13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

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

and since most of us grow them as annuals.. you would find the post in that forum at the link .. by our own GW expert ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Dumb mistake on my part, Ken. . .I actually DO know the difference between perennials and annuals :>)
Thanks for pointing that out!

Carl

Hi Gary, i just managed to take a snap of the Aubrieta seedling, or rather seedlings, judging by the flower colors, I guess there are about 3 different plants. Probably still some time to wait untill yours start sprouting, well then, bye, Lin

Lowes has Aubrieta for sale around here right now.
I have a sort of cascade (beds beside steps) of aubrieta about ready to bloom.
I am ambivalent about this plant. It puts out an amazing bloom for a few weeks in spring that gets lots of compliments- then it looks bad ugly and needs a haircut to cut off all the flower stalks and seed pods.
It is prone to some kind of VERY Thick white fungus that if you disturb the plant it billows like smoke. YuK!
and I had a big section up and die this last winter so I am torn about regrowing it.
The local park grows a wall of alternating colors (mine is a really nice bold violet color) with some other creepers and it looks great.

nothing to lose roxy ....

but my bet would be 90% leaves.. and maybe one weirdo who might flower ...

but they should be in sync for the following spring.. all else OK

they need a cold period to set the bloom.. so if they were in a cold garage.. and didnt dry too much.. well.. maybe..

but if they were in the house.. and no chill period... no flower ....

ken

Matthew, if you have them, plant them. Even if they don't bloom this year it is better than not planting them.

tj

Thanks everyone! I hadn't thought about adding anything else to the bed - I was worried about damaging the flowers that are already there. Bulbs might not be a bad idea. I will have to look into some that bloom a little later so I will have some flowers in the late spring/summer.

It gets confusing, but nurseries and growers have taken to calling this (Phlox subulata) "Creeping Phlox" when historically it was known as "Moss Phlox" and Phlox stolonifera was "Creeping Phlox" (basically, a shade species of phlox).

Anyway, neither here nor there, but interesting.

Catmint does not behave like other mints for me. I love it in my garden and it took a couple of years to really grow and its one of my favorites! I have it growing the front of the bed where it cascades onto the walkway. I put coffee grinds etc around it but it does well without.

Obviously Ken has never even grown a Nepeta. That's like saying "Devil's Apple" has the word apple in in, so it must be the same as your grocery store apple.

As other's have said, composting is not really needed. The more x-erscape type catmints are good to go, but I do tend to give my Nepeta subsessilis some compost once in a blue moon. Unlike the other types it tends to look more robust with the occasional feeding and not overly dry conditions....

Guessing you have one of the others though, like 'Walker's Low' ;-)
CMK

This post was edited by christinmk on Mon, Apr 22, 13 at 12:50

They are really billed as high-shade/moisture plants here because the tendency is for them to dry up in summer -- they really need constant moisture and that necessitates a shady spot. Not sure if that explains why people have had trouble with their longevity or not. I think the ideal location is under deciduous tree cover where they get plenty of initial sun before the trees leaf-out so they can bloom well and are eventually protected from the hot/drying summer sun by the tree cover.

This post was edited by mistascott on Sun, Apr 21, 13 at 17:06

Yes I think it's Touch of Class Christin, it's a pretty plant and nice to hear it's rugged.

I have about thirty total mixed Callunas and Ericas.

I shear all of them every year after they are done blooming and they all stay compact without splaying out or dead centers.

Shearing is particularly important with Callunas...

Nice to know and thank you for posting. Successfully growing heather will be a learning experience for me. I need all the info that I can get from Gardenweb members who have been growing heather.

Linda

You know, I have a friend who has a VERY wet garden - I'm talking standing water in parts of it. Before we redid it to include water-loving plants, she had (and still has - if it ain't broke don't fix it!) a gorgeous peony in there that throve and bloomed and is just beautiful. Granted, it was not in the part with standing water, but it is indeed very wet throughout most of the year. ('m talking so wet I lost a shoe in there! Sucked right off my foot when I lifted it to walk!) I left it right where it was (the peony not the shoe!) since it seemed to like the spot.

So perhaps your peonies will be okay. Obviously yours probably got more water, at least all at once, than my friends do, but you never know. Let's hope for the best!

Dee

I would be really scared. Has it ever gotten in your house?

Fingers crossed for you.

I love the trend of grower's working on smaller and dwarf shrubs. They mix into perennial borders much better and with smaller gardens they are better too. With plants such as Forsythia which really only have one season of interest, a smaller plant is easier to mix in the rest of the year too though I have seen one with very interesting variegated foliage but it was too big of a grower for me.

Do any of them grow with the fountain shape of the full sized forsythia, just on a smaller scale? One of the things I love about full-sized forsythia is the shape of the plants and so far I haven't seen a dwarf that has a similar shape.