13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Just a couple of thoughts off the top of my head:
If it's a species aster, the blooming may seem rather sparse in comparison to most of the hybrids on the market. You should try to find out what you have.
How far from the house is it planted? Reflected heat from the house itself could be frying the plant. I had problems with an aster not blooming the way it should and then realized it was planted too close to the sidewalk. Heat bouncing off the sidewalk was cooking the poor thing. I've also moved all my asters to a SE location because the SW location was just too hot in the afternoon. They're doing much better.
My asters like regular moisture. Drying out too much can cause fungal problems with the lower leaves.
Does it need division? Asters are generally robust growers benefiting from frequent division.
Kevin
aachenelf, it is right next to the house. It's actually surrounded by concrete. The foundatino is behind it, and immediately to the left is the concrete driveway. 2 feet in front of it is sidewalk.
Thank you! I may try moving it and see if that helps. It's not huge enough to divide yet.
I'm working off of memory here, but on another gardening forum some time ago, a gardener told of how her balloonflowers would first bloom double in the spring, then the reboom would be singles. The following year they would repeat--double, then single. Maybe it is a response to an environmental factor, such as higher heat or some other stress. Or maybe the plants were just too tired to fancy up their flowers with extra petals the second round. ;)
Even more factors can come into play from one year to the next. And reverting has varying causes among different plants; it is actually quite complex, having the plant determine what those cells are going to produce. Maybe the particular strain you are growing is less stable with respect to doubling.
Funny this should come up, I noticed it on my 'Astra Semi- Double Lavender' balloon flower the other day.
Perhaps certain cultivars more prone to this? I never noticed it on my Hakone Double White when I had it.
Here is the interesting thing the ASDL does- little curly-q's at the base ;-)
CMK
Just starting:
Asters Harrington's Pink, Alma Potske (sp?), September Ruby, Purple Dome, yellow mum whose name I don't remember, Cheryl something-or-other.
Still to happen:
toad lilies
some single mums that I don't know the name of
Hibiscus "Cinnamon Grappa" and another one, forgot name.
My memory is bad!
My Helenium always blooms in late June, never in autumn.
A word of caution about moving balloon flower--according to the information I've read they have a taproot and it's possible mature plants may resent transplanting.
roxanna - I'm in north central CT a couple miles south of the MA state line so a trade is definitely a possibility. Seed harvesting is addictive so I could also offer you some Stokes aster/Stokesia laevis seeds. Do you already grow Polemonium/Jacob's ladder? It's a great blue in late spring. The Stokes aster blooms in mid-summer but also offers a stunning blue contrast to daylilies.
Another blue I would never be without is Baptisia australis/false indigo which blooms in late May where I am and is not only blue, it's tall. The blooms last for weeks and the seedpods that form are distinctive.
I'm running out of space in my beds thanks to winter sowing + my own maturing perennials but I appreciate the offer of plants.
My seed-grown plants were all grown via the winter sowing method. I filled my perennial beds with plants in just 3 years' time by trading seeds here on the GW Seed Exchange & harvesting seeds from my own perennials. It's lots more fun than the whole lights/heat setup. Check it out when you have time. I'll be more than happy to answer your questions if you decide to give it a try.
Oh, in case you have doubts about the winter sowing method--I grew apple, pear & ornamental dogwood trees via winter sowing and they're as tall as I am this year. Also grew spirea, St. John's wort & other flowering shrubs.
Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing website
I have been doing grapes for about 5 years now and used to have pumpkins and other melons but now all grapes. I love to watch them grow and learn from the experts and have gotten better every year. I live in Mn and sometimes it can be tricky with the weather and the experts help out to get me through the tough years. We make the best grape and honey Jack grape jelly in Mn we haven't got enough grapes to do wine but maybe after the new vines get mature we will. Just an FYI Mn has the richest soil in the world and eventually will have the best wines so look out west coast.
