13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

IâÂÂm tempted to go back for more of them.

==>>>> you got the fever bad.. eh .. lol ...

chris is about 30 miles west of me ... probably directly between you and i ... brilliant plantsman .. if i say so myself ... especially when he agrees with me ... lol ...

here is how it works...

mass producer harvests his stock in late fall.. after dormancy ... most likely.. i large bins ... and put them in a refridge warehouse ...

over winter.. when there is nothing else to do ... they are bagged into lots ... some are bagged as you got them ... some in lots of say 25 ...

nearing spring... small bags to bigboxstore ... larger lots to nurseries.. WHO POT THEM JUST LIKE YOU ARE DOING... though a few weeks back.. to force them into growth to sell them at a profit ...

its all the same stock.. is my point ... you just arent paying for the pot.. media ... greenhouse.. etc ...

but the real key... is getting them out of the bigboxstore before they die ... i love these peeps who buy them in late june.. for a penny.. then wonder why they died... lol ..

on your timing here... you should be all set ..

buy more??? ... bargain is a bargain.. how many pots can you cope with... lol ... if the stock looks good.. why not ..????

ken

I have pots! I have a garage! I have potting soil! Both cheap stuff and expensive Miracle Grow with water saver stuff whose name I canâÂÂt recall.

The only thing IâÂÂm tempted to get is the bleeding heart, since I want a lot of them. I bought potted twice and the price was really high. I would love white, but all they had was the standard pink and Luxuriant pink.

If IâÂÂm tempted, itâÂÂs really displacement activity. I am supposed to be getting ready to teach a metals workshop this weekend. Creative procrastination.

Great technical advice, above.

I've not tried to hybridize columbines but recall that when growing some varieties from seed at my first house, they all reverted back, as Ken said. I'm sure that part of my problem was the fact that my mother gave me some of her columbines that she had grown for over 40 years. In time, all my columbines looked like my mom's original plant.

And my experience makes me wonder ... do you have a greenhouse where you can propagate these, rather than doing it in the garden?

Molie

thanks for the info.

I have been learning to breed my own zinnias. they are easy and fun to breed. columbines and zinnias are my fave flowers, I wanted to breed columbines too.

I will just cross them all and collect seed and see what happens, he he :)

I can't remember any excessive rain last spring, although I can barely remember what the weather was like last month, let alone last year:) We did put in a new drip irrigation system and it's possible we were watering too much in the summer months. I'll have to keep that in mind this year, thanks for the tip TR.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get them to perform better this year?

According to my perennial "bible:" "Most rudbeckias hail from dry meadows and do best in similar conditions--well-drained, dry, not too overly rich soil in full sun." That suggests that in some years your clay soil may retain more moisture than suits them, either from rain or your irrigation system.

If you enjoy them so much, you may just have to put up with them when seasonal conditions (i.e., excess rain) don't favor their growth habit. Pinching or cutting back involves more effort than I'm willing to expend--if it's perennial in my garden beds, I pretty much take myself out of the equation whenever possible.

For many years my attitude toward rudbeckias has been plant 'em, enjoy 'em, neglect 'em. It's been pretty successful since 2006. Experience has taught me not to expect EVERY perennial to perform well every season, especially when growing conditions don't suit their needs, weather being so fickle and all. Some years things do well; some years they don't.

Case in point: last year my Hellebore/Lenten rose was covered in dozens of buds & bloomed heavily; this year it has fewer than a half dozen blooms. Still, it's tough and I'll enjoy what blooms it has while hoping for more next year.

I hadn't heard of those fish, but they are really kind of beautiful. Cool.

One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen was in Mexico, by the ocean, at night. The water was filled with bioluminescent creatures of some kind - I never did find out what. I was utterly transfixed by the sight of this ever changing wave of light moving through the water.

K

As a semi-dissenting voice, I can see apps for such plants provided:
1) Such plants do not prove poisonous or otherwise hazardous to wildlife or people.
2) The plants are not likely to become invasive weeds. (This would be one of the most difficult criteria to meet, I suspect.)
3) That the lit emitted proves to be strong enough to be truly useful -- for example, bright enough to read by.

In many impoverished areas of the world, having light indoors at night is not possible or poses very real fire hazards. A glowing plant could prove useful.

As the world population continues its exorbitant increase, the reality is that other energy sources will become necessary. In impoverished regions, especially, it is unrealistic to assume that sources like solar power and such will be able to supply all the needed energy nor that those areas will be able to afford the technology. (And it is obvious that humanity does not have the intelligence to curb its own population growth.)

While I agree that just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done, I do want to say that the glowing Sarracenia would be sweet! Same for many other carnivorous plants. Think of all the nighttime pests they might catch. heh

Still not seeing much here either, and I hope I'm wrong that most of the Agastaches, Penstemons, and western Salvias are goners. The shade garden is waking up, but most of that is native to this area so it knows what it's doing. This week should make a lot clear--spring weather for the forseeable future.

