mine at Lowe's and saw them there last year, too.

They are great, long-blooming plants and the hummingbirds love them! :)

Drainage was prolly the problem. We had the same rain issues. Plus it was on a low spot.

I will check out the ones u suggested ...thx!!

I feel quite certain you have creeping bellflower. Seriously grubbing out the roots, including the deeper parts, does work. But it will require attention to seedlings and re-sprouts! The roots and spring shoots are edible-- harvest them to death!

Here is a link that might be useful: Friends School Plant Sale

Thanks Kevin, I got a response over at the Name That Plant forum and someone offered a link to where they described how to pull the petals off the flower and disect the bulb at the base and see if there is another bulb or a flat disc. So I guess if I want to be positive, I'll have to let one of them flower this year.

Henry, thanks for that encouragement, we'll give it a good try this season and see if we can't put a dent in them. Thanks for that link.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to tell difference between Campanula and Adenophora

Lots of good, diverse suggestions. Much depends on the plants you are growing as well as what steps you are willing and able to take. The "look" you are aiming for also matters.

For example, you might use an interesting chunk of log or driftwood in the foreground to both brace up the floppers behind it as well as a interest piece.

Pinching or cutting back plants like mums early in the summer will make for thicker, sturdier growth.

There are hoops with a grid of bars crisscrossing them that can be used to spread out and support plant stems as the plant goes through them.

I stake about 8 Peonies every spring. The 4 oldest Peonies in the front garden are staked with large 18 inch rings with the grids. When they're about 1 foot high I sit and tediously guide the Peonies stalks throughout the grid. As they grow up you don't see the rings any more and they do work well to keep them upright, but the flowers still flop if we get some rain!

I use smaller peonies rings to support other floppy perennials, for example a large floppy New England Aster or Echinacea. I also have 3 sizes of green coated wire stakes with the loop at the top for things like Iris stalks that gets blown over in a strong wind. These are not very noticable either.

Over-fertlization may be one reason that plants flop, but also sometimes if the soil is too rich, there isn't enough sun, or too much rain or watering.

Here's a pic of 3 of the big peonies from last June. You don't notice the stakes.

I find that rabbits love my centaurea..especially when they first arise in the spring.

does anyone know "amethyst in snow" ? It has white flowers with blue/purple centers. Do the petals fade to lilac, or is this a different variety? Seems vigorous. I have it in a pot at the moment.
If your centaurea gets mildew cut it right back and feed it. It will bounce right back

Violets are my guess, too.

If not violets, perhaps oxalis.

Annie has some nice Echium in her catalog. They do very well along the California coast, not to sure in your climate. Al

Yes, Linda should know better as well - Echium vulgare is a noxious weed in WA state.

I posted about these a few days back. If you want to see them growing in the wild.....

Here is a link that might be useful: Fritillaria meleagris

believe it or not.. they can grow from seed in my MI ...

we just gather the dry seed and throw them down where ever we want them ...

but the real trick... is remembering that they look like grass weeds.. and not pulling them out.. the next spring ... lol .. it does take a year or two to bloom ...

there is a white version also ...

also... the checkers are near perfect squares.. and i defy you to find many other examples in ma nature .. a perfect square is usually a man made event ... you have to wonder.. how the plant does that.. color in flowers is usually a splash ... or an edge or center... how in the heck does this plant do this .. besides the obvious answer of genetics ... its like it wove a purple and white ribbon together..and made a flower ...

ken