13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

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.

I thought i heard they are biennial. They can be aggressive but i encourage them to grow where ever they want. They are one of the 8 wonder of the world. LOL :-)

Biennial re-seeders. Weeds for me.

Oh, I still wanted to know about transplanting them? I have not had much luck with transplanting seedlings of perennials or biennials. I tried some foxgloves and ligularia while at a small size last year and none of them made it. Yet I obtained them in a plant swap, so somebody is doing it right. Do they need to be nursed a long in a pot til bigger? That way I could monitor watering more. Or just left in situ until bigger?

This post was edited by linnea56 on Wed, May 15, 13 at 11:35

They transplant easy when small, give it a try. Over the years you should end up with blooming plants every spring.... not all seeds sprout each year, some are too small to bloom after the first year....

Here is a fairly good writeup about the clay + sand = cement debate. Turns out, it does if not mixed in the right proportion. I would avoid doing it.

I almost hate to share this with you, Ellen, but I grow these successfully in hard red Alabama clay soil. Some composted wood chips were tilled in originally 8 years ago but that's it. We do maintain a layer of mulch on top. We do not have an irrigation system and any plant we choose must be able to thrive in near xeric conditions.

So, blazing sun, clay soil, no irrigation all seem to work for our Arizona Sun. If I'm not mistaken, the first few plants we planted were from Bluestone, but have added many more that I grew from seed. They bloom the first year from seed.

After they've gone dormant is probably the best time to move them! Gives them the rest of the season to establish some nice new roots.

Thank you for your advice and reassurance. I've never moved one before, but I'm worrying a lot less now.

Thank you, Fun! You knew exactly what I was after. Didn't even think of washing off the bush. Talk about "duh" moments.

Cear, that made me laugh outloud! This little guy is only about 20 pounds. We do keep him out of there, but goodness gracious dogs can be persistent. No idea what makes this particular bush so attractive. It's just a pee magnet.

Thanks for your suggestions!

I've heard gypsum works for dog spots in the yard. Wonder if it'd work for the tree?

If there's no reason to remove the pine, it sure would be a lot less expensive (ie: FREE) to move the viburnum. I'm like Terrene and move shrubs of all sizes. I do however like the idea of buying a 2nd one! One can never have enough viburnums.

I should clarify, 6 feet isn't exactly small either - it's a decent effort to dig up a plant that size, but certainly not too big.

Another good reason to get more than one Viburnum is that they need to be cross pollinated to produce abundant berries - so you need two genetically different individuals with overlapping bloom times to get good pollination.