13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
I can't speak for anyone else on the forum, but personally, I would never even make an order online and try to take shipment of plants at this time of year. We are having an extended heat wave this year too, which makes it worse. I wouldn't risk newly dug plants traveling the country in boxes in this heat. And there is a forum for Plant Trades where you would find more responses, I would guess.
It's actually warmer up north than down here lately. Unfortunately our plants don't mesh into a decent trade, I have the things you mention that I want and have very few shade plants in abundance or I'd be into it. Good luck, that's a good list.
In the top section "seeds I have to trade" I put the date there, so people can know how current the list is. That might help you out.
Do you mind if I ask about your Talinum? How long have you had it? I find that I'm cutting the whole thing back about once a month. After a flush of stalks starts making the seed balls, it stops, and those long things are flopping all over the place. As soon as I cut them, new ones start coming up fast. Needs some elbow room, this plant. I love seeing the little flowers "floating in mid-air" when I look out the window though. Have to be careful where I throw the cuttings too, they can root easily. It's really unusual and fun.
The answer to such questions is generally: if you HAVE to move it RIGHT NOW, then move it. Otherwise wait to the proper time. Before you dig it up, water it thourougly so the soil stick together, and move with a big clump. Some plants barely notice being moved. Unless your soil is utter rubbish and everything just falls off, then do not do it.
There's no need to move it now. I'll be waiting til fall to move most things. But since asters are fall bloomers, I was thinking maybe that is not advisable. If I wait til after it blooms it will probably be too late in the year for it to root in.
I SHOULD have moved it in spring :) but spring is the season of never ending gardening tasks. Likewise, I can say "I'll do it next spring," and like all the other things I should have moved then, it won't get done.
Jenny, I have 'Orania' lily in full sun and Monarda Raspberry Wine right near it. This is only my second season of having the Monarda, and I think it may not like this amount of sunshine. I am thinking of moving it to a more shady location. It also likes moisture and when we had a lot of rain this season I thought for sure it would do great, but the bloom is not as good as last year and it has not increased which I would have expected from Monarda. This bed is full sun and meant to take some dryness, so it was a mistake on my part.
I have Raspberry wine in full NC sun and it is doing awesome, spreading like crazy. This area gets extra water from A/C runoff, so I imagine that attributes to it's success. I can't image not putting Monarda in full sun, though. I put one little sprig from my original plant into a new area and the next year it came up almost as big as the original plant. Couldn't believe how big it got so fast. Also in the runoff area. Water seems to be the key for me.
The levee or dike as we call has done a great job! Actually before we had the dike, between 1996 and 2000 there were 4 times that we had to put up sandbags to keep the water away from the house. Before we purchased this house in 1993, there had only been 1 time in the prior 30 years that there was water in the yard here. But there has been a lot of ditching and water diversion, and now it is more likely to come our way!
As for the penguin, he is still around somewhere, a bit banged up for some reason. I want to think that he was hit by a vehicle, but I really don't remember.
Very entertaining story. To start with, so interesting that you had a hatchery. I love the thought of baby ducks and chicks going out around the country through the mails every spring I assume. It gives me a very cute and sweet image in my mind. (g) And what a solution for your flooding problem. I love that man made pond. And the penguin...well, I just think it's refreshing that you and your husband still had a sense of humor after the flooding, the sand bags, having to dig a football size hole and build a levee. lol
North Chicago suburbs. I've seen a few. They are late: they normally arrive with the flowering of my persicaria polymorpha, which becomes a plant full of bugs normally. I've had lots of dragonflies, some butterflies, and a good assortment of bees ( several kinds).
The furry guy is a hummingbird moth. That Bee Balm pretty much fills an 8 foot round bed. Put 3 plants in 4 years ago and let it spread. I love it for color and for all the creatures that love it for food.
Japanese beetles are here but not nearly as many as the past couple years. The only plant that they have swarmed on is a particular geranium leaving other geraniums next to it untouched.
I love that hummingbird moth. Aptly named, too, because I was looking at it and at first I thought it was a hummingbird...but then not. I've never seen one of those around here in the PNW, although we might have them. Certainly none in my garden.
I haven't seen any Japanese Beetles this year either. There's a little black beetle that's giving me fits, though. That and I seem to have earwig issues this year.
I've always lugged all of my pots back inside into the basement for the winter (about 25) just to see what will survive and come back. The spikes come back to life with careful fist exposure in the spring (I've burned a few), and my 7 foot oleander tree does fine with no care or water and low light from my tiny baement window. Never had luck storing bulbs and tubers, so I left the cannas in the pots to die on their own...What a surprise to have them come back to life when I brought them back outside and started watering them! I also had a heliotrope come back to life after a winter with no care. This year I invested in a datura and cestrum nocturnum and want to put them in the basement (I have no room upstairs for these large pots). Do they need water or will they go dorment? I will take cuttings of the cestrum to be safe but would like to save the plant as it is a good size (2ft) and will be much larger come October. My basement gets fairly cold as I am in zone 5 in Massachusetts, so I'm afraid if I use artificial light and provide water they will just die as they are tropicals...Has anyone overwintered these in a cold basement?
I've always lugged all of my pots back inside into the basement for the winter (about 25) just to see what will survive and come back. The spikes come back to life with careful fist exposure in the spring (I've burned a few), and my 7 foot oleander tree does fine with no care or water and low light from my tiny baement window. Never had luck storing bulbs and tubers, so I left the cannas in the pots to die on their own...What a surprise to have them come back to life when I brought them back outside and started watering them! I also had a heliotrope come back to life after a winter with no care. This year I invested in a datura and cestrum nocturnum and want to put them in the basement (I have no room upstairs for these large pots). Do they need water or will they go dorment? I will take cuttings of the cestrum to be safe but would like to save the plant as it is a good size (2ft) and will be much larger come October. My basement gets fairly cold as I am in zone 5 in Massachusetts, so I'm afraid if I use artificial light and provide water they will just die as they are tropicals...Has anyone overwintered these in a cold basement?
I pot up many seedlings, but usually do this in the Spring. Sometimes I pot up the winter-sown seedlings to let them put on some size before planting in the garden. This seems to increase their chance of survival. I just planted out some nice 6 inch Foxgloves yesterday and the day before, that I had potted as tiny seedlings and let grow on for 4-6 weeks.
I think you can pot up some Rudbeckia seedlings now if you want. If they are growing in a crowded littIe bunch they are probably competing for resources and won't grow optimally anyway. I would keep them some place easy to tend, where they only get a half day of sun (so they don't fry), and keep them well watered. Use a diluted liquid fertlizer about once a week.
Or you could thin them out in the patch, pamper a little, and transplant in fall.
I do it all summer long. If I see and recognize a seedling that I'd like elsewhere, I'll pot it up and stick it in the shade for a few days. Most of the time, they rebound just fine.
I yanked up 2 common milkweed sprouts that were in a bad spot & stuck them in a pot. They sulked for about 10 days, but finally started adjusting and started standing tall. And they HATE to be moved...
There is a lot of good information, If you google plants affected by asters yellow it will give you university sites. Good reliable information written in easily understood language. Many other of our garden plants, vegetables and crops are affected by aster yellows. Theirs no current effective control for the leaf hopper that spreads AY.
Hope I say this right, all of the plants we grow are susceptible to viruses and deadly bacteria's. Some can be spread by our hands such as hosta virus x. Some spread by thrips,ect. The point I'm getting to is it could happen that your plants become infected and it may never happen. So relax there are worse viruses out there. For an eye opener google Wisconsin Pest Survey you'll see plants with viruses that you probably never heard of before. Doom and gloom is not my intent. It is that I love to garden and plant diseases or not I'll still garden. The best I can do is to recognize a sick plant as soon as I can and get rid of it ASAP!
It's a great plant, but even better I think is Persicaria 'Crimson Beauty'.
I LOVE this plant. But as rouge21 said 'give it lots of room.' My plant is 6 1/2 ft tall x 6 ft wide and has to be staked to keep it upright and prevent spawl. It flowers for me from June-August and the white blooms are spectacular. It is the anchor plant for a large garden bed meant to be viewed primarily from our deck so large size and highly visible flowers were a requirement.