13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Plus, before there were cornfields and your garden there was something there. Prairie? Forest? whatever. There may well be seeds in the ground from before the area was settled just waiting to be turned up. My house was built in 1820 on fields. I get plants in the garden which must have been here before the town spread. e.g. wild garlic and celandines.
Another source is bought in plants which bring seeds in their potting medium.
This might be my favorite thread ever. It's so eye-opening. In NE Ohio we were probably prarie originally. My house is from 1878 and the surrounding fields would be at least that old, I imagine. I love to think about seeds traveling through time and space.
My 'garden' is genuinely minute, the wood looks after itself and the allotment is pretty much under control after 20 odd years. I only grow stuff that wants to grow, don't do any bedding out and let things self seed a lot. Such as the aforementioned Lambs Lettuce. But, yes, I sometimes get home from work and think I ought to be on the allotment - but stay in and have a glass of wine instead.
Look into chaste trees (vitex). Lazy S Farms has several different varieties. You can keep them as a bush by cutting them back to the ground every year or you can prune them as trees. They bloom for months and remind me of a butterfly bush with the type of blooms. Love, love. Easy and very versatile.
You are on the edge of the zone for chaste trees, but I have read several people that were successful with them in zone 5.
I have a huge nursery close by where they do have most of the plants suggested in this thread! We went over the weekend and bought some for the front garden but going back next weekend for these two shade gardens!
Through more observations, I noted that bed #1 gets a little bit of sun in AM. Maybe an hour. But not sure if this will continue to be the case when all the tall trees leaf out.
I noted that the bed #2 starts getting sun around 1:30-2pm till about 4:30-5pm. There are no trees around that bed, so that should be pretty accurate. Winter Gem Boxwood that I planted there is doing great, so it must get enough sun to get by? Maybe I get more of those since I already know that it is doing well?
Freki, what is a no-maintenance perennial bed? I don't have any of those.
LOL!! I was about to say the same. No such thing as a no-maintenance perennial. - low maybe: no-maintenance, no way! The only no-maintenance plants of any type I am aware of are those made of plastic :-)
Thanks, everyone! I actually love the idea of a butterfly and hummingbird garden!! Why didn't I think if that? We're in the country surrounded by a 600 acre cornfield. Our birds tend to be what I would call "farm" birds: blue birds, swallows, finches, etc. Oddly, we don't get any cardinals, robins or blue jays.
If we plant it will they come? Even thought we are more farmy and have no surrounding gardens? Thoughts?
Favorite hummingbird or butterfly plants other than those Martha suggested?
Thanks!!
Why the heck are you so adamant about everything?? Do you garden worldwide that you are such an authority on what will grow where?
If this bulb is not hardy in zone 7, why do all manner of bulb specialty nurseries advertise it as such, hmmmmm??
Ho yes indeed - so very, very familiar.
Gardening on a public allotment (there are 300,000 such plots in the UK), this sort of behaviour is dreadfully common....which is why our site has forgone any association membership, leadership (presidential or otherwise) but just pays rent to the local council which has zero interest in allotment spats and disagreements . Afraid there have been a couple of Ms Ward's (we all know the type - those who crave power are the ones who should not be allowed to have it!) but they have been rudely ousted by a general air of anarchy. We do our own thing here (although other sites in the city have far different methods of interacting). Gardening raises high passions in the UK - we have had murders over hedges, giant vegetables, compost defilement, clematis wars, pumpkin stealing....but mostly, interlopers who start throwing their weight around. I expect Ms Ward will have a brief tenure since gardeners are nothing if not patient, cunning and tenacious.
Hi! Not any direct experience with a fountain but we have used solar Christmas lights and solar spot lights in our garden. The spot lights work great. They are now two years old and going strong. The Christmas lights worked for two days and then died immediately. We had four different strands and they all died. The Christmas lights were by GE. I can't remember who made the spot lights but we bought them at Home Depot.
We have a small fountain on our patio and I love it. I hope you can find a good one!
Check Amazon for reviews before you buy!!
Well here it is 10 days later, and I'm STILL working on garden cleanup. It's mixed with pruning shrubbery and some transplanting, but still going slow. Got the front yard gardens done, now I'm working on the back. Try to go out for at least an hour or two a day and prune, chop, rake, pull, and pick up. Drag another tarp of leaves and garden debris, or drag another pile of brush. It's great exercise but the body's getting older, gotta take it slower than when I was younger.
Sorry to hear about those who still have snow. Ugh. Woodyoak, hope your leg heals soon. Bluebird, I like your peony picture. PM2, that is funny that the teenagers moved your rocks, usually it's the snow plow that has moved stuff around!
Docmom, I had tons of Vinca on this lot and have gotten rid of a lot of it every which way. Smothering works very well and is the easiest way, but if you have plants you want to save amongst the Vinca you would have to dig them out first, because smothering will kill everything.
Smothering might work on that white snow in the summer. Or you could offer it free on Craigslist and people will come dig it up for you!
Yup 10 days later and I still have snow covering most of my beds. At least today we're getting peeks of sun and for now no snow, sleet, or freezing rain is falling from the sky so that's a good thing. Our high temp today hit 40. At least we didn't get the 18" they got in the Fargo, ND area.
After blooming, I cut them back to about 5" and mulched them.
I am sure your "mums" will return but it is my understanding that one does not cut them back in the fall as this now dead growth provides additional protection. (Although I do now read that you did mulch).
One of my favorites is written by a professional who is based in Detroit, Deborah Silver. Her window boxes and planters see wonderful and she covers a range of design topics.
Here is a link that might be useful: Dirt Simple
I like/visit the first two as well ispahan ;-)
I'm not really a daily blog reader. I'll forget about them for awhile and then play catch-up when I make the time and read all previous entries.
But here are a few I like:
Linda Cochran's Garden blog- from Bainbridge IS WA- I think this is probably the most brilliant garden I have seen at combining unique plants and collections and making them look cohesive!
John Jerrard's Herbal- a plant collector in the UK with humorous posts and great pics. I envy some of his collections.
TezaâÂÂs Hortus Magnificum - features lots of cool shade plants.
You Grow Girl! - like the unusual veggie and edibles posts
Barry's Blog, A Sense of Place- more unique plants
Graham RiceâÂÂs Blog- gives updates on new plants. I know not all will be available in the states, but it is fun to look anyway.
Hummm...thought I had a few more, but can't find them now ((naturally)).
CMK
Each fertile plant will selfseed if allowed and the conditions are right. It is the purpose of blooming. It is something you just have to acknowledge. It is as simple as this: do not want seed - cut the spent flowers down. No reason to invent " evil plants".
This post was edited by wieslaw59 on Sat, Apr 13, 13 at 17:22
Peonies
The bare root division should be planted in a hole sufficiently deep that the highest crown bud is about 5 cm (two inches) below the surface.
Planting too deeply will frequently prevent the plant from flowering. A too shallow planting puts the buds at risk of mechanical or winter damage.
So I think what happened is that the 1 inch if soil that was covering the eyes has blown away. We've had some really windy days. When i touch the little eyes it feels like it's the whole root (if that makes sense) so should I recover those (pic above) or just leave it ? There is no danger of frost here.
Zone8