13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

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

I'm in z6 and in the past I lost a few Buddleia, but I've kept others now for over 7 years. I never prune hard except in spring. I do however deadhead constantly and it keeps mine blooming right up until frost.

in livonia.. i learned to consider these short lived plants ... living and prospering only until mother nature took them away ... one bad winter..

relish it while you can ... in whatever form it is in.. and what they said as to pruning ... the only one that got as big as you described.. didnt come back the next spring ... who knows if it was me or winter.. that did it.. for all i know.. i pruned it down that fall prior. . lol ...

ken

You will be amazed that they get that spring fresh look again in August. However, if the season is long enough, they do have the potential to get ratty again, but at least it will really be the end of the season by then.

I do hold back on severely cutting back the rebloomers - Happy Returns and Rosy Returns, but I do still cut them back a good amount.

I laughed when I read this post title, because my daylilies looked especially ratty this year. I'm sure it's the combination of the heat and the sprinkler system not working at the moment. Tuesday or Wednesday I couldn't take it any longer, and gave them all a "pony-tail" cut to about eight inches. I have lots of rosy returns and they do rebloom, so I didn't want to cut them any shorter.

After midnight... Thats of the best looking green envy plants I have ever seen. Down in the heat they fade quickly to a muted purple. Nice!

Nevermore, I've had my "Green Envy" for four years and it's still in my holding area for new plants, this bed gets morning sun and by 3:30 it's in the shade. Since I've read so many have had trouble with the color fading I've left it where it is. Our summer temps hang in the mid 70's most years, when we by chance hit the 80's or rarely a 90 I'm hiding in the house whining. I'll take rain (we have dull, wet, soggy springs) over high temps any day.

Annette

Here is one of our 4 o'clocks from this summer 2012. It was planted from seed this past spring. It is 3 feet wide by 2.5 feet tall. It is the largest one I have grown.

nice picture, I really like that color. I got tired of four o'clocks and stopped growing them, but might have to try again!

Actualy I did try a yellow leaved strain and a night blooming kind this year, but planted seeds so late they're still on the small size.

how important is drainage to euphorbia

===>>> i cant answer that.. except in the converse ...

i cant recall the name of my yellow and green standard ...

on mineral sand.. with no water.. or anything .. for 8 years ... in this miserable MI summer ... its nearly an invasive weed in my garden .... self seeding.. and running across a 50 foot bed .. only tamed with roundup ...

sooo.. i can tell you it likes drainage.

and benign neglect.. apparently..

lol

ken

So I can nurture it into being well behaved :)

Anyone tried Eupatorium pink frost yet?

aha, the Chelsea Chop - yep, I do this with asters and helenium as well as phlox - works a treat.

I do not pinch back my phlox because the deer do a thorough job of it. This year one area his been eaten at least twice and are very short but they are still setting blooms.

Check and see if it has a square stem. It looks like a member of the Lamiaceae family. Al

I'd go with Lobelia, too.

There is no way that a Jackmanii Clematis changed to Miss Bateman.

The shape of the blooms and the leaves are totally different.

Simply impossible.

The one on the right is not Jackmanii either.

There could have been blooming Jackmaniis in the pots but to have two with two planted in the pot with the same one dying off is a very slim chance....

The explanation for the echinacea is not hard to understand. The recent colored hybrids all have E. purpurea in their parentage, together with several other native species. And it's been pretty well-established that many of these are not necessarily stable hybrids and various cultivars have experienced all manner of uncommon or unnatural growth. The plant just reverted. Reversion from hybrid to one of the parent species is not an uncommon occurrence in horticulture.

Nice pictures, Gazania

THANK YOU EVERYONE! Gazania... that is beautiful! The one I have in front never looked like your first picture of purple and green (though now I wish it would... it looks amazing!) but it did go through the green/yellow, to the darker reds, burnt oranges and browns, etc. Actually the picture I posted is probably from April or May. The one in my back yard looked like your second picture and then the yellow faded to all green. Thank you all so much! And love the method to remembering the name lol... I'll need it!