13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Actually, I was focused on taking the photo of the lilies not on the hummingbird feeder so I was surprised to see the hummie when I viewed the photo. I can't remember the timeline but I started with two plants in front of the window and divided them about four years ago. They get sun for approx. 8 hours per day. Cameran Quantz is a prolific bloomer and gorgeous in person. Some more daylilies - These are Benchmark - another tetraploid.
Back to the 'plain old green hostas' & their blah lavender flowers--I divided two POGHs several years ago and planted the divisions around the base of a huge old oak tree in front of my house. Last year was the first time I actually looked at them when they bloomed and it was a surprisingly pretty sight!
Second only to attracting/nourishing bees, butterflies & hummingbirds, my garden is designed for curb appeal so I'm quite satisfied that I've achieved a look which pleases me. I now let my hostas, heucheras & several others go ahead and bloom where in years past I did cut the bloom stalks off. After I observed so many bees on them in the past couple of years, these days they stay as they are and I'm content to let them do their thing.
Yarrow seems to be my problem plant.
It comes up in the Spring all pretty and fern like, send up nice blooms in red and yellow, then bleak, lays over and looks brown and scraggly the rest of the summer.
This year I've decided to whack them off when they start that stuff, giving other more behaving perennials room to shine on.
You can see it here behind the Veronica.
Deb
Same here, saw my first one on Tuesday. Used to see posts on rose forum by Harryshoe of his beetle pop roses. Use to think if they ever got that bad here I'd throw in the gardening towel. Well, they are that bad now. June beetles populations were way down this year so here's hoping the JB will be also. I have to admit to giving just my roses Bayer tree and shrub protect in spring so they would have time to absorb it. Probably won't do any good but couldn't help myself. I'll see what happens. Yes they do come by the thousands.
Gorgeous! I am very jealous of your Gardenias!
Since they are not hardy in this zone, I must settle for the fragrance of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and Linden Tree (Tilia americana) both of which are in full bloom right now. They are quite fragrant and are perfuming the front and back yards, respectively. :)
Very nice. On a hot day I can see the area under the Astilboides being a nice canine refuge.
I have a Rodgersia in a border with hostas and Tricyrtis (mostly bright light, a couple hours of morning sun in late spring and early summer) and it's gotten massive in the last few years. Excellent foliage action.
contact the seller.. and ask if they have had the same problem with other stock...
if so.. they might replace it ... or even better.. give you something else ...
a lot of us hate this plant due to it seeding capabilities and invasiveness..
you might want to try the GW search engine for such info .. including under its latin name ...
ken
Hi pm2! It certainly looks like that Ghost is calling for rescue from the hosta :-) I do like the silver lamiums - I had quite a bit of Beacon Silver in various spots and a bit of White Nancy (which goes very well with Jack Frost..) A lot of the Beacon Silver has reverted to a more greener form (presumably its wild form...?) that I rip out when I see it. Most of it now is in the front garden under the cedar clump where not much else will grow.
gardenweed - try the 'Ghost' fern - I'd bet it'd satisfy the desire for a more upright JPF with more presence :-) Apparently 'Ghost' is a cross between a JPF and a Lady Fern. 'Ghost' has a very elegant, upright habit and it just gets better and better as it gets bigger. A 'must have' fern in my opinion!
Metallicum and Burgundy Lace both look nice (I'm pretty sure I bought a Burgandy Lace once... not sure where it is now :-) Maybe a plant breeder needs to cross one of those with Lady Fern to get a different form of Ghost. Actually maybe they already have - Branford Beauty is also a cross between Lady Fern and JPF...! That's one of the reasons I have hopes for Branford Beauty to grow into something particularly nice.
Thank you for posting these photos of 'Branford Beauty'! It looks beautiful but appears to lack the vigor and reliability of 'Ghost'. 'Ghost' is my absolute favorite garden fern so far.
Last fall, I put in three different cultivars of JPF. They survived the winter without a problem and look surprisingly lush and full for young ferns. But they absolutely disappear in my mixed shade garden. You almost have to consciously look for them to notice them, mainly because they grow so low to the ground. 'Ghost', on the other hand, illuminates the shade and draws your eye in a subtle way.
I just added a few Adiantum pedatum so hopefully they will settle in and do as well as 'Ghost'.
The strangest losses I've ever had was Monarda 'Raspberry Wine' and 'Fireball' plus one of two Persicaria Polymorpha due to large snow cover. Go figure.
I only whimper occasionally on pulling all the Echinaciea last summer infected by diseased plants from garden centers.
I lost more plants than I care to consider to the voles, including several hosta and clematis and a 5 year old Baptisia. Happily the Baptisia had a few seedlings and I am now planting in wire cages and watering in with a mix that includes castor oil. I'm also planning to start setting traps to reduce the number of voles.
for me here in MI ... we have basically 3 waves of weeds ...
of which this purslane IS A WEED ...
in march.. we have the perennial weeds.. that wintered over ... pull them out ...
then there is the early crop of annual weeds ... these would be the ones that sprout in warm soil.. and enjoy cool nights ...pull them out ...
and then come the heat of the summer weeds ... that need hot soil to sprout .. and thrive in hot nights.. relatively speaking... so here come the purslanes.. and the crabgrass ... you would swear they double in size.. every warm night ...
to forestall all of them.. and reduce your weeding ... you need a mulch ... most of these things germinate on the soil surface .. and if you cover the surface.. you reduce germination by 90% or so ... also.. you bury the 50 billion dormant seeds on the soil surface ... and finally. the mulch will make it easier to pull out what does grow.. as it will keep the soil more friable.. loose ...
so there you go.. pull them out.. add some mulch ... and you should be well on your way ..
ken
Hemlock's leaves are shiny, cow parsley not so much. And both can have purple speckling on the stem, although the poison hemlock's tends to be very pronounced. Could also be Cicuta maculata or water hemlock....as toxic (maybe even more so) and almost identical to the Conium in appearance except for its preference for wet sites and tuberous root structure.
ALL are weeds - best to get rid of anything with this appearance.
I have the short variegated Sol. Seal and find it looks good with so many plants. I have it growing with Geranium phaeum, G.phaeum album, Mertensia virginica, Short's aster, Erythronium Pagoda, Bottlebrush grass, Heuchera villosa, etc. Both the Mertensia and Erythronium bloom early, before the Sol. Seal really gets going in the spring. The leaves of these first two wither away as the Sol. Seal gets to its full height. The aster has arched branches that curve over the Sol.Seal in Sept-Oct, in a pretty lav.blue colour.
Is there such a thing as a forum moderator? If not, will someone from the NSA monitoring this thread please let GW know about this problem. Thanks.
Lol miclino!
I'm on a Macbook and it is sideways/sideways for me.
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