Agree with Mxk .... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too early.

Hmmmm 50-75% off and a guarantee! Where is this nursery!

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Plants are at Meadows Farms Nursery in Leesburg, VA.

Thank you everybody for your help!!! I will get them in the ground tomorrow. Temperatures are supposed to be pretty nice the next few days so hopefully that will help!

Hello,

As a professional perennial grower I can tell you that those white things in the top picture are the underground rhizomes and stems will emerge from them but they should be buried and completely covered. The white things in the second picture might be fresh sprouts but since these emerge from varying depths underground I would bury those completely as well, however I'm leaning toward those being underground rhizomes too.

And I would recommend planting these directly outdoors and then only water slightly for now to settle the soil surface. Chelone can rot as a fresh bare root if you water too much, and putting them in pots and watering well while it is cold can actually cause damage even easier at this stage. When I pot up Chelone that is dormant this time of year I don't water them until the danger of hard freezing weather is over, but from what you are saying your are probably beyond that point now.

Hope that helps.

Chris

I searched some more, first German, than English websites, looking for "perennials for clay soil".
one particularly nice pdf popped up, have a look, if you are interested,

bye, Lin

Here is a link that might be useful: best plants for clay soil

Ummm, there's some invasives in that .pdf list, so please be careful to do your research before planting any of those, as you will get more than you asked for! You may be able to already spot the invasives, so I will add this also for anyone else perusing this post for their own gardens.

they need some shade, plenty of moisture (but very well drained) and an acidic soil - many of them will not tolerate lime at all).

Which one is it? Baileyii? Betonicifolia? Regia?.....or, you might have got lucky and found 'Lingholm' the most reliably perennial and least fussy.

Lordie, those are the Grail for most of us.
I live too far in the South to even think it...but I'd have suggested you planted it somewhere in the Himalayas (lol), as they're regarded as almost impossible.
If you manage a 2nd year of bloom, well my hats off to you, and please come back and tell us how you did it.

This post was edited by dbarron on Thu, Mar 27, 14 at 7:07

smarge117 - there aren't any stupid garden questions--only a need to know from folks who do. Where do you think WE all got so smart?

I grow heuchera/coral bells 'Palace Purple' in a part sun bed in one of my garden beds and they're pretty much a year-round foliage plant plus the bees love the tiny flowers. I give my various garden beds NO supplemental water and they perform beautifully year in & year out. My plants were nursery-grown rather than grown from seed.

Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln'/dwarf fountain grass doesn't grow more than 2-3 ft. tall and has an elegant mounding form. I grow it in full sun at the southeast corner of my house as well at either end of my granite garden bench.

For winter interest I grow Hellebore/Lenten rose in part sun. They bloom here in February/March but would obviously bloom earlier if you're gardening in a warmer zone. Other than Vinca minor/creeping myrtle or Pachysandra, I don't have much else that remains evergreen in winter. Penstemon digitalis/beardtongue 'Mystica' does retain it's form & foliage even through a harsh winter but I can't say it looks fresh as a daisy once the snow melts.

Not a stupid question! I'm into edibles. Rosemary, thyme and oregano and peppermint are my evergreen perennials.

Continuing this discussion...those reluctant to use baby shampoo may substitute organic Simple Green, available in every grocery store. Following the directions I gave above you will not harm the birds, worms, children, pets, etc. Just do not expect any surfactant to work the miracle of turning solid clay into friable soil as Texas Ranger is explaining above.

Sunny Borders has requested more information on my remark about using a fall surfactant treatment on older properties with compacted lawns and garden soils. This is a common problem encountered by pros which can be handled in numerous ways. Sort of depends on the pro's philosophy and training. Often noted will be low sections of lawn that perk slowly after a rain, garden beds that are just 'played out'. I am encouraging the trial of a late fall surfactant treatment along with whatever else is deemed necessary to restore the soil. I find that after such a treatment the soil in the spring will have a different, loose texture and drainage is improved. My experience with all this goes back to the late 1970's. I have used surfactant treatments in many situations including on soils that have been heavily panned at construction sites and on compacted golf course greens. I prefer to use a surfactant named Nitron A-35 (available online) or one of the humic acid preparations if it is best for the situation.

I appreciate your reply, Nandina.

I am gathering that, as a result of surfactant treatment, you've witnessed a change (loosening) of soil texture and an improvement in drainage, and this can be part of intervention which will "restore the soil".

These claims would obviously have more support if they were backed up by controlled experimentation.

Nevertheless, as a perennial gardener (starting with clay), and as a number of fellow perennial gardeners said above, I would be quite nervous about the possible effects of the surfactant treatment on valuable soil organisms and on the plants themselves.

This post was edited by SunnyBorders on Wed, Mar 26, 14 at 20:15

I always enjoy the photos you post from your travels. You saw some really lovely plants and scenery on this walk.

I am sorry that I still don't have time to put in the names. I have ID of all. For example, this is a type of Dianella: