13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
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!
My Rozanne is in a bed in front of our garden shed where it gets morning sun. It's in front of several clematis that are growing up the front of the shed and behind an arbor with clematis and Blue Moon wisteria. I usually plant taller annuals in front of/behind the Rozanne because it does travel gently through the taller plants.
I would go with colors and plant forms that you like. I've also planted Rozanne with taller perennials like phlox and dianthus. It's a great "mixer."
Molie
Rouge, I'm curious how Havana Blues did for you last year? I've been reading all of the hardy geranium posts lately and everyone is zeroed in on tighter habit, but not the long blooming period like Rozanne. I want both! And no pink!
Wonder if anyone has an update of Blue Sunrise?
Considering I planted them as small bare root plants they did very well. However I am not convinced how much if any more compact they are than "Rozanne". They did make it through their first winter but it took a while to see that green growth. I will be able better be able to judge their habit in this their second year.
Supposedly "Azure Rush" may be a better behaved "Rozanne" (see link).
Here is a link that might be useful: Azure Rush
That is very sweet Cearbhaill!
The federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 states that it is illegal to:
"pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, attempt to take, capture or kill, possess, offer for sale, sell, . . . etc., any migratory bird, . . . or any part, nest, or egg of any such bird."
So technically it is illegal to disturb their nest. But, sometimes I'm sure that is problematic. What if this bed were a veggie garden, and you needed to grow food there to feed yourself or your family?? And what about all the trees people take down that could contain a nest?
I was working at a commercial property I manage the other day, pruning and clearing vegetation back away from the building. Chop chop chopping away at this Mountain Laurel, pulling out Bittersweet vines, almost done, and I was very surprised to look over and see this!
I am very worried that I've exposed the nest, so I put propped some large branches in the back of the shrub to add cover to the nest. Yesterday I was over at the building and saw the Robin perched on the edge of her nest. Thank goodness she hasn't been abandoned her nest.
Terrene, congratulations for your great "robin" rescue!
A few weeks ago I found a robin's nest about 3 feet up in a male holly. Sadly, there were feathers on the ground and around the nest ---- was the mother was attacked, I feared?
I left the nest alone for many days but did check on it. Never saw a mother bird or any movement of the eggs. Several days later I found that one of the eggs had been pecked open. The other two were still in their same original spot. I finally removed the nest and put it in a pot on our back deck.
Sad situation. I'm not sure what to do about the eggs themselves.
Molie
I love roses, I could have written your post, almost word for word.
Tina, you bumped an interesting thread, but why don't you go build some relationships with your neighbors instead of spamming message boards. (That's a nice way of saying "go fly a kite" which is a nice way of saying something else...)
This old thread has wings and time=travels! I cringed when I re-read comments about bad neighbors. Without meaning to, we became the untidy neighbors and received a snide remark from the woman next door who said she wished she "lived on the other side" [of our property.....the pretty side....] I went into her yard and looked at our huge looming woodpile under the bright blue tarp, pots scattered around, piles of brush....and had to gulp.
Our house does not face the street, so our back yard faces her side yard.
We can't afford a long privacy fence now, but I paid a mow and blow crew to clean up and got a brown tarp to replace the the blue one.
I've got a lot of rhodotypus seedlings and some misplaced hick's yews to start a shrubbery border between us....that will help during the seasons we are all outside.
Trying to repair our reputation as the people with the beautiful garden!
idabean
um, I get bored and curious - a terrible combination. I do have trajectories of plant styles and planting ethics and some years, the dry gravel gardens are more relevant to me than the veggie beds or the late summer borders but could slip into obscurity the following year. As the vast majority of my plants are grown from seed and cuttings, it is a mix of eclectic and ubiquitous - but mostly, plants get changed out fairly frequently because of space and whims. I do make it a rule to grow a couple of plants I have never heard of every year - this year, hermannia stricta and iliamna rivularis.....along with others which I do know, but have never grown before ( campanula sibirica, epilobium angustifolium album, cenolophium denudata).
I don't really care whether a plant is common or not, even if everyone else has it......if I like it and it is suitable, I grow it.
I know the excitement of meeting someone who 'likes to garden'...in particular roses! Then, they say they have 20 roses they just put in, and come to find out they are all knockouts, or likewise, they see gardening as masses of annuals from big box stores. Such a bummer!
But I keep looking and have found one, who gave me a few starts of holly hocks she grabbed seeds from in new zealand! and that keeps me looking for more, though, completely satisfied for this to be a solitary sport. We trade interesting plants, and that sure is fun for both of us!
I keep a few common plants, walkers low catmint comes to mind. They are there 'because I like them'. And I suppose, if i liked the golden yellow of 'stella d'oro' I would plant those, but i don't. Nor the style and colors of knockout roses.
So for me, it is more a decision if i like it or not, rather than common or not. But, I tend to NOT like those plants that come in six packs/annuals.
interesting topic.
Just a word of caution - you might want to check with neighbors or with your city/town about what kind of maintenance might get done in this ditch. In some areas the local town road maintenance may cut along the drainage ditches or even redig them if they have silted in. You haven't been here during the growing season, and I assume you would want to avoid the heartbreak of having your garden dug up or mowed down if this type of maintenance does get done in your town. In my area mowing happens every year to every three years, and ditching gets done based on how much silting in has happened and whether it is interfering with water movement.
Thank everyone. I have a lot more choices than I thought.
I was referring to Filipendula rubra. I know it gets big. I was thinking of putting it a bit away from the mailbox. I thought it was so pretty though.
And I don't know if the ditch dries up in the summer. I should probably wait until next year. :-((
nhbabs, I didn't think of that. I'll call the city and ask neighbors.
Thanks everyone, for your suggestions. I finally am close to a decision. I'm thinking of Salvia 'Furman's Red', but would like to also use Shasta Daisy 'Becky' in a few spots. Most websites say that it's long blooming (June - Sept), but I've seen some reviews that say it's not. I really want something light colored to contrast with the red salvia, but it must be long blooming. Can anyone tell me what the true bloom time is? Also, if it's short, can anyone recommend a substitution that is long blooming (and similar size and structure)?
Thanks so much!
I keep a bloom schedule and my 'Becky' lasts 4-6 weeks. Early June to Mid/Late July. I'm in zone 4b, Minnesota.
I do not deadhead, cuz I want the seeds. But I suspect if you did deadhead, you might get a second flush.
I've tried other Shastas and their bloom times were shorter.
My own experience is that Shastas give me the best mid summer bloom length.
Could you do a shrub... like maybe a hydrangea? That could give you light colored, long blooms.
When I hear "cat's whiskers" I think of this plant.
Any seedlings should not be reminiscent of morning glory.
um, and also tacca chantrieri or even cleome