13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Kevin,
Thanks for that link! I'm very relieved to know that I can water whenever I have time without worrying that I'll over stress my plants. I worried the most about fragile seedlings that were just planted out. They need water ASAP, but I can't plant everything before 11 am on a Saturday morning.LOL. Thanks again.
Martha
nothing.. in a pot.. should be in full sun at 90 degrees ... or ever really ....
it has nothing to do with the plant leave tolerance ...
it has to do with how hot the pot got.. and how you cooked its roots ... interfering with water management ....
not only does the heat make the plant transpire heavily ... but it interfered with the roots ability to process enough water to offset it all ... and depending on pot size.. perhaps dried out ....
all my pots are kept in very bright shade... here in MI.. regardless of the plants sun tolerance ... and its the same reason no nursery worth its salt.. leaves potted plants in full sun ... unless there are hundreds of them stacked close together... to shield the pots themselves from sun ... observe next time you are plant shopping.. you are rarely standing in blinding sun.. looking at pots ... shade cloth.. lathe house.. greenhouses.. etc ... [bigboxstore is not a nursery .. lol .. they do have them out on the blacktop often .. and most of us know what they look like after a few weeks]
make any sense??
ken
Your plants should react as though you pinched the stalks - I do this with Echinacea 'Summer Sky' because it is very floppy, and occasionally trim off flower buds so for other reasons - to delay blooming, produce a bushier plant, or let the plant put more energy into roots and shoots.
I think your plant will be okay as long as the ground hog didn't eat all the leaves off, which would severely deplete the plant. If it ate only the buds, you will probably get side shoots that will flower.
In the meantime use a barrier or repellent to protect the plant.
um, yours are probably the scrambling type and there is not really any way to keep them neat and hummocky. You could try to support them with pea sticks (prunings from woody shrubs) or even encourage them to grow up and between other plants but no, cutting them back will result in losing flowers since they are formed on the continually extending stems.
A very rigid rake and over planting grass seed will do the trick. If you get your grass thick enough it will choke out charlie.
I had a small Suburban yard that was almost all charlie. Every Saturday morning it was my therapy of raking the back yard. When we had a rainy week I would throw grass seed out. By the end of summer I was free of charlie in the lawn.
I had it in my garden along with Virginia creeper, and the perriwinkle vinca vine. I got fed up with them and I took a small rake and just dug them up and pulled them out of my garden. It took a few hours and a couple of days, but it was worth the hard work. I didn't put them there myself, and they will come back. When I see a single sprout of one I weed it out of my garden right away. I hate those plants, and I'm glad I have it under control. They even choked out a passiflora vine!
Ditto what Martha said vis a vis mulch but I would add a note that layering corrugated cardboard under the mulch works a whole lot more effectively than mulch alone. I initially went with the mulch alone approach but quickly discovered adding the cardboard produced far more satisfactory & longer-term results.
Ditto to everyone, lol, and I just wanted to add that if you are working in an established bed with not a whole lot of room between plants, layers of newspapers will be easier to put down under the mulch than cardboard. You can fold the paper to fit the spots between perennials. I usually do at least 6 to 8 sheets thick. Just be sure to leave room around the base of the perennials.
Dee
While I appreciate the one you mentioned, I am interested, mostly, in those that are sterile. The plant is considered an undesirable invasive in some States. Sterile sorts include Blueberry Cobbler, Peach Cobbler and Marmalade. And I like plants that are dwarf and those with silver foliage. Also like both the yellow buddlejas, and went out of my way to order Honeycomb, when mine died. I do not want anyone to think it is a difficult plant. I failed to give it adequate water in a severe drought.
bogturtle, didn't know about the invasive factor. I will check out these sterile ones.
I have been there with vitex and still find babies!! many years after mama has been gone, funny how long the seeds remain viable.
thanks for the warning.
any others??
Gry Falcon, All of my pics are of the same bed. There are 6 Biocovos in the 25 x 8 foot bed. In the last pic, (the overhead one) taken in early May, you can't see them well as they are in the back edge of the bed. Planted 5 years ago, I would say that each plant now covers roughly a 3 to 4ft square area running into and mingling with each other and other perennials. As a ground cover I couldn't be more pleased with this plant. In my picture #3, that is Biocovo surrounding the sedums in late summer.
And we have a winning answer! Lesser goldfinches. I thought we had an agreement, those birds and me; I keep two nyjer thistle feeders full for them, and planned to let the Rudbeckia flowers go to seed for them to eat (dinner later) because they enjoyed the snack so much last year. Rudbeckias have a very long bloom season here, and take the heat without a whimper. So I planted about 20.
Yet the little birdbrains seem to think they are entitled to a free salad bar, too! (I guess they don't realize that no plants equals no rudbeckia flowers to produce seed later.) They perch on the plants and pull apart the leaves to eat. Apparently, they also like sunflower leaves. I saw damaged plants last year too, but did not know what caused it. This year I have more goldfinches visiting, so there is more damage.
Goldfinches seemed an unexpected cause of shreaded leaves. Thank you for playing my guessing game! :)
Here is a link that might be useful: You Tube Video
Is the pic shown your house? or Is this a idea you were thinking of using. The pics looks like a walkway.
Your description sounds like you have a landscape of....
- you house needing foundation planting
- then there is pavers
- and next lawn.
Is that right?
I think that is the way it grows? I am not sure, but mine tends to flop and be a bit horizontal rather than like an iris and pointed toward the sun? if that makes sense. good idea to prune it as ken said to make it bushier, i may try that myself on one that i would like to be a bit smaller anyway. the others? well, i like that shape!
Thank you all for the feedback....here's more info to clarify...
These plants were fine for the last four years, well, they were young and growing into there mature size, but normal otherwise. This is the first spring these 2 have exhibited such unusual growth. They were transplanted 2 years ago, so perhaps I buried them deeper than I should have. I don't see the pips during winter, so maybe that is the case. I'm not sure it's weather related. We've had some cold overnights this spring here in my area of Maine, but the other hostas in the bed, including another S&S are looking normal. BTW, these hostas are all planted in a raised bed around a birch and some sort of conifer. I don't think we have voles.... what evidence would there be?
I guess the best thing to do is dig them up and see what's going on.
Sounds like vole damage.
I had this happen to a couple of my hostas and I am pretty sure it was voles. The roots were just gone. We do have vole tunnels visible on the edge of our lawn though.
Here is a link that might be useful: MO Botanical garden article on voles.
Used to be people deliberately planted clover lawns, but it went out of fashion about a half century ago. It has sneaked back into my country lawn, until now it's almost pure clover again. Personally, I like it. The honey bees love it, and the grandkids spend hours hunting for 4-leaf clovers. I have both the red clover, the blooms of which I harvest and dry for clover teas, and the white clover. Besides, it smells good!
Sandy
oh.. i forgot ...
clover in the lawn flowers .. and when it does... there are bees everywhere ... [no lack of them in the country] ...
and if children w/o shoes step on them... there will be hell to pay ... [now my kids have laptops.. and dont play outside anymore...]
the upside of it.. on my sand.. its one of the plants.. unlike grass.. that does not go summer dormant ... one might say.. evergreen ...
ken