13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Hey Y'all,

Thank you all so much, especially Gardenweed. Gigi, I don't mind at all.
There was a woman at the nursery who helped me locate all of the things on my list. She seemed very helpful and said she also gardened for butterflies. As I'm returning all of these dead plants (the returnable ones-i'm pretty sure buddlejia is a shrub abd certain dwarf bottlebrush is) this weekend I'll hit her up for more information. Clay, I'm finding as I talk with family and neighbors, is a big problem in Baton Rouge - especially in the old neighborhoods. The water table is very, err, close here and so all of the building was done on what high ground was available. As the high ground was most likely going to be either an old, natural preColumbian levee or simply ground one of the many rivers (including THE river) and bayous couldn't simply shoot straight through it tends to be----clay! I'm in an old neighborhood, on high bround that is cut in one direction by a substantial bayou that's quite close and drainage 'ditches' (probably called rivers in CT ;p) I'm stuck in the middle on clay. My sister bought a house in a new subdivision that in my living memory was palmetto bottomlands (land given to flooding, lots of palmettos, bald cypress and small trash trees) and naturally she has superb soil. The fact that she is probably only a few feet from sea level will hopefully never become an issue. I'm curious to know what the people who made that land habitable did, but that's besides the point. I'm stuck with the clay while she can just throw down seeds. lol Another person on this forum suggested that I build my garden up so that at least some part of the roots will be out of clay. I don't know where that person was from, though. I'll see what the woman at the nursery has to say. I did discover that my local paper does have a gardening section-fancy that!-and will be paying it more attention than I have been (which was none). As for fertilizing, from what I understand the plants I'm looking to lay in are hardy and don't require much in the way of fertilizing. I am a long way from attempting composting, etc. I am absolutely hooked on butterfly/hummingbird gardening, but it is one of a few hobbies. Target shooting, my biggest hobby outside reading, is expensive (ammunition, range fees and travel expenses if you want to compete). m Reading, too, is expensive especially if you are a history geek who can't let a book he's read leave his possession. I have literally run out of bookcase space. Maybe kitchen shelving? Surely all of those pots and pans aren't necessary? She can cook with one or two, right? lol
On mulch. PLEASE everyone out there don't use cypress mulch. If you've ever seen a beautiful cypress swamp you'll know why. Use pines. They grow everywhere and grow fast. It's a horror what they do to get cypress mulch.

Thanks So Very Much Y'all!
Pano

"...Reading, too, is expensive especially if you are a history geek who can't let a book he's read leave his possession.."

OMG! A fellow history-loving, book-hoarding, piles-of-history-books-on-the-floor, kept-every-history-book-they've-ever-read reader! I actually work at a library, but I don't take out history books because I like to KEEP my history books, lol. So I see them, add them to my list, and then buy them when I can.

:)
Dee

I have a purple version. They really are pretty. Personally, I would leave them. :):)

Wow flora, I've never heard that common name - how weird. I've tried some Scabiosa and it's pretty but S. columbaria rarely made it through the winter, and S. ochroleuca was a bit more perennial but never thrived.

Thanks for the advice on spacing, rouge. Yeah, I did plant them a bit close but I wanted a mass of purple flowers this year to grow under the trellis (to the left, right and above these Veronicas which can't be seen in the picture) that I have Crimson Mandevillas growing on :) I'll transplant the Veronicas once they start to crowd each other and probably spread them around to other areas of my landscaping since I just LOVE them!

I too had Royal candles, and two other varieties in my WI rich black but clayish soil, and they all petered out on me after a few years. Going to try them again in my new sandy soil.

One of my nurseries has a spring special, buy I ceramic pot get the second equal value free. I have gotten several too expensive for me large pots this way.

What Is hard to find for me is unusual pots. Perhaps because we have to take pots inside for the winter not many people use ceramic or clay pots and most pots I see are the very plain ones, either all one color or a couple of blended colors. I'd be willing to pay more for an unusual pot.

Steins Garden Center has a nice variety of both ceramic and clay pots. I can find more expensive must-haves at local nurseries.

And how lucky for you to have purchased your home from a landscape architect!!!

I'm reviving this thread as I never found a purple cimicifuga that someone had grown themselves and stayed purple all season.

I still am searching for the answer because I can just SEE these planted with my purple heucheras.

But they are all expensive and after paying $24 each for plants in 1996--can't believe I did that--and then they went green, I'm not willing to gamble again. So, any suggestions if you grow purple cimicifugas?

I'm reviving this thread as I never found a purple cimicifuga that someone had grown themselves and stayed purple all season.

I still am searching for the answer because I can just SEE these planted with my purple heucheras.

But they are all expensive and after paying $24 each for plants in 1996--can't believe I did that--and then they went green, I'm not willing to gamble again. So, any suggestions if you grow purple cimicifugas?

If you can find it, Tordon will kill the buckthorn with one application.

