13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
"Build it and they will come." Build a healthy soil with plenty of organic matter and earthworms will populate it. Earthworms aren't going to aerate dry compacted clay no matter how many you bury. They will high-tail it somewhere else. They want to be in soils with plenty of organic matter.
I have no experience with Jumpers but my intuition tells me that if you build healthy soil, everything else will fall into place.
As Ken says, it is probably too late for winter annual pre-emergents to be effective as they germinated long ago. They germinated here in mid to late August and probably even earlier in cooler zones.
Though a pre-emergent should prevent any further spread of the weeds this winter -- they usually don't do much seeding until early Spring when temps start to warm. I prefer to pull them in early Spring when I do my perennial bed cleanup.
I'm shade challenged with the way our home sits and I don't have areas for very many hosta. I just wanted to mention that I do have Hadspen Blue here. I even moved it here when we moved so that I could keep it. It's a lovely cool, blue color and does well for me even if it gets a bit of sun during part of the growing season.
Congratulations on your bargain finds!
Linda
As above, would make sure new growth-blooming shrubs such as Hydrangea paniculata are winter dormant before doing any major pruning. This can be as early as December/January/February. If it blooms on old wood (e.g. Hydrangea macrophylla), only remove the canes that are broken because buds have already formed for next Spring. See the below link for some detailed information on Hydrangea pruning.
Here is a link that might be useful: Hydrangea pruning
"...the smaller picea are not easily available and almost too small ie get lost unless they are in the border, the larger ones....well just get too large..."
Bingo! Too small or too large, lol. That's the dilemma! Well, at least for me!
Beautiful pics, nhbabs, of a beautiful yard. If I had that kind of room I wouldn't be so worried!
:)
Dee
I started incorporating conifers in my garden to give me color and structure during those months when there isn't much going on. Those months when everything looks brown and dead, like now and early spring. After I started adding them I realized that I prefer foliage to flowers and now prefer to buy things that will give me more than a month's worth of beauty.
My 1.25 acre parcel is upland savannah and the soil is well-drained sandy loam. Many trees have been removed over the past 10 years, or thinned, but there are still numerous large canopy trees and they're spaced out in such a way that there is hardly any full sun, but lots of partial sun.
There are a lot of perennials that do pretty well with partial shade with medium moisture - including wetland plants with some supplemental water during dry spells. If there's really a drought though, I can't keep up on watering everything, and the wetland plants tend to suffer and sometimes go dormant or experience a bit of dieback.
I add organic matter like compost, leaf mold, etc. to all the gardens about once a year, to improve moisture retention and it helps with both sandy or clay soil. I've hand dug many garden beds, and pulled out tons of roots, rocks etc., but in more recent years also use the lasagne or sheet composting technique which is much less labor although it's slower to build a bed.
The biggest challenge under these conditions is growing veggies and the heat/sun-loving annuals like Sunflowers, because they really perform best under full sun. I would love to have great big veggie and butterfly garden, and daylily and cutting gardens too, LOL, and I suffer from a terrible case of sun envy.
You're right...I'm right down the street from Clemson, in northern Anderson! I was planning on volunteering at the botanical gardens to learn more about plant propagation - maybe I'll learn more there!
Color isn't too important...because I've got 2 side areas with nice amounts of sun and I'll get my color there. But for those patches under the trees...I'll definitely consult the Master Gardener. I would like to take the course myself! :)
I have seen these types of flowers in the neighborhood but I never knew what they were. These are not the kind of anemones that I am familiar with (anemone coronaria)
Can I ask a silly question? What are these types of anemones called so I know what to look for in the garden center? Do you by them as tubers or plants?
Morz8, I do spray, but it's been raining a lot lately, and I admit I do not spray the things they're really not supposed to like, such as G. macrorrhizum. I know they usually love roses, but not rugosas, no? Anyway, whatever, they eat everything if they feel like it. I am just frustrated!
Miclino, you have my sympathy. It's even worse when you just planted it!
-twrosz, impressive that it bounced back after that kind of stress!
I must admit, I do still prefer the colors of Inca Ice when it first opens and is darker. I'm thinking planting something blue or purple in background so this guy will 'pop' more for me...
CMK
rouge21, yes, the plant came from GardenImport. They informed they might be carrying more varieties from the Inca Series ... I'm especially interested in 'Inca Tropic' and hope it's one they'll be offering.
christinmk, sounds like a good idea, I'll also have to consider something blue :)