13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Ken's got a good point about not compacting the soil in your garden beds. I normally don't even consider doing anything more than pull weeds & cut back ornamental grasses this time of year and always do so from the paths/lawn that edge or surround my beds.

stepping tones in a border help limiting the damage plus you dont accidentally kill some sprouting thing.
Do you have heavy, loamy soil? If heavy soil is too wet, it doesn`t crumble when you turn it with a spade but is rather putty-like. That`s bad and you should wait.

and out of curiosity, where do you want to dig? In a perennial border it is not necessary and rather disturbs the plants.
bye, Lin

Mine did not survive it first winter, disappointingly!

I hadn't heard of "Kit Kat". And yet if I had room I would like to try the "Joanna Reed" catmint. Its description sounds perfect as well.

I am going to hunt a few down this year too. As Ech noted, they will set seed as normal, but i don't believe they won't come true from see like most hybrids. It will be just a genetic mix up as to what you end up with.

I've grown the species from seed as well as one named 'Screaming Yellow' but the plants haven't matured enough to bloom yet so the jury's still out on whether they bloom true from seed. My mature named cultivars all form seed pods.

If you are new to Heuchera and don't care about them being "designer" varieties I would suggest Home Depot or Lowe's. Already this season I found HUGE plants in 3 gallon pots for 15.00.

Lowes has some of the new varieties here. Santa Rosa Gardens is a great online source with great prices!

This is good news. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I've been looking for a decent-priced, mail order place for shrubs and based on my experience and what all of you have said, maybe I've found it.

Before I ordered from Jungs, I was putting together an order from another source with a great reputation, but OMG! The shipping costs were equal to the cost of the plants themselves. I just can't do that, unless it's something I just have to have and can't purchase anywhere else.

Kevin

This is my first time ordering from them. The plants were small but they are taking off, esp. the Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea! I received some decent side gladiolus too. Very happy with them. I would order from them again.

Hi David,
We call those "fiddle heads" and they are newly emerging fern fronds. Once established, generally fern prefer to be a little on the dry side, but not dried out.

I'm curious, when you placed the order, did it indicate if this "variety bag" of fern are perennial in your growing zone? You can indicate your growing zone with your name and that would be helpful when you post :-)

I've added a photo of my Glade Fern fiddle heads which are a little different. They are planted in my wild flower garden. Your fern may be another variety such as Holly Fern. I'm only suggesting it because Holly fern are readily available and have woodier (crispier) fiddle heads and frond stems.

Deb

Hi Deb

Thanks for the response and picture! Would you believe the order confirmation and packing slip don't mention the different names. I know the bags they came in had the names on them but I threw them out without thinking to look at the packing slip to make sure they were listed there, too. I looked at information on a couple different ferns and those at least are hardy in my zone and listed as perennials.
I emailed them to see if they could tell me the different varieties so we'll see. I'd like to look into the different ones as I only have two of the five planted showing any fiddle heads (love that!!)

Thanks again!

In the UK, we call it the 'Chelsea Chop' in that we do it during the week of the Chelsea Flower Show (final week in May) - things like asters, helenium, monarda, sedum, get cut back by half to avoid later flopping and stimulate side shoots.

Campanula, love that "Chelsea Chop" too cute

I do my Perovskia too

Rudbeckia 'Marmalade'.

Thank you

I am old and do not want to wait 20 years for maturity. I do not mind a small perennial and have purchased small but I try not to buy bushes small. I need the gratification now so I can enjoy it as long as possible.

I do not want to be 80 to finally see the results of my work. If I was 20 years old I would buy small.

I think it depends on what I'm buying.

If it's a tree, I want it to be at least 4-6 feet tall.
If it's a Heuchera, small is great.
If it's one of the newer Echinaceas, larger is best.
It really depends on the plant for me. I just bought a weeping red bud tree. It is about 6 feet tall already and it instantly made an impact when I planted it. I don't want to wait ten to twenty years to notice my tree when you drive by.

We had a swale/berm put in last year in another part of the yard (with plans to put this one in, this summer), wide but not very deep, about 80' long, with netting, hay, soil, and grass seed on top. The difference with the one this year will be the plants. Probably have river rock, pea gravel or something similar for the swale, plants on the berm.

P.S. Years ago, before the earth cooled, I went to school in Adrian!

==>> now that cracked me up ...

actually.. i have an adrian zip code.. i live out near the raisin township hall off gady ..

if those existed back when the earth was cooling.. lol ..

ken

Why choose just one? Plant both. I plan to add a white one too at the other end of the flower bed

Hmmmm, I was on the "icky" boat too, but the comments and photos have me rethinking. Might have to add this one after all since I love the other three types.
Gonativegal mentioned the spireas with similar color. I think you're right, that's where the icky factor started!

Recent impulse buys:

When I saw 'Scarlet Storm' and 'Orange Storm' Flowering Quince locally, I had to have them both. The blooms look like Camelias. If you haven't seen those plants, look them up. They are very impressive plants!

Mercifully---- from a financial standpoint that is---- the weather is still cold here along the CT coastline because by now near the end of April I'd be into full-mode impulse purchasing. Did take a "look see" at this retailer's in Windsor, CT, on Sunday and came home with:

2 large Peonies @ $9.99 each--- Coral Sunset and Paula Fay

6/$36.00 1 qt. perennials ---2 Cherry Brandy Rudbeckias, 2 Primula Vialii, 2 Lychnis Lumina Broze Leaf Red

All-in-all, I thought it was a SCORE! The question my DH had was, "Why do you bother winter sowing perennials when you're going to do this?"

Molie