13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
IâÂÂm in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, in Buffalo Grove. I have about ü acre. Not big, by most standards, but enough for me to handle (and often TOO much). I have mostly perennials, and do annuals for porch planters and to plug in here and there. I am at the point where if I want to plant something new, I have to kill something first.
Gonativegal, I see you are in Cicero. I have a friend who lives there! We often trade plants and give each other advice. He is a retiree with a very small yard, but crammed full.
Hi folks: Glad to see we are keeping this going and finding more Illinois gardeners. Hubby was out to work at 3 a.m. this morning, Monday and he had to scrape his windshield. Is it May???? Hope no one that lives close to me planted any annuals or veggies....better cover them. Now, tomorrow is suppose to be 87. Amazing. My front garden is finally drying out and recovering from the flooding, and we are suppose to have more rain and thunderstorms Thursday thru Saturday. My plants are already scared. Other parts of the gardens that were not subject to all that water actually need some rain. Go figure. Let me see some of your gardens, let's share pictures. Did anyone elses gardens flood?
This post was edited by illinoisdoglover on Tue, May 14, 13 at 1:11
ken, Lake Ontario (Golden Horshoe). You know the drill... freezing now, mid 20s (70s if you're still using Farenheit) by May. The frost date here was traditionally May 24, but we've been able to plant earlier for the last 5 years. I just don't know how fast these guys start, assuming everything is to their liking. They'll be indoors unless it's over 15 (60 F). They'll winter dormant in a dry pot in my cold cellar.
campanula - my summers are easily hot/sunny enough enough for mediterraneans. IMO UK summers aren't harsh enough for some plants (I lived in Cumbria for a while, where the sheep are mossy :-D )
I find that as long as my dianthus is in a spot with good drainage such as a slightly raised bed and the voles don't get it (unfortunately, it seems to be a favorite) dianthus comes back pretty consistently for me. I have grown a variety of groundcover dianthus for their spring bloom and frosty foliage, but not tried any of the longer blooming taller dianthus.
It's still a bit early to give up on them entirely. Neither my established fountain grass clumps nor feather reed grass are showing signs of new growth thus far but since they're mature plants that have come back reliably the past 5+ years, I have no doubt they'll reappear when they're ready. My Japanese sedge/Carex 'Ice Dance' clumps are thriving just as they have every season since they were planted.
in late july '12 i planted five 'Morning Lights' that were given to me as a gift and i have three more in pots that have yet to find a home. i placed those remaining three in the garage over the winter. only one that i planted is showing any growth. all others still dormant... i hope. i do have three 'Huron Stars' that are thriving, though.
absolutely - some of the creamy pale yellows are gorgeous 'Primrose', Elan, Hyde Hall and Randall's White - not so keen on the greens or the variagated foliage but they are really worth seeking out......along with hepaticas, another gorgeous genus.
Thank you all for the kind words. I have to admit that I did very little of all that work. I did, however, lend much moral support as my better half labored away. I delivered nice cold drinks, brownies and popsicles throughout his 3 1/2 days of hard labor. I love the sharp edging, but it is impossible to keep that look over the whole growing season. As all gardeners know, in the blink of an eye it seems, growing things will get ahead of one's good intentions. Good thing that we have a little less that an acre to work against us here. At least 2 of the larger island beds are in need of redoing and those hostas in the first picture need to be removed. They are suffering from too much sun since a very large American elm died and had to be cut down 2 years ago. The elm was replaced with a tulip tree, but it will be years for it's shade to be of any help.
blue princess is sold by Plant Delights. I purchased some of those this year and they are doing quite well. any of the verbenas on Plant Delights are all hardy in zone 7, so you can be sure that any of those would do well for you. I'll see if I can get a pic for you today. let me know if I can help further.
Noooo, don't say unkind things about sweet woodruff!
When it comes to groundcovers, the closest to "well-behaved" is "won't strangle your other perennials & you don't need a flamethrower to control it". Sweet woodruff is positively demure for a groundcover. If you don't like sweet woodruff you may want to reconsider & switch to mulch.
Why do you let them turn yellow and slimy?
In my beds above I have roses, ornamental small bushes and daylilies. When the BB are done blooming they are cut down. I also have a lot of daffodils, tulips and other Spring bulbs.
The daylily, roses and ornamental shrubs take their place and the beds are mulched at that time. It is the beginning of my Summer clean up for the Summer flowering plant show.
I cannot cut the other spring bulb leaves but the BB do not need their leaves. Cut them down do some weeding, put down some much and you end your slimy ugly mess.
Trust me, that isn't as bad as it could have been. Each year Steve Bender of Southern Living has a competition for the best (worst) "crepe murder" of the year. This isn't even close to being as bad as his "winners."
This is not too bad of a prune job...probably could have left a little more branching structure. You may get some droopy limbs this year, but it should be fine.
It looks like it's already been butchered in the past. I see those big 'knuckles ' near the bottom of the frame.
Looks like this poor tree will require lots of pruning from now on. In my opinion, it has outlived its usefulness for this particular location. If you were my client, I'd strongly suggest that you have this damaged tree removed and that you plant a nice specimen far away from the utility lines.
A non-blooming cultivar of lamb's ear is named 'Helen von Stein' (aka Big Ears) and while it grows slightly larger in circumference, it doesn't self-seed or spread like the species. So far, after three growing seasons, I'm well pleased with its performance and appearance in the full sun perennial garden.
Well I experimented with a container barrier by cutting a Lowes paint bucket in half, about 5-6 inches long. I dug out the dirt, inserted the bucket, and refilled and planted some of the Lambs Ear back. I hope this works. If not, I think I might be ready to move on to the suggested Silver Mound 'Nana' Artemisa.