13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
I live in 7B in Atlanta and have to plant this species in several parts of my garden to keep multiple hummingbirds from fighting over it. The bees go to sleep on it at night! The tubers over-winter for me reliably even when we have a cold one. I cut back all growth to 6 inches after hard frost kills the leaves. New growth emerges in April from existing tubers which multiply year over year. Easy to split in early Spring and Late fall. Original tubers only live about 2 years. I would suggest mulching heavily with pine straw or similar to insulate the ground. I think the key is making sure the tubers don't freeze and then rot. If it does over-winter I suggest you prune to 12" when first growth is 18" to create a more compact plant and increase first flush of bloom and prune again around July 4th to 2 1/2 feet. Will result in lovely flush of bloom in late summer. I pair with Plumbago Auriculata and Variegated Lantana Samantha which sadly do not repeat for me. All are most stunning together in late Summer and early Fall.
with tender stuff, drainage is very important. According to the theory you want them to sit rather dry from about August onwards. This hopefully has the effect that growth stops, the cells mature and the woody parts get rid of water inside their cells.
So prepared they can endure frost much better.
And if one applies fertilizer and waters a lot through out summer, you end up with overfed specimen. And their cells burst when it freezes.
Otherwise wonbyherwits mentioned good points.
Good luck, bye, Lin
I think it depends on the variety. I have Scabiosa Fama Blue and had Scabiosa Isaac House Hybrids, which did not return the third year. Both were grown from seed and both bloomed the second year. I had grown a couple of not hardy here varieties, a purple one, and Beaujolais Bonnets and both bloomed the same year I planted seeds but did not return.
I also started the yellow variety, ochroleuca. It bloomed the first year and was indeed the gift that keeps on giving - everywhere!
I like Fama Blue a lot. It starts blooming early and blooms until the really cold weather kills the tops. I have several buds on one of mine right now and it's still trying to open them, in spite of having gone through several freezes here already. Mine does need a support system, though, which I plan to use next year.
All that being said, Scabiosa are one of my favorite plants.
Linda
Thanks everyone! Good news! I watered the little fella on Sunday evening and the next morning it had visibly perked up! The flowers are now just tilted instead of bent over, and the leaves have uncurled - yay! i dont think its very happy in general, but i think he might just make it through winter after all. And its still flowering! Now i know - doesnt mean its a lavender that it likes being all dry... lesson learnt! Thanks again :)
This won't help for this year's mums, but there are fully hardy mums that don't need fussing over to overwinter. The two types in my garden have survived here on the edge of zone 4 for more than 10 years. Because of their location next to the front walk, they get cut back for appearance and ease of snow removal. The drainage is good and usually they are buried in snow, but we also have had virtually snow-free winters that they have survived well. I think I planted them in August. One is a short groundcover mum, C. Weyrichii, which blooms in September with simple white daisies. The other I don't know the name of by now if it even had a label when I bought it from a local fruit farm.
Fading after several nights in the low 20's. (I don't seem to have a photo of them in October when they are in full bloom.)
From November 14, 2012
Oh Woody ! So sorry about your accident... I think Saucy used an older list-I asked her to send out an e-mail for me because all my contact lists are on my old computer which is unplugged. I will see what we can do to amend the list.
A week of rain is on the way here--fungus corners !
Kathy in Napa
Maybe with just one plant I will be able to deadhead it before the seed spreads.
==>> i have proceeded forward under that delusion before .. lol ..
the result of my efforts .. is to suggest you kill it NOW .. lol ...
in other words.. i forgot about it.. and 10 years later. i still have seedlings popping up ...
anyway.. enjoy it.. its going to be hard to keep it alive.. flowering.. indoors all winter.. if it dies.. do not mourn its loss.. there are better things for your small garden ...
ken
That flower is darker than most from that plant -- in the summer they had more white in them. Not sure if that is because the flower just opened or the cold. I know some varieties have deeper purple flowers.
It reseeds like crazy, but you can easily pull the seedlings you don't want. Also, if you deadhead before it sets seed, it is much more manageable (and helps prevent the plant from becoming an annual or biennial as it wants to be). I don't find controlling it any less manageable than typical weed control, which I do anyway (by hand). I call it a "worthwhile annoyance" because I find it worth the trouble for this long-flowering plant.
I usually leave mine standing over winter, but I don't know if it's necessary. I have L. muscari, which stays relatively green for me over winter (though a snow dump wrecks the foliage, of course...). One of DH's chores in the spring is cutting down all the ornamental grasses, so I just leave the liriope for him to cut down while he's working on the grasses.
If you cut it down in Fall, you take away its "evergreen" attractiveness, but otherwise you won't harm it (unless you are in a zone in which it is marginally hardy, then you may help it survive by leaving the foliage as winter protection). It comes down to your personal preference; if it starts looking hideous during the winter, it may be better to get rid of the ugly. A lot of times people wait too long into Spring and cut the new growth which then makes for a hideous looking plant all season long.
Crepe Myrtles may be the most abused trees in the U.S.! They should be pruned in late Winter/Early Spring before emerging from dormancy and never cut back to the trunks, only to 4-6" up the flowering branch from the junction of last year's flowering branch and its supporting branch. Of course, you should also clean up suckers, rubbing branches, dead branches, and the like as well.
Mum shearing/pinching: Some do it because their mums would bloom in August otherwise and they are typically associated with Fall not Summer (some un-pinched mums will bloom in Spring in very warm climates where they put out vigorous Spring growth and get tricked by the longer nights!). Others do it to prevent flopping. Others do it to encourage branching and hence a denser bloom. I think overall, it is beneficial but there is no harm in letting them go natural either.
As for cutting down the perennials in Fall vs. Spring, I think most people do a little of both. Some absolutely must be cleaned up (black soggy hosta leaves are snail egg heaven). Some can wait. I only remove what must be removed to prevent disease, pests, etc.
I don't get to uptight about having everything pinched, staked, cut back etc. I leave most things standing through the winter, only cutting back/cleaning up any things that were diseased or had bug issues. We live on 8 acres, of that 4 has been restored to prairie, the other 4 is yard and gardens including a very large veggie garden. Time to be anal about my gardens is not available. That's not to say I don't do some deadheading and cutting back throughout the growing season. I just don't get myself stressed out if it's not perfection.
I just thought of something else that might be very useful. A central page as you enter GardenWeb that shows where there is activity in which forums at any given time.
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