13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
I grew it from seed via winter sowing a couple years ago & it came up the last two growing seasons. Germination from seed was prolific. I liked it for the delicate, lacy flowers + foliage--made a nice contrast with bigger-leafed perennials. I don't normally water my garden except for things that really need extra moisture beyond what Ma Nature provides and it never showed signs of needing a helping hand to thrive.
Re loosetrife: purple loosetrife is an agressive, invasive plant that colonizes wet areas and is no longer available from legitimate nurseries. Gooseneck loostrife, an entirely different plant, is very agressive in your garden, but will not take over the wild. And which do you have?
Hi lacyvail - there's been quite a discussion on the id of this 'Loosestrife'. We still don't have a definitive id.
Here is a link that might be useful: Which 'Loosestrife'?
Not true eric_oh...at least not in Canada. There are many more factors that are taken into consideration in determining plant hardiness zones (Canada). And I quote from the AGRICULTURE CANADA website:
Agriculture Canada scientists created a plant hardiness map using Canadian plant survival data and a wider range of climatic variables, including minimum winter temperatures, length of the frost-free period, summer rainfall, maximum temperatures, snow cover, January rainfall and maximum wind speed.
And right now with these cold winter temperatures there is an unusual lack of snow cover.
Blazing Star is liatris, not a lythrum, not a lysimachia :)
Similar in appearance and also easy to confuse could be Verbena hastata: blue vervain, and Epilobium: fireweed. If going by memory, you may need a photo of your plants when growth begins for accurate ID.
And here I very much like my "Yellow Loosestrife" (Lysimachia punctata). For sure the foliage is nothing to write home about but in bloom there are tons of flowers (actually quite unique i.e. little yellow star like blooms with a light orange centre) lasting 3 to 4 weeks. I have it in a small 'medallion' garden surrounded by interlock so it does not spread. Here is a picture of it from June 2011.
This post was edited by rouge21 on Sun, Jan 20, 13 at 6:04
Yes, Wellspring, I have definitely been a path dreamer for awhile now. And I still have a good portion of the garden that needs a new pathway, but it's on the back burner for now.
I did find a photo of our pathway when we finished it. It's pretty simple and we used rocks to create a little bed there that simply has ferns and other shade perennials in it for now. I have thoughts of adding something vertical there, but who knows when. Another thing I like about the path is that it is under a high canopy of a large Maple tree and near some full grown spruce in the neighbor's yard, so we get a nice layer of needles and that layer of pollen that falls off the tree in the late spring, and it then makes the bark mulch look very natural and part of the landscape. You can see it is easy to navigate with a four foot wide gate that allows for the wheelbarrel etc. I couldn't find a photo of the pavers on the other side of the gate yet, but I'll look again. I need to catch up with my photo labeling.
My question is, does this path get enough traffic to rule out grass? Or is the situation too shady to rule out grass? I have some grass paths, with garden beds on either side. It takes about 15 seconds with the lawn mower to maintain them.
Hi, purple. Thanks for the help on both posts. I don't know that I did smell number four? Is it good or bad? This thread has been immensely helpful for me because a few of those plants (especially the lilac) really puzzled me last summer. I have two other lilac trees and they are so wildly different from this one. I thought it might be some weird variety of crepe myrtle. The lilacs all smell divine. As do the peonies of course.
The viburnum smells great also. I'm glad to know its name so that I can learn how to prune it. It grows in a strange pattern.
I'm wishing that I had better pictures of the beds and not just the individual plants. Our garden is really neat.
Oh yes, #4 should smell good, there are very few that don't. That particular one looks like it smells especially good, similar to carnation probably, but better. Worth getting your tush up in the air for, I hope, predict.
Totally agree, you've got a great yard! The plants pictured all look great to me, even the grass.
LOL campanula re the acanthus comment!
QE rose - We love the flower shape, color, scent, disease resistance, and hardiness. But it is a leggy thing that is only attractive on the top! That's why I'm going to see if I can try to make it grow as a tree-form. I planted a 'Little Henry' Itea shrub beside/under it last fall. If the rose pruning works, the Itea should hide the stem of the rose (except in the winter) and add more flowers lower down, plus fall color. We'll see how it goes.... If it doesn't work QE will probably leave the garden.
If you like wildlings, campanula, have you ever tried growing the Angel roses from seed? They're supposed to be Rosa sinensis minima according to the source I got the seeds from (I think it's usually spelled chinensis - but that's not how the place where I got the seeds spelled it....) Most of the flowers on mine are small singles in shades of pink but the bloom is profuse and it blooms for months. And then they have vivid red hips for winter. They quickly form a hedge. Nothing seems to bother them and they're quite hardy. Sometimes there's a bit of tip die-back over winter that needs trimming off but doesn't cause any serious damage. They are prickly little devils though! This picture from the end of October shows both the flowers and hips:
veronica.... next time.. start your own post ...
anyway ... keep it properly watered.. but NOT sodden.. and see if it rebuds..
lets hope it just went dormant from lack of water ...
only time will tell..
ken
ps: and next time.. leave it with a friend... lol.. that hindsight is always 20/20
To any one interested. I placed a few of my seeds in a damp paper towel inside a plastic bag on top of the frig. In three days little roots were shooting so have now planted them in a pot and will move them to the green house. Perhaps it is much too early and they may get large and spindly, but I have many other seeds thanks to a friendly gardener from Oklahoma. No expense, so I can experiment. Love those gardening friends.
Ah.... well, let's hope it makes it through this winter!
Dee
This thread has been great fun to read! Those covers would be toast in any winter where we might get 3-4' of snow or an ice storm. And to think they now come with christmas lights built in to draw even more attention to them.
There are many shrubs that I've "thought" about purchasing knowing they would need some protection. I do suffer from a fairly bad case of zone envy every now and then, but more often than not, I put the idea out of my head and admire the shrubs in catalogs, online or in someone else's southern garden.
Now, if there were in fact a chocolate tree (mswngal, love that idea!)that could sprout a supply of Dove Dark all season, I would sign up for that and baby it year round no matter what it took!
As for those horrid burlap-wrapped shrubs, we just watched A Nightmare Before Christmas and those things look like the boogeyman in that movie!