13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
In a conducive climate and growing in the ground P caerulea can grow enormous - up to 30 feet. It also pops up around the original plant, sometimes some distance away. So it would be sensible to find out locally if it will go romping away as it does here. Although evergreen it does get scruffy so cutting it back hard is a good way of keeping it neater. I'm not sure it would succeed in a buried pot. I think it would either wither through lack of nourishment or it would escape in search of it.
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
I've got Glomerta Superba and although its pretty now and beautiful when it flowers in June it is terribly invasive--I'm afraid it's gonna strangle everything else in my bed. I don/t know how to control it short of tearing up the whole bed. Oh well--I should listen when people say a plant is invasive, but at least it's nice to look at.
I love the many campanulas; unfortunately, they are not fond our hot summers and die out after a year or three. C. poscharskyana is about the only one that toughs it out for many years, but it does not spread as quickly here as it does in other areas. I still give them garden space if I can grab some for reasonable prices for temp plants.
Wow! Great work, tecklehound--neighbor. Thanks for your suggestions. I'll be looking them up. What is that grass in the lower right corner?
Also, I want to thank TexasRanger for the great, inspiring photo of the firecracker plant, which I must add to my mix.
Karen
I wouldn't give up on them so soon considering the extraordinarily harsh winter that is finally (grudgingly) loosening its grip. According to my garden notes, this year we're nearly 6 weeks behind where the garden was in 2012. I have new growth on many perennials but much later than I've seen in recent years.
If the plants were well established and protected from extreme conditions by a sizeable blanket of snow cover, chances are most will survive whatever Ma Nature throws at them.
Gardening (hopefully) teaches patience. Give them more time.
I have a seedling that hasn't bloomed yet and I'm moving mine now, just because I keep wanting to move it and not getting around to it.
I think it depends on the weather in your case. If it is already getting hot by the time it finishes blooming you might want to wait for Fall, but if it's comfortable temperatures and the 7 day forecast looks good and you give it a lot of TLC, I'd say move it after blooming. I always dig a large rootball, water it in well and I cover mine with an overturned milk crate for about a week after moving.
I just grow the annual kinds like that one above growing in beach sand. They are just getting ready to open right now, they have naturalized but not invasively so, They come up in fall, winter over, are very early bloom & they keep it up consistently until fall. It doesn't get easier, cheaper or more reliable than that. Sometimes I get solid yellow but others are various amounts of yellow on red.
I should add, I grow them dry, mean & lean, not moist, rich or pampered.
This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Sun, Apr 20, 14 at 21:57
My 'Early Sunrise' plants were grown from seed via the winter sowing method which likely accounts for their additional height. My winter sown Siberian iris plants grow a full foot taller than those from a hothouse/garden nursery.
sara82lee - since Kevin confirmed the height of 'Early Sunrise' in his garden, please disregard the information I posted above regarding height. I'm glad the color and bloom time information was helpful.
Kevin - I wish my winter sown plants grew to less than 2 ft. since where I planted them (at the base of an oak tree) they sure look odd growing so tall!
Ha, the nice flat part of WV. But even in the mountains there are open areas and then there are frost pockets--in a holler at the foot of a mountain that cold air just streams down on you. And as for that 20 degree night--I didn't cover the peas, up a couple of inches--who covers peas!!?? And they got bit pretty bad. Never, ever seen or heard of that.
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