13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

You will find that experience will dictate which plants respond well to deadheading and which do not. For example, my Shasta daisies ('Silver Princess') showed no signs of producing new flowers at the lateral leaf nodes but was producing tons of basal foliage with buds, so I went ahead and cut down to the basal foliage.

Just because a plant is on the list doesn't mean your particular plant will respond -- just that those species tend to benefit from deadheading. If anything, there is an aesthetic benefit. DiSabato-Aust writes that you may improve the longevity of perennials that tend to flower themselves to death (Shasta Daisies, Gaillardias) by allowing basal foliage to develop at the expense of current growth.

Thanks for all the replies....and the good links!

at link.. 4th down .. the blurb says:

If you see split stems this is probably due to drying out followed by watering.

i always thought.. they were just growing faster than they could cope ... and considered it cosmetic..

and the solution to that problem.. is to quit sticking your head inside the plant.. and enjoy it from a little more distance.. other than to whiff the scent.. lol

nothing to worry about.. IMHO ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

I would enjoy it more now even from a distance if the yellow leaves weren't so high up the stems that they are making the plants rather unsightly [although they are flowering nicely]. Guess I'll just keep spraying with fungicide once a week. Unless you have other suggestions.

Thanks all. The idea of a different cultivar is probably the best answer.

New growth on boxwoods will also appear lighter and be softer than the hardened off "old growth". If you've fertilized that corner more than the rest or shaped it by pruning you could have promoted new growth.

I have a row of twenty two 'Green Velvet' boxwoods and there can be differences in the appearances of different sections depending upon how I've pruned that spring or if I've fertilized surrounding plants. I suppose even providing supplemental water to one area could cause a variation in appearance.

Do you think that might be what's going on?

If not, I also subscribe to the different variety theory.

Pretty hedge and planting area!

Adona

This iris thing just kills me. There is a guy down the street from me who has his irises planted SO DEEP that I go nuts every time I walk by. But GUESS WHAT...... he has the biggest, most beautiful iris blooms I have ever seen every single year. And mine are planted properly on top of the soil (practically speaking) and I get nothing. He even adds compost to those irises every frigging spring. I can't stand it.

Some areas have borers, some don't. If you're lucky enough to live in an area without iris borers, your iris won't get borers regardless of when you trim the foliage or how deeply you plant the rhizomes. My soil is heavy clay. If I buried iris rhizomes, they would absolutely rot in winter. Since our winters are wet, I remove the foliage in autumn along with any fallen leaves that have blown into the beds. Still, I get a couple of borers each year.

Patann, I wonder if you have sandy soil. In sandy soil, fertilizing iris with compost or another organic once a year would be a good idea.

Third.

Forth though some rudbeckias have similar foliage as well.

It's a new bed with good soil and compost. It's raised but gets watered from sprinklers 3 times a week. I have another plant nearby that gets more sun and less water and is only half as big but blooming well

Very nice!

Yup. I bought it. I planted it. I watched it die. It seemed like very fundamental hardiness issues, though it did take a couple of years. Just after the first winter, it never seemed to make it back to where it started out.

Thanks very much Mindy. I love such a strong recommendation.

I saw it at my favorite garden center and it looks similar to black eye susans but is large flowers..I have the double sun-gold rudbeckia..that I rec'd the seeds in the Wintersowing swap one year and it has double layers of petals on top of each other and large brown eye..It has done so well and I would love to find some more like it. The Tiger's eye were smaller than the one I have. I definately will be saving the seeds from it. When it first started putting out buds, Bambi had a midnight snack and I thought I'd be doomed for flowers but it rebounded and it has lots of flowers and it has been a favorite perennial this year with the exception of my daylilies that I just planted Sept. 2011 that I rec'd at plant swap.

Rudbeckia's will last a long time, and can tolerate drought conditions..easy to grow.

Tiger Eye is definitely an annual in zone 6. It is also an F1 hybrids, so seed collected from them will not be true. It is a PHENOMENAL Rudbeckia hirta

miclino: They bloom for a long period without deadheading so it isn't essential, but deadheading can tidy them up, improve the rebloom somewhat, and produce larger lateral flowerheads. The seedheads are often food sources for birds during winter, so I leave some for them but not too many because Echinacea reseed prolifically.

Dead flowers are just ugly, why leave any? (Unless you are after seeds, of course.)

Planted some first year plants and flowering now. Too early to tell though

tiny and some blooms. Not the greatest picture but this was from a tiny 3 inch pot sent to me in spring.

By miclino at 2012-07-08

I am a sucker for the purple (or blue to some)/yellow-orange combo as well, so platycodon grandiflorus (balloon flower) makes a nice combo. I also like the combo of bee balm with heliopsis. Caryopteris, Sea Holly (eryngium), Joe Pye Weed(eupatorium maculatum), and Jupiter's Beard (centranthus ruber) would all look nice with 'Summer Sun.'

There are dwarf cultivars of most of the companion plants mentioned above so you can easily find something that will work in front of 'Summer Sun.' Good luck!

I have summer sun with blue salvia on one side and orange lilies and red orange daylilies on the other side. In front is silver lambs ears which I think looks nice together as well.

Its too funny, I thought the same thing last nite that it got down right chilly. Luckily we got about 1/2" rain last nite so it was pretty easy to pull weeds today. It actually felt like a perfect july day! and I was a happy gardener :-)

Jodi

The cool front is supposed to be on its way to me and it can't get here soon enough- I need rain like I have NEVER needed it before.
I just hope it doesn't bring the heavy winds with it.
I have four giant oaks down already that it has been too hot to deal with.