13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
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.
Since I love the way the bush looks I am considering looking around at local nursery's for a 3-5 gallon plant to use for the front yard so that it fills in quicker and use my small plant in the backyard since I will be the only one witnessing its growth back there (and enjoy that). I appreciate everyone's input!
According to their Facebook page, still open and very active.
This is not a big operation and given the shortness of the PNW growing season, April and May tend to be jam packed with activity. I'd guess they are moving so fast and furious they don't even have time to think. I can barely keep up with the phone here at an area retail nursery/garden center....I'd hate to think what would happen if I were drawing from a nationwide customer base!! Mail order is a hugely labor intensive selling operation.
I understand the issue of being swamped and of course some patience is in order, but if a business did not answer the phone or return voice messages in a reasonable amount of time nor respond to multiple e-mails, I would not do business with that establishment.
I have boxwood and love them. They like more acidic soil. I use Miracid twice a summer on them. Otherwise, I'm not an evergreen person. My favorite shrubs are Smoke Bush, Bridal Wreath Spirea and Dogwood (which has variegated leaves). Never tried a Rhodie. Azalea failed to thrive so it got pitched. Sounds like you've got good sun. Have you considered a rose or two?
A friend gave me a seedling from her plants and I bought the Luxuriant but I think it was that one that didn't survive. What survived is the one that my friend gave me but I don't think it is in great soil and there are a lot of fiberous roots from shrubs and trees there. I probably could put it on the side where they hydrangeas are located and it would be great for it. It may be about 4 in. if that tall and it's a few years old.
We had a mild dry winter here. Local weather reports that we had an 8 inch precipitation deficit before yesterday's rain. Although it was mild, because of no snow cover, I wasn't sure how everything would fare.
Agastache 'Golden Jubilee',and rupestris, that were started from seed last year and 'Purple Pygmy' that was in it's second year did not come back. But Agastache 'Honey Bee Blue' that I've had for years, came back strong and I even have growth on 'Ava' which is a western hybrid from High Country. Anthemis 'Moonlight' in it's second year did not show up. Some of our Asparagus plants did not come up. 'Ghost' fern, is now showing up, but is a fraction of the size it usually is. Some of the daffodils were sparse this year and I lost Galanthus nivalis. Some Dicentra are half the size they were last year. Lunaria bloomed at one foot instead of 3 feet. I lost Euphorbia 'Blackbird'. One woodland phlox that was just planted last year didn't show up. Most of our hens and chicks are nowhere to be seen. Lilac 'Avalanche' has blooms half their usual size and very little fragrance. I lost most of our Verbascum. Weigela 'Midnight Wine' very small purchases from Bluestone last year, surprised me and started leafing out, after looking quite dead until last weekend. The only thing I'm not sure of at this point, is hardy Hibiscus, which it's too early to see growth from.
All and all, I feel fortunate that so many plants tolerated all the crazy weather we've been having.
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.
campanula -- please keep posting. I'm enchanted. I could read all day.
Jan