13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Hmmmm. I just bought Nicky a couple hours ago, It's dark and I hope the fading isn't as bad as what you are seeing. Actually it was 90F when I bought it, full sun and the blooms are really nice. I had a weak moment and took it with me. I want to rip up most of my other plants and just plant phlox.

This is Phlox Border Gem, better than Nicky(it can stand on its own). Can you see the flower on the right side of the Helianthus? They all get like this on Nicky in full sun, that was one of the reasons why I sent it to the Big Garden in the skies(the other reason was flopping around all over the place after strong rain/wind).

Thank you

buyorsell888 - what beautiful gardens you have. What is the healthy grass clump at about 3:00 in the first picture?
Jan

I had many lovely Foxgloves this spring, and they have all either been pulled or are cut down to about 6-12 inches and completely deadheaded. I leave only a few seedpods to collect seed from certain plants. I'm hoping a few will come back for a 3rd year, but they are pretty rusty and crappy looking. I start new plants from seed every year and plant the seedlings in a few gardens to hopefully get some good plants the next Spring.

Sometimes when they are flowering I remove the lower seedpods while they are still green, so the plant will put it's energy into flowering.

When they get real tall and lanky they look weird, and I would cut them down even sooner, but the bumblebees just love the blooms! Here's one patch starting to bloom -

I cut the entire stalks off to almost ground level and shake the seeds where I might want more plants.

weekendweeder, to be absolutely sure of your sun/shade situation, you should make a 'sun map'. Using a piece of graph paper draw a roung sketch of your bed. Then, one sunny day, go out every hour on the hour, starting from early in the morning until the sun sets and mark down exactly what parts of the bed are in sun, shade and in-between. You'll probably be surprised.

Last year I planted a 30 foot long bed. The far end of it is next to a mature Japanese maple. To my surprise, the end was not in constant shade and actually got afternoon sun for a good two - three hours per day. It definitely impacted my plant choices.

That is a really great idea, a2zmom. Do you do that in both spring and summer? What month would you recommend I try this?

I think I will relocate this BW come the fall and replace it with nothing as the surrounding plants really could use the free space.

I wish I was that disciplined. If I see an inch of space, I plant something. Currently I have a bunch of plants that are being overrun and need to be moved as a result.

a2zmom you selectively quoted me i.e. I said "as much as it pains me"!

I so enjoy researching my plant purchases and the act of planting but as of right now, as of this day I have no more room for any additional plants. I am sad, as what in part keeps me going through the winter is mulling over any plants 'to be'.

Same here, I shear back and get more booms late summer

I rarely dead head my established coreopis ('Cosmic Eye') and the blooms keep coming till frost. Even if more blooms would result from a complete shearing there is no way it would compensate for the duration without any flowers. It is summer and I want flowers now and continuing.

This is exactly what I have posted w/ album (I forgot to chk privacy box) just this AM. So it is a form of virus ~ geez what's going on w/ plants.

I too thought as aachenelf ~ but called it forest on top of DD in green ~ *expectacular* indeed! I'm not terribly upset but miss my P-Cone Faeries this year! I can believe about plant hoppers carrying the virus we are going thru another year of Jap Beetle-plague!!!

Thanks for the Aster Yellows link, aachenelf!!!

Guess what ~ this aster yellow infected DD P-Cone blooms do look stunning in a strange way ~ I couldn't help but saved a few for the vase indoors since I no longer in-door garden (only have a few orchids) I don't have to fear spreading (fingers XX'd).

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. I filled the hole in with compost and bagged topsoil, since my husband had already spread the gravelly clay that we dug out in various places in the yard. I'll take your advice and pile it up high with bagged garden soil and compost before planting. At least it's a pretty tiny area and not right up against the house, so it's not going to cause our house to collapse ... I hope. Has anybody ever used a product called Claybuster? They sell it at the garden centers around here. I haven't tried it - supposedly it contains gypsum, which breaks up the clay.

I'm new to all of this gardening stuff but... put the gravel back ASAP. Don't mess with it particularly because its so close to the house. If one day the owner came by and saw it and down the road there was a problem with the foundation in ANY way, they could easily say it was never there until you made your garden. The likelihood of whether ANY of that could happen is irrelevant... don't put yourself in the position to have to be on the defense.

