13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Thanks, Babs that helps a lot. It's. not that I really need/want them to be smaller, just that I noticed how big they got in one season. And didn't want them to run out of room. Sounds like they will be ok.
Also, now I'm worried that they aren't particularly healthy given that everyone thought they were grass!! Do/did you fertilize them at all?
Thanks!

In your second set of pictures "And here is another picture (further away) of the second clump " the blooms are hard to make out but to me it does look like thrift (Armeria, rather than Dianthus). Have you checked pictures of Armeria on line to compare? Armeria is commonly known as Thrift but another name is sea pink because of the slight resemblance.

Anyhow, as others have said, none of them need any pruning now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Armeria

any echinacea left? if so, karenlau@swbell.net, thanks for your generosity!

I would be interested in the rudbeckia and echinacea, if I'm not too late.

I'm new here, but I have a suggestion for keeping rabbits away from your crocus. I used a clump of human hair sprinkled around the base of the plant in my vegetable garden last year. As long as there is plenty there, it worked for me. Looked a little strange though :-)

Martha, I truly feel your pain about the crocuses. The rabbits have been particularly voracious this year and have been merciless with my patch of 'Snowbunting' and several species of autumn-blooming crocus (which are--or should be--just foliage this time of year, although now they are all bare pathetic stubs). What's worse, there are multiple patches of crocus in my neighbors' gardens that have been completely untouched by the stupid rodents. It makes me so mad! Grrrrr.

So, I finally got fed up last week and tried two things:

1. I bought some Plantskydd soluble powder. Though it is supposed to be applied with a sprayer, I have just been mixing it in an old watering can and applying it that way.
2. I bought 5 lbs of bulk hot red pepper flakes and have been sprinkling them in all of my flower beds.

So far, this regimen seems to be working. My 'Snowbunting' crocus have started to grow a little bit and are even producing some smaller secondary flowers. I just hope the corms are not weakened by the endless rabbit attacks over the past month. It remains to be seen whether my fall crocus will recover.

In addition, using the two things above has also caused a reduction in the number of pesky squirrels digging in my flower beds.

If you're in z5, then the tulips are a no brainer.

1) tend & water them until they die back.
2) remove the bulbs from the pot
3) store in a paper bag (with sterile sawdust or peat if you wish), in a dark, dry place.
4) in late fall, plant them.

Most of them come up as well as any "properly" grown bulb.

to add to the above great directions:

Plant them in fast draining soil and don't water them after the foliage dies back. you don't need to lift them after that unless you are wanting to divide them.

zone 7-8

mmmm, cultivating a bit of a malva obsession myself (latest sowing - iliamna rivularis). You might try the alpine forum?

I like to use rocks to mark plants I think I might forget, or haven't had long enough to recognize. But basal growth from a perennial usually looks very different from sprouting seeds of almost any weeds, unless there's perennial weeds to consider, it's got to be something I planted.

Maybe it's just me, but putting any kind of marker for plants is usually tantamount to reading it its' last rites. Maybe they die of embarrassment? One of Murphy's Laws?

For the time these small stakes are in the garden it is late fall and so generally mostly covered by leaves; in the winter it is snow that hides them and in the spring I am just glad to see them marking a soon to appear plant!

Such cute little plants. They arrived yesterday and are now in my wee green house. Hard to imagine the much larger plants in the photos. How long before mine reach that size?

Hi OHH...just wondering how your babies are doing? (smile)

Bonnie

Oh, don't get me started. The Maryland Home & "Garden" show got so bad in recent years, I left feeling nothing but anger. Lousy, no-imagination displays of over-forced plants do nothing to dispel winter blahs, and for the past several years, there has been only ONE vendor selling plants: a florist selling potted bulbs, primroses and pansies (I have nothing against any of those plants, but supermarkets are full of them after all). I have only attended for the orchid show that coincides with the "flower" show, and skipped that this year due to time constraints.

How the hell cheery is it to see people leaving a flower show carrying mops? Mops! GD MOPS!

H&G shows. Blech. I think they should pay us to attend since the biggest gardening thing they offer is an opportunity to buy hardscaping stuff and services. I'd be more interested if the local nurseries showed up but they don't.

I have a Rodgersia species (tag has long been lost) growing near the north wall of my house - no actual shade, but very little direct sun except a bit in June-July. It has expanded to a large clump and flowers nicely. Hostas and Tricyrtis also do well in this bed.

I just ordered Rodgersia Pinnata "Fireworks" from Lazy S's and it arrived today with a few more things I can't seem to find around here! I plan to plant it in partial shade down beside our koi pond where the soil stays moist but not competely wet and boggy. I hope it will be happy there! I don't know why I can't find them locally. They are beautiful and are 'supposed' to do well in our zone. I also bought a bottlebrush buckeye after seeing one on the grounds of the High Hampton Inn last year in Highlands, North Carolina. It was massive and gorgeous! I plan to plant it in partial shade down near our creek.

and junkie.. water is the key ... right ...

that .. IMHO ... is the FIRST thing to figure out.. after that.. the sky is the limit, as to plants ...

the second thing.. under mature trees.. is the soil ... and how 'used up' it is under very mature trees ...

just try things.. water the heck out of them.. and GO FOR IT ...

you have nothing to lose .. except some plants.. and some exercise.

BTW.. if you have lots of mature perennials around the yard.. a FREE way to TRY things.. is to divide what you have .. and just start moving things out there... then you lose just the exercise.. rather than money ...

i can see along string of post on how to divide a given plant ..

good luck

ken

Thanks everyone!! Very very good and advice, thanks for your patience !!

docmom, email me when you get back and we'll plan something. Enjoy your Spring Break!

Thanks for all the post, I was born in Bixby hospital in Adrian, lived in Cadmus and Addison. Played ball in the schools of Lenawee county, but left in 1954 to serve in the Army. So it is good to hear all those names again. Hunted and fished many lakes and stream while living there had to garden then but was not really interested back then.. I grew up thinking that asparagus was a cheap vegetable that grew along side the roads.

This is my thread to myself I guess! Bought some at lowes today. Blue clips campanula. Don't know much about it but the price was right!

Good luck. I saw some in Calloway's a couple of weeks ago, and they told me they would be blooming for about 2 more weeks, and wouldn't survive our hot summers. I'm in Houston. Let us know how yours do.

I have some transplants in pots (6-8")...been sitting there for at least 4 years...hate to admit that!!! (Don't fuss at me....I'm a BAD plant Mom). They've come back every year without ANY maintenance and are still green now, but that's leftover from last year.

Will dig down and check if I see any new growth. And THANK YOU for reminding me to take care of these babies.....BAD MOMMY!!

Mine never did die back much over the winter, and they are all up and putting on new growth. Well, except for the newly planted black mondos that the deer pulled up. By the time I found those lying on the ground, and put them back, they might be dead. Not showing any green to speak of, anyway. Darn woods rats.I should have expected it, and stuck a few skewers around them. That worked before when they pulled up a whole bed of liriope that wasn't rooted in well..

Sandy