When I was small my dad would spade up the garden spot behind the garage and in front next to the front porch. Then it was my sibs and my job to "break up the clods" while my dad went in and had a beer. When we had adequately performed the task he would come out and plant the seeds. Needless to say I didn't garden much once I got out on my own. But I rented the back of a small house in Denver in the early seventies and the landlord told me he'd bring manure for me to garden when I mentioned to him that it looked like someone had had a garden in one spot in the yard. He did, and I planted it in vegs of various kinds. Have had various veg gardens in many different places since- Tempe AZ, Buffalo NY, Flagstaff Az, Spokane WA, San Diego CA, and now here is SD, where I discovered flowers.
I have no idea. Was it purchased as a perennial? I guess that's hard to say if the nursery didn't even know what it was. Looks like you either bought multiple plants or it already spread a bit.... This might be a good time to check out the 'name this plant' forum
Very interesting.
Although I was very familiar with Waddington's epigenetics and with (paleontological) provenance (graduate school), further development and application of the concepts, in botany/horticulture, is quite new on me.
I don't deliberately grow perennials from seed and, if fact, prefer to use cultivars raised by vegetal means.
At the same time, the information above raises a number of questions. For instance, we apparently often get perennials raised in the Carolinas, in part so they'll be in bloom when they're sold here (up north, to them). Is what seed they use a relevant issue, or, seeds aside, is it the cultivars environmental adaptability/plasticity much more important?
As to location/microclimates: it's an old gardeners' adage: if you want to know where to place a plant, buy three and plant them in different places and the plant will tell you where.
The superficially fortuitous survival of some perennial plants always amazes me.
The most extreme case I've come across is one of around 15 painted daisies (Tanacetum coccineum (Robinson's series)), which survived ten years in one garden, while all of the rest died within two or three years of planting.
They were all purchased as plants from the same place. It's hard to see seed provenance (re the grower) being the simplest explanation for this odd situation.
That one super-survivor painted daisy: I kept it and it's continuing to grow happily in our own garden.
I'm sure provenance is very important in regards to exactly how the plant looks and what it's genetics are..... But I think in many cases it's not a safe bet as far as hardiness.
There are several cases I can think of where plants were collected from colder locations to find hardier strains, but there are also a lot of cases where the historic range of a plant really doesnt match the cold tolerance.
Needle palm is an example, it's found in the sub tropical southeast, but when you actually check hardiness it's one of the most cold tolerant palms, capable of zone 6 and maybe lower.
Still your best bet for a hardier strain would likely be at the coldest end of its range or highest altitude.
The sharp point of the typical hand pruner is probably a marriage of the best overall pruning features, because homeowners generally do not purchase more than one hand prunner/type. The point allows for close positioning of the pruners to the trunk for cuts, allows better precision for delicate flower trimming, but the sturdy bypass can handle the small branches.
Maybe you would be happier just buying one of the many pruners that do not have sharp points on the tip. :) They are not as common as the typically-seen bypass, but they are out there and readily available online. If the pruner you are talking about are hand pruners (rather than loppers, although loppers are available in different blade styles too), you may want to check out Ratchet Pruner 3/4-inch (RP-3230), anvil pruner (AP-3110), or one of my favorites, a form of grape shear (AG-5030). Snips and grape shears resemble oversized needle-nosed pliers and have rounded tips. The grape shears are great for quick trim work, but not the thick branches. Other gardening tool companies have their own similarly-styled tools.
â¢Posted by Gyr_Falcon
For those curious about the impaled cricket, his final thought was probably "Shrike!"
I figured the cricket had been impaled intentionally, but had completely forgotten about shrikes' habit of doing so. Thanks for the reminder!
I always remove the seed capsules - which involves cutting off the top 4" or so of the stem usually, plus individual capsules that formed from flowers in leaf axils lower down the stems. I started cutting them off this week. Removing them has certainly never bothered my hibiscuses - and I am too afraid of the risk of huge amounts of seedlings if I didn't remove the seed capsules! You did the right thing.