13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
or... move it from the base of a maple ...
or build a proper bed for plants...
why is there grass right up to the trunk of a maple with a fern in the middle of it..
in defense of hubby... sounds like a bed would have stopped him ...
and i apologize if there is a bed.. and he still couldnt help himself ...
ken
According to my notes, where I am B. australis normally blooms sometime in May rather than later in the growing season.
I would love to add plenty more Baptisia in my garden but thanks to winter sowing, my beds are pretty much chock-a-block full of perennials I grew from seed.
The blue baptisia australis I have blooms in April/early May. Maybe I've got some kind of new cross :) Last year when it bloomed so very late, I thought it was just because it was 1st year's bloom, & it had been a crazy hot June. When it behaved the same way this year, I decided it must be the norm for the plant.
I can't really tell about the reseeding as I planted mine this spring. But the bloom color is so rich and the plant as a whole is so striking, that it becomes the focal point and effectively the rest of the flower bed becomes support for the plant. Between that and the palm leaves of the castor bean next door, it's tropical.
I almost hear the tinkle of "Pearly Shells"
Now someone on here mentioned pinching the plant back, to produce more stems, which I'll do next year. Should increase the number of blooms.
mxk, I've been hoping someone responds. I did buy this a year or two back from Bluestone, and really loved it. I never got it planted out, though, and lost it over the winter in its little two-inch pot. I've been debating whether to try it again, so I was hoping someone with more experience with it woud chime in.
It was a beautiful, crisp white bloom, with nice green centers, and the petals seemed to be more rigid than White Swan. I really did like it, and may give it another shot.
Sorry I can't be of more help!
Dee
Wow. I never realized they were so tough! Thanks everyone for your comments. Next year I'll be mowing them off when they start looking bad. I guess I'm really lucky to have them where they are completely contained. In the spring breezes they perfume the air with memories of childhood at my grandma's house.
UPDATE:
Here is our "Woods Purple" a year later (its first full season in the garden).
The bloom color is incredible but the large splay in the middle is for sure distracting :(.
(And it isn't as if it is tall either so I am not sure why it is like it is)
Hmm, guess I'd better get moving on tilling up & amending soil then! I just finished putting in a corner bed yesterday, though, so I'm having an "armchair gardener" day today :) Maybe next week end...
Glad to hear your H's made it through the drought! We, too, have finally gotten some much-needed rain and cooler weather over the past week after a long, hot, dry summer (typical TX), which does renew the urge to get out and play in the dirt :)
Do you happen to know if fall is also the right time to plant other shade plants, like brunnera, pulmonaria, and beauty berry?
I grew species Baptisia australis from seed via the winter sowing method in 2011 but although they had a good germination rate, none have yet flowered. My guess would be they need a few years to mature before flowering. IMO they're worth waiting for.
Winter sowing taught me to be patient and be grateful for things that bloom when they're meant to rather than when I'd prefer them to do so.
As you say, they're lovely, large perennials that require zero care/maintenance and are not bothered by deer--what's not to love? I have nearly a half dozen mature nursery-grown plants growing in full sun in my butterfly beds. I consider them elegant and maintenance-free perennials. They're a much-appreciated addition to the early season garden.
Pretty, Gardenweed!
Gardenmom, if your seeds just germinated, then your seedlings will be pretty small to go through the winter. I've got a couple Twilight Prairie Blues plants and this year there is one self-sown seedling out in the garden. I also collected seed this year to sow next winter. I'm curious what color the seedlings will be.
Starting Baptisia from seed is an exercise is patience. They take years to bloom. I started some Baptisia leucantha in 2008 and am still waiting on blooms. They are getting pretty good sized, so they'll probably bloom next Spring. They spent the first couple years in pots, so they probably would have bloomed by now otherwise.
Btw, deer may not like the foliage, but voles love Baptisia roots!
I dig them in, pot and all, filling soil up to around the top of the pot. So far its worked pretty good.... Except for the year mice moved in and chewed up every little bit of mum sprout and root.
I do it this way to avoid any root disturbance in the fall, and like others have said I leave the tops untouched.
**** look at that I can finally use the edit post function! I guess mnwsgal just wrote nearly the exact same thing.... Maybe this counts as a backup? I guess I shouldn't take two hours to actually finish up a comment ;)
This post was edited by kato_b on Sat, Sep 21, 13 at 22:44
I have had success planting just your ordinary Fall mums that you buy at the local nursery probably half of the time. Not every one has been hardy, but some of them have been coming back every spring for at least 5 years. So I try them just to see. I do take them out of their pot and plant them in the ground, somewhere I want to see them come back.
I've also ordered mums from Bluestone that are hardy to my zone and they all have worked out. They have a pretty good selection and I've bought those in the spring and planted them.
Very colorful display on your front porch!
Sandyslopes I like your swatch of Autumn Joy!
I don't have a ton of deer, but they do browse on some plants mostly in the back garden, and on some of my favorite native perennials. They have never touched the Sedum so it must not be a deer favorite.
However, the voles love the tuberous roots of Sedum! They nearly wiped out my beautiful large Matrona and Purple Emperor in the front garden 2 years ago. It is one of the plants I sprinkle with castor oil solution, which works great as a vole repellent. Now the plants are recovering well.
Don't have wood betony, but have experience with big betony.
Just (couple of days ago) chopped up a big betony, replanted a bit and potted up the rest to overwinter outside. Had no problem doing this previously.
Don't know if wood betony is equally hardy here.
Well, I grow Sedum rupestre 'Angelina' which is very similar in appearance and it does just fine for me. It had no problem surviving last winter which was more like a zone 4 winter than a zone 5 winter. We had little snow cover and temps that approached 15 below F. It had no protection at all and came through just fine.
IMO, it should do fine for you, but I don't know how you were growing it.
Kevin
I have several patches of Lobelia cardinalis. It is one of the hummingbirds' top 3 favorite plants in my gardens (the other 2 being Monarda didyma and Salvia guaranitica 'Black & Blue').
It does fine in part sun, but pouts in my back garden when it is droughty. I will give it some extra watering, along with the veggies, and butterfly plants, because the hummingbirds love it so much. Also this encourages it to reseed along the edges of the garden. I agree with NHbabs, that it would prefer to have adequate moisture, over full sun.
I've posted this pic before, but here is a pic of my Cardinal flower from 2011 when we had abundant rainfall that summer -
Thanks everyone!
The two lobelias I have are the cardinalis and syphilitica and everyone has provided lots of good info for both.
I wasn't sure if the syphilitica, like the cardinalis, reseeded but I think nhbabs set me straight on that.
Hi terrene. I guess you know where these lobelias are going. Yes, my butterfly/hummer garden.. And wouldn't you know it: beebalm and salvia feature prominently in it!
gary
They are a gorgeous shot of red and easy to grow. I put mine in full sun in a non-irrigated, non-fertilized garden with good drainage. No problem with overwintering or blooming, but the plant is only a year old in the garden, so I'm not sure how long it blooms once mature. They bloom easily in pots and would likely be good container plants.
In the meantime, what is BBS?
BBS = Big Box Store (places like Lowes, Home Depot, etc)