13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Bumblebeez, I'm not that lucky to have neighbours who are interested in gardening. I'm surrounded by 8 neighbours, of which 5 have nothing other than lawns and hedges(of those 4 have giant lawns , it takes a lot of time to mow them, usually when I'm trying to sleep). The neighbors across the street have moved and the house was bought by their grandson who works in Norway, so he's never home. The ones from the south-west are behind a very tall hedge, so they cannot see anything. The last one can see my garden, and the woman has bought some plants from me. But there are some passers-by who stop and watch from the street.

I loved the pics! So beautiful!

feh, my spelling is dodgy enough without worrying about obscure diacriticals and so on. I am not often a called upon to actually write down the botanical latin nomenclature (and when I speak, I often use a vague mumble to cover up my uncertain memory of the EXACT terminology. Course, there are plenty of pedants (have been there myself, but not spellingwise) on GW.
Little Carlow - had it, composted it - boring (and I also got fed up with the same trio of TV gardeners waffling on and on as though this was the ONLY cultivar of asters in the universe (Carole Klein,Monty Don et al, hang your head in unoriginal shame).

Campanula, I get the point about pedantry, though there is certainly a problem with the horticulture industry promoting selling names at the expense of cultivar names.

I'm not familiar with the "authorities?!" you mentioned, but I am suspicious of "TV (or newspaper/magazine) gardeners". They're often journalists who haven't done/tried the gardening themselves.

Give me the advice of a gardener, over a (garden) journalist, any time!

The second picture looks to me like Cyclamen hederifolium, a hardy outdoor Cyclamen - it even appears to have a seed pod. It should be planted outside in a shady position. It flowers at this time of year without leaves. They will follow next year. Not the same type as your first picture. The picture is of some in my garden.

Indoor Cyclamen need lots of light, but not hot sun,and as cool a temperature as you can obtain inside, cooler even than African Violets. As ken says, you might as well just cut your losses unless you enjoy a challenge. I have indoor Cyclamen which come back each year. At the moment they are out in the garden and just starting to leaf out. I'll bring them into a glazed porch before we get a frost. I never put them in the actual house.

Thank you all, especially Ken. I'm going to toss it for now and try later down the road. Oh and Ken I may be back lol.

ah yes, conifers. In the UK, they have been on the end of awful press since their heydays in the 1970s. We have been fighting a rearguard action to get them back into garden landscapes. What goes around comes around so any day now, we will be back in the vanguard of fashion.

Ken, I just looked back at your pictures from inspiration. They are really impressive. Such beauty!

buyorsell888, "evergreens in the back and deciduous in front to provide color in spring and fall" -- what a simple comment but so incredibly helpful to this newbie. I want an oakleaf hydrangea somewhere on the property but I need to focus on your comment. Perhaps mountain laurel as the evergreen...hmm. Need to go back to large nursery outside D.C.

thank you so much!
:)

Yes, it most certainly is. You can buy them at craft stores for dried floral arrangements.

I understand exactly 'Sunny' re being 'bored' by it. I have two stands of two PT in two different gardens and sometimes after seeing those blooms for two months off and on (mostly on) I have thought "enough already"!

It's so interesting to hear other gardeners's reaction in such circumstances, Rouge.

You realize, it's not just me.

When I grew Nike in a pot, I watered with aluminum sulphate 3 times a year.1/3 cup to a gallon of water. Now I'm growing in the ground and can't seem to get the right amount on to get blue flowers. I have extremely alkaline soil-around an 8. I put sulphur on every fall, and the other in spring. We also have alkaline water.

It is virtually impossible to make substanial or permanent changes to soil pH. Soils have a tendency to buffer against these changes and so will eventually return to existing pH. And sooner rather than later.

If you have alkaline soil you will always have issues attempting to get any kind of Hydrangea macrophylla blue. Combine that with alkaline water and you are facing a losing battle! Under these conditions, it would be best to grow your macrophylla in a container or raised bed/planter where you can more easily modify the soil chemistry and monitor it. And be sure to acidify your irrigation water as well - a couple of tablespoons of household vinegar in the watering can will do. Or use the aluminum sulfate.

Do a Search here on the GardenWeb for...the toothpick technique. I have over the years done a few postings about this little known propagating method which should be done now, in September-October. It is easy. Works well. May be the only method that does work on difficult to root plants/shrubs/trees. I first learned of it from several top horticulturists at the Arnold Arboretum back in the 1970's who developed the idea and then just decided not to publicize it for whatever reasons. Since my first posting here on GW about The Toothpick Technique I have received numerous 'thank you's' from propagators across the country and England. Check it out.

Here it is - link below

Sounds interesting, but caryopteris are kind of known for being really easy to root.

Here is a link that might be useful: toothpick technique

Lisanti thanks for the ID.

Ken,

In general these aren't doing that great. They don't look as good as even some of the mediocre photos I've seen online.

I don't fertilize them frequently and when I do it's usually with Plant Tone (5-3-3). Next year I'm going to also be using either Flower-Tone (3-4-6) or Garden-Tone (3-4-4) for the flowering plants. I'll probably put down some shortly and again in the spring. In the future I won't fertilize as much but this bed has been neglected a bit. Sounds good?

The picture above was taken before applying fertilizer. The foliage grew quite a bit after fertilizer. It's about 2' tall now. The others are shorter and have worse PM.

I'm doing some work on the lawn and was planning to widen that bed a bit in a couple of weeks.

What's a pip?

The pips are the buds for next year's growth; take a look at the first picture in the link below - the little pink/red things are the pips, and they should be just barely below ground level.

Peonies are heavy feeders, and should be fed a couple of times during the year; I like Plant-Tone myself, but every so often I give mine a shot of non-organic 10-10-10.

Here is a link that might be useful: look at first picture

Hi ctopher

My plant does look very compact and is about 10 years old.
Should I divide it now or wait till the Spring?

It wouldn't make sense for it to be an exposure issue if it bloomed fine in previous years in the same location. Something else has to be causing the stress such as nutrient deficiency or excess, soil too dry, etc. Or maybe it is going to bloom, but later than usual. This can happen in dry summers.

I take the dried seedpods and shake them all over the place (I live in a clearing in the woods). The plants self seed, too, and grow where they are comfortable, usually at the edge of the woods or a building/wall, facing a light area. I pull out the ones that I don't want...very easy to do. I love the pink color in spring when not much else is blooming. Lovely.

Plant the seeds now, I don't know if they will get big enough to bloom next year but sometimes even very small seedllings of money plant will flower come springtime. You can wait until winter or spring and they will sprout fine then, but theres no chance they will bloom that year and they'll just sit there taking up space till next spring.

They won't get the variegation until next year but they should seed true as long as there aren't any plain green ones nearby to cross with.

i thought air also ...

with the caveat.. that you ALWAYS do a full fall cleanup with such plants..

which means.. not leaving any of the mildewed leaves to winter-over.. on top of the soil ...

but i am too lazy to google it this afternoon

ken

My understanding is that it's the mildew (fungi) themselves that overwinter on plant material, whether the plant material is not cut back, left lying on the surface or allowed to get into the soil.
It's not their spores.

As Ken says then, it's plant hygiene which is relevant; namely, in a garden, cut down and remove dead plant material in the fall, or before.