13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
How about some pictures? My favorites I got in trades, so only know the name of one. I have a lovely rich pink blooming right now. Never floppy. I've had it for maybe 3 years and it is almost 2 feet wide! One with a really unique flower form is Lily Lowell. The rationale of the cranebill name is obvious on that even while the flower is just starting.
Used to have Brookside in back of a semi circle of coreopteris the dark purple blue blooms of brookside would fall into the silvery foliage of the coreopteris. Geez that was gorgeous. The geranium made it appear as thou the bush bloomed all season. There were also three tall slender Indian Sioux grass behind. After about three years the coreopteris couldn't take the moisture any more. Now I do as another poster and plant the sprawlers with rose bushes. A plus during JB season when the geranium is blooming in the rose bush.
Slugs or snails? If you aren't seeing pests in the daytime, go out after dark with a flashlight and look, then you will know which pest you are targeting and what the appropriate product would be. Please don't guess, and spray first, identify later - it's best to know what you are dealing with before buying and applying a product.
I love D. spectabilis 'Alba' growing in my full shade bed but right from the start planned on it going dormant early in the season. It's just too absolutely gorgeous not to plant. I surrounded it with other shade-loving perennials, including Carex 'Ice Dance' & Hosta 'Krossa Regal' so there are things that conceal the dying foliage once it goes dormant. It's planted on the north side of my house and is right out there to anyone driving or walking past on the road.
It's been my experience that the thread-leaf (D. eximia) bleeding heart varieties persist & continue to bloom right into the autumn garden (altho they're noticeably smaller than D. spectabilis) whereas the species can grow quite large--my DIL has a pink one that grows to about 3' x 3' every year.
D. spectabilis is also tough as nails--I had some construction done where one was literally growing out of a concrete stairway in full sun for years and, lo & behold, discovered it growing & blooming fully 15 ft away at the top of the stairway this spring.
Alas, Penstemon fans... I have searched thru my seed stash and cannot find even an empty pkt of penstemon seed, so I don't know what I planted.
I tried a search using Google images and closest I can come is Penstemon barbatus Pina Colada Deep Rose.
The description seems to match what I have. One site I visited indicated it may be propagated from non-blooming stems using rooting hormone & moist sand. I'll be trying that!
http://www.hardyplants.com/seeds/P2VD-A8.html
Here is a link that might be useful: Possibly my Penstemon
Doweling gram,
I think in the case of protected wildflowers you are not allowed to take the seed or any other part of the plant. In order for those flowers to survive, they need to be able to drop those seeds and reproduce. Also, the native wildlife depends on seeds from native plants for winter sustainance. I can't say I would personally object to someone collecting a few seeds at the same time they dropped some of those seeds onto some likely nearby soil. But, I think legally they should be left entirely alone.
Martha
What's weird is that they don't eat it. They rip it up and leave the dead leaves lying around. I can understand if they want to eat it, but destroying it is a little strange. They also left the poppies untouched.
I notice the squirrels like to destroy my lilies, so I have to put chicken wire around it. Just like the issue with Hepatica, they don't eat it, but just destroy it. Now my garden look more like a prison.
Paul
I thought of this post when I was watching some kind of black-type bird (maybe a starling?) in my garden this morning. He was walking around in a patch of violas simply shredding the flowers and tossing 'em up in the air. Petals were flying everywhere. I've noticed this kind of behavior from these birds before, but usually when they walk through the garden tossing up stray leaves and sticks as they look for food. They actually are quite funny to watch.
Maybe your problem is a bird looking for food?
Kevin
The only perennial plant I have managed to keep alive in a container outdoors over the winter has been ribbon grass, but it is only just sprouting now. It is a good solution for keeping the ribbon grass, which is a terrible runner, contained. I often place a pot of a nonhardy perennial in the center of the pot of ribbon grass.
I've read that you need to plant perennials in pots that are good to 2 zones colder. But my question has always been how to overwinter the pots outside. I don't want to lug pots in and out. I've thought about planting perennials in plastic inserts put into glazed pots. Anyone else with ideas for perennials in glazed pots?
I love the idea of the clematis in the ground near the pot. That yucca/clematis combo is beautiful.
Rainwashed green out there this morning. I love this time of year - everything just sparkles!
(Mind you, the tree peonies were just starting to open yesterday in the front garden.... always a recipe for rain to come and trash the flowers!)
Gorgeous. I prefer foliage over flowers any day.