13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Beautiful garden. Perhaps some low growing plants for the front of the border-dianthus, moss phlox(subulata),or campanula'clips'. Or low growing foliage plants like thymes or sedums that come in different colors, bright yellows,reds, and varying shades of green all which do fine with minimal water. All mentioned do well in my zone 5 sunny gardens.
Hey Dee, have you thought of mixing groundcover sedums to form a bit of a patchwork on your slope? Does your slope face up where you'll see it head on? There is a garden near me that did about the same size slope as yours and they massed a handful of different kinds and it looked really interesting. Just a thought if you can't find a lot of the one you want.
Thyme, I actually have thought of that. Some of the websites I've looked at offer mixes, and the photos of roofs and slopes are pretty interesting. And I do love sooo many different kinds of sedum!
But since I've started with the K and have a nice little swath of it started, I think I'd like to keep it all the same. I may have to go to the mix, if that's really the cheapest option, which of course is more work since I'd have to dig up my K and mix the other stuff in.
I've got an email in to a Canadian nursery. We'll see!
Dee
I have 'Honorine Jobert' in northeastern Pennsylvania zone5. Foliage emerges mid-spring and it is starting to bloom now. It spreads and overtakes other plants in my partial shade garden with rich soil. I pull out 1/3 from here every year.
In a sunny bed with no amendments and only thin mulch layer,1/2-1", it does fine. No invasive traits. I have to do nothing with it.
Leaves are med-dark green, thick, 3 palmate toothed margins and get about 3-4" diameter.
Blooms are so pretty, I thought it was an artificial flower the first time I saw it-pristine white petals and vibrant yellow stamens surrounding pale green center.
This plant is beautiful but don't plant it too close to other perennials because it spreads over time with tenacious roots. I have been pulling out leaves and roots popping up all summer from a huge plant I dug out this spring. The root of the main plant was 3" thick. It keeps putting up leaves all over a 4 foot space and I pull them everyday to try to get rid of this.
I planted it out in a meadow where it can do what it wants. I love the flowers but the bloom only lasts a few weeks and isn't worth the space it takes up in my average size garden. Leaves are nothing significant, just green. The flower stems are very tall even in full sun. Where I live it dies down over winter with ratty looking leaves, and I have to cut it back to the ground.
There is this very, very useful tool called a lawnmower. The ignorant think it is just for manicuring grass. The enlightened know it as one the easiest, most efficient destroyer of truly horrible weeds commonly available. It is amazing what will rather die than be kept at three inches tall. The number of trees I have killed must be measured in the thousands by now.
LOL, yes, I discovered that the former owner used that very method to control the bazillions of Rose of Sharon seedlings trying to colonize the backyard. (said Roses of Sharon will be severely pruned and possibly entirely removed under the new management ;-) !)
Trouble is, the houttynia in the ground-level bed is well and truly woven in between, betwixt and behind several layers of shrubs and other (desirable) perennials... thus the Lawnmower Method is too non-selective in this case.
(That said, it has been my experience that wild garlic laughs at lawnmower blades, however low and repeititive, and simply throws yet another bulbil-propagation party underground afterward.)
I have two false indigo plants growing in my butterfly bed, with lots of other full-sun perennials growing around them, including Shasta daisies, Echinacea, Nepeta/catmint, Rudbeckia, Caryopteris/blue mist shrub, rose of Sharon, peony, & butterfly bush.
My artemesia has gradually diminished over the past half dozen years so I no longer count on it returning every year while cushion spurge (Polychroma spurge euphorbia) has been with me for more than 25 years.
A low-growing option that requires zero care is Stachys 'Helen von Stein.' It's a sterile (without the ugly flower stems) lamb's ear cultivar that just looks great 11 months out of the year.
I thought I had a better photo of an earlier season, but I didn't have time to look longer. If I would just label my photos consistently so they would all come up in a search, I'd make my life easier. But this is Baptisia australis with Nepeta 'Walker's Low', two varieties of Cranesbill and Ninebark 'Summer Wine' which I think is the same as Babs. It only gets less than 5 hrs of sun in the afternoon here and it needs support because it flops, I assume with not enough sun. Not sure I'm loving all that purple color.
I'll ditto Dee's welcome even though I don't grow what are annuals here in my colder (than your's) zone. Here Gerbera daisies are (I believe) also called African daisies which means they're not perennials here in the colder climate zones. They're colorful and attractive--I'd love to have them year-round but when the snow falls, they disappear beneath it, never to return the following season.
I would agree with echinaceamaniac that it needs more light but it may also be growing where it gets too much moisture. Where I am there's generally sufficient rainfall each season that supplemental watering isn't necessary.
LOL on the bloody marys, Marie. I have memories from when I was teaching that one of my 6th graders, the oldest of 5 kids, came to school on the first day and announced that his mom was home partying to celebrate the first day of school.
I'm with GGal - just plant the new one along with the smaller one and divide in a few years. You get instant fullness.
