13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
yes, I agree with gardengal - these tree mallows can become gigantic in one or 2 seasons. However, they flower on new wood so if you cut it back quite hard, it will put out some new growth and even a crop of late flowers. It gets very brittle and is inclined to prune itself by losing chunks of stem - which does get woody over time. The cultivar 'Barnsley' is a much more mannerly plant, acting much more like a true perennial. You might to take a look at L.maritima which is more tender than L.olbia but has delightful foliage and blooms.
I have only the wild Aquilegia Canadensis and they crop up everywhere - full sun, shade, cracks in the sidewalk. Columbine produce a high volume of seed, so don't cut off your spent blooms. You can let the plants scatter their seeds naturally or collect some and scatter them where you want them. Even these wild ones get a bit bronzy after blooming. You might even see leaf miner patterns on the leaves - rarely, if ever, a real problem.
I've never had a transplant survive - even here in the north - so I rely on self seeding. I think you might be experiencing the natural cycle of the columbine rather than anything else; unless the "modern" hybrids are considerably different.
Burgundy foliage usually indicates a lack of phosphorus. However, I don't grow columbine, and tsuga says they do that after blooming. You might try giving them some fert with a higher middle number. Phosphorus helps with root development, and if they're new, they'd probably benefit from that anyway.
Deanna
do you have that famous muck known to me as OH clay???
how did you plant it???
do you fert it??? high nitrogen is known to cause excessive vegetative growth at the cost of flowering
can we see a picture???
ken
Here is a link that might be useful: how to post pix
Hi nutmeg, see pics on link. Vitex/Chaste Tree was recently in bloom here and I snapped pics with my camera phone, sometimes a bit fuzzy, of vitex in bloom at different locations around town. It is used here in both residential and commercial landscaping, just as crêpe myrtle trees are used. In full bloom vitex is a favorite of mine to stop and admire.
It's a tree here, but a bush for you it seems as your cold winter will make it die back - die back at the very least!
Click "Next" to see all 5 pics
GW thread on vitex with happy ending, came back this yr for poster in z5 Ohio
Before I planted some from seed last year, I had heard about the problems they have with rust. Since last year's plants showed no sign of the disease, I thought I was home free. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing it was the terribly rainy, humid weather, we've been having. I will keep on spraying, but am not adverse to cutting the monster down. I don't know what I'll do about the soil. I am not moving it, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see!! It's such an ugly disease!!
my first thought was that you did not start the season by pruning them to one or two buds very close to the ground ...
in spring.. once buds start swelling.. so you know which are alive ... i would have cut them back ...
then.. there seems to be a lot of bare stalks.. and i am wondering if you missed some bug a month or so back ...
and since they need to be cutback multiple times during the year.. you might want to go whack them down to about 2 inches.. especially since you have so many ...
if it were me.. i would take an end one.. today.. and just cut it back.. and give it a week to see what happens..
if it rebuds vigorously.. in the next week or two.. i would finish the job ...
if not.. then report back.. and i will dream up some other remedy.. lol ...
also.. was the lawn sprayed with herbicide???
and were there any weird frosts or freezes.. because the under-canopy of dead hanging leaves bothers me ... but if i prune it back.. they will be gone ...
ken
Ken...thanks for the info.
I've officially cut the scraggly mums down to about two inches. Hopefully they'll come back out. If I recall correctly, my weed man came and sprayed the lawn for weeds about 2 weeks ago (and maybe even put a pesticide on some of the shrubs?). That being said, these random mums have been looking sickly for over a month now. Other mums in this 'hedge of 30' look just fine. Not sure what is up with the sick ones. We'll see if my hack job will result in them coming back out. If not...I'll be asking for more advice.
In my opinion 'non-flopping' is not debatable or open for interpretation. It means that it is taken into account that there is rain and wind in nature and they also can come at the same time. Non-flopping means that the plant can remain standing position after rain and wind in 'average version', nobody would demand from a plant to remain standing in the tornado or a flood. If a plant can't stand on its own it's called 'may need staking' or 'requires staking'.
What makes me wonder while I'm reading English/American catalogues what do they exactly mean when they write the words 'sturdy stems'. When I translate it with google it makes no sense. What can I use 'sturdy stems' for in a peony that is laying on the ground after the first rain?
When I use the term non-flopping I mean non-flopping.
(does not assume permanent laying position)
pbl_ge, I also purchased the Snowbanks from Bluestone last year (when they still sold them in sets of 3). I bought two sets of 3. I pinched maybe 3-4 times before July 4th and by the fall the plants were beautiful, about 4 feet tall, very full and impressive. I also particularly like the foliage on the plant as it grows. The plant is airy and "branchy" (if that is even a word) and with the light blue/green color definitely sticks out in the perennial bed. And in terms of flopping, mine only flopped after we got hit with Hurricane Irene (and that was more from the wind then the rain), but they even recovered from that. I think growing them close together helps them support each other as someone else mentioned above.
What I would be careful of though is your placement. Man does this plant spread rapidly. This spring I had to divide up both my Boltonia and my Woods Blue Aster I also bought from Bluestone last year.
6 Boltonia plants last year -> ~easily 30+ multi stem plants this year (all doing great after the move). I had to move them all over the yard, even made a long hedge since I was out of space. I am guessing next year I will be begging people to take some of them from my yard.
Same thing with my Woods Blue. 3 plants last year -> 27 plants this year. Again all doing well and filling in nicely.
Good luck!
I'm wondering if perhaps the "trailing carnations" description from Allwoods might simply be a marketing term. I have grown several dianthus varieties and a couple of them can be described as "trailing" simply because they have a tendency to flop and sprawl in a bed. There are others that have a more upright growth habit.
One variety I'm growing that trails is a pink Dianthus superbus. It's a very frilly flower that has a wonderful scent to it. I purchased the seeds from eBay and they germinated right away for me.
I have the variegated porcelain vine, live in Ohio, and it is not invasive. That is, it does not seed down or spread along the ground. The only problem I encounter is that it likes to climb up the snowball bush it's planted near instead of the trellis. I just pull it out, but it grows back fast. Just have to be vigilant. Of course this means it is not planted in full sun, so perhaps that is why it doesn't go crazy. I've grown it there for the past seven or more years. Bugs always seem to eat the buds before any blooms (and subsequent berries)come on. I love the variegated leaves and the blue berries.
I've had a variegated porcelain vine on a trellis on the west wall of my house for at least 10 years. It is between two Ernest Markham Clematis vines (each on their own trellis). It gets no fertilizer and no supplemental water. The soil is heavy clay which I'm pretty sure was amended pretty heavily when the three vines were originally planted. The area is currently somewhat on the dry side, since it no longer gets constant over-sprinkling from my neighbor.
The variegated porcelain vine is much smaller than the two clems (which I periodically treat as type 3s and hard prune in the spring to a few inches when they overflow their space.) It is quite well behaved, needs little pruning, and has never produced a seedling plant. I have topped it a few times over the years to keep it from getting too tall. The foliage is attractive (a nice contrast to the solid green of the two clems) and the berries quite lovely, but not terribly profuse.