13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Well, nicoleternity == here is the pic I promised so that you could compare to the 2nd one in my March 12th post(above)and see how fast it grew in just a couple months. This was from digging up and dividing the original one into thirds this spring (just to give you some idea on if you cut yours back now). We have been fortunate to have plenty of rain, tho, so that helped. Don't think I've had to water that bed but once or twice so far....cross fingers....lol

Terrene - Where did you find your "Junior Walker" catmint? I see it's a new introduction this year and I can't seem to find it locally. Has it bloomed heavily yet? I have a border where I'd love the look of Walker's Low but need something smaller. Junior seems like it would work very well ...if only I could find it!! :)

I haven't looked on Prairie Moon or Everwilde's websites in a while, but usually every time I look on either they are both out of purple milkweed seeds.

So I just checked to see their availability, and I wasn't disappointed (er, rather yes), they were both out.

Karen

I bet someone has some seeds to trade. I only had 6 seeds. These aren't as easy to grow as the other varieties. I am trying one more time.

I pull them up when they get ratty looking. As Ken said, they are free seeding. Yesterday I was remembering that my MIL had given me some Johnny-Jump-ups back when I was first married. More than 25 years and one move later, their decendents are still with us, seeds having hitch-hiked with a few of the plants I brought with me when we moved. Happily, they are easy to remove where I don't want them and they don't aggressively reseed in places like the lawn. I like them for blooming until hard freeze and during late winter thaws when nothing else is blooming most years.

I'm with nhbabs. JJU's are very welcome here - right now they're blooming with the forget-me-nots. I get them in every nook and cranny and in all the gardens. An unnecessary activity, but I do spread the seeds when pulling any out... however, they'd do just as good a job on their own.

If you cut them back to the ground, they regenerate quite quickly.

Very pretty! I have not even gotten the regular Cherry Brandy to the blooming stage although I've started lots of other cultivars of Rudbeckia hirta from seed that bloomed okay.

the plant has come out quite nice now.. you can see the single type bloom on the one lower flower.

I live in zone 7b where it's been hotter than normal for weeks - and mine are barely a few inches tall. I would give it more time before giving up on it.

Most of mine are earlier than usual this year, but I have a couple that are just starting to poke through - this is the time they normally begin showing themselves. I would give it another approx. two weeks - if no signs of life by then, then I would replace.

BTW: Don't forget to pinch when a full set of leaves emerges. :0)

I would grow the nonflowering kind again, but I have been pulling seedlings of the flowering kind for years and can't really recommend it. It seeds into the lawn and under shrubs and it is just a pain to get rid of.

I think lamb's ear is a great plant - the silvery leaves really makes deep- or rich-colored flowers stand out, particularly deep purples (heliotrope next to lamb's ear is smashing!). I have "Helen von Stein" aka Big Ears - she does not flower (well, I take that back - I got one, at the most two, flowers in the past 13 years I've had her at this house), and the leaves are large. Super easy to grow in hot, dry, full sun locations. It does spread but I wouldn't consider it aggressive, and, like someone above mentioned, easy to control - just give a yank or cut off the runners with a spade/shovel.

Nope, these are hard backed beatles about the same size as a lady bug but longer than they are wide.

Can you take a photo? That would make it pretty easy. Or go to google images and type in a description of the bug and see if a photo looks like it.

I believe it is Clytostoma callistegioides, violet trumpet vine. It is pretty common up here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Care info here

Susanc, you are right. My bad. I focused on the flowers and didn't put my glasses on and look at the foliage.

Thanks all for the info. I think I may have oversooked. The seeds were harvested from Botainical seeds originally.

Have them trellesed over the deck slider and they were gorgeous. Waiting for them to dry on the vine was a messy and tortures thing!!

Have a few seeds left and will try the paper towel, plastic bag.

Wish I had Remy's advice on the smashing, as some were so dry I tossed them!!

As for the hollyhocks, did save seed and will plant them.
However, I have 2 elderly neighbors who have huge hollyhock patches that come back year after year, so go figure.

Thanks all, again

Once you plant hollyhock seeds two years in a row, you should have a self-seeding patch.

By lablab, I was assuming hyacinth bean vine. It's been so long since I grew them, I didn't feel like I had anything helpful to say... Next time I find some seeds, I will be ready to save any seeds my plants make (thanks to Remy!)

move one or two ... and if in a week they make it.. move the others ...

water well the day before... or even better .. do it in rain ...

and take a big gob of soil with them.. digging new hole first.. and water well.. and at that size ... they may never know they were moved ...

and by gob.. at this size.. i mean a teacup full ... this is a hand trowel job.. not a shovel job ...

ken

Thanks, I thought that would be the answer, but it didn't hurt to ask first. It's been raining for 4 days, and tonight there is a freeze warning! I might wait til tomorrow.

in another post.. you indicated severe soil cracking ... and that tells me.. you have a good deal of clay ...

if you dig a hole in clay ... and add stuff to make it anti-clay .. as the clay dries ... it will actually wick water from your prime media ... and in the long run.. you end up losing ...

in the alternative.. the clay will create a cauldron that holds water ... and then all the water retaining media holds too much water ...

so it gets real tricky.. amending ONLY a planting hole ...

and the easiest solution is to do a whole bed..

and the other solution is to raise that bed above grade somewhat ... work above the problem ...

its all about the dichotomy between drainage.. and water holding capacity ...

actually .. its all theory.. and what you do .. is plant one .. and find out if you can make it live..

if it fails.. move on.. there are too many other plants that you can plant..

and never forget.. it is said.. you are not a real gardener.. or greenthumb .. UNTIL you have killed every plant in your yard 3 times ... its the experimenting that teaches you .... though i used to give up after two tries. i mean really.. whats the point after two.. lol .. i can bang my head on the garage for free.. lol ..

ken

A rather simple alternative to all of the above is to get an inexpensive battery-operated programmable water timer and hook it up to a drip irrigation system. By choosing the appropriate drip emitters and watering cycles, you can keep the soil as wet or dry as you want (Mother Nature not withstanding).

and you can have two plants next to each other.. one damaged.. one not..

and i refer to that as the vagaries of mother nature ...

ken

For the past decade, I've been making observations (just mentally) regarding frost and sun exposure. One is that a lot of leaves are not damaged by frost when other leaves are because they thawed before the the sun hit them. The same type plant that is in shade until 10 am might be unscathed while its' twin in a spot that sees the sunrise (and has no discernible difference regarding micro-climate features) is damaged. I'm certainly no scientist but I suspect the more gradual thaw can make a difference, and UNscientific observation has offered support of this. Anyone else notice this happening or NOT happening?