13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
weeeeellll! It is a funny blue. Hard to describe - it has slatey overtones and looks slightly grubby. I dunno - if you are addicted to novelty, it is rather extraordinary...but it does not look like a particularly vigorous plant (but I am finding that quite a few of the recently hybridised verbascums are a bit puny). At the moment, I am content to wait a bit and see how well they perform over time (and get a bit cheaper too as it absolutely needs to be grown in generous drifts - it is not a penetrating colour). There are better blue spikes out there.
If I could only have one plant, it would be my salvia greggii "navajo". It blooms all summer with successive shearing, is a butterfly and hummingbird magnet, is fragrant, drought tolerant and mostly evergreen in my zone. I received this plant from a trader on the plant exchange several years ago. Since then I have rooted it successfully several times to increase its presence in my garden and to share with other gardeners.
I'm thrilled with whatever is growing well this year. That seems to change from one year to the next. When you say 'Favorite' that seems a little different to me than 'Best'. Only because sometimes my favorites don't grow as well as I would like and my best plants are those that do grow the best with the least amount of attention and fuss. I can't imagine narrowing it down to a single plant. I love so many, but these plants are the most dependable performers for me that I enjoy very much.
Right now, it would be Dicentra the pink, but especially the white. And I love it paired with Lunaria which blooms at the same time. Those come back every year and get bigger and better and look lovely together and NO fuss at all. Then they disappear into the background while others start blooming.
I love Japanese Painted ferns with Epimediums. Easy, dependable, lovely together and I don't seem to feel I ever can have too many. And after the Epimedium bloom, the pair looks great all the rest of the season.
Later in the summer, Perovskia, Pennisetum 'Hamelin', and Echinacea are three of my favorites that really perform again without attention and they also look good all season.
If it's shaded by a maple, I am surprise that it's moist. Perhaps because it's raised. How dim is the shade?
How long did you give for the hosta to be established. Small hostas are very slow growing and may take a while. You mentioned slugs, what's causing the current plant to fail?
Paul
I have those, they're pretty trouble-free and easy to grow. Bulbs of the common species are available in the fall from the larger bulb vendors, such as Van Engelen.
http://vanengelen.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Product&_category=Best:Camassia
Here is a link that might be useful: You can eat them, too:
Ah yes, some plants are such fleeting beauties - Peonies, Amelanchier, Filipendula, my Miss Kim lilac (SPECTACULAR and fragrant blooms for like 2.5 days), etc. I solve this problem by planting so many flowering things in succession that that there is always something to enjoy! :)
And I agree with Ken, that plant is spectacular! Ken your post is rare form...I have an image of your tree peony floating down the river in a basket like Moses and being rescued Mxk3.
Ok - I agree that my tree peony is pretty spectacular right now, and we haven't had a storm to take it down this year. And it does look healthy all year and demands absolutely no care except a bit of pruning of some of the old woody branches. I've had it since about 1980, so I guess I take it a bit for granted. Thanks for the new perspectives. But I'm using my space for hostas these days, so I'm not planning any more - not even Ken's free one!
Jan
Obviously, dmoore' is trying to figure out why they're not flowering or not yet showing signs that they will flower.
Could you please provide more information? How long ago did the foliage emerge? Have they flowered in the past? What kind of soil/sun/moisture conditions are they planted in?
ornithogalum umbellatum, star of Bethlehem.
Here is a link that might be useful: ornithogalum umbellatum
Forgot to say, it seems like they do this only when the sprouts are somewhat young. I don't have problems once the plants mature. At least that's how these demons behave around here. So if you use the chicken wire now, you could probably take it off later in the season.
Kevin
"Laura Bush" reseeded a bit here.
I suspect that at least some petunia varieties are only temporary annuals in Houston and start petering out when consistent summer heat arrives (late May on average), so letting them go to seed when the decline becomes obvious sounds like a good idea.
yep, cut it back, not just the blooms. This is known as the 'Chelsea Chop' because it is done in late May, the time of the Chelsea Flower show (ranting as usual on the antiques rose forum, I loathe Chelsea) and is often used to cut back tall, late blooming perennials such as heleniums, asters, rudbeckias. The plants will grow bushier, flower a bit later (they WILL flower again) and not grow so tall that they need staking.
Unless the vegetative growth is sparse or looking unhealthy, I'd enjoy the flowers and cut the flowering stems off when they're spent to prevent seeding.
The plant will probably bloom at the normal time next year.
This thread has reminded me I need to pot on a bunch of Helenium seedlings I started a couple of months ago.
Thanks gardengal, that's exactly what I need to know. I would like to keep this plant in a rather limited space, so serious pruning makes sense.
Jan
Ruby Glow should stay put without worry. It is not the most robust euphorb I've grown (IME, the darker the foliage, the less hardy the plant) and doesn't seem to produce any stoloniferous growth. Robbiea, on the otherhand, spreads aggressively via stolons, especially in better soil and plenty of irrigation and is often sold as an evergreen groundcover for difficult situations. There is some thought that robbiea is a distinct species of its own, since its growth habit is markedly different from other amygdaloides selections.