13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

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. :)

I LOVE linden trees! I wish I had room for one now but when I cut the Bradford down, that's where it's going.

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

"Smut fungus"... sounds awesome. Thanks, Patty and Ken. I wanted to try tradescantia out because we pretty much live in a bog, and it seems only the invasive survive here. But I'm going to take your advice and try to get my $10 back.

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

I have portulaca seedlings and they don't look like this. I do have that particular weed and I didn't realize it was purslane. Which is actually supposed to be a very nutritious green to eat.

Agree, mulch keeps the weeding down. :-)

Aster Blue Autumn, in the three years I've had it has stayed very short and heathy with pretty flowers. All thou I don't know what experiences others have had with it. So far Royal Candles has been taller.

Yellows? Someone say yellows? Check out Heliopsis 'Tuscan Sun' Should comply with your wish in the sunny spot.

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.

Thanks everyone for all the good information. It did have shiny leaves and was growing in a moist spot. Glad it's gone.

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.

In a dry neglected spot.

Got my order today. Everything looked good and it was a BIG order except for the Rudbeckia Goldsturm and they were small and really trimmed and some of the leaves were mushy from travelling wet. Kind of holy, too, looks like something has been munching on them. I think they will recover, but could have been a little healthier on those. Otherwise, though, a great order and certainly can't beat the prices, regardless! I would definitely order from them again.

Mine came yesterday and most if the plants looked excellent. The coreopsis look the worse but still ok--comparable to local plants on summer sales but more interesting choices.

I have a couple of invasive plants growing in chimney tiles, the square fired clay type. The bottom is sunk 8"-12" down, and the plant is planted in soil in the tile that is about 1 1/2 feet above the rest of the garden. In the 6 or more years of using this raised planter technique none of the plants have escaped. I got my tiles as cutoffs or damaged pieces from a mason.

I also have used regular planters, but have raised the planter up on thick pavers so that the roots can't escape through the drainage holes. Perhaps one of these techniques will work for you.

Just FYO about trying a non-invasive variety of the white gooseneck loosestrife. I tried one of these new hybrids several years ago. It was nice enough, but did not have the charm of the old original. The flowers were sort of chubby and bunched on the stems. I grew it for a few years and then discarded it.