13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
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.
I tend to dead head most of the seedheads on Columbine, except for a few stalks that I might want to collect seed. This seems to encourage subsequent foliage and root growth, and increase the likelihood that the plants will make it through the winter.
Sometimes plants can exhaust themselves making tons of seed.
Since this would be the time - some time ago even - that the columbine seeds were falling naturally from the dried pods, you might scatter some now where you want them. They need light to germinate, so you can press them in lightly but don't cover with soil.
I only have A. Canadensis which self seed everywhere, so I don't know much about the modern hybrids. Although I suspect the seeding techniques are the same. Any new seedlings take a season or two to be of blooming size.
I've had a dozen or two cats over almost 3 decades, and they have ALL liked catnip, so they must all have had the catnip gene. (I like that word "nepetalactones").
Haha Campanula, that is spot on, my son goes off to college in a few short days and I just paid my first tuition bill. Boy if a parent thinks they were expensive before, just wait till they go to a university!
"I've had a dozen or two cats over almost 3 decades, and they have ALL liked catnip, so they must all have had the catnip gene."
I have too and I remember just one not really impressed by it, yet his sister loved the stuff. We currently have 4 bratties, not related, that go crazy for it. Our neighbor just adopted a shelter cat and he sniffs the catnip and walks away(I have a bunch of it growing near the front door). Ours will chew on the leaves for a while and lay down next to the plants and take a nap. One of them likes the nip and the Asian honeysuckle growing nearby.
Aachenelf, sorry to veer off course. I would definitely not plant the stuff since it depends on the individual cats and you never know who's in the neighborhood(there is a large turnover of strays in this rural town anyway).
Well, from what I understand, it IS possible to cross two totally different genera as long as they are in the same family. Think it is called bi-generic or intergeneric hybrids. X Fatshedera and X Solidaster are good examples.
Digitalis and Campanula are not even in the same family, so I don't think such a cross is likely. Sometimes you will see a species (or even cultivar) name that is the same or very similar to the name of a genus, like Inula helenium. It's not a cross between the two genera, but the species name "helenium" is used as a sort of description. I've seen the species name "campanulata" or "campanuloides" before, presumably indicating that the plant has bell-like flowers or other qualities associated with a Campanula. Maybe something got misconstrued somewhere along the way with regards to this Digitalis x Campanula??? I dunno, just guessing here, lol ;-)
From what I have read, the Digitalis x Isoplexis hybrid (the result a cultivar called 'Illumination') actually provoked botanists to reclassify Isoplexis canariensis AS a Digitalis. The story behind it is pretty interesting: Here at Graham Rice's Blog
CMK
I always divide my astile in August and it works very well. By next spring, you will never know they were divided. Because you're in a warmer zone than me, Sept might be better for you.
Astilbe seem to be one of those perennials that need division frequently to keep them blooming well. At least that's been my experience. I try to do it every 3 years or so.
Kevin
FWIW, scroll down to the last post in this thread as there is a picture of my "TT" in bloom from this past May. With the flower stalks it does grow tall and although this past winter was quite moderate even so it stayed evergreen the whole time.
Here is a link that might be useful: Totally Tangerine in bloom
It looks like you are in zone 7. I have read that will grow in zone 5 on up. I have also read only zone 7 on up. I have read zone 6 on up. I wonder if anyone in a zone 5 or 6 has had success with it.
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.