13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

the mallow... i bought one here in adrian mi ... 10 years ago... let it go to seed once.. and have been fighting dormant seeds for the next decade ....

i would be very leery of spreading it around too much ... your choice of course ..;

in MI .. many pansy type plants are sold with mums in fall .. and they winter over with some regularity ... depending on the severity of the MI winter ... but many of them are biennial at best .....

if it were me.. i would just move that pot.. where you might want the pansy/viola.. and let it self sow.. right now ...

the plant is sowing now.. so why do we think OH >>> I WILL SAVE THEM UNTIL SPRING... think about that ...

the trick is recognizing them when the sprout.. and that is the beauty of that pot.. it will be sitting there.. surrounded by seedlings.. and you will say.. hey ... i remember now.. lol ...

finally.. personally.. i would not leave that pot outdoors.. in MI ... for fear that winter would crack it.. if it was left before.. you may have gotten lucky ... i would empty it.. and insure that it was bone dry .. and then store it in the polebarn ....

ken

Okay, will transplant it in the ground. Thanks everyone!

That's hysterical. I have had that set aside waiting to be returned to the vendor because it was not the color i was seeking, but now, as we speak, it is going into the 'find a holding over/growing on place to plant this' queue. (See, you never know how or who might benefit from a post you make!) thx, ech.

NHbabs recently posted a pix lovely healthy clem growing through a hydrangea. She stated she plants clems at a distance based on the size the shrub will be in ten years.
I would really have to discipline myself to do that.

LOL. I'm wanting more shade. I have Heuchera addiction.

So, if I sow them in August in Chicago, would it have enough time to develop roots for next season?

Official First day of fall is September 22nd.

How many days does it need after germination to develop roots for next year bloom?

Thanks everyone for the input. I've grown quite a few foxgloves, but have never planted them this late. I have a ton of them, so if even half make it, I'd be thrilled. I'll probably forgo the fertilizer, unless I try in on a few for experimenting's sake.

Campanula, I grew Polkadot Princess in 2011, so they bloomed in 2012 and again this year. Their first blooms of 2012 were decent...the spires weren't as tall as excelsior, but they still looked nice. The later blooms were much shorter, and didn't do much for me where they were planted.

This year, even their first blooms were much shorter. For where I want to grow digitalis, they don't work, and most have already been yanked. I'll start excelsior seeds this winter, but am thrilled to have a bunch of these Camelots and Apricots to (hopefully) look forward to next spring.

unless I try in on a few for experimenting's sake.

==>>> DO IT!!! ...

make a real experiment over it..

give a couple a teaspoon full ..

a few other a tablespoon ..

and a few other a handful ...

and if you have any time release.. dose a few others with that ...

THIS IS HOW I LEARNED ... back before www ...

you said you have so many ... why not.. just mark them somehow ... so you can report back...

but i would bet a nickle.. they will all live.. since you have many for cheap ...

had you paid $100 for one... one speck of fert would kill it.. if it didnt commit suicide on the way home.. lol ...

ken

#2 is not a ground cherry. I am positive it's a noxious weed, I just don't know the name of it.

Did you post here at the plant id forum? How about the other site whose name cannot be mentioned?

2 is a Ground Cherry imo. Physalis subglabrata.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ground Cherry

Mine was grass and iris but the grass got too big by the time fall rolled around.

This year I took out the grass, thinned the iris and popped in a few canna. The fennel and agastache love the space and spread out into the hole left by the grass.

Still needs work though. The fennel is covered with pollinators and I trimmed it back away from the mailbox so the mailman has a nice safe zone.

Helenium likes water. The bottom leaves will go crispy without enough of it. They are pretty tough plants and so I'd imagine this one will be okay. It may do better come next year once it has settled in for a season. After flowering they grow new foliage around the base of the plant which remains through the winter. That will be next year's growth.

Karen

I'll give it another week, and water them plenty, see what happens. In the mean time I ordered some more from Bluestone. Should I deadhead them or remove the dried out stuff or just let it be. Many thanks for your time.

