13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
I am glad to see this discussion. My lupines get these aphids every year, and it makes me crazy. I spray with soapy water every day, they go "away" (or someplace else) and then they're right back. The lupine foliage, which can look very nice even after the blooms are spent, end up looking awful. I'm curious if cutting the foliage back severely to really get at the aphids and to deprive them of their under-leaf hiding places would damage the plant so that it wouldn't come back next year. Lots of plants don't mind being cut back after blooming, but I don't know about lupines.
I'll try to take a photo of the entire backyard later. The trees are all different heights. My backyard isn't that big and they make it look like a jungle. I would love to dig them out, but at a certain price it wouldn't be worth it for us, as we're hoping to move eventually. The estimate for trimming ( and removing a large pile of branches) was $8-900. I'm not sure how much it would add to it to grind the stumps. Then we would have to figure out what we would replace them with....
I agree with comments above that you should not stress the trees by planting beneath them or by trimming them. Topping is so detrimental to tree health that good arborists will not do it.
Hemlocks in the northeastern U.S. are already under stress by the introduced aphid-like hemlock woolly adelgid. Sadly, many groves are declining and dying due to this infestation.
The addition of mulch beneath the trees might add some definition to the space and reduce the "jungle like" feel of the space. As nice as it might be to look at, as heavily-used by children as your yard is, a lawn is probably not practical at this point ... been there, done that ;-) ... but you might be able to improve the lawn slightly with the right type of turfgrass for high-use areas.
You might want to add some perennials for dry shade or spring bulbs along the edge of the mulched area in the less-used areas. Installing small plants will disturb the hemlock roots less, and they will catch up surprisingly quickly. Epimedium is one of my favorites for dry shade; it blooms in the spring and the leaves are nearly winter-hardy in my zone 7 garden. Be careful, though, as there are clumping and running (spreading) varieties; the clumping varieties will stay pretty much where you put them, increasing gradually in size.
All of my boxes are 3 feet or less in width, and I can fit a lot. One is about or at 12 x 3 feet. For perennials that are easy to find, I use Veronica Sightseeing blue....daylilies....Asiatic lilies....balloon flowers....coreopsis.....Scabiosa butterfly blue....beardtongue/phlox...columbine...phlox. Each of these are on their third or longer year. Just be sure to leave some room for them to spread over the years and be prepared to divide some in years 3-5. You can fill in empty spots with annuals, such as cosmos and marigolds.
I do have trouble figuring my way around Houzz now. But I had not sent you a message yet, still waiting to see when I'd be near GR. I'm going to send you a test message now. If you receive it, you can send one back, and we'll know we've succeeded.
But wait til you feel better! There is no rush. I get migraines myself, and I know how disabling they can be.
Docmom, I have sent you some messages via Houzz messaging system. I assume you have not received them? I am going to try again. If you don’t get anything, please see if you have emails enabled. Thanks!
To see your messages while on Houzz (rather than / or in addition to email) go to the upper right corner. Click on "your Houzz". In the drop down menu, click "your Ideabooks". On a header on that page, you will see "Messages". Click on that and you will see any messages in your Inbox. There's a menu at left for Sent messages and Received messages. It took me a while to find this! ;)
Looks interesting. To me the flower form looks like 'Tiara', another somewhat recent Verschoor introduction.
Having many garden phlox, including many Verschoor phlox, I'm not so sure that buying garden phlox on the basis of a few (very?) recent photographs is a good strategy; that in the interests of getting the hardiest and showiest garden phlox (my motivation, at least).
To be sure, most of the Verschoor garden phlox I have are good plants, all seemingly have been mildew-resistant. However, they haven't all proven equally long-lived. I only bought one 'Tiara' which just petered away within a couple of years. On the other hand, say 'Peppermint Twist' has proven itself exceptionally vigorous.
Perhaps it's more efficient (and cheaper) to wait a few years to read about a garden phlox' performance and to see if it's (been selected presumably by customers) to still be around.
'Crème De La Crème' is a good play on words and a good sellers' name. That it's the best garden phlox ever ( (words-to-the effect) as I've read on-line) is, from my expectations, a preposterous claim that says more about journalese and/or about marketing.
I grew up reading and re-reading an uncle's copy of 'Crockett's Victory Garden'. At some point I guess I appeared so obsessed he just gave it to me!
Lots of great authors and books and even catalogues mentioned here. I love forums and blogs and online reading but it's really a good book that I want to sit down with. Maybe the feel does have something to do with it.
I'm a big fan of Timber Press. Here's the motto off their website: "Our mission is to share the wonders of the natural world by publishing books from experts in the fields of gardening, horticulture, and natural history". How can you go wrong with a place like that?
