13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Seeing the photos & comments above, I'm really, really glad I winter sowed Knautia macedonica and got excellent germination. The seedlings are potted up in quart pots to get some size to them while I decide where to plant them. Hope to add that pretty astrantia to my 2013 winter sowing seed list. Out of 197 milk jugs, fewer than two dozen haven't sprouted, mostly trees, shrubs and perennials that typically take a long time to germinate. I'm gonna be one busy gardener in a few weeks finding homes for all my sprouts.
I just have to throw my 2 cents worth in on heuchera 'Snow Angel' From my original plant purchased 5 years ago, I have numerous divisions and have even given some away. Interesting how plants will perform so differently in different gardens.
Can't comment about Pink Supreme but I am growing Marshall's Delight Bee Balm - which is a pink Monarda.
It is a cheery, bright, pink cultivar reported to be mildew resistant. This is the second year in my garden and it looks great so far this year. Foliage has a wonderful fragrance. Will see how long a bloom season I get from it as I planted it mid season last year. No powdery mildew to date. I grow it in a raised bed and did add some water crystals to the planting hole when I planted it, as plants around it are more drought tolerant. I've read 'Marshall's Delight' was selected from the Chicago Botanic Garden's Plant Evaluation Program as an outstandlng Perennial for Midwest gardens so I'd think it would do well in your growing zone.
So far this spring, it's currently about 12 inches high. I'm expecting it to remain fairly short for a Bee Balm, as we experience high winds and heavy rainstorms throughout the growing season and tall plants get beaten down in my garden. I tried Raspberry Wine and it really drew the hummingbirds but it was too tall and I fought powdery mildew all season so I removed it.
Also grow Monarda 'Fireball', a shorter plant with wine red blooms and it, too, is doing well for me.
Best of luck with your selection. Please come back and let us know what you decide to plant and how well it performs for you.
Mary
Ispahan, there is an ancient(1928) German phlox with a name Schwerins Flagge(Flag of Schwerin), which is 90 cm tall and identical in color to Peppermint Twist. See the link below. It reverts to salmon red sometimes according to the note in German. You can also check Mishenka by the same token, an old Russian variety with the same pattern but in violet/white.
Here is a link that might be useful: Schwerins Flagge
Thanks for the update Ispahan. Which ones did you order?
A local nursery here had 'Early Start Light Pink' phlox that was blooming and I was using up a gift card. : )
It's a pretty color, very pale pink with a dark pink eye and is supposed to bloom earlier than other phlox. I haven't found many reviews on the Early Start series phlox and don't know yet whether it's going to be mildew resistant. I think they're relatively newish.
I LOVE my reverted Peppermint Twist. It had already reverted when I saw it at a nursery and I bought it anyway. Pretty coral pink color.
Here is a link that might be useful: Phlox 'Early Start Light Pink'
oh Flora - how to say this....geum has also been something of a bete noire too. For sure, I can manage the romping great chiloense hybrids....but it is the daintily elegant little G.rivale types which have stolen away my heart (and assaulted my wallet). Why can I not be satisfied with garden workhorses? Nope, it is the horticultural Camilles (one pale hand on the coverlet and all that) that gets my blood pressure rising (and rising even more when confronted with yet another empty space or sickly dying mess of plantage). But hey, potentillas, surely I can keep them alive? Well no, even just a hint of slacking off on the watering (I have a pot garden, it can be hell) and they are
quite literally,
toast.
As for a way with words, well, I have been amusing myself with Ken's snippy and acute comments - I guess it really is time to get the spade out.
Thanks again for everyone's input. Very happy to hear overall I shouldn't be too concerned since mine definitely is not wide spread. I will take everyones notes when I start moving some of them this weekend to new locations (crazy how 3 small plants bought from Bluestone turned to roughly 25+ this year...wayyyy over crowding the space...guess they like the location).
Ken, I know you're right...I'm studying bed prep too...but pre-selecting and then charting the flowers/plants I like is helping me to learn about them. I'm the girl who re-copied my notes in college to tidy them up, and the act of writing the notes again helped me to learn the text. I've moved lots of things around in my current garden so I definitely don't mind doing that. I only wish I knew where I'd be living! I live in the midwest now but my husband is currently interviewing for a job in South Carolina. So we'll see!
I know what you all mean by 'something won't work' - here I have tons of squirrels that nibble down my sunflowers, despite putting circles of red pepper around the bases. I will occasionally have a sunflower that miraculously makes it to full grown, but then the squirrels chew off the flower head and eat the seeds. I just caught one digging up my newly-planted snapdragon seedlings, too. They're so tame here that they don't scatter when you run at them...they just step aside!
When we moved to a new house (NO landscaping) and cleared a strip of lawn to establish a perennial garden some of our gardening friends 'gifted' us with shovelfuls of plants and we established a 'friendship garden'. In general people only give you things that are invasive in their own gardens, so in rather short order you have a messy cottage garden!!!Although I suppose moving a few states away might discourage you from relocating 'gifts'.
