13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Rodja, I did not like Blue Paradise because of its floppiness here(I live near the North Sea- very windy) I'm kind of "allergic" to floppiness. Phlox Blaue Morgen has an identical colour but stands up much better(although not perfect to begin with). The best standing of the "blue" ones is Boguslaw's Blaue(from Germany). This one is storm-proof.
The general rule here in Europe is , that English varieties of phloxes have bigger flowers, but German ones are more practical (healthier and less flopping). It applies also to Delphiniums, Heleniums and Asters.
This post was edited by wieslaw59 on Sun, May 19, 13 at 10:13
Marie - Have you considered Veronica 'Georgia Blue' under the skirts of your Full Moon Japanese maple? I love any combination of blue and gold, and the Veronica's small green leaves would be a nice foliage contrast all summer, especially if there's grass or hosta nearby. It doesn't root deeply and spreads in a friendly manner, spilling around the feet of other plants without overwhelming them. It seems fine in part to much shade, but I haven't tried it in sun.
nhbabs, those look very happy. Your primroses are Primula denticulata, a definite hardy perennial, which enjoys slightly different conditions to the hybrids of P vulgaris including tolerance of acidity and colder winters.
I had a quick look for 'Supernova' and they appear to be Polyanthus-type Primulas which are early spring bloomers even here and are going over by May. The site I found classified them culturally as annuals.
Thanks for clarifying that, Flora. I probably should have actually looked to see exactly what Kent had.
Ken, my soil in most of my beds is well aged manure spread on top of my native acid fine sandy loam. It makes the perfect moist, well-drained beds. I mulch with hardwood shavings.
Hmmm, I realise that nearly all my choices were early season perennials, ignoring some of the rampageous ones which arise later in the year....so to counter that oversight -
vernonia crinita (my susbstitute for Joe Pye Weed (I just don't like the muddiness of it)
Macleaya cordifolia (Yeah, not a late bloomer, but it is resident in the late summer borders so...)
Not a perennial but.......tithonia - i love the clear orange flowers.
miscanthus - obvious, i know, but so lovely (especially varieties with deep copper flowers such as Juli)
arundo donax (those gigantic cool green and white colours are a great backdrop to a group of taller heleniums in a froth of reds and orange.
OK, a bulb but still.......lilium speciosum 'Uchida'. I have many lilies, including some enormous orienpets and trumpets.....but I have a stand of speciosum which return every August, with huge thick trunks, leaves immune to lily-beetle, which reach 3m and arch over the shrubby salvias, stately, reliable and massively exhilarating at that time in the summer when I am heartily fed up with yellows.
And then there are the asters and aconitums for that essential hit of blue.
-Vera, nice to see another EW resident here ;-)
-Doug, too bad we didn't live closer. I have a feeling we would be doing a lot of over-the-fence plant swapping and enabling, LOL. ;-)
-campanula, lol! Yellow is a bit iffy for me in general- it really has to be the right shade (dislike the golden tones in some of them). Know exactly what you mean by getting sick of that color in later summer. If I have to look at one more 'Goldstrum'....GAG. ;-D
CMK
Don't know if anyone is still following this thread. But I've gotten some good ideas. I started organizing my gardening stuff about 3 years ago.....out of necessity. I am forgetful. And I got sick and tired of having to stop, go back in the house get on the computer and look up stuff. So now I have one notebook where I keep general info like instructions on pruning and dividing perennials, fertilizing lawns, and clever ideas I see in garden magazines, just anything rather general.
I have another notebook where there is a page for each plant that contains a picture and growing info, and a description of a location. In that notebook I also have a bar graph type chart of bloom times for the different plants in my yard. That let me see at a glance that I needed to plant something to bloom at a specific time of year. I also have started working on putting photos in there taking of different section of the garden on the first of each month. I also have made a rather detailed chart of actual locations of my plants that shows me how large the plant will eventually grow. It's not that I am organized, it's that I was driving myself crazy with forgetting information. I've also got a sheet in there to tell me what has to be pruned in the spring, summer, or deadheaded during the year, or cut back in the winter. I've also started a diagram to show where the shade/sun is in my yard during the year....again this is out of desperation because my tree is growing and I'm trying to figure out where it is a good idea to put another raised bed for veges.
