13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

I use bone meal with bulbs, but have never had issues with animals digging them up.

I use bone meal all the time. To help prevent animals digging it I always mix it thoroughly in soil before adding it to the hole. I also add composted cow manure to dilute the smell. Water it in really good and stick a few clay pots around what you planted so the animals can't dig. After a few days the animals aren't interested, and I remove the pots. Bone meal is excellent for blooming plants. Some might not like it, but I can see the results!

Subject recently discussed in a lengthy thread -- board search function will find it if it isn't on the first page or two of the forum.

Grandma sticks plastic forks in her planting beds with the forks sticking up, but tries to disguise the forks with some mulch. Cat stays away.

Another option would be to bury mothballs underneath the mulch. Keeps cats out of houseplants too if you bury it an inch below the surface.

I would NOT put a spongy root like a Rhubarb in any bleach solution...

Hosta roots are very different.

I often use smell and color in this type of situation. If it doesn't smell like it's rotting and the color doesn't look like it's rotting, I'd leave it as is. When rhubarb rots, it turns a slimy baby poop brown.

I think I will track down White Swan. I think some of the beauty of coneflowers/echinacea is the tall stem. short? and they look like any other daisy-like flower. to me, anyway. the reflexed petals also are unique.

was overwhelmed with all the options on Bluestone Perrenials site. Fall shipment though. Interesting!!

I like White Swan too. Tall, reliable and beautiful, unless the voles get to it - mine are recovering from near vole decimation 2 years ago.

Also have a bunch of 'Primadonna White' seedlings, that are in their 3rd season. They didn't bloom the first year, were transplanted last year so it wasn't much of a show, but I'm so excited to see how they do this year along with the Pow Wow Wild Berry and Bravado seedlings. That photo of PWWB is very nice, I hope mine look like that, but in general I would have to say the other seedlings are much stronger growers than PWWB.

I just bought seeds of Echinacea 'Baby Swan' and have a bunch of little sprouts. Supposedly a short (2 foot) cultivar of White Swan.

Here's my white swan a few years back -

There was a recent thread somewhere on GW about some special way of creating beds using buried logs and twigs that help to provide moisture and oxygen to plant roots. You could probably combine that idea with the berm idea and save on money and topsoil. I can't remember what the name of the log-thing was, but it was German. Good luck.

Martha

hugelkultur (or hill culture)- beloved of permies.

I get a lot of pollinators in my garden, esp an assortment of bees. The butterflies really vary by year - I've only had a few so far this year, but again, it has only recently gotten warm. One of them was visiting my centaurea montana, which I hadn't noticed as a butterfly attractor in previous years.

Besides that, the bees are busiest around my salvia 'May Night' right now. Later in the season, the agastache and sedum 'Autumn Joy' get the most bees.

Do shrubs count? if so, then it's definitely my California Lilac shrubs (Ceanothus). I think every bee in my neighborhood (and possibly any neighborhood within a mile of here) is out there right now. I can hear the buzzing from inside my house if the window is open!

For perennials, I'd have to say my blue pincushion flower (Scabiosa). There seems to always be a steady stream of bee and butterfly activity on those. They also love my kniphofia and my Early Sunrise coreopsis.

This post was edited by flower-frenzy on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 17:32

You may want to buy the seeds in winter :) If that is Penstemon strictus the seeds could require 3 months moist cold (40F) to break dormancy before germinating.

Yes. I will do winter sowing.

Just want to give a word of praise for G. maculatum 'Elizabeth Ann'. It is a stunning, easy care bronze-leaved selection with no disease issues. I much prefer it to 'Espresso' (which has equally wonderful foliage) because it is taller with larger blooms. Flower color on 'Elizabeth Ann' is a light almost pure lavender with just a hint of pink, whereas 'Espresso' runs more on the light pink side. A clump of 'Elizabeth Ann' is spectacular in full bloom and the foliage is surprisingly visible in shade. I am hoping to find a few bronze leaf seedlings around my plants in the future.

I have not tried a dark-leaved clone or strain of G. pratense, but I am now on year 2 with 'Violaceum Plenum'. It has been very slow to establish for me but I was pleased to note the other day that it is sending up two bloom spikes. No mildew last year or so far this year. I recently added 'Elizabeth Yeo' and 'Mrs Kendall Clark', so I will see in the future how they perform for me.

I tried it twice and it died both times, and I have a lot of geraniums. Last year I bought the dark leaved Hocus Pocus, and it has barely stayed alive. Never had mildew on any of my geraniums either.

try the scratch test - scrape a little bark off with your thumbnail and look to see if it is green and living underneath.

My hibiscus has only this week broken out in minuscule leafage - we are at least 3 weeks behind this year.
Take heart.

Thanks all.

I hope I didn't give the impression plants were only first poking out of the ground. They are well underway, so the ones mentioned are the only ones showing NOTHING which concerns me.

mnwgal - I was hoping you would chime in since we're probably close by. Now I am concerned about the hydrangia. That was a new shrub last year and I have no experience with these at all. I just couldn't believe they are this late in emerging, so I have a feeling that one is a goner, but I'll wait a bit longer. My brugmansia has been in the ground for well over a month and is looking spectacular. The new growth is exceptionally lush this year because of all the rain.

campanula - Yes, I did the scratch test and did find some green on the larger branches, but whether or not it is true living green or just some leftover dying green is the big question. I wasn't even going to mention my hibiscus which I know is a late emerger.

idabean - I'm happy you mentioned the temp thing. I was wondering if some plants like caryopteris need a certain amount of warmth to leaf out. We were stuck in the 60's for weeks, but now it looks like mid 70's to low 80's are going to be the norm. Last year these were well leafed out in March, but it was a warm year.

Kevin

Thanks so much everyone...

First reminds me of a yellow primrose buttercup.

funnthsun, that is funny about the clay added. I guess what I have read clay is a great soil mix.

FYI..... I add the peat because we do not get good rainfall in the summer and the clay gets hard, dry and kill the plants. Clay is great if it is moist and stay moist but no rain for months and 90 degree temps will kill your plants.

Peat is worse than clay, in that respect. Once it dries out, it is extremely difficult to rewet. Much, much worse than clay in that respect.