13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

I had no idea those cactus could live up there, never saw any when I lived in Columbus. The ones with the yellow flowers are everywhere down here though, and I had no idea the flowers came in diff colors. Thanks!

I was shocked too purple. I learned they were hardy in my zone from people at GW about 10 years ago. They look dead in the winter. They lay down flat as soon as it warms up in the Spring they sit up plump up and look beautiful. It is amazing. I think they are hardy to zone 4 or 5.

It would be nice to be able to edit a post, but overall I don't mind the format here at GW. Communication is easy, and the lack of continual format "upgrades" for the sake of change is refreshing. (One easy "fix" would be returning the gardening homepage to Spike's subclassification of forums by category, instead of the current anarchy).

As for missing posts through inability to check all the different forums dealing with perennials on a daily basis - that's the price we pay for the proliferation of specialty forums dealing with one genus of plants. Lots of people felt deprived if their favorite didn't have its very own forum, so as a result, many will miss out on interesting posts unless they make a habit of checking multiple different forums frequently (I rarely bother with the specialty perennial forums). Somehow I doubt that having one's e-mail box cluttered up with replies is the solution. Of course, the gardeners who are only interested in one genus of plants are less liable to miss out - they can stick to Daylilies, Hosta etc.

As to posting requests in the Suggestions forum, the lack of feedback there suggests that GW does not have the staff or inclination to respond in a timely manner.

Woo hoooo! Anybody else notice the "Image file to upload" feature that GW has added??

Way to go GW! This will make it so much easier for people to post photos.

Thanks! I water 2-3 times a week, but I can up it to see if that helps. (The soil doesn't get super dry, but it doesn't stay super moist, either.) Thanks for the help!

Guess I had to get down on my knees...I found sprouts when pulling out some other plants!

Funny, none of my four o'clocks are opening EXCEPT the yellow one.

I don't think it's genetics. Last year I had some deep pink ones and white ones opening, and this year they are not (but the yellow ones are). I ordered three different types and planted them in another spot--and none of them are opening, though they are covered with blooms.

I'm hoping they will all start opening. Or maybe I should pull them all out except for the yellow ones . . .

I would like to solve this mystery!

Bill

IME with them in different places, they just like to wait until they cool off, although others have testimonials in direct contradiction. This same question comes up every few years. Maybe some plants just have off-years? Starting to think so and castorp's plants seem to support that. But there's absolutely no reason to keep a plant you don't like. I try to give them away over killing them, though.

Sweet Joanne looks to be a real beauty. I'd love to see a pic when it's in its full glory.

Until mine are photo ready I know that frequent GW poster echinaceamaniac has some superb flowering 'Sweet Joanne'.

Orienpet Lilies are wonderful. Personally, I hate this 'tree lily' term invented by Breck's and affiliated companies that do not use scientific names on their sites.

I remember a great story Chris Hallson (the owner of Hallson Garden) told me:

About the lily tree... I had a customer stop by asking for them. She said that one of the picture tags looked like one of them, but all we had were lilies and she wanted a tree. Said it was the latest breakthrough from Spring Hill. To me that is plain false and misleading advertising. Oh well...

He made my day then. the latest breakthrough from Spring Hill...

you mean a flowering conifer.. lol ...

lol do you think I could get big bucs on ebay. There is a fool born every second.

alina that is funny "the latest breakthrough from Spring Hill.."

This one does not have any fragrance the others I are almost ready to bloom are very fragrant. They do have very large stems and have the appearance of a tree after growing for about 4 years. That was one of the reasons I decided to bring them with me. I did not want to start over. The bulbs were huge.

They could overwinter in zones 8-11. Most of Western Washington is Zone 8.

Hi & welcome to Gardenweb.

I've never seen a flower like that! Wow that's cool!

They're pretty reliable here, but the coldest part of winter is usually pretty dry. Too much moisture could be a problem some winters, from what little I know about WA, maybe just a wrong stereotype.