Along with this I am keeping a very simple journal where I just jot down info like when did I fertilize, what did I use, where I had a problem develop and what I think caused it, I'll note what plant I might want to rip out and what I might want to replace it with, what needs to be moved, general info on the rain (lots or little) and if the temps were unusual, when the hummers showed up. I'm actually pretty surprised at how incredibly useful the info is to me the next year. And I really wish I had started this many years ago. The two notebooks are something that basically only I work on in the winter when I can't be outside gardening. It keeps my mind going! And by the way, I'm not normally a terribly organized person by any stretch of definition, so this all surprises me. I think every person has to find the method that works for their own unique way of thinking. I don't think I could buy something someone else had developed and have it work for me. If I did I would end up giving up on it pretty quickly.
dell
I think what might work well for you depends a lot on your moisture levels, soil and temperatures. There was an earlier thread, linked below, that started about new cultivars of coreopsis, but grew to include many not-so-new varieties. I went through it and made a list of ones that many folks liked and that should be hardy for my area, but the one from that list that I tried has limped along for two years, perhaps because it is borderline hardy for me.
I have been successful growing C. lanceolata and several different threadleaf varieties, but I am from a quite different hardiness zone than you and I don't know if your soil is like mine, so what grows for me may not work for you. If the forum for your more local area is active, this might be a good question to ask there as well. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/regional/
Here is a link that might be useful: Coreopsis thread
When I hear "cat's whiskers" I think of this plant.
Any seedlings should not be reminiscent of morning glory.
Thanks, everyone!! Sorry I've been MIA, busy week over here. The field in the background is a planting field. It's been corn since we moved in but will probably alternate with beans eventually. Possibly some hay.
The patio has been wonderful! We are so fortunate. We get plenty of weeds coming through the bricks, but they're all shallow rooted so we take care of them by pulling.
Trove, we do not do anything to that except flatten off the top. It does grow upright. It has some extremely sharp branches. My toddler hates it. But the color is lovely.
I can't really speak to your fertilizer questions, but as far as the mums, yes, it is usual for them to bloom this early if they are not cut back a few times.
Personally, after the last two years, where I was constantly cutting back because the buds were forming so darn fast, I have decided to let the mums bloom when they want. It was just too much to keep after them, and they still bloomed in September, which was earlier than I wanted. So they are on their own - I figure it will intrigue passers-by to see mums in June, lol!
In the meantime, if I want mums in the fall, I'll buy a few pots and stick them in the garden.
As far as your situation, I agree with mistascott and would water them (but not OVER water!) for the next few days to try to dilute the fertilizer. Maybe I'm totally wrong but that sounds like common sense, as long as you don't drown the plants. Not sure I would cut them back though. I don't think cutting back would do anything except sacrifice the blooms you have now. I don't think they will bloom again. But who knows, I could be wrong on that too!
Good luck!
Dee
wieslaw59,
Thank you for clarifying that up for me, I was not aware that prolificans was actually a cluster of single flowers on each end. After a quick search 'flore pleno' seems even more scarce than prolificans. I'll see if I can find any reliable nurseries with it, but so far I think I still got my eye on prolificans. I think I like it even more seeing it has a lot of flowers.
ken_adrian,
Based on experience and what several nurseries suggest, they certainly like the shade more. After a quick search I read on a couple care guides saying that they actually can grow in full sun....if the soil stays consistently moist. Since I was just enlightened about arbs roots, i'm still convinced the lily-of-the-valley won't get very far away from underneath the thuja. The combo of full sun and very dry soil will probably kill any that stray too far away from the shade, they would also have to compete with my grass.
Lily of the valley have a really intense root system as well, forms like a mat just underneath the soil. An absolute nightmare weeding it out. Can it be possible for them to survive underneath my thuja and live peacefully with them, or will they be too competitive? I've actually lost one of my thuja last summer, I think it was the intense heat and dry times NW OH had.
I have the double (flora pleno) as well as the common white (the white came with the house). The doulble as well as pink and variegated were added alter. The double spreads well though does not seem to grow as thickly as the regular. Pink is much slower than either and the variegate seems to be behaving too.
Around here, rabbits seem to really love liatris. They killed the first one I planted by eating it down to a nub. My style is to be "live and let live" with wildlife, so I would actually be happy to have tons of liatris around here so that the bunnies could have a bit without me losing it!
Great info. As for adding perlite to garden soil, i don't add it intentionally to my garden or my compost, due to the fact that if used in my beds, it has a tendency to float to the surface and to me it looks unnatural. Some always gets in with transplanting, and that's fine. I think in my case i will add some coarse sand and compost. If anyone on here knows anyone who lives where heucherra are indigenous, I would love to hear about the soils they prefer. Pictures of wild heucherra might be worth a google.
Lots of composted cow manure. I added it last year to a new Heuchera bed and I've never seen such great results.