I would actually plant it elsewhere in the garden. Who says each plant has to be only in one place? Why not enjoy it in a few spots?
Ah, Ken, just wait. My kids are in college now and I miss those summer days when they were little and at home . It just goes by too fast....
Dee
I don't grow the 'Purpurascens' form of Osmunda regalis, but royal fern is native here and we have quite a bit of it growing wild. It likes wetter than average conditions and at least part shade unless it is growing in standing water IME. It is fairly airy compared to something like an ostrich fern and taller than many ferns once it is mature as long as it gets enough moisture. (It isn't worth growing if it doesn't get enough moisture, so if you don't have a way to keep it damp to wet, I'd choose another plant.)
I'd put 'Purpurascens' where I could enjoy the color in spring since it turns green later in the season. I find royal fern ornamental, but not in a formal way, so I would probably plant them in a less formal area with other plants that like similarly damp conditions. I have a preference for mixed beds, so I can see it with shrubs such as Clethra, Itea, Rhododendron viscosum/Swamp azalea, along with perennials such as Iris versicolor/blue flag or Siberian, cardinal flower/Lobelia cardinalis, marsh marigold/Caltha palustris, or marsh lady's tresses/Spiranthes odorata.
karin - Yes, ungainly is a good description. When I planted this one, it was kind of a test, so it got stuck near the back of the border. The Rudbeckia just happened to be there. Also, the Hollyhock bloomed way longer than expected and the Rudbeckia bloomed way early. They were never meant to be companions.
It's been a long time since I've grown Sidalcea. but maybe I need to try that one again.
woodyoak - I agree. I really don't like the doubles either. (So why did I order this one??)
I'll check out the 'Queenie Purple" and nutmeg - the Hollyhocks in that photo are exactly what I was looking for. Very similar to the big ones in growth habit, just smaller.
Thanks for the comments.
Kevin
Yes, you can rotate photos in Photobucket. It's slow, like the rest of Photobucket, but it does work. While it is possible that photos that look right on your computer might show up sideways here, if it looks right on Photobucket, it will look right here.
If you have an iPhone, rotate the image on your phone. Crop it slightly. It will always show up on here correctly if you do this. I can't speak for the other phones, but the iPhone will work with no trouble at all. Your phone should let you rotate the images after you take them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using your phone to take photos. Some of them have really great cameras in them and they are so convenient without having to haul a second device around all the time.
Good on you florauk. According to my perennial books, Rudbeckia maxima is the botanical name altho' they're not an Echinacea as are coneflowers that are traditionally referred to by that name. Rudbeckias are normally lumped into the 'brown-eyed susan' family rather than coneflowers altho' the flower form is similar.
If they're anything like the ordinary Rudbeckias growing where I am, they thrive in full sun, heat, & dry soil that isn't necessarily rich in nutrients.
I checked Hazzard's Seeds' website and they do offer them. You might also check Swallowtail Garden Seeds. I offer those seed-source suggestions merely because I've had good experiences with both.
If you grow them from seed via winter sowing, it's generally a good idea to sow the seeds in spring since (according to my notes) the seeds don't need a cold period in order to germinate. If you don't want to go that route, you might check your local nurseries when Spring rolls around altho' I can honestly say I've never seen them for sale where I am, I'm guessing because my growing season is much shorter than where you are. I have no experience with open sowing them in the ground.
Best of luck to you!
All I did was Google Giant Coneflower and up it came.
However, Echinacea is generally called 'Echinacea' (!) here and Rudbeckias are occasionally called cone flowers, so I was thinking along those lines anyway. The seed is available from the place I linked to also.
Hi SnailLover, PT equipment in the closet, sounds like the rest of us. ;-) We all do the same thing. You start out keeping up with it and then something knocks you off track. And even if you remember what they told you to do 6 years ago, if you have insurance coverage, and you have a history of this problem, I'm sure your Doc would give you a prescription to go again. Sometimes we need that PT person to keep us on track and make sure we are dong the movements correctly and at the right pace. And you can ask questions every week about how to cope with situations at home that are difficult. My PT person has come up with a lot of good ideas.
I also remember seeing a doctor on a PBS special say he had patients that have reversed arthritis. If you haven't seen his TV specials, he's pretty inspiring. He has books at the library too.
You are right, having some control and something we can do for ourselves is very motivating and encouraging. I hope you can find a way to improve your situation and feel a LOT better!! I will come back and check in and let you know how things are working out with me. Thanks, and good luck!
Here is a link that might be useful: Dr Fuhrman on Arthritis
I was thinking the same thing, height-wise, and I also thought of carex and hakone. They really are quite nice, if you can live with the shorter height!
Dee
I grow little bluestem 'Blue Heaven' in part shade which stays two feet tall and is bluish with reddish accents in summer turning reddish purple in fall. It only gets a few hours of full afternoon sun. This is also near a large maple tree which may be a factor in keeping it short and compact. My hakone grass is in the same bed just a bit over with little sun and gets only 6-8 inches tall.