13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
'funn', none have bloomed but all are growing vigorously. (Just today i got my first bloom on my 4 year old Rozanne).
HB are definitely not compact. In fact they do not grow upwards at all but grow close to the ground spreading outwards...almost like a messy ground cover. The question is how much smaller of a spread it has relative to Rozanne.
I will post a post a picture or two once it has a significant number of flowers.
This post was edited by rouge21 on Sat, Jun 22, 13 at 21:08
Based on this thread, I am getting into heleniums. I have several in my garden and am looking for more. This year I have I planted some seed, (Red Shades) bought some from two garden centers (Tie Dye and Rotgold) and this week found some at Lowes. Has anyone had good luck growing from seed? I keep wanting to pull up the Red Shades because the foilage looks like a grassy weed, but luckily I notice my plant marker before I do.
This is Mardi Gras, planted last year. It's a blooming machine. The newer ones have not bloomed yet.
At Lowe's, got two.
I'm not sure about the Lowe's plant tags. I saw the plants at two different Lowes and the redder Helenium (versus the more yellow/orage one) seemed to be labeled differently at the two stores.
Mine are just now starting to bloom, they are all very, very tiny. Tons of them, though. I think it's cool how they start out so very small, like little miniature blooms and get bigger and bigger. This pic is of Ruby Tuesday. Can't wait to see her in full bloom!
Cheyenne Spirit will (hopefully) be available this Fall. It may be receiving an award, and the breeder needs to have a large quantity of seed in the bag before it can be released. The Rudbeckia Tiger Eye is an F1 Hybrid, so in theory, will NOT produce progeny exactly like the parent plant that weed is collected from.
Be sure to get some of the monarda bradburiana - it started blooming here a couple of weeks ago, much earlier than all my other monardas (I have Raspberry Wine, Jacob Cline, Coral Reef, Fire Marshall, Purple Rooster, Grand Parade, Grand Marshall, Peter's Fancy Fuchsia, Dark Ponticum, and probably another one or two), those won't start blooming for at least a couple more weeks.
My Raspberry wine and jacob cline are both blooming at this time. The Raspberry wine variety was sent to me by a generous member here and I paid for the shipping cost. BB does spread fast and it's leaves do smell like mint. Their roots are like runners. I will be glad to save some seeds for you, might even have some in my stach from last year but not sure. I'd rather wait and give you some from this year. Email me and give me your address.
Kevin,
The garden is awash in chicken wire! The bed where the VJ was planted has a wire fence, but something came over, under or through it. We have so many possible culprits - baby rabbits, pack rats, quail - the only way to protect everything is to fence it all in fine hardware cloth.
The drought has been hard on everything. I made up a homemade liquid fence using a recipe I found online. It's a disgusting mix of eggs, cayenne, garlic, wilt-pruf and water. You leave it to ferment for a week. Something come over the garden wall, dragged a gallon jug of the repellent over to the side, punctured the jug and drank the lot!
Cheryl
I'd give Lithodora one more try. I lost my first one which turned black a few weeks after planting, thinking it was an easy plant to grow. But It is quite a fussy plant if put in the wrong soil conditions and over-watered. Here is a pic of mine below once I got it right. and here are some tips.
Lithodora is lime-hating, so if you live in a hard water area you shouldn't simply water from the tap to begin with. Plant using ericaceous soil, or add sulfur powder mixed in with normal soil. That takes 2 months to make the soil sufficiently acidic so that tap water can be used as a means for watering for establishment of the plant..If you are fortunate to live in a soft water area then you can dispense with this preparation.
The soil texture needs to be porous and well=draining, so use a peaty soil with plenty of grit mixed in. If you have a clay soil then that needs to be made porous by digging in plenty of peat and grit before planting..
Lithodora needs watering weekly for the first 2 months after planting. If you get plenty of rain in this period you can skip on the watering. Once established it shouldn't need further watering unless you have a prolonged hot dry spell. If you tend to have hot dry summers you need to mulch thoroughly so that water is conserved in the soil. Gravel placed on the surface around the plant works well as a mulch. But remember that once established Lithodora is drought-tolerant, so never over-water even when newly planted.
Finally plant in full-sun conditions or part-time shade if not possible. If planted in full time shade it won't flower much, if at all.
This post was edited by bendipa on Sat, Jun 22, 13 at 11:05
My goldenrods are budding now. Kinda strange. I would hesitate before cutting buds back because the plant has already expended the energy necessary to prepare flowers and depending on the plant, it may not be able to generate enough energy to make another attempt by fall.
Maurice, you are adding to the end of a very old thread on the perennial forum... try posting your question in a separate post on the vegetable forum, you will get more answers.
Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetable Gardening Forum
Oxalis was choking out my lawn. Weeding last year caused it to come in more thickly this year. I was about to remove my lawn--it was driving me crazy.
This year I found Weed Beater Ultra for broadleaf weeds. It cost about $22 and covers 10,000 sq. ft. It does not harm most grasses-safe for bluegrass, rye grass, fescues, bermuda, and zoysiagrass.
I used it and to my amazement it thoroughly worked. All the oxalis in my lawn is gone!
The tag says sun to part shade, tolerates hot and dry conditions. I donâÂÂt really have a hot and dry place to put it
==>>> you are mis-reading the tag ...
'tolerates' in much different than REQUIRES ...
if i read that tag.. i would default to any full sun ...
a little shade if that was my spot ..
regular water..
but if the only spot left was soggy.. this plant will TOLERATE IT ..
make sense???
ken
Would an electronic insect killer or mosquito trap work? I was given a sample of Off plant based insect repellent that seems to work pretty well. I don't like using anything so I always have bites but when the mosquitoes get real bad then I break out the repellent.
Ken, that is another way of looking at it
==>> yes.. i always try to play devils advocate ...
BTW... check out the link .. if you are thinking about moving the hosta ...
i dont know the guy who wrote it up.. but he sometimes has flashes of brilliance.. lol
but do note.. he did NOT divide it ..
really.. there are 3500 named hosta.. if you cant find one to fit a given space .... well .. then you ought to be sentenced to years of hard labor of continually bonsai'ing your hosta.. because that is basically what you are doing.. by repeatedly digging them up .. root pruning ... and stunting their growth
ken
Here is a link that might be useful: link
I'm so glad you posted that link, Ken. I've read it several times over the years (whenever I think I want to move a big hosta).
Is there where I read about throwing the hosta onto the driveway to help it when transplanting....or did I hear it somewhere else.?
I don't need to do that..Without even trying, I will step on it, drop it, and rip its leaves. Shucks, I don't even have throw it or move it 6 inches. That's just its fate if I step in the hosta bed.
idabean
Hello, I just cut back my bleeding heart because it was beginning to yellow. I probably should have done it earlier, but I'm not sure. It was lush and green until last week. Any thoughts?
Trish
Letting the plant keep its leaves until they are yellow allows it to put energy into the tubers and make for a stronger plant the next year. They most often yellow as the weather gets hot. With the rain and cool weather we have had this year mine are still green.