I wouldn't be without my horticultural library! And it keeps getting bigger, although much more slowly now than it did in years past. When I downsized a number of years ago, I got rid of lots of extraneous belongings that were not needed or seldom used, including many books (even most cookbooks - you can find any recipe you could ever want online!). But not my gardening books........they'll follow me into the old folks home :-)
They are old friends. Many are bedraggled and falling apart from constant use - one copy of Dirr, my A-Z encyclopedia, my hort dictionary - but many are cared for tenderly with stickies noting important places, paragraphs or photos. I use them for reference, I use them for inspiration and I use them to illustrate to clients various plant selections or planting combinations. Tablets and online images are fine but nothing can replace a well considered published photograph of a mature plant growing in context. Which are darn hard to find online.
I have a complete set of Heronswood catalogs from when the nursery first opened until they stopped publishing after Burpee's takeover. These are a wonderful reference as well as being some very entertaining reading. Dan Hinkley's humor and writing style cannot be beat. And I am fortunate to have collected a number of signed copies of publications from some great plantsmen which I think are priceless (although they probably have no value at all to anyone else) - Michale Dirr, Dan Hinkley, John Brooks, Ken Druse, Ann Lovejoy, Guy Sternberg.
Individual plants and even gardens may come and go over the years but my garden books are a constant. And very treasured.
I don't know a name for that kind of pruning, Its done when for whatever reason the grower/gardener wants to accentuate an aspect of a specimen plant for competitions or a particular aesthetic, such as bonsai..
I selectively pruned when a summer azaelia when it was young and the blooms were hidden in the leaves.. The plant and the garden have grown and I no long have the time or interest in that kind of pruning.
I understand why you do it and think it is creative to be able to assess a plant for its aesthetic presentation. Not everyone is is interested in that kind of analysis
I grew Moonflower vine (Ipomoea Alba) for my Mom 3 years ago. She was from El Salvador, and Moonflowers there are called "Galán de noche" ( "Handsome by night".) The Moonflowers I grew here are not the same as in El Salvador, but they were close enough for Mom. I germinated the seeds in April, and planted them at the very beginning of May. By the time July rolled around, they had taken over! They are beautiful, and smell delicious, but are horrendous to cut down when the season is over. They dropped seeds everywhere, and 3 years later, I'm still getting Moonflower seedlings popping up! Here's a pic from 2012:
Trying them this year (Ipomoea alba). I started them indoors on a window sill in early spring and planted them out within a week of germination. I have two vines about 18 inches tall so far and two more that haven't started to climb yet. Not sure they're getting enough sun where I put them. If I get any blooms this year I'll be back with pictures. I also tried Datura but had no luck with germination.
Each time a plant is moved it suffers a bit of transplant shock. But if I am not pleased with the location I move it and sometimes more than once. Shade them with a lawn chair or other item if possible and be sure to water well.
Catkin, not long. maybe a couple of years.
It has a reputation for smelling bad, which I had never noticed. Yesterday I kept smelling really strong cat pee. Realized it was the polymorpha. Don't want to move it, so I'll just exhale in its vicinity.
So I've been going with texasranger's suggestion of dri-fit pants for almost a month now. I wear long ones vs. capri's because of bugs, poison ivy and ground-in dirt. I absolutely love wearing them for gardening!!!!!!!! They're super-comfortable, reasonably cool, don't show the dirt as much as other pants, wash well and seem to be wearing well too. Until it's really cold and I switch to sweats, I doubt I'll ever go back to other pants. Thanks for the great suggestion!
When I was starting out I learned a lot through books and from my sister who likes to garden. This was before the 'net. The 'net is ok to quickly look something up, but I prefer my tried-and-true books, and of course the GW forums for personal experiences/advice. I also learned a lot by doing and observing.
Now that I think of it I do use Garden Web first when looking for information, I find different people's personal experiences with certain plants are much more helpful than anything I can look up. How they grow in different locations is very helpful when I'm deciding where to plant or if it is even worth trying it. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people on here. Also when looking for certain plants or seed usually someone on here can head you in the right direction :).
Annette
I just found some very small ones on eBay, from a seller in Arkansas, for $6.95 each. They have 100% positive feedback, so I bought two, as the price was right.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/371351440172?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
I planted one today, we'll have to compare notes as they grow :). I'm hoping mine will go up a plant pole I used to hang fuchsia baskets on, since we took down the big cherry tree it's too sunny for fuchsias now. I still have the clemie Rebecca on this pole, although mine is not the right shade of red the two might look good together, if not it can be easily remedied.
Annette
I have also had problems with phlox not flowering. Plants growing well and looked healthy. After several years, I too shovel pruned both of them.
I finally tried them again the last couple of years..and these ones are growing and flowering well. They put on a wonderful show.
I thought I had a phlox curse or something, everyone else could grow this but me. I now have several colours blooming away. :)
Sierra
Ok. I got. The leaves are actually beautiful and the two plants are health but not blooming. These are now going to meet their demise and be replaced. that seems to be the consensus here. thanks