13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

now now- GWeed, I don't think I was referring to cutting back perennials to keep them smaller, but to the distinctly non-organic fiddling about with growth hormones to keep plants smaller, against their natural inclinations to stretch....(a practice widely done on platycodon but most heinously, on chrysanthemums and osteospermums).......alongside the deliberate breeding of tall plants to turn them into dumpy (and pitiful) shadows of themselves (the aforementioned campanula). The Chelsea Chop (as we call it here) is widely practiced (and I am certain that I would be doing a bit of whacking too, if my balloon flowers grew as tall as me).

campanula - Thanks--I very much appreciate the clarification. I didn't realize & will confess my ignorance of the extreme tactics being undertaken to control plant growth/size habits and am equally appalled at the lengths growers will reach to increase sales. I learned organic gardening at my grandfather's knee 60+ years ago and have continued to adhere to his precepts my entire life. I'm proud that both my children continue the commitment & tradition. In my garden beds, whacking is okay; chemicals are uninvited.

Sorry if I offended you but appreciate you responding.

I have coral flame which seems like it falls into the height range you are looking for, but I suspect you want a deeper red.
I don't know if all the flame series are the same height... I just bought light pink flame and it seems slightly taller in the pot. I hope I stays that way but the label does read 18 inches so I'll have to wait and see.
Lord Clayton is on my list. I might already have it as an unlabeled plant but maybe having another would confirm that :)
I'm into red lately.

Rouge, the second was Kirchenfurst, but there was a possible explanaition(drowning). In the case of Red Flame there was no flooding.

I leave them to self-sow in my native gardens. I have never cut them down or handled them in any way. Mine stay upright. They are in full sun and have never had extra irrigation. They self sow to abundance.
Leaner soil and less water should keep them upright.

Given the number of yellow, daisy type things out there, I'd replace them with something that is going to be naturally shorter. Heliopsis maybe. Keeping these at 3 ft sounds like it is going to be a challenge.

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This post was edited by GreatPlains1 on Mon, Aug 12, 13 at 3:42

Drama! Yeah I like that! So much nicer seing it online than hearing it out of the mouth of a five year old :)
Color might be a good thread, how about a post on orange being unacceptable for the flower beds of all decent persons!?

August and January.... The two antsy months for northern gardeners...

Thanks everyone for your suggestions

Many of us have holding beds to place perennials we buy on sale or start from seed and need to hold over until spring. I use my vegetable beds to hold plants over the winter. In my zone I mulch them well to help over-winter. They generally do well. Some actually spend two years in a holding bed while I am deciding where to place them.

Plant them either in or out of their pots and keep them watered. No need to hurry through your bed preparation to get them in this fall.

When the flower heads dry out enough that you are able to pull the seeds off, collect them. I scatter mine in November. I suppose you could scratch the ground up a little bit before broadcasting seeds, but I do not think it is critical. These are all started from seed as a holding area to use on other parts of the property. Total cost, zero.

terrene. I do have voles. So that could be the problem. Thanks for the suggestion to deadhead plants that I plan to transfer. If I want to divide them do I just put a shovel down the middle of the plant? I've had terrible luck with winter sowing....not much comes up. This year I think I started too late though.
Thanks for your input MulchMama.
crunchpa. I may try sprinkling a few seeds in an area and see what happens. Do you have to put the seeds in the fridge first? (stratification) If I sprinkle them in a weeded place in the back of my property will the weeds choke out the coneflowers? Are yours in a bed in this photo? I have a very large weedy area that I would love to put perennials (especially butterfly ones) in but I think the weeds would choke them out.

If the roots look decent, I would go ahead and plant them. I've had plants from seed that seemed to be unhappy in pots and they would finally get going once I got them on the ground.

IME, these are not a long lived plant. Three or four years seems about normal. They definitely prefer a limy soil. One of those plants that if you have the conditions they like, they are quite easy, but if you don't, forget about it.

That's a nice one, Woody. I really like how your 2 pics show how layered your garden is with perennials, shrubs and trees. I'm losing my bearings a little in the first photo, but is that the heptacodium behind the butterfly bush. And what is that purple leaved tree?

thyme - yes the heptacodium is behind the butterfly bush in that picture - but the camera 'flattens' the depth. The heptacodium tree is 15' or more away from the BB but you can't see that in the viewing angle of the photo. Similarly, the purple tree is the neighbour's beech tree - and that tree is probably 60' away! But it fits nicely as a 'borrowed view' for my garden :-)

Thank you 'Woody' for the suggestion. I will keep it in mind.

Ken - I do find it very useful to print garden photos in black and white when I'm thinking about making changes to an area. Taking the distraction of color out of the pictures makes you see things differently, so it can help suggest things you might not otherwise have thought of. The link below shows how I used B&W to help sort out what I wanted to do when making the 'moat bed' back in 2009.

Here is a link that might be useful: B&W in planning 'moat bed' in 2009

Pippi-I didn't save any seeds from last season, so I don't know how the seeds do in producing plants that are true to the original. My garden center had a whole bunch of the Pow Wow Wildberry plants just last week. You may check at your garden center and see if they have any left.

I have to say - I am *very* impressed with Pow Wow White. Since I originally posted on 7/20/13, they have turned into little blooming machines! They are right in front of my picture window, and I couldn't be more pleased. The bees and insects are enjoying them, too :0)

Quote:

"Now that's a difficult one to top!"

It is a VERY EASY one to top in Latin(imho):

RUBUS COCKBURNIANUS ( Rub-us cock-burn-i-anus)

RUBUS COCKBURNIANUS ( Rub-us cock-burn-i-anus)

LOL!!!

I bet it's not a plant that looks good in a gallon pot, maybe more of a tough sell in the garden center problem than it is any comment on how good the plant is..... If that's what you were thinking...
Rouge- don't you have a couple persicarias already? Or are they all the chartreuse leaved one who's name I can't think if right now?'

I bet it's not a plant that looks good in a gallon pot, maybe more of a tough sell in the garden center problem than it is any comment on how good the plant is

For sure. Nurseries can't carry everything but I was surprised at how hard it was to come across this particular variety. From pictures I have seen I look forward to having it in my garden. I frequent so many nurseries and I have kept my eyes open for "Superba" and it was just a fluke I came across it yesterday as this particular nursery actually doesn't have that great a selection.

don't you have a couple persicarias already?

You know me too well ;). I have I have "Golden Arrows", "Painters Palette", "Dimity", "Polymorpha" and now "Superba".

pm2 - Noodles is indeed a cutie - but that head, neck, chest and shoulders look like they belong to a puller! If you try that training collar combination, I'd be interested to hear whather it helps at all with her....

Woody, she really is very strong, you mean you can tell looking at her she tends to pull? Maybe I should put that to use out in the garden, pulling a cart of compost or something? (g) I keep telling her, if she would only learn to weed, I'd be all set. ;-)

Reminds a walnut seedling , but they are usually green.

A hickory is what was removed. The other forum thought that it might be suckers, too. Will these grow into a healthy tree if I leave it?

Thanks everyone. It is so nice to be in the presence of such brilliant folks. Seriously. It never occurred to me that it might be a sucker.

Just as an interesting aside, we lost an oak out back, but just cut it to ground level. I now have an oak bush there. I sort of love it in all its weirdness. ;)

Cynthia