13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
I naturalized thousands of bulbs when I lived in Iowa, and did the same on a smaller scale in Massachusetts. It's probably because I don't care about having a neat lawn but I liked seeing narcissus, scilla, species tulips and snowdrops in early spring. I wanted a show starting around March. The foliage looked ratty as grass was beginning to grow. For about a month, I had too-long grass, but by late May, I could mow the bulb foliage down.
I have seen the banks of daffs in England in spring as flora mentions. This was my inspiration. After a long dreary winter, spring flowers lifted my spirits.
Cheryl
I don't know anything about that particular Coreopsis, but feverfew needs to be deadheaded religiously or you'll have it everywhere. Mine grows in unirrigated areas like the gravel driveway, but I also get fairly regular rain most years. I also think that feverfew works best as a biennial since the plant doesn't look very good after blooming IME. In general the Coreopsis (mostly thread-leafed and lanceolata varieties) I've grown have been much easier and more decorative.
I was growing it by accident for 2 years or so(survived 2 very mild winters). It was mixed in some other bulbs. What was most amazing about it was, that with me it was leafing out in the late autumn and the foliage survived.I never understood what was going on.
Molie, it's not just lavenders, of course. Well Sweep sells close to 2000 different perennials, the vast majority they propagate themselves. It's a family owned and run business; the third generation now works there - I spent some time talking to their grandson who just graduated with a degree in plant biology.
Truly a plant lover's dream nursery.
Kevin, I meant it sounded good. In my mother's native language (Polish) it rhymes with a lot of words: brama(gate), dama(lady), szrama(scar), lama(lama), jama(burrow), ta sama (the same), pidzama (pyjamas), rama(frame), panorama, fama (fame, gossip), plama(stain), reklama(advert), Jokohama(Yokohama), Fudzijama and Dalajlama (Dalai Lama)
This post was edited by wieslaw59 on Wed, Jul 24, 13 at 18:30
You are so right. The foliage of the 4 daylilies that I have in full to nearly full shade is looking great. Three of them bloom heavily. The two darker reds benefit from little direct sun on the petals. The white 'Joan Senior' in 7 years of full shade has put up far fewer blooms. The foliage of all those planted in full to nearly full sun started looking tired even before full bloom. One called Ruby Stella blooms it's heart out from early July to late August, but even before the flowers appear, the foliage has begun to deteriorate.
This post was edited by gazania on Wed, Jul 24, 13 at 9:47
Crunchpa, true about the tired looking foliage in bright sun. Not only do my daylilies seem to look fresher in part shade, and often bloom more readily, but the color is also better. I find that there is more fading of color in full sun, especially with my red or whites, which really come out as creamy pinks in stronger sun.
Of course, this terrible heat has not helped with the general look of many of my plants and who can afford (or want) to water every day? I wonder if this very hot summer will affect the general bloom time of mine? Last year I slacked off on my record keeping but seem to remember that some of mine actually bloomed very late.
But isnt that the problem a2zmom...you are looking for a penstemon which might be able to put up with a bit more wetness than is traditionally the case with these plants?
(Btw, I was under the assumption that this "Riding Hood" line-up of penstemons were a relatively new introduction...when did you have yours?)
I grew it just a few years ago. And it does put up with more adverse conditions than most penstemons. Its fairly short, so I wouldn't mind trying to find one a bit taller.
The winter I lost it, I lost many, many plants - all my Agastache, my Gaillardia, a whole host of other plants. I'm still in the midst of filling in the holes.
Yep, it's definitely perennial as well as persistent--it came up this year in the same spots I found it coming up last year, even in beds with 3-4 inches of bark mulch layered over corrugated cardboard.
Keep in mind that folk who aren't susceptible to it may suddenly get the rash from it without warning--for more than 55 years I didn't have a problem with PI until a half-dozen years ago when I got the rash for the first time in my life. Since I've always been a gardener as well as a hiker, it came as a surprise to suddenly be driven half-insane by the itching rash. I keep lots of vinegar on hand to kill it.
I got PI this year probably from attempting to dig out some horse manure from a nearby stable. It wasn't as bad as it could have been since I happen to already be on prednsone.
I also used Technu - that stuff is a fortune but worth every penny. It really works to stop the rash.
Oh no!! I just planted a Ninebark 'coppertina'. Am I going to be sorry? I'm sure having a heck of a time getting it to establish, it seems to want a drink every other day or else it pouts.
I've never planted a Baptista, I always thought that one looked like it wouldn't cut it in the summer heat here but with a root like that one in the picture, I have revised my opinion. Its a big boy for sure.
I would so love to be able to buy stones and build walls and walkways, but unfortunately it's just not in the budget at the moment (or for many more moments, lol!) I have to work with what I find in the yard, like the pathway above.
To be honest, though, I think I would be very hesitant to build my own wall. I've read up on it, but being the coward that I am, am afraid to actually start it. There recently was a workshop nearby on building your own stone wall, but I didn't attend. I figured I didn't have enough stone (yet) on the property to build one (they always seem to appear but I don't have enough stockpiled yet) and I can't afford t buy any, so why attend the workshop when I know I would be too chicken too do anything even if I had the stone anyway?
:)
Dee
The end goal was to have something to look at from the kitchen window aside from a mass of weeds that couldn't be mowed due to the fallen slate no one could figure out what to do with.
I have shrubs ( quart sized viburnums) planted toward the back and wanted to front them with a spring show of miniature bulbs and some kind of filler flowers that would take over once the bulbs are through.
Unfortunately, I have a mixture of "barnyard grasses" and invasive grasses (quack) that tend to take over and choke out everything, so a meadow lawn approach won't work well. It sounds like a nice idea, though.
A meadow lawn is simply a nicer expression for the 'it's green and I mow it' school of lawn maintenance. It's green, and you run a lawnmower over it. End of story.
The slightly longer version is that very, very few lawn weeds are even in the same category of nastiness as the woody weeds that can sprout up in unweeded, unmowed space. So in a lot of cases, the secret to happiness regarding a real garden mess is to clean it up to the point where it can be mowed. It sounds like you've done that part.
karin, quite frankly, IMO, that's disgusting that people have trouble keeping water usage under 58,000 gallons per month! Am I reading this right? Is that 58,000 per household or for the entire subdivision? If it is per household, as I am reading it, you are so right that that is just outrageous. Wow....
And speaking of wow, you sure do have a gorgeous view right off your front porch! Beautiful mountains!
PM2, mosquitoes are not a problem with the rain barrels. Simply cover the top with screening, or drop a BT dunk in them. I use the screening as it helps keep out leaves and twigs as well.
Dee
Yes Dee, you are reading it right! 58,000 gallons per month for each household. Every year the water provider sends out threatening letters if you go over but as far as I can tell, there's not much teeth to it. Sad.
Those mountains are not only lovely, but they are also the source of our water thanks to the winter snowpack. But I don't think we should take that for granted these days!
Oh, and the lawn is green in that pic only because it was taken in June. The lawn looks pretty crappy now, even though we do water it a bit.
a2zmom, you are right - when I did a google search on this I got about 5 hits total, and most of them had to do with the plant and not the worm. Funny, since it seems many people have this problem.
Maybe I'll try our extension office here...
Dee
That is some Ech. I'd be dividing or at least taking a slip with roots. That's the problem with seed - variety, good and bad.
I've had no luck with Wildberry. Get four plants - one overwinters, repeat.
Still love the Kalimeris. I see it's still blooming.