13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
An interesting thing I learned just today...the silver mottling/variegation on cyclamen is called Reflective or Blister variegation because of a layer of air beneath the epidermis/surface of the leaf that causes a reflection that gives the illusion of silver coloration. Kinda' cool....
CMK
astelia, bupleurum longifolia (esp.Bronze beauty), polemoniums (esp.Lambrooke Mauve a sterile, therefore long-flowering shade lover), chaerophyllum roseum, various campanulas, acteae misty blue, epimediums, omphalodes, saxifrage urbium or S.umbrosa, gillenia, herbaceous clems. esp. the small integrifolias such as Pangbourne Pink, meconopsis cambrica
I had to look that one up. Interesting-looking plant! Unfortunately, they would hate growing in my warm climate. And I have no useful information to give you about them, jujujojo. Hopefully someone more familiar with them can help out.
yes, the are known as megaherbs and are members of the apiaceae family (my favourites) and are available from rarepalm seeds and also can be bought off ebay from a lovely chap called Bob Todd - Choice Plant Seeds, will ship to US.
Aka as Campbell Island carrot
Definately try digging the roots too! It's fun to find the potatoes and see how many you get ! I've never had luck with the cuttings over winter, they seem to just hate the cool windowsills around here and end up dying a slow death. Even the roots seem to like warmer drier storage conditions than other root type things, definately a hot weather plant.
In Z5, I chop off about 3" of my Autumn Joy Sedum and then poke those little choppings into the ground anywhere I want a 'hedge' or mowing barrier. I poke the little 'choppings' into the ground three at a time. Sometimes I water them in -- other times I don't. The next year I have my little Autumn Joy Sedum hedge. BTW - I am working with acres so I can never have enough little hedges.
So simple and care free. I have tried other sedums that have a better look early in the season (the variagated one) or color in the fall, but for increasing and making that cute 'hedge', Autumn Joy' is the best!
Wow - nice pictures and you have to feel satisfied at having lots of stuff done. BUT --- I sure would love to have your 'clean-up' for my compost bin.
I have a hoop house made of pvc with rebar going through that used to be a chicken house. We covered it with wire mesh and it is now my compost bin. Varmints keep eating through the wire mesh but I really don't care any more --- they have to eat too. It feels good to have a place to put all of our food waste. Right now is canning time for me so I have lots of tomato/fruit peelings, etc.
Funny, I was thinking of your question the other day when I was cutting back all my FLOPPED pitcher sages! Either I forgot to cut them all back, or they just grew like weeds after I cut them. One thing is certain, they don't branch out from the cut stems. I have a couple that just stayed shorter and bloomed, but none responded the way mums, asters or sedums would.
To answer your question. I began cutting them back when they were about a foot tall and then one more time before mid-July. We're warmer here than you are, so I don't know how that would affect timing. Since they bloom in August here, I give them at least a month to set their buds.
Ahhh! Thanks so much MulchMama. Interesting that they don't side-branch. I was thinking they would act like mums when you pinch them back. Guess I will do a bit of experimenting next year with them and see what works best. Thanks much..
CMK
Carolinaflowerlover,
Now is a perfect time to toss down seed if you are direct sowing into the ground. Autumn rains, snow, and spring freeze/thaw cycles will work the seed into the ground and break down the seed coat and germination will happen according to Mother Nature's calendar. Direct sowing is by far the easiest way to grow new plants, but many seeds are lost to animals feeding or are washed away in heavy rains, or do not have the ideal moisture levels when they are very small. Wintersowing is an excellent method which takes advantage of Mother Nature, but protects the seeds.
Martha
Nah, I don't have to have blueberries, I just saw yet another article singing their praises. I don't want too much fuss and bother, and whatever I plant has to be ornamental most of the year, since that bed is right in front of the picture window. I'm sure I can come up with some other part-shade shrubs that are low in height, no biggie. I saw some gorgeous blue-needled evergreens that actually would look terrific, I'm going to revisit that idea this weekend (hoping they will be marked down even further...)
My blueberries are in a raised bed and produced a decent fruit crop the past couple of years. I haven't been very diligent about soil pH (just got around to adding a slow-release acid fertilizer product a few months ago) but the plants are still doing well.
Nice....
You're getting a lot more of a response from your SO than I ever get.... She seems to think all my gardening questions are rhetorical, or just the ignore it and maybe it will go away kind of statement.
I know I'm in trouble with chrysanthemums... Keep checking out online sources and looking up more info. I hope this passes once fall is over.
I think, if I do buy online, I'll just trust the supplier has sent the correct amount. The last thing I need is letting 1000 lady bugs loose in the house... Especially after the later conversation where I was asked "how can you guarantee the ladybugs don't just fly away?" My response was that I had read to do it at night, water the area previously and "you can put them in the fridge for a short time to cool them down. It slows them down and....". "YOU ARE NOT PUTTING LADY BUGS IN THE FRIDGE!!!!"
.... fine, be that way ;-)
I'm going to yank up by the roots a good number of Rudbeckia and Echinaecias instead of digging. Hope that will work. Then in the spring, I will thin as they come up. Those two are taking over one of my gardens. I don't even remember half of what I had planted in that one. I used to have a nice patch of Lupin which have disappeared and Veronica --- I will have plenty of space in the spring for my jugs full of winter-sown seedlings.
I don't bother with much of anything very short or that spreads, like ground covers, stuff that needs staking, and plain green lumps and bumps of foliage that make flowers for a very short time. More into shrubs, nectar plants, and having a lot of blank area after frost for adding tons of leaves/compost, where annuals/edibles go again in spring.
I have used unscented castor oil for 2 years now, both CVS and HomeHealth brands, and it works great. I have sometimes added urine and sometimes not, and it still worked great. Can't speak for any other formulas but I am interested in trying adding a little dish soap (although this is soil based formula, so not sure what it accomplishes).
Ryse, I didn't have vole problems for the first 5 years gardening here either, nor at the previous house for 15 years. Couldn't understand what people were talking about - huh voles?? At the time, I had another cat that was a great little hunter. Then she died, and we got clobbered with a horrible winter in 2011 with persistent, deep snow cover in the area of 2-3 feet.
In the Spring I discovered vole carnage in my front yard gardens! Baptisia, Echinacea, Sedum, Hosta, Asters, Liatris, helianthus, bulbs, etc. Many of my favorite native perennials were either wiped out or left with skeletal root systems. Some are recovering.
Some pics to ponder. Vole eaten Hosta -
The meager root system and skimpy shoots leftover from 2 formerly huge Baptisia 'Twilight Prairie Blues' -
Oh yeh, got 'em here too. I have two planter boxes made out of railroad ties on either side of my driveway. Both had pretty purple irises in the center...they'd gotten to be a mass about 20-24 inches in diameter so I knew I was going to have to dig/split. In Mar. I noticed that the one mass was sort of falling into the dirt...imploding??? The dirt was sorta building up around it and the whole mass disappeared except for about 6 strands of leaves. Amazing. The voles also got my big white weigela right next to the planter box, ate all the roots, so I now have this big bare leafless bush with 3 live branches on it. This spring I planted annuals in the planter boxes, and some of them did well, some not so good. I'm waiting for them to eat the oak tree nearby....... I do need some kitty cats here, but the coyotes are death on cats here in farm country.