13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Let any pile of dirt/compost/manure sit and weeds will grow on top and roots will grow into it as well..
Its a friable medium with nutrients.. hence why you want it in your garden. Its not like any manure has to age for two years or something to use it.. I find 5-6 months works just as well.
Ive used about 40 truckloads of horse manure here.. most of it was less then a year old when placed in the gardens..
Of course, Ive used about the same # of compost as well, both are great.
a2zmom - I plant through the cardboard after it has gotten wet, so you can either water the bed well and then cut an X into the cardboard and tuck the flaps under, or most often I just wait a few days or weeks (depending on weather) until the cardboard softens enough to tear with my hands and then plant.
My "Splendide" is over 6 feet tall in its first year and for sure needs staking so surrounding plants that might aid in its support would need to be quite tall. I am hoping that in subsequent years my "Thalictrum" might be a stronger plant and may not need support (a 6 foot tall bamboo pole) but I doubt it.
Of course anyone has the right to use whatever terminology they prefer but mistascott is correct - ALL fertilizers, organic or not, synthetically fabricated or not, are chemical-based. We might want to check our definitions, but anything listed on the periodic table is a chemical element and the standard definition of 'chemical' is "of or relating to chemistry or of or relating to the properties or actions of chemicals." There is nothing in this definition that limits this to synthetically derived fertilizers.
Heck, since humans are carbon life forms (and carbon is a chemical element), not to mention containing some 60 other chemical elements, we are pretty much walking chemical compounds! To disparage this terminology or to unnecessarily restrict it to synthesized or manufactured materials is to ignore an entire aspect of our scientific make-up, namely organic chemistry.
And I really object to calling fertilizers plant food! It tends to anthropomorphize plants and gardening, which is totally inappropriate (hear, hear, Ken!) as well as misleads one about the actual botanical processes involved with how plants grow. Plants make their own food - it is called autotrophism and is the purpose behind photosynthesis. All fertilizers do is provide access to nutrients that may be deficient or missing in the soil. Outside of container gardening, they are never a requirement and as noted, with a good organic mulch, can often be eliminated from use altogether.
Aside from this semantic clarification, I tend to agree with the majority of the posters. We tend to get brainwashed by the big fert manufacturers into believing we cannot garden successfuly without frequent applications of their latest and greatest. That is simply not so. Most plants established in the landscape are able to draw all the nutrients they need for healthy growth from the soil. There can be limits however and this where the advantage of soil testing comes into play. But generally, replenishing your soil with organic matter via mulch/compost is all the "fertilizer" you will ever need.
ninamarie, a chemical is defined as "a substance with a distinct molecular composition that is produced by or used in a chemical process." Oxygen has a distinct molecular composition and it is produced by or used in chemical processes. It is a chemical element. The word "chemical" in this context is an adjective meaning it describes the type of element. Therefore, oxygen is indeed a chemical. It is a specific type of chemical -- the simplest type -- a chemical element. A chemical compound (perhaps what you think of as a chemical) is formed when atoms of more than one chemical element combine.
Here are the bunnies! Two years ago, I went out to my raised beds, in which I had planted a winter cover crop of vetch. Me being me, I never turned it under when I should have, and so it was well over 18 inches tall when I finally got around to tending to it.
There was a big indentation in one part of the vetch, and lots of fur. These beds are cinder block, two levels high, so I was kind of confused as to what caused the big indentation - did a deer fall over into the bed? LOL, it was odd, to say the least.
So I just happened to show my husband to see if he could figure it out. So he picked up a stick and poked at the fur, not wanting to touch it with his fingers. Well, we got the shock of our lives when the fur poked back, lol! We must have both jumped back a few feet in surprise!
Then it dawned on us that this was a nest! But a nest of what? These teeny tiny little heads poked out and they were so small we couldn't figure out what they were. I thought perhaps chipmunks, my DH thought squirrels, mostly because of the grey fur. It wasn't till a few days later that the little critters morphed enough to tell that they were rabbits!
While I was over the moon with how friggin cute they were, I also groaned because I had visions of my destroyed garden (even though it wasn't even planted yet!) What luck - a nest of goodness knows how many rabbits smack in the middle of my veggie garden.
DH says, "You want me to take care of them?" I laughed and asked who he was, Tony Soprano? But I couldn't harm these little things. How could I? And luckily for me, they grew up and moved away. Never had a bit of damage... thank goodness!
A few days after we found the nest:
Another few days later:
And still another few days:
As cute as these little guys were, I'm content to look at the pictures and hope that I don't find anymore in my vegetable garden!
Dee
Our usuals are skunks-opossums-raccoons. It's the suburbs here, and I have no idea how the poor things survive, but they do. No deer, no rabbits.
Birds: jays, doves, hummers, black phoebes, finches, sparrows, hawks, murders of crows, and flocks of screeching parrots. Occasional flyover of Canada geese.
We have had a bumper crop of lizards the past few years. Saw a little 1-incher recently, so cute.
Did you try the name that plant forum?
It's another forum on gardenweb btw.
I think the last picture might be Ajuga ovalifolia
Flowers similar to all three of your unknowns appear on this blog, but I can't read any of it.
wait.....gardenweb won't let me link it.... it's IDed as a spam source.
Thanks for your input. I decided to put them in a window box that only gets a few hours of morning sun--I figure if the are close to the house, I might remember to water them. We'll see. They are not to-die-for, so I figure it's an interesting experiment, anyway.