If you'd like to do so, you can find your zone here by typing your ZIP code in the box, hit enter. If you include it in your profile info, it will show up next to your name when you post on these forums. You can add it to WA, like mine says 8b AL. Plants are given a zone rating based on temperatures they can withstand and knowing what zone you are in allows people to give you more specific and accurate advice.

Yes, Aquilegia and leafminers belong together. You can also expect leafminers on Thalictrum and many other plants.

in my garden.. wherein the goal is ANYTHING BUT GREEN ...

i consider the miner work.. to be variegation .. lol ...

if you keep denuding it of its leaves.. the plant will go into decline.. as you are removing its food making machines.. its leaves ...

ignore it.. and convince yourself.. its an added show of mother nature ...

they are short lived perennials.. i think of them as biennial at best ... do let it go to seed so that you will generate babes for the coming years

ken

I read somewhere that it spreads 1 foot a year in all directions if it's in a place it likes. Mine were a bit slow to establish, but should have a good show this year. I think they look like cotton candy and stay in bloom for awhile during our dry summer weather.

Corrine

I have Queen of the prairie for several years and mine has never spread. I thought last year heatwave might have done it in but it looks healthy and is blooming. Its not even close to what terrene looks like. I don't think it gets that tall in my area.

It is hard to disagree that potted plants are much better than bare root.

Ironically, some of my best plants were pitiful bare root babies when I bought them. Some examples:

1. Clematis Marmori. I bought it at Walmart in about 2003 when I had no clue about growing Clematis. It was a 2" bunch of roots with a single white potato-like eye. I potted it. It was barely growing for 3 years and became a NOID for me. Two years ago, when I already had more than 60 Clematis in my garden, I started looking for Marmori online. I did not have any luck. Last year, a NOID Clematis planted next to the fence at the most non-prominent spot started blooming. I realized it is a Marmori bought almost 8 years ago! This year, it blooms its head off with lovely and very distinctive flowers. A winner! Will move it the well deserved front row this fall :)

2. Tree Peonies bought from Van Bourgondien. 1 year old grafted sticks, 50% were dead upon arrival (returned to the seller after some fight). The price was about $8 per stick. Here are those that survived:

3. Clematis 'Viennetta'. Bought from Park's online sale at 50% off. They are not hardy in my zone. I killed 2 Viennettas and 1 Florida sieboldii at the time I bought this bare root one, so I did not hope for anything. I did not pot it up, I planted it directly in the garden - close to the house wall. Can you imagine how thrilled I was when it showed up the next spring after planting???

These are my little miracles. If you see a rare plant for a really low price, give it a try. Even if it is a bare root.

I bought a bag of bare root peonies from Walmart several years ago - could see through the plastic they had the "hey, I'm alive" pink buds. Though characteristicly and expectedly mislabeled, they're actually quite nice - all bloomed the first season, and every season since.

We each have our own way of acquiring plants. Not every good plant is an expensive mail order plant. And yes, I know that is the only way to get certain things when the unusual, the rare, or the exotic, etc. aren't readily found even at the best nurseries available to you.

Yeah, what Ken says. I have a border full of English Ivy and Myrtle and perennials like peony, hardy geranium, columbine and even blood root continue to come up every year and do their thing. BUT - I do clip (most of the time rip) a neat little circle around them in early Spring when I see new growth down in the jungle. If you don't or can't be vigilant then you may not want to bother trying to plant them.

Thanks for all the advice. I think I may just clear out one of the beds entirely so the perennials won't have to struggle.

B. macrophylla has self-seeded around my front beds to the point that I now have about a dozen plants in addition to the one I started with ten years ago. Not exactly thuggish behavior, considering also that it's my longest-flowering perennial in a great shade of blue and requires little care or attention.

I'd better go check on my hellebores - those thugs might have self-seeded again. ;)

Yes, they self-sow and by the hundreds. I have had to do a massive clean up to keep them out of the forest. Most of the edges of the forest are lined with them.