13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

It looks just like my 'Pinky Winky.' I like my 'Vanilla Strawberry' better because the blooms are larger, but I might keep mine for now.

Thanks, guys. I think the one is definitely pinky winky. The other I'm not sure. Learned a lot from the link, Trillium. Thanks.

I'm going to be contrary here.

I've not a fan of Royal Candles. I always disliked the fact that the stalk turned an ugly brown color. Half way through a bloom cycle, I'd have these pretty deep blue-violet flowers on top and an ugly brown stalk on bottom.

I now grow the Veronica 'Eveline' and I love it.

a2 - You're right about that now that I think about it. The flowers do get a bit ugly as they age, however when something is past it's prime, I simply remove it even if it isn't totally done blooming. New flowers form so quickly it doesn't really bother me.

Kevin

One of my favorite all time scents is the sweet William . I wonder ... could you let the color you like reseed and dead head the less favorable color ? I have done this with bachelor buttons and for yrs. had only purple ones in my garden .

In my zone 5 Iowa garden they definitely work as spring/early summer bloomers. I don't get good flowering throughout the summer. The ones that are reblooming currently look pretty pathetic now that I've gone to take a good look. I made several bouquets for an event in early July and already I had no sweet Williams suitable for cutting. I imagine there are ways to manipulate bloom times. I think there are some that bloom first year from seed so maybe those would flower during the summer if started from seed in the spring. Or maybe it depends in the amount if heat? Campanula, do your summers stay pretty mild?

Here's a single plant I deadheaded and it is now just a pleasant bit of glossy green foliage. This is a full sun garden but the sweet will is shaded by other plants. I've noticed some just die out by now. As grdenweed mentioned above, they are generally biennial or short lived perennials.

They are one of my all time favorites. The fragrance is one of the best flower scents, IMO. I find some fragrances overwhelming, but not sweet William. I have never grown the carnation (d. caryophyllus mentioned) as I thought they were fussy. Hmmm...I will have to revisit them! :)

I saved seeds from a low growing pink one as Sammy mentioned. I am hoping the offspring will resemble those plants.

One can buy single color varieties from a place like Geoseed. For example, they have 11 colors of the Barbarini series available, single color packets, or mix, $3.30 for a packet if 100 seeds. Swallowtail seeds also has two red varieties for sale. If you like buying open pollinated seeds though, I think you are more likely to end up with mixes.

This post was edited by trovesoftrilliums on Thu, Aug 1, 13 at 12:10

a2zmom - I have bleeding heart/Dicentra spectabilis, both 'Alba' (white) & the common pink form growing in my garden. The pink plants grow here (& self seed) no matter what the conditions, in everything from full-sun to full-shade so I'd guess they're tough as nails. My DIL has one in full shade that's closer to the size of a mature rhododendron than a medium-size perennial.

My own D. spectabilis 'Alba' is growing in full shade in my hosta bed, surrounded by Carex/Japanese sedge 'Ice Dance' as well as hosta, Japanese painted fern, Tricyrtis hirta/toad lily, columbine, hellebore, Cimicifuga racemosa/black snakeroot, astilbe & other shade lovers. Once the BH goes dormant, there are lots of other things that conceal the dying foliage.

happygardener_2006 - I've never bothered to cut back the foliage on my BH plants since it dies back naturally on its own. If you need to move the plant, just do it later in the season when conditions aren't so hot/dry. Spring & fall are generally the best times to move things--those that bloom in spring should be moved in fall so they have time to acclimate to their new location before bloom season rolls around again.

gardenweed, your hosta bed sounds lovely. I'd love to see a picture.

A bh the size of a rhodie! Sounds like the plant is extremely happy where it is.

If someone wants, I would grab some pods when they are ready .These bugs are the only thing I ever see on the milkweed .

One small portion of my milweed patch had red aphids last night. I neemed the whole plant so I'm hoping that stops them in their tracks.

Did you discover anything under the scope? Or did dinner win out after all ?lol
We had a strong late frost this spring and I was amazed by the number of flowers stunted and damaged as the weeks unfolded. Most were distorted and stunted, I don't recall much browning....

DH brought home pizza and then we both spent some time fiddling with the microscope but we weren't able to see anything. This is an old University surplus scope--good quality but it has a few issues. Plus, I really need to make slides for better viewing. I know we have slide supplies somewhere so I might still work on this. I did find a lot if interesting pictures online. I am going to try to find a plant pathology textbook because I am finding looking at plsnts under the microscope quite fascinating.

About the lilies: these are some monster lilies; seems they are the ones referred to as 'tree lilies'. Last year almost every plant had 16+ buds. this year they have fewer buds but are taller than last year with most 6-7 ft tall (except the darker pink ones). In other threads people have mentioned recent lily varieties petering out on them, perhaps these are types that lack in long term vigor. I plan to dig a few up later this year and see how the bulbs look.

Pretty color!

Oh I love pink, and would be delighted to have some of those mixed in the garden. But like Dee larkspur has never grown well for me. Tried winter-sowing, tried direct seeding, got nothing but a spindly little plant or 2. ???

Actually, I didn't get rebloom, but that may be because I'm growing in too much shade.

I wasn't really replying to your post about deadheading - sorry if I sounded like I was disagreeing. It just reminded me of my disappointing experiment, so thought I'd share. :-)

I do a random stem cut back of all monardas early June,then cut blooms for bouquets or dead head asap. I have 'blue stocking','jacob kline' and 'purple rooster'.

trove, it just proves that you never know with deer. After all, conventional wisdom is they pass up anything in the mint family including monarda.

I am finding that with deadheading, the rebloom is not anywhere near as likely to have the caterpillars.

Everything is so gorgeous. I am now equally aware that all my day lilies look like cr*p. Must spray for rust next year.

Lovely, Wagonwheel.

I do not ubderstand. My Lobelia is planted where it gets wet feet in the Autumn, winter and spring. It is very dry there in the summer most of the time unless we have a very heavy rain. The very opposite of the link. It also gets afternoon shade. Here is a picture of mine this year. It seems to really like this spot. I have to say that it is next to a small drainage ditch. Maybe 6-8 inches deep. Maybe mounding it is the answer. Finicky little buggers : /

I planted the straight species in 2010 and Queen Victoria in 2011. Its come back every year with no problem including last year which was a very very winter with a lot of tempertaure flucuation.

Here's a picture from August 2011.

Behind this planting is a birch tree, so it's in a fair amount of shade.

Too funny, MulchMama. My mom called them funeral flowers too! I can't bring myself to grow them because of that memory.

Jerseygirl -- too too funny! GMTA, I guess. When we moved to this house in 2007, the original owners had "landscaped" the foundation in an 18" strip (argh!) with gladioli. I had just gotten my landscape design cert back in Chicago and was like WHAT??? That's a foundation planting? Glads??? Oh yeah, there was also a dwarf Alberta spruce that had been eaten by spider mites.

I yanked them all before we prepped large foundation beds (15 feet out) and every year a few come back. I've pulled them, I've sprayed them with glyphosate, they still come back to haunt me.