Jan
I have many of the plants listed above in my shady areas as well as a few others:
Shrubs:
Rhododendron 'Checkmate', a 3 foot PJM and R. 'Yaku Prince'
Apothercary Rose AKA Rosa Mundi
Leucathoe
Deutzia 'Chardonnay Pearl' and 'Nikko', both short, restrained shrubs.
Hydrangea 'Penny Mac' and 'Endless Summer' though both these are probably too wide for your spot.
Vines:
Climbing Hydrangea/ H. anomala petiolaris likes shade, but it a very large vine and would need something substantial to cling to. I've seen it growing on brick houses and chimneys, but I wouldn't grow it on wood or metal siding.
Clematis - a few will bloom with only 4 hours of sun, especially if they have bright shade the rest of the time. Do a search for Clematis for shade and you should get a lists. I have 'Diana', 'Venosa Violaceae', 'Gravetye Beauty' all growing and blooming in about 4 hours of sun, though they have bright shade the rest of the day.
Perennials:
Polygonatum odoratum 'Variegatum'/variegated Soloman's Seal
Astilbe
Pulmonaria/lungwort
Hellebore/Lenten rose
Cimicifuga/snakeroot
Alchemilla mollis/lady's mantle
Carex/Japanese sedge
Aquilegia/columbine
Heuchera/coral bells
Tiarella/foamy bells
Heucherella (a cross of the two just above)
Vaccinium macrocarpon/Cranberry
Siberian iris
Veronica "Georgia Blue'
Hakonechloa/Japanese forest grass - I grow 'Arueola' a golden form
Carex 'Ice Dance'
Nicoleternity - You must live somewhere with lots less snow than I do. ;>) Most years anything shorter than 4 feet or so aren't visible for much of 3 months, though this year was an exception. My winter interest has to be large shrubs or trees.
nhbabs, about that snow you truly understand. There are months I do not see my sedums,, Coral Bells, or anything that is not 4' - 5' tall for 4 months. I would be depressed if I looked out my window and did not see anything green for months.
The tips of some brown grass if the snow did not pull that down would not do it for me.
I am curious if shearing and dividing right after flowering works well with these; that is also what I am thinking of doing :).
I also started some cuttings in a soiless mix a few days ago, with a bit of root hormone (which might have been overkill with phlox since bits of it seem to root all over anyway).
I love that it grows down over my stone wall, but I need to keep it at the front of the garden-- not strangling the echinacea three feet back! :)
Plus I am looking to divide so I can use the same species in other areas of my garden to increase continuity, which is a focus in this my third year of gardening at this house. Repeating colors (silver and lime foliage, purple and blue blooms, spots of apricot and orange color), and now looking to propagate and divide so things are more repeated and uniform. [Rather paradoxically, I'm trying a lot of new species from seed at the same time, haha.]
Whoops way off topic now -- anyway, I'll be dividing mine as soon as they fade! Good luck.
how deep did you plant them???
there is no way i would predict failure of 100 bulbs ... especially allium ...
so the only option.. is that perhaps you went a bit deep.. and they are just needing some time to get up ..
december is pretty late.. considering they should have been planted in early october.. but crimminey.. they are allium ... lol ..
ken
Just wanted to give an update. My Allium karataviense were indeed late to emerge. Almost all are up now, but a few stragglers are still pushing up noses through the soil. I think about 95 out of 100 bulbs are now up. The foliage looks beautiful. I can't wait for them to bloom! :-)
I don't dig mine up at all. I just wiggle the side stems back and forth and they come right up with roots on them. I was able to do both the same. "Double Trouble" is a more robust plant than "Mardi Gras" but the process was the same for both. I guess it just depends on what you're comfortable with doing to your plant. I like that these are so easy to multiply. I have found that I can do the same process with Coreopsis, Amsonias, and Echinaceas as well.
um, there is some difference in vigour - for example, autumnale is much more vigorous than Sahin's Early....but, they are all amenable to regular division - at least every three years and even more frequently. Also, like asters and rudbeckias...in fact, most later flowering perennials, I never divide and plant in the autumn but wait till the following spring.
Penstemon 'Sweet Joanne' is not very big. It is about 18 inches tall and maybe 18 inches wide. In your zone, it might take a while to get that large. Mine are second year plants in a warmer zone.
Maybe try some foliage plants instead of just flowers. I found a nice Nepeta called 'Limelight' today that has bright foliage. It's a low growing spreader.
I think Geranium 'Dragon Heart' is a great color. It's starting to bloom here now. I'm not sure when it would bloom there. Many other hardy Geraniums would look good.
The purple and gold combos always look good. I don't know how hardy Sedums are there, but they make a good contrast with yellow foliage or flowers. Chocolate Drop is a good one for color.
For some earlier blooms maybe you could try Amsonia 'Blue Ice.' It looks great early Spring here.
anemone rubra? bronze-leaved sea thrift? cheddar pinks?