13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
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
I agree with Flora and her low light diagnosis, but it's not anything I'd worry about. Your plants were likely small young plants and I think even with a less than full sun position they will come up much stronger next year. Give it till then and I think your problem will be gone.
Do you know how to prune them? Cut them back in the spring to about 6 inches and they will sprout up to at least five feet in the second year.
All of the excess rain this year, lots of floppy, weak plants likely anywhere where this has been the case. Also, nearly constantly beating rain can literally beat plants down. Whenever it's raining, the sun is also not shining, a double whammy when stuff isn't thirsty and has hardly see the sun for weeks. Keep deadheading to remove excess weight. The good thing is that the butterflies don't care what it looks like.
Totally agree with spring trimming. When you see strong new growth next year, trim aggressively for shape and sturdiness, removing any weak, spindly branches completely, any not aimed upright or crossing each other, and radically shortening the length/height overall. As they continue to grow, trim when/where necessary to keep the shape that pleases your eye. Looking from several sides first, and from above when possible can help you determine the extraneous parts that should be removed. BB's left alone for a while will get too wild, they need a lot of futzing and trimming all summer to keep it looking great, and trimming causes more vigorous new growth, more blooms to form. (But stop trimming in the fall to stop sending it cues to keep growing, except to deadhead.)
one other thought on fall planting ...
i always.. thought of such.. as one of the last things to do in the soil before winter...
as such ... i know where all the spots are to plant things...
the few times i did it in summer... i usually .. in fall.. wait for it.. lol
disturbed them.. trying to plant more bulbs on top of them.. BECAUSE I FORGOT I DID IT IN THE OFF SEASON.. LOL...
aach ... milkweed is near done with seed maturation... did you want me to send some to you... use my members page.. and give me a direct email.. so we can hash it out...
and .. since the plant will be planting them itself.. soon.... i dont know why you couldnt do the same... but i will send you enough to sow some now.. some winter sowing.. and spring planting....
ken
There are lots of plants that aren't "reliably" hardy in cold regions. It's a fun surprise for me when they sprout new green from the base of the plants. It sounds as if yours didn't survive the winter and return, but reseeded, instead. I know nothing about how stable seedlings from commercial annual seeds are supposed to be, but hybridized plants will usually tend to revert back to whatever the original appearance of the parents were. I agree that the flower you showed us is gorgeous. I have annual rudbeckias growing, but I don't have any blooms yet. You're making me anxious to see what I get.
Martha
I may have Max Frei; I know I have some oxy.......somethings with a woman's name (Mrs. something something)....A.T Johnson...... Max got 3 feet tall and was amputated at the ankles. Don't remember if he reblooms
3 feet is way to tall for "Max"! My established MFs get about a foot or so in height and maybe a bit more in breadth. I find they do bloom sporadically in early fall.
Wow, thanks everyone for the input. Nhbabs it sounds like your siting is the same as my friend's, so this could work there. And it sounds like Mardi Gras is the helenium of choice if I go that way.
I will present her with the option of Mardi Gras or the heliopsis - I'm more partial to Summer Nights but she might like the Prairie Sunset because of the orange center.
Thanks again for all your help!
:)
Dee
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
wieslaw, thanks - you've now got me singing that darn banana song! :) If you don't know what I'm talking about - good! Don't try to find out, lol. Trust me. You'll be rhyming things with "banana" in your head all day.
:)
Dee