13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
it is the act of gardening I enjoy
This is so me. And that is why it is so hard to leave well enough alone (assuming one has no more 'gardenable' space remaining) as I just love all that is associated with gardening e.g. thinking where to put a new plant which leads to where to move that existing plant and then the actual steps of digging and planting...it is an obsession isnt it?
I had hoped to take more pictures this year, but that didn't work out as planned.
Spring was so dry here there was little done in the way of moving and dividing, so I'm hoping to get alot of that done this fall. I'm also going to try and do more clumps and fewer of the collector's groups of one.
Also I've been cheating on soil prep.... I need to start adding compost and digging things over a little better when planting.
The first bloom flush begins in early to mid June and lasts about 1 month. It rests maybe 3 o 4 weeks and then sends out a few blooms here and there till a hard freeze. Those big poppy sized lemon yellow flowers make a show even if there is only 2 o 3 of them at a time. This is a perennial that I would not be without in my flower beds.
I am having a hard time believing that I and some of the posters above are talking about the same plant. I can honestly say that the number of volunteers that I have come upon from the Missouri Primrose has probably been less than a dozen in 14 years. My mounds of it have stayed at around 2 1/2 to 3 feet so they aren't spreading by runners. It dies back to the ground in winter.
Be aware that those flowers only last a day, opening in early evening and dieing off by evening the next day, to be replaced by new ones.
I deadhead by taking the flowering stem off at bottom of the seed pod that forms at the base of the stem where it attaches to it's trailing branch. I don't get them all, as I garden from a handicapped scooter, and can't reach those at the back of the mounds.
Is the issue that you want to remove the JP because it's too tall, too many bees, or both. I have to agree that it gets loaded with bees but I deadhead plants all around anything covered in bees and they really are quite docile. My taller JP was driving me crazy becuase I had to stake it from flopping over each year. So, a number of years ago I decided to start whacking back the taller late-summer fall bloomers like JP weed, ironweed, tall rudbeckias, etc...It works quite well. I'm not even careful about it. I just take shears and cut it down to about 2 1/2'. I'm not very scientific about it. I've found it works great to control the height. My JP that would normally be 8-9 feet gets to about 5'. Maybe next year you could experiment and try cutting it back early in the season to try to control the height? If it's a bee thing, then that's a whole other story. But I don't think there really is a substitute for joe pye's habit.
I don't know what causes it but my Asclepias tuberosa looks like that too! It hasn't been a good year for this plant because it doesn't usually look this bad. I have trimmed back some of the plants to see if there will be new growth. The pregnant Monarch females seem to prefer the tender fresh growth tips any, and I routine clip back other species of Asclepias.
This year, I have NO A. incarnata (swamp milkweed) at all - I didn't start any from seed in the spring and the slugs or something ate the older plants right down to nubs.
Asclepias isn't the easiest genus to grow but I keep trying because I love to raise Monarch butterflies.
Ken, I wasn't figuring on spraying. Too many bees and butterflies enjoy it for me to endanger them.
terrene, I bought three small starts of Asclepias tuberosa 'Hello Yellow' back in 2005. One died, the other two took two years to get really established. I now have a big stand of them. I love them and I normally get two bloom cycles.
You can cut back daylilies whenever you wish and they will grow new leaves (unlike daffodils). You can shear them to an inch or two or leave more if there is already new growth at the bottom of the plant. However, they need to stay moist in order to regrow and some compost would help it to generate that fresh growth.
The same goes for irises, though they look rather unsightly after being trimmed and the only reason to do so is if the leaves look unsightly already due to disease or leaf death. DiSabato-Aust (pruning guru) recommends cutting them down completely after a killing frost but leaving them be until then.
or one could say: "That's different"
I'm generally not a huge believer in these home remedies like dog hair. Maybe my squirrels are just really paranoid or had a bad experience in their youth or whatever. Squirrel populations in other parts of the country may be more mentally stable or just plain smarter. I'll keep using it because it isn't hurting anything and does add a bit of nitrogen to the soil as it decomposes.
I did try the bowls of water around my tomatoes last year and the squirrels ignored them. Plus my tomatoes are located about 15 feet from my pond, so there was plenty of water available.
Kevin
Catmint doesn't seem to care. There are things that have to be cut back in the fall, and things that shouldn't be cut back in the fall. It isn't in either of those categories. If I get everything that has to be done, finished, and get to it - great. If I don't, no harm done. I usually get about a third of them done.
I know what you mean about dividing dianthus. Sometimes the plant makes a big wide mat and there are not too many obvious stems going down into the ground. If a nice piece comes off I will plant it separately, but most of the time I propagate it by moving the little seedlings around.
And I do the same thing with moving plants around. I don't have any shady places that are also near water, so it's a bit of a hassle to keep things happy in pots for very long.
I have some in very dry, full sun all day, poor soil, on a hill, and those never flop. I have a large mass planting in good soil with mulch but still full sun and those do flop but are full and lush. They look really nice in winter.
I do not stake them. I do cut them back again if I remember but mine get too much shade and always flop.