13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

I am sooo curious.....back I go to ....to the internet

I looked and I agree. I swear someone figured out how to duplicate the distortions that occur with V. (veronica aka speedwell)Crater Lake Blue and thought they'd see if people would buy them.

I had V. CLB and they all developed double heads....they were so ugly I pulled them.

Thanks for the info 'gyr' and 'chouchou'.

I tried 3 plants of A. Tangerine Tango which was supposed to be hardy to zone 5, but they didn't survive for me in any of the spots I planted them.

Most garden centers carry milky spore I believe, although they may only carry it seasonally, i.e. spring and summer. Otherwise you can get it online. I often source items from Gardens Alive.

Opportunity: (past observations) + (reading this thread) + (additional reading) = (enlightenment).

I have to occasionally deal with shrubs; namely in this instance, Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon). Have had a single-flowered one in our own garden for years and it's never seeded.

Put a double-flowered cultivar in a garden and was too busy to deadhead it one year. I'd been deadheading it because the spent blooms seemed so ugly. The next year that plant had seeded all around itself and on into the lawn and I needed to pull up over a hundred Hibiscus seedlings.

More recently I'd salvaged a double-flowered Rose of Sharon (cultivar 'Lucy') and put it in our own garden. I now had two reasons to deadhead 'Lucy'; namely, still don't like the ugly spent blooms and the suspicion that the cultivar could be an invasive self-seeder.

Posts above pushed me to look up 'Lucy' on-line. Just read a warning about it; namely to deadhead its spent blooms to stop it being invasive.

In fact, it was the confusion around the common name "hibiscus" that presented me with an opportunity to become enlightened on this matter.

It is Rudbeckia triloba. It will flower soon and prolifically, it will also seed prolifically. Difficult to deadhead this one since the spent flowers still look tidy.

Thanks I was getting worried by the lack of blooms.

Sometimes plant in full bloom will flop after a big rain, never to stand up again until next season! Proppping up may work cosmetically. If you cut back the May night and prop it may loook acceptable rest of season.

Gave up on floppy achillea decades ago because of soil.

Peonies in bloom flop after rains all the time. Peony growers whine about it all the time!! That''s why they run out and cut all the blossoms before rain is predicted!!

Marie

ditto with the floppy achillea. I have one left, that I have not bothered to dig out. It's blooming now, a few inches above the ground...behind several 18" plants.

For some plants, including some salvias, I cut down tomato cages, one to 2 rings per plant. All my catmints are caged. One tomato cage will make 2 to 3 supports.

That sure looks like it. Thank you!

A tropical entity, not hardy below about Z10, AFAIK.

Great information, Woody.

Thanks from me, too. I've never seen this site and it will be fun to use it.

Always enjoy your photos and I feel like I've visited your garden in person. I especially enjoyed the evolution of your tool shed and I never see a big rodgersia without thinking of yours.

..thanks cat...glad you enjoyed the views...

Beautiful. I feel like I just leafed through a glossy coffee table book on fancy English gardens. What a different world from my weedy, suburban plot :)

Love Viburnums--check out 'Onondaga'. 'Mariesii' (white)
'Onondaga'

Thanks to all. I was able to figure out the one I bought last year. It blossomed this springtime and I was delighted. Bob

As I mentioned I have 7 of these plants scattered about and I see no sign of seeding. I very much recommend these plants.

This was one of my favourite shade perennials. I had one that was doing very well and I just loved it. Then it died this past winter. I'm happy to hear it reseeds Donna. I've been noticing some little sprouts in the area and am hoping that's what it is. I will pot some up just in case. But I've nurtured weeds before, lol. Here it is in its former glory.

Interesting, Dave.

My involvement with classification and nomenclature (nothing to do with plants) was at a time when numerical taxonomy was becoming recognized. As such, there was quite a debate about the validity of numerical taxonomy versus classical taxonomy, as I'm sure you know. I gather cluster analysis has some of the same philosophical underpinning as numerical taxonomy.

I'd agree, however, that it's to demonstrate that veronica and veronicastrum can produce hybrids, rather than to fall back on any type of classification system that makes it possible to argue that they may be able to or may not.

Love it! You have fertile ground, David! Who's the little Kniphofia budding? I've always wanted the pale yellow 'Little Maid'!

Haha, diggerdee! I run around all the forums, but I agree my pocket is lighter since looking at the alphabet on the hosta forum. I got some gentle giants this year that I hope will give some oophm! to my backyard shaded garden.

Lillies are such a different world and roses, too. So, I run around those forums with no fear (yet). I think before roses, I might wade gently into daylilies, but the sheer choice scares me off. For the roses, the upkeep/growing conditions are a factor as I try to grow plants that don't need any chemical intervention. I have one rose that is impervious to everything....of course I lost the tag (sigh)!

I wish you luck in your search! I also saw a pretty lily called "Marietta" in a few lists. Totally different than mine, but the same color combination and seems popular.

Well, now of course I am going to have to go and look up Marietta, posie! Yes, that hosta library is a very dangerous place! Last year I bought an Empress Wu, Komodo Dragon, and one other "giant" whose name slips my mind at the moment, but I'm hoping to see something spectacular from them soon. I get enough hosta lust -er, inspiration from various posts here and from catalogs. If I went actively searching on the hosta forum or in the hosta library I'd be done for. Same with daylilies. There could be a dozen that look exactly the same and I'd have to have all 12; couldn't just decide on one!

Been there, done that with roses. I still try to avoid Heirloom Roses catalog and the emails they send me (but can't quite bring myself to unsubscribe from them!), and David Austin is the bad boy in my life that every woman tries to avoid. Luckily for me, roses don't do too well for me (probably something to do with the degree of neglect I shower upon them) so I am more realistic with them now. But hostas and daylilies grow well for me and so they remain an active temptation!

I have no time to blog, and I haven't updated my albums for a few years, but here's my albums

http://picasaweb.google.com/108274884195904363782

I used to see a lot of coreopsis for sale in the garden centres in my area but haven't noticed any for quite some time...I don't think they are hardy enough for zone 2. I had "Moonbeam" come back one year for me but it certainly didn't thrive.

Wasn't trying to treat the flower, just wondering if something was munching on them.

The plant itself looks healthy as do surrounding plants and no not spraying down the whole bed. Haven't watered in weeks considering the rain we've had so far this summer.

Looks like the flower bud may have been damaged by rain as it was unfurling. The substance of the flowers themselves is very delicate and can be easily damaged by wind, rain, hail or heavy overhead irrigation.