13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

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.

Now those are some impressive roots.

I am a) glad I like my baptisia and b) even gladder that I like the location I put it in!

Thank you for the compliments. Much appreciated.

I usually work with what they call at the masonry supply place, plain old 'Stacking Stone'. I think the larger wall took about 3.5 pallets. Time consuming to build, but very therapeutic too.

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.

Dee, there seems to be no info on this pest at all. I took a deformed blossom to mu county extension office, but so far they've been no help at all.

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.)

aachenelf, dig carefully. I broke a lot of bulbs when I moved because where they come up many times is not where the bulb is buried.

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

My rudbeckias cross pollinate freely and there are all sorts of different flower patterns happening in my garden.

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.

I was correct, I don't remember correctly! Regardless of the name, I know a floppy two foot geranium when I see it, and I know what to do to with it.
Marie
I don't remember if I tried Patricia. If I did it isn't here anymore.

Woorf - As an impartial observer and a Heliopsis aficionado I would add my vote to the Helenium 'Mardi Gras'. Dif'rent strokes.

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

I have a hard time getting rid of any plants. I have ambitious plans this fall to redo and expand my main sunny garden bed, so I have been thinking about potential SP candidates though.

Red Hot Poker lily. Started from seed. Very short bloom period and the rest of the year has long, floppy, unattractive leaves. I might just move to a less visible spot though. Kind of my solution for every under performing plant.

Sweet Intoxication Roses (two!). Boy , these things are just pitiful. But even their piddly, disease ridden, japanese beetle infested flowers smell great. I am going to give them one more year.

Considering NOT growing annual snapdragon, cleome or nasturtiums anymore. I love these flowers, but they all have problems here. Snapdragons are apparently favored by four lined plant bug which does horrendous foliar damage in the spring. Cleomes and flea beetles, ugh! And my nasturtiums...I think my soil is just too high in clay for them.

I have a tradescantia with bright pink flowers that gets red spider mites every year. Tradscantia Sweet kate doesn't have this same problem. I already SP one clump of the pink flowering one and the second clump will probably go soon too.

A clump of orange/marooon asiatic lilies. These are prolific multipliers, but they fade quickly and aren't all that attractive.

My biggest SP candidate is a crab apple tree planted by the previous owners far too close to the foundation. Beautiful spring display...but has to be cut back every year to avoid scraping our roof plus this year is has started to grow in front of our living room window. With all the cutting back needed on it, a painful to look at contorted silhouette has developed. Also the japanese beeltes love it. The front yard needs a big redo IMO anyways as it relies heavily on spirea which are currently covered in crispy brown flower heads. But, I probably won't actually tackle this project until spring or next fall.

Candidates for removal this fall when the weather is cooler:
spirea 'Golden Elf'. Looked great for the first two seasons and now experiences significant die back every winter and looks pitiful all summer. I am also considering removing some daylilies with short scapes that bloom in the foliage. Not the best look.

Thanks for the reply! I went and bought two more to jazz up the gardene along the driveway! We'll see how it goes in zone 5!

Len

I got this plant last year loved it but this year it is not what it should be. it is a monster and does not smell like mint. This is the second plant I got at Lowes that did this to me.