13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

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

OMG! Those are some serious critters!

We would love to have you move to Minnesota. The squirrels are pretty annoying, but nothing like that.

Kevin

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

I propagated Veronica Crater Lake Blue from seed. It is pure blue alright, but here all the superlatives end. The flowers are very short lasting is summer heat, and the whole plant is a total mess after the first rain/wind combination.

trying to grow cauliflower but something is eating the leaves.our other plants arent being bothered.We have planted lots of marigolds

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!

Well, I shot off my big mouth too soon. This year I have oxalis all over, red and green. Spraying in the grass made the leaves dry up, but I just went out and looked,and they are all back and growing again.

Martha, those look like the biennial FMN. I have some that did not bloom either because they were reseeds from last year. They will bloom like mad next spring!

Docmom, those look just like the usual biennial Forget-Me-Nots to me, not a special variety. They seem quite small plants and I'm pretty confident they'll bloom next spring.

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

These are not "easy plants" if your soil and water are alkaline. Just saying.

campanula, I would have taken pictures but mine were done blooming.

Shell Leaf Penstemon is the native around here. Very pretty, and very durable in a dry place, but not long lived. Easy to save seeds or collect more along the bike path.

Also, as a male in his mid-30s I have to say it is unlikely you will catch me in that get up :)

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

As far as I'm aware there are no vegetatively propagated delphiniums in US (corect me if I'm wrong), so it can only be a seedling plant of some seed strain, and there have been plenty of them in recent years. If you were from UK, you could choose among tens of varieties that fit the description.

You can check some seed catalogues like Jelitto or others, they list tens of seed strains in all possible colours and color combinations(see Moonlight Blues).
A warning: contrary to what they write, do not expect selfsupporting plants from any of those Millenium series. It MAY happen, but it is not a rule.

This post was edited by wieslaw59 on Thu, Jun 20, 13 at 7:54

Hi Blan,

I did a little bit of google research ('delphinium blue with black bee') and found that there is a blue Delphinium with a black bee in the Excalibur Mix.

Also, Bluestone Perennials has a Delphinium cultorum 'Dark Blue Dark Bee'

I noticed a few postings for Delphinium 'Black Knight' that also appears to fit the bill.

Best of luck,
Steve

I have several in conditions ranging from sun to part-shade. Soil is definitely clay but with a few years of compost and mulch to lighten it somewhat. Great plant but it will seed about...the seedlings are very easily identifiable and quite cute and transplant easily. I tend not to like the flowers in some locations and in any location when they are looking ratty I cut them back to expose the inevitable flush of tidy growth underneath, which quickly fills out and looks attractive for the rest of the season.

I, too, have them in sun, shade, part shade, etc. They thrive everywhere. In really dry summers the plants in full sun will get ratty, but cutting them back makes them grow back nicely.
I'm actually starting to consider them invasive...they have self-seeded all over the place. I've given lots away, and pulled others up and basically just plunked them in bare spots.

Continuing with marquest's theme of using plants with colored foliage to bridge all of the awkward bloom gaps- tancenetum Ilsa Gold, weigelia My Monet, sedums Purple Emperor, Picolette & Autumn Charm.

I have a siberian iris, I forgot about it. It didn't flower this year-then again, neither did all but one dutch iris. I got them all last season, so I guess I'll wait another year to see what colors they are, lol.

Also in the non-blooming catagory is my only Huechera. This is year #2 for it and it didn't bloom last year either. I got it as a humminbird plant, and instead I have a foliage plant! (it's Melting Fire I believe). I would have a bed of them instead of one of the hosta beds I have, but they aren't as popular and hence more $$ (I got a bunch of hosta free via divisions and people wanting to get rid of them).

My baptisita is done, and the lupine is still flowering but I can't put them in the main bed due to wind :(

I have two honeysuckle-Major Wheeler and Goldflame, but I haven't space for climbers in the main bed. Which also excludes clematis (I have a purple that's blooming, no idea of the variety, it was a freebie).

Are there non-flopping no ant attracting peonies?? I love the look when they aren't on the ground. They would need to go back in the bed a little so staking would be a pain (trying not to step on anything else). I have garden junk, but not in this bed, so the seatless chair idea won't work :(

I forgot to mention this is a mostly sunny bed, and it's a cottage style with no space between plants, so floppers don't work too well (I do have some spiderwort in another bed that was here and it keeps flopping all over the phlox next to it).

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I've been thinking about rose campion...I passed on it because of the silvery foliage (I can't stand lambs ear or dusty miller) but maybe it's time to give it another look.

Rouge, lots of good info above. Mine are in a shadier site with some afternoon sun. I have them at the edge of a shade border set on their own a bit. Since they're on the edge, once they die back the edge just becomes a little wider. They're also more visible at the edge of the border. These little plants would be great up on a wall somehow where they are closer to eye level. Even as dainty as they are, if they're sited well in the border they will be noticeable. I bought a double white one this year and I'm curious to see how that performs. It is sited in a little bit more sun.

They started blooming in late April and 'Shoaf Double' has one bloom left on it. You get a solid 4 weeks of nice bloom. Mine usually do not die out until August timeframe (if I'm remembering correctly). Didn't make an exact mental note on when they die back.

Expensive little buggers, but I think worth it. I tend to spend big bucks on shade plants that really appeal to me and these were right up my alley.

lots of good info above.

Definitely. Thank you so much for all your help ispahan.

You get a solid 4 weeks of nice bloom.

That's a nice long bloom duration for a plant that will go dormant.

Expensive little buggers, but I think worth it. I tend to spend big bucks on shade plants

Good reasoning.

And it is quite pricey ( $24 for a plant from the source I have in mind).

UPDATE:

I was able to see a couple of "Anemonellas" at the nursery which were actually in the ground and they were so small (even though they were a few years old). Definitely a plant that must be admired very close up.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Mon, Jun 24, 13 at 13:50