How about Monkshood for blue or white? It's a tall perennial that tolerates partial shade. I was in Vancouver recently and saw an amazing stand of Acanthus near Stanley Park. I wished I could grow that plant in my zone, it was spectacular.

Jacob's Ladder does well in shade and is blueish.

Woody - glad to see you around, and thanks for helping me with planting decisions! Seems I'm not gonna plant Krengeshoma after all, my growing conditions appear to be almost identical to yours... I do have a "plant suggestions" kind of post coming up soon...

I just planted a small one this spring in slightly alkaline sandy loam. It has not grown much yet; it was and still is a sparse two stem wonder about 15 inches tall. It is currently forming nice fat flower buds. I suspect this is a "sleep, creep, leap" perennial and I have high hopes for it in future gardening seasons.

Hello, thanks for the answers! It's now blooming with small yellow flowers, and seems to be doing ok in the spot that I placed it on our porch. We'll see if it does ok there long term.

I have solidago 'Fireworks' growing in mid-afternoon shade. It stays shorter than those in full sun but blooms well. This is not a spring bloomer. It blooms in the fall, September/October for me.

Keep in mind that store plants are often forced into early bloom.

Karin, I'm not surprised to hear that the tour was a success. I'm sure visitors took home many ideas that they could use --- or wish that they could replicate. I'm curious, though --- what organization sponsored this tour? Whoever was in charge of setting it up will probably ask you to open your gardens again next year.

Add me to the long list of those who enjoyed all the photos of your beautiful property. I absolutely love the stone bench you created in the corner of your wall and the stone slab that serves as a hose holder.

Thank you so much for your warm comments. Reading them is the ideal way to wind down after all the hubbub.

A2Z, the key roadside plants are 'Nearly Wild' rose, penstemon, shasta daisies, catmint, thyme, salvia, scabiosa, catanache (Cupid's Dart), 'Pawnee Buttes' sand cherry, and echinacea. There are also some oriental poppies and Siberian irises. I am adding more shrubs such as a groundcover honeysuckle, dogwoods, 'Summerwine' ninebark and 'Drift' roses. Next year I will also try some rugosa roses or something along those lines. The garden really is a mishmash collection that allows survival of the fittest. I am certainly not attached to any particular plant out there, and the whole thing just evolves over time. I would like it to be more shrubs and fewer perennials though, because deadheading it and cutting it back are daunting tasks. Next year I will sink some time into adding shrubs. (There are more photos of this garden in the first 'combination pics' thread from June).

The clematis on the arch are 'Perle d'Azur' (2005) and 'Comtesse de Bouchard' (2007). I selected them for their later bloom so that things would be interesting in late summer. The arch is metal and was from one of those junky-type antique stores. Yes, I think it's 5' wide. Some day relatively soon it's going to collapse. You should see it sway in the wind. I have to cut back the clematises in order to preserve the opening in the archway. Otherwise they would join hands and seal the whole thing off! It's very pretty in the winter too - I cut about 2/3 of the clematis vines off but leave enough for some winter interest. We put sunflower heads on it so the birds have an easy place to eat (away from the cats).

Mollie, the tour was organized by a local arts center. We were on the tour in 2007 and they had been asking me again for a few years now. I hope they don't ask again anytime soon. I need a enough years to pass so that I can forget about how stressful this was! I think I'd rather help out by being on the selection committee or contributing in some other way.

I did learn things! The coolest thing I learned was all the types of native bees that live here. That was the highlight. I also learned that I need to use my compost, particularly in the greenhouse which is ailing this year. So yesterday I put down a 4" layer of compost throughout the whole greenhouse. Another visitor suggested I use straw as mulch in the raised beds, and I'm definitely going to do that. I hate spending money on mulch so straw is perfect and cheap. Oh, and back to the bees, I learned to use sunflower stalks as wintering habitat for them.

DH did once consider making the sculptures as a profession. But the idea didn't resonate with him, I think because the sculptures don't have a function. The bicycles are a much better fit for him and use all the same skills. But thank you for the vote of confidence!

Thanks again for being by my side (virtually) through the whole thing. I am still looking forward to regaining all my energy and it's great to have an 'empty' to-do list!