13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Put gravel or rocks on top of the soil in your pots. I do that to keep birds from nesting. You can even make it decorative. I've used round river rocks and I've even spray painted gravel to make it look colorful for a quick fix.

Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: purple gravel in lavender container

As per the below blog post I came across (not my blog) you might want to scratch the peonies as well. Although the author suspects deer ate them.

Here is a link that might be useful: peony buds eaten by deer

Thanks for letting me know of your experience with these beauties ,Eclecticcottage. It seems that we must display utmost patience with them, but it is so worth it. Your experience will be very useful to me in the future, I'm sure. I am a newbie with these, these two being my first bushes which I winter sowed from seeds received in an exchange. I was rather thrilled that I had such success with my first attempt, and I was warned about not cutting them back until spring, but not about the fact that they take their sweet time showing up after their winter sleep !! Of course this one plant will be coddled, and I will know what to expect if we have such strange weather in a future spring.

I'd also make sure to dead head like it's a religion once it starts flowering. I did it with the 14 we put in last year and they were non-stop until frost. My Lo and Behold is covered in blooms that are just turning from green now already. I kind of do the opposite of coddling with them, except for making sure they get enough water when freshly planted, lol (well, and deadheading). I only trimmed one, and I tossed the two branches I cut into water to see if they'd root. Looks like they are-and I just made sure to keep the water full and fresh.

I use their Plant-Tone for everything.

Cameron

lol...yikes, i don�t have Plant tone...where did I go wrong :)

it's all pretty much what i thought (re: my 4 fertilizers)...just wanted to hear it from the seasoned gardeners
Thanks!
Dale
ps..bear (sp?) with meâ¦.miracle grow varieties...also hype?

Quite lovely! Unfortunately, D. 'Piccolo' isn't available except in Europe, from what I can find on the web.

I think I'll have to try some of the other belladonna delphiniums, however. I started some midheight delphiniums from seed a number of years ago, but they succumbed to mildew. By now I don't remember the variety.

Many of the references I found to D. elata considered it an annual. What have others found as far as elata's longevity?

Delphinium elatum has NEVER bloomed in its first year for me(needs vernalization to bloom), and often rather sparsely in its second year if on hungry soil. It begins to bloom abundantly in it's third year. Besides, many references just repeat old information without checking if it is true. 10 years is not short-lived for me.

Yeah Ken it's a question which is worse the problem or the solution.

This year the thugs seem to be winning, not only am I fighting CC in the front, that bed also is full of volunteer plum trees. I am thinking that later this summer I going to HAVE to dig out my perennials, redig and roundup this whole bed.....a LOT of work but....

Then in the back of the house there are the Harebells...a lovely little wildflower until it over takes your flower beds!

In the shrub hedge that separates the yard from the gravel road and in the woodland behind the house and around one side of the yard I am fighting European Buckthorn. We have 5 acres here, 1 acre is used up in a levee and pond, about 1 1/2 acres is house, lawn and gardens, the rest is woodland.....in other words lots of weeds, not only buckthorn, but greather burdock, thistle and quack grass.

Some days It feels like an impossible task! If I could dedicate my life to it, I would love it, but alas I have to work.

Round Up (Glyphosate) is far less toxic than many chemicals put on yards.

Round Up does not poison the soil nor have any residual effect.

The 2,4-D used in Weed n'Feed does....yet people poison their lawns with it and let kids and pets play on it.

Look up that recent thread where everyone posted their favorite gold plants. It had tons of ideas in there.

Good idea, echinaceamaniac. Alina, I liked both those threads and the sharp contrasts. Here you go, nydepot:

Now, what are your favorite golden foliage plants?
Your favorite black/dark red/maroon plant?

Seed-grown plants that are loved by pollinators can "change colors" because the bees and butterflies cross-pollinate and literally breed new strains.

Also, hybrids that self-sow can revert to a parent. I have orange echinacea 'Sundown' and the original plants are always true to the orange, but all of the seedlings are the standard native color of deep pink blooms with orange cones. I keep them anyway.

On my Knock-Out Roses 'Radrazz', blooms on the new growth in spring are always darker red-pink than the reblooms on the current year's growth. If I cut back the stems during the season, then that new growth produces the darker color, too.

My best guess (I'm not a rosarian) for the white edges appearing on the roses is to try pruning a few stems, keep the roses watered well and see if the new blooms are okay. Could they have experienced a weather stress?

Cameron

So the Latin name is: Tanacetum coccineum, but they have also been known as Chrysanthemum coccineum, Pyrethrum coccineum and Pyrethrum roseum. They have been named a few times. I'll let my mum know about the dieback/self sowing/cross pollination options. I guess we'll have to see what happens. I know some of mine didn't come back, but the colours are all off the same plant (or look like it anyways).

As for the roses, that does make sense. The weather was VERY strange for the March-May timeframe. Hot then cold, then hot, then normal, then cold and right now we're having August weather. It was also the driest spring on record for us - we got less than 30% the average between February to end of May.

I appreciate your post, rouge21, because I just planted a "Low and Behold" BB at our zone 6a cabin, and I had no idea about the hardiness issue. I did plant it with good drainage, and now I know to really mulch it heavily at Thanksgiving(and pray of course). Couldn't I just dump a bag of shredded pine bark on it(and pray)? The oak leaves blow around a lot on the mountain top where I am trying to create a beautiful, but deer resistant landscape.

I have a few Lo and Beholds coming into bloom now-they started showing the buds at least a week ago if not longer. My first one is JUST staring to show purple instead of green. A few others are starting to show the blooms too, but until they bloom I can't recall which ones are which. One I'm pretty sure is Bicolor and the other is black knight.

We're considered 6b here, but we're RIGHT on the lake, as in, it's my backyard, so our seasons run later (my shasta daisies are JUST now starting to bloom). I didn't have die-back on any BBs this past winter (their first winter here), and I didn't mulch them either. 14 various BB's (ruby red, black knight, bicolor and lo and behold) all made it through fine. I have one more that was a freebie (I just had to dig it up) that I don't know what it is-it was pretty rough around the edges when I got it and it never did bloom last year.

I also have about 90 others that were all bought this spring as rooted cuttings, some are more robust now than others, but all that made it (I bought 100) are handling whatever the weather does fine.

I have always grown purple oxalis in the full, blazing sun...in the South! It stays compact, in full flower, and without problems of any kind. A heavy frost will zap it into a winter's sleep where single digit temps are fairly common.

Inside, I don't know how you 'd provide enough light to keep it from becoming leggy and spider mite -y.

If the edges are burnt I would suspect a cultural problem...too much water, poor drainage, excess fertilization, etc. Sunburn would not appear just on the edges.

your ground freezes in z7??? .. wow .. never thunk it so ..????

the key here is.. they are EXTRA.. just do it ... what downside is there??? throw them away ...

let us know.. next spring.. how it works out..

presumably.. the two you keep indoors.. will have more babes to try outdoors next year ...

now.. why are you keeping two potted INDOORS for summer??? ... they should go outside.. in their pot.. in full shade.. for the summer ... until the last minute before frost or freeze comes..

you will be surprised how good it will look.. come xmas ... and the doldrums of winter ... as long as you dont forget to water it out there ...

ken

Coreopsis 'Route 66.'

Thanks everyone!! I will be sure to do my research.

Thank you all!

Chris,
are you saying if I deadhead it, the plant will continue to bloom?

Judon

Yes. down the stem at each node.

Chris