Walmart has HUGE plastic planters (24" dia, 2.5' high or so) link is below. I have two in red (they have red, tan and green) with annuals and perennials and I love them. I filled the bottom with rubber mulch so I wouldn't have to fill them all with dirt and keep them light (drilled holes, too). They're perfect for me this year - new house with lots of garden maintenance but 3 dogs...

Here is a link that might be useful: walmart planter

A few years ago some catalog/online grower sold "tricolored" BB bushes-that were actually 3 bushes grown every close together. I imagine that they should be fine.

Just keep an eye on the violet one. It may be a seedling that sprouted alongside the pink and might grow taller and more vigorously than the pink one, eventually crowding it out. Most of the run of the mill buddleia seedlings are that violet color. Still a good two for one deal though!

btw .. standing out the back door today .. to clarify.. i have 3 different ones .. two affected.. 4 different daphne.. 2 affected.. and 3 mock orange ... 2 affected ...

all in full sun.. exposed.. and twice FROZE ... and they ALL budded out ... and then the heat hit ...

what more can i say ... you are about 40 miles east of me.. you had to have had the freezes ... but for the concrete jungle you live in ...

and say hi to sissy for me.. she was a good sis.. to spend the day on a weird trip to adrian ...

one other thought.. get out the pruners.. and go hunt out the branch .. you might find it cracked off down near the bottom.. maybe one of the drunken irrigation guys stepped on it.. this used to be a plague ... when the kids were smaller. .. a physical injury ...

ken

I WAS running the sprinklers everyday, not anymore - took a while to figure out how to set the system :0)

Never thought about physical injury - entirely possible one of the workers busted the branches; they trampled a few other things (a hazard of having work done this time of year...) Didn't think of the voles, either.

re: my sister: Are you insinuating *I* was not a good guest? LOL!

hey corrine.. i hope you come back to see this

They do best in poor, well drained soil like my gravel driveway.

==>>> that pretty well decribes my mineral sand soil .. and they dont get watered ..

This year I left them to bloom just outside the garden bed at the top of the driveway & hopefully they'll reseed BACK INTO the bed. If they seed further out I'll move them. I've done it before.

===>> when the seed pods open .. just stand in the drive.. and smack the pods TOWARD the bed.. they will go where you smack them .. lol .. or just snip a few pods.. and dump them in your hand.. they look like poppyseed.. and walk them back where you want them ... and moving the early new babes is not a big deal ... its only moving mature plants that is tricky ...

I have white ones in one section of a garden that I hope will reseed for me this year.

==>> i think i tried them long ago.. never got a seedling.. might be sterile ... google might confirm that ...

ken

Ken, I did & thanks for the suggestion to smack seedheads back toward the bed.

What I like most about this plant is that it looks best in a mass and survives with no care!

The older I am the more I lean toward what grows well with no fertilizer or watering only mulch. Is that experience or laziness? Either way I'm happy & enjoy our gardens.

Corrine

Yes, I think my organic fertilizer is something more like 5-5-5, but the point is that heucheras benefit immensely from some additonal feeding. My other perennials don't need any fertilizer at all, just the heavy feeders like heucheras.

Creme Brule is doing ok, but is not yet in the mood to increase enough to be divided. It may be good as just a one time plant under ideal conditions.

I have been looking for key lime pie, but I can't find it. I got Harvest Lemon Chiffon instead. I don't know if it will do well. I normally have problems with yellow types of plant like even yellow hostas do poorly, but I am just hoping this one will be ok.

Well I did deadhead my TT geum and not a single additional flower. Tons of flowers for about 3 weeks to a month and then none after.

Geum 'Double Bloody Mary' is a great true red. I also very much like both Geum rivale and triflorum for their smokey coral coloring and the interesting seed heads. Much shorter bloom season however.

I will definitely do that, kato_b. I'm quite impressed with it already. We've had awful, hot and dry weather here, and then got some really nice rain Thursday and some drizzle on Friday. The buds popped open and I was surprised when I drove the riding mower past them today. I had to stop and take a look since I did not expect the plant to be blooming and the flowers to look like they do. I love a nice surprise!
Linda

win some.. lose some.. lol

ken