13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
I'm glad your garden is doing so well. Mine is just the opposite. We had cold temperatures and rain and overcast skies for most of April. In May we had a week of hot temperatures--too hot for the greenhouse. Then it went to rain in deluges and only the last week it has become seasonable but still cool nights with a risk of frost. My garden is 2 weeks behind.
Last year was a good growing year for us even with the lack of rain in July. My mulched plants did very well because the mulch held in the moisture. So I guess it makes a difference where you are gardening. What is a good year for one may not be for another.
Enjoy your gardening weather and think of others not so fortunate
It's been a beautiful spring here in SE Michigan. Yes, the temps have been flipping back and forth, but there's been a fair amount of spring moisture and the general warm-up came right on time (not too early) - the flowering trees bloomed spectacularly around here, simply joyous. :0)
plant them ... its not even June yet ...
crikey.. up here in MI.. i havent even planted my tender annuals yet.. and we had a frost last week ..
and what.. you think summer is over... lol ...
you are worrying too much ... if you can shade them for a few days.. maybe just a lawn chair.. for them to get the roots pumping before blistering sun.. that might help ...even better if you can do it with a little rain or a few cloudy days ...
harden them off properly first.. if grown indoors ...
ken
I'll preface my comments by saying I have never grown an American wisteria - but do successfully grow both a Chinese and a Japanese wisteria as 'trees', and have read widely on wisterias in general. Peter Valder is considered one of the world's experts on them and his book on wisterias is the best thing I've seen (IMO there's a lot of nonsense written about them by people who've clearly never grown one successfully themselves!) Peter Valder (from Australia) appears not to have direct experience growing the American ones either but this is what he has to say about them:
'Flowering as they do on current year's growth, the American wisterias do not usually display their flowers well if grown on pergolas, though the long-racemed introductions of W. macrostachya may prove to be exceptions in this regard. In general, however, they are seen to best advantage against walls, around verandahs, over fences or as pillars on wooden or metal supports. Under these conditions they may be pruned to keep them within bounds at any time of year. However my experience with these plants is such that it would seem unwise of me to be dogmatic. I suspect, though, that two or three light prunings during the growing season may lead to greater floriferousness than a severe cutting back in autumn or winter.'
Aunt Dee is a W. macrostachya (macrostachya means 'long spikes') so is of the kind he's saying would be suitable for a pergola. It is generally said that the long-racemed types display best on pergolas or grown as 'trees' with tall trunks so the flowers have space to dangle freely - how tall is your pergola? Could someone pass under it when the wisteria is in bloom without brushing through the flower racemes? (bees love the flowers!)
Checking information on various US Extension university sites, pruning after the spring flowering is generally recommended. From my experience with wisterias, I'd say wait until spring flowering is over and them prune the whippy, curly new growth back into the desired framework as often as needed during the growing season to keep it neat and promote flowering. I suspect that even these 'new wood' flowering wisterias may develop the short woody spurs that bear a lot of the flowers. Pruning the new growth back regularly certainly promotes the development of those growths in the Asian wisterias so I'd guess that it would be good for the American ones too.
The other thing I'd be sure to do is to remove and seed pods that you see after the leaves fall and the pods become visible. You really don't want them to seed themselves around. That is probably as true for the American ones as it is for the Asian ones - and perhaps even more so as the American ones are said to be hardier and, one would assume, therefore more likely to germinate well from seed!
I bought Morden Sunset for my mother for her zone 3 garden. When she moved she took it with her as a container rose in zone 4. They always had good snow cover though.... still those 5 to 10 nights a year that it gets down to about 30 below are going to be brutal for some roses.
Victorian Memory (aka Isabella Skinner)- I've heard much about this rose. Does she climb for you? How far down do you need to prune?
Every so often someone wants a cold hardy climber and there is much discussion as to wether she can really climb in such cold climates. (She's a rebloomer!)
It sounds like you have done very well with your roses in zone 3!
My Victorian Memory might climb, I am not sure, I have never really tried to get her to do it. I do have to say that most years the most of the canes freeze out. I just trimmed her yesterday, there are only 2 canes that would be long enough to consider training. And of course they are on the wrong side, away from the tower. I usually mulch her too, but I don't get the tall canes! This last winter she suffered from a lot of rodent damage, which could be another reason they died.
I have to say though I love that rose! The scent is awesome, I just wish I had planted her in an area that was easier to access to smell her! I am going experiment this summer, and see if I can propagate some cuttings from her.
I have about 6 in front now. I purchased three new ones and plant in one area in the front. I had three in back that I moved and planted with the new three. This was in early summer probably. The new 3 did great last year where as the 3 I moved from the back yard just looked okay. They laid flatter on the ground and the flowers shot out in all directions (when they flowered finally). I moved them all AGAIN in the fall where they are today. They all look wonderful now and I even have seedlings springing up in the various places these plants had traveled to in the yard last year. Love it!
So.... my inclination would be that they'll bloom next year if they don't this year. Sometimes splitting and transplanting can hinder blooming for a season.
slugs eat the crap out of my salvia.
Put out saucers of beer and they will drown themselves in it --if they are the culprits.
Another trick I recently heard is to put the rind of half a cantaloupe in the dirt nearby (upside down, like a hut? ) and check it every day- apparently they will go hide there. (this advice was given by someone in a very very dry climate..... possibly won't work in normal humid gardens).
dig it back up.. put it back in the pot.. and put it in full shade for a few weeks.. and see if you can save it???
a top dressing of mulch.. will defeat the dryness of the surface of your soil .. the inherent blackness of the soil is retaining heat.. and on some level.. perhaps.. cooking the plants
why just this one.. i dont know.. because i didnt see its root mass at planting ...
ken
Looks like sedum kamtschaticum it behaves For me in bone dry soil. Given any moister look out I've had it root just throwing it on top of the ground. Still have it in a place or two. I don't let it flower any more and keep it trim. My vote is more weed than plant.
You are right 'funn' i.e. this will be the first summer of these two being in full sun.
(The picture below shows 2 SE alternating with 3 Campanula "Freya" (along the front very sunny edge))
This post was edited by rouge21 on Tue, May 28, 13 at 18:01
Thanks 'Patty'. The original picture I think you are referring to is part of a very small quite narrow garden plot. I think it is maybe 18" wide by about 12 feet. And yet I really love this area of our property. It really is possible to make an appealing selection and grouping of plants in a surprisingly small area.
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! :-( ]