I do what the video shows to my heuchera every spring and it works great to propagate many new baby plants. They generally need a year or two before they are mature size. I leave the mother plant in place and it resprouts and looks better than ever again that summer. Also every spring I generally feed them with organic nitrogen rich fert (free used coffee grounds from Starbucks).
I wouldn't recommend doing either in August, though. It's too late in the growing season to be fertilizing perennials and even the PNW is bone dry this time of year; we average less than 1" of rain for the month. If you can't just ignore them until next spring, plant the pieces in pots in good potting soil, keep them well watered and under plastic and cross your fingers. :)
I just planted some Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldstrum' which were sold to me as a perennial, with a common name of Black Eyed Susan's. I planted them where they get lots of afternoon sum. I enhanced the soil with one part peat moss to two parts soil, with some compost thrown in. Now they are wilting in the late afternoon, but perky in the AM. Wondering if this is normal? I hate to water them every day, for fear of over watering.
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldstrum' is a perennial. It is one of the toughest perennials in my experience, and one of my favorites summer/late summer long bloomers. And they do self seed so you may see a few more plants next year, and so on. So give it some space if you want to have more of them. And they add so much color and life to the late summer garden.They do like afternoon sun!
If they are perky in the AM, you do not need to water them. For the first 4-6 weeks after planting, give it a good watering ~ once or twice/week (depending upon temp, rain, etc). If they do not perk up if the AM, water them. After first year, you typically do not need water any more. This year during the long, hot and dry late June and July, I watered them a couple times, that is all I did for the entire summer.
Best of luck!
Vivian from Northwest Subs of Chicago
I've had really good luck with my Bleeding Hearts by cutting them WAY back after they're done blooming. I cut them back to the first or second node. This produces a spurt of second growth, and mine are still looking good in almost mid-August. Before I started doing this, they would get all yellow and die off by this time. It took a bit of courage the first time I tried it a couple of years ago, but it worked so well I've been doing it ever since.
groundcovers I've found to be "civilized" (won't strangle other plants): sweet woodruff (May bloom, part shade), Irish moss (it's neither Irish nor moss - full sun), Platt's Black (sun or part shade), iceplant (full sun, dry & hot)
Like laceyvail, I plant with height & foliage type in mind.
I've had good luck with these keeping good foliage through the season, although some look untidy if they aren't deadheaded: sea thrift, dwarf monarda, germander, thymes, meadowsweet, lavender, iceplants, heather, chrysanthemums, and artemisias. All available in the bloom colours you want.
HTH!
I like using sedum with different colored foliage for a long lasting effect - some of my favorites are Xenox, September Charm, Class Act, and Purple Emperor. Purple Emperor needs to be cut back by at least half in late May/early June to keep in compact and avoid sprawl.
The deer must be reading this forum because after I posted that I don't spray my hostas, for the first time ever I too was greeted by the sad sight of a bundle of naked stems where a beautiful hosta had been. I've never seen that before and it was quite shocking!
We have deer always, but not particularly hungry deer - not much in the way of snow cover ever and plenty of natural feed for them too.
They are more opportunistic browsers in my garden but will always go to the roses. Next trip they may try something odd, like ornamental allium. One year only, they ate the azaleas.
If I will spray every 6 weeks or so (not affected by rain but you do have to watch that new growth taking place on roses and protect that), Bobbex Deer Repellent takes care of preventing any damage. And there's the IF, if it gets put into the sprayer and used :)
I picked up some Bobbex at the garden supply yesterday, literally had it out and on my deck and spraying was going to be my next chore, when I walked around the house and realized I'd had 'company' the night before. They beat me to the roses by a few hours (and it was my fault, I was lax), pruned 3 down to the nubbins for me.
I did see on a gardening program once where deer are a more constant problem, alternating more than one repellent may be more effective, use one with a good reputation one spray period, switch to something else effective the next and don't rely on the same product each time. I haven't had to to try it, just need someone to inspire me to be more consistent with the one I've got :)
I have observed that this plant goes dormant very early, especially if stressed by drought or heat.
To the OP, are you sure your plants are dead, and not just dormant. If you haven't thrown the pots out yet, I would gently probe down in the soil and see if see live roots and any small dormant buds (which I seem to recall are sort of pink/purple in color and slightly pointed, similar to a peony dormant bud in appearance).
I think it's quite possible your "dead" plants are just dormant for the season.
Cmk... Thanks.. I will email you. I will try to grow again next year and keep more in the shade.. Maybe bring them in if we get another heat wave like this year. Hopefully if the plant can grow out a bit more without the stress... It could take it the following year.
And about the dormancy... I had read about how they will loose leaves in the height of summer but then come back... So I did check the root stock and they all were mush.
Does T. Splendide seed around? I currently have a nice lavender flowered Thalictrum (have long ago lost the record of its name) that seeds quite a bit though not invasively. It's tough to remove the flower stalks without shattering the seeds, so one that didn't need deadheading within a short time period would suit me better.
I'm never "done" - every season I find some spot that needs tinkering with for whatever reason.
we can sit together on this bench... :-)
I plant very much for foliage height & character. The blooms are fleeting, the foliage is there all season. I'm always messing with placement for height & contrast
linlily, he was right about them moving to the next house. My neighbor had not had her house inspected or treated after she purchased it 30 years ago. She was in front of her fridge and her foot went through the floor.
She called me for my exterminator's number. That cost her a couple thou for extermination and floor replacement. I know we will always have a problem because of the woods. I get all the trees that fall down cut up and removed immediately. Anytime I find a log and break it open it is filled with termite. I have a big, big, big problem.
hudsonriverbug: Fire ants in Virginia? Say it ain't so! What part of the state are you in?