Paul, I know this is almost exactly a year later but I am curious as to the health of your stand of "Indian Pink" last summer and now this new year.

Yours looks a whole lot better than mine at this point. I ended up moving mine from the front to the back after dismantling part of my front shade garden last year. It is a lot smaller now unfortunately.

On an interesting side note...it had heaved a bit and I buried it deeper a few weeks ago. I noticed the most unusual thing, this Thalictrum seems to have very tuber-like roots to it. There were tons of little tubers coming from the plant. I took two of them and am doing a bit of an experiment (dusted with rooting hormone and plopped under my grow light) to see if they root out. Who knows, maybe I will have a little constellation of Evening Stars around here if it works, LOL. ;-)
CMK

Although one can't see them in the picture very well, there really are some small pink flowers hear the top of the plant.

I've fallen in love with coleus. They are easy to grow from seed, and even easier to grow from cuttings. They come in an infinite combination of colors and textures and don't need dead heading.

I feel your pain at not having enough full sun to grow your traditional favorites. I also moved to a mostly-full-shade yard and I'm relearning how to garden. I support the idea of removing trees judiciously, or even just thinning some branches to allow a bit more light to get through. Hire an expert so you're sure the job is done right. Good luck.

Martha

Thank you so much for your encouragement! I've felt so discouraged about it. Today I'm charting sun patterns every hour to determine the sunniest location...I'm going to get that shade book, and I'm also going to try a few sun lovers in sunny spots. Yay for gardening! It's always an experiment, isn't it? :)

Most of the concrete shown in that photo was removed, BlueBirdPeony. We estimate it would have taken 6 concrete dumpsters to remove it all, plus extra weight fees, so we got very creative working it into the landscape design as retaining walls, patios and walks. The concrete removed from both the front and back yards, that we did not repurpose, filled 3/4 of the single dumpster that left this morning.

It was a crazy amount of work over two years, between house update projects. And, of course, there are some future projects to complete. But after installing the 250 sq' sod patch this past week and watching the dumpster disappearing down the road this morning, the feeling that the problem area had finally been dealt with was such a relief! I can take an update photo, once I have planted some landscape plants lounging on the walkway.

WOW Gyr_Falcon that is a lot of concrete.

My problem is the entire yard. I purchased a 3+ acre property that had not been cared for for several years. The couple raised their kids and when they finally were too old to take care of the property the kids put their parents in a home and the house sat with no care for years.

The wildlife moved in along with every sap tree in the state.

It is a work in progress. Acre at a time.

BlueBird I do not see anything wrong with your gardens. I think you just need some hardscape/focal point to pull it together. A bird bath, a statue. It is a room without decor. The plants and trees are good but a living room without a couch is a incomplete living room.

Lovely! I adore tree peonies - both flowers and foliage. Your wisteria is fabulous BTW! :0)

I saw a woody peony today at a nursery. It looks like yours. I took a picture of it. First time I saw a flower that is about 7 inches wide. It's beautiful!

I have a zip loc bag full of plant tags from most of the plants I've bought over the past 8 years. I don't even want to look thru those tags and see how many perennials are now dead and gone. I've forgotten more than I can remember. Many of them didn't even make it 2 seasons!

For example, I bought a Sedum "Xenox" from Santa Rosa a couple years ago, has nice purple crimson foliage. It died over the first winter. Contacted them last Spring and they sent a replacement, planted it in a new spot, close to where several other Sedum like Autumn Joy and Matrona are thriving. It proceeded to die over the summer. Gave up on that cultivar.

This happens a lot and I've gotten sick of it. So I'm experimenting with growing interesting-looking cultivars from seed. A lot of them don't grow particularly well either! But at least I'm not losing as much money.

Biennials are different from perennials. I don't think the term biennial is popular because casual gardening customers that learn it takes two years from seed for the plant to bloom, then it dies, often turn away from them. (The reason for the glut of Foxy foxgloves, that bloom during their first season, at the garden centers.)

As stated by others, perennials can behave very differently in various growing areas. Here, Gaillardia fanfare grows year-round and one of mine is at least 8 years old. And some of the dependable perennials that come back stronger year after year elsewhere, fade away for lack of a cold winter quickly.

Maybe you could join a local gardening club? Gardeners often have free starter plants to share from perennials that thrive in the area and need dividing. I always have stuff to share, ranging all the way from extra bulbs to trees, and containers, too. [And too few customers, sadly. I hate just throwing plants away! :-( ]

Here is another foxglove picture. I totally understand why one would not plant them if you have small children or pesky pets. They do make a statement, and I enjoy them.Lesley

another great picture!

What a story! Happy I got to read it. Thank you.

"Ironweed" says it all LOL!

thanks! I'll give it a go and see what happens :)

Probably not. Veronicas prefer full sun but will do okay in part-sun. Almost full shade? It will live but probably won't be floriferous - so what's the point of that.