13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
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.
Funny, I see a range of zones from 4-7 as the minimum, so who really knows. I say just try it and see. The Dave's Garden site reports that people in Zone 6 have had limited success with it making it through the winter. Apparently, it appreciates some shade too. Good luck.
I think the reason mine flopped, and so many other plants, is because before I planted them last year as babies, I had the entire bed amended with horse manure while my boyfriend till it up, so perhaps the soil was too rich for the plants and they all grew too quickly and flopped. They are in a full sun situation, well, full sun from about ten in the morning until about four or five in the afternoon for most of the summer. So it isn't lack of sun, I do think the reason is the horse manure.
Karen
Any sharp scissors will do, not only kitchen. It is enough to cut the head off, then more of the slimy stuff will stay inside. I have noticed, that when the corpses are dried up by the sun, some of my chickens will eat them. They do not eat them while they are slimy.
gardengal48 wrote: You want irrigation water to penetrate down the full depth of the root zone - 8+ inches for the vast majority of plants - that's where the recommendation for low and slow and infrequent watering comes into play.
I need to work on this i.e. I admit I water too frequently and not deep enough. This is in part because I have too many plants which cant be reached with a hose so I am forced to water using a good old watering 'can'.
Wow, it appears I missed something - "if the peat moss has been properly hydrated." Oops.
I only mixed it with soil in my wheelbarrow dry - I never hydrated it. I did water like crazy after backfilling - does that count as proper hydration? If not, is there a way to properly hydrate once the deed is done? What's the best way to hydrate BEFORE I incorporate into the soil? So many questions.
BTW, on my astilbe. Since I bought three of them this spring, I thought I'd try an experiment. Last night I watered just one of the wilting Astilbes, and kept going with the watering can four times. That's 8 gallons of water for one plant. The soil just kept sucking the water in, in small batches, never slowing down. I think I could have even kept going. This morning it looks a little better, standing up straighter. The others continue to look wilted. I wish I had eyes that could see what was going on under there ...
"low and slow and infrequent" - very interesting way to think about it. I am trying to tune in to what my garden is saying - it's looking better every year. Some plants are easier to read than others.
-jwt
Once it is established do you provide supplemental water?
No. This is a very drought tolerant plant and should need no irrigation after establishment. Especially in areas that "normally" receive decent summer rainfall. I live in a recurring summer drought area - we receive less than a 10th of our annual rainfall during the summer months - and even under our normally very dry summer conditions lavender needs no supplemental watering.
Different types of lavenders bloom at different times - the Spanish or L. stoechas is the earliest (begins in April in my area), followed by English or common lavender (L. angustifolia - starting in mid to late June) and wrapped up by the hybrids or xintermedia cultivars like 'Provence' or 'Grosso' in July (all timing is appropriate for my area only). 'Blue Cushion' is a cultivar of English lavender. The bloom period for any type is extensive, lasting most of the summer and in some areas, well into fall and can be increased by shearing or deadheading.
First season...but I can tell already they have lots of branches at the crown which means better survival over winters. The blooms are not distorted or randomly quilled like some other varieties. These are tough just like the Pow Wow plants. I'll update my comments next spring, but I am already impressed with them.
One of our local GW gardeners has ordered from and visited that nursery and seemed pleased overall...His notes include some photos of the packaging and his purchases.
Here is a link that might be useful: nursery review
I'm sorry I wasn't clear. You certainly would want to cut the old hellebore leaves off as they are quite ugly come spring and to showcase the flowers. I recommended the minor or smaller bulbs because of having to deal with the old foliage of daddodils which seem to stay on forever and a day. Hellabore flowers remain beautiful for a long time....I wouldn't want to detract with the old daffodil leaves.
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.
Unlike daylilies, bearded iries do not tend to produce much regrowth, and if they do, it is very slow to happen. Hence, the different recommendations for each.