13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Ooh Camp - I love glads in the vase! I don't have enough sun to have a cutting garden, but if I ever get that house on a couple acres that is my goal and start a cutting garden, glads will definitely be growing there! It is a joy when they start coming in for the season at the market, nothing like a large vase of glads to make a statement on the table :0)

penstemons are rather good too, Shannon, especially if you go for the finer leaved (and hardier) garden hybrids - such as the classic Garnet. Long season of flowering with minimal deadheading, flower earlier than phlox and seem to have none of the mildew/eelworm issues which can plague garden phlox. Super easy to propagate so just buy a couple and take lots of cuttings...which will also have time to put on a little show in a decent summer season. I rarely make suggestions as gardens are so personal and subjective but I am feeling pensive and remorseful after savage poppy venting on another thread.

I had to move two of my butterfly bushes this spring and after the long cold winter and 100+ inches of snow, I wasn't sure they would come back. They all did come back eventually, but they are a lot smaller than they were. So I am pinching the centers out to trigger more branching to get a good base on each shrub. I hope they will still be able to bloom this season. They are looking good at this point, just small. If they made it through last winter, I feel pretty confident about any winter we can throw at them.

Lilsprout, thanks for the great photo of 'Buzz Purple', I received one this spring and just know I'm gonna love it!

Another I'm excited about is 'Crown Jewels', the foliage is nice enough on it's own, never mind when decked out in purple blooms! Can't wait for this new plant to kick into gear!

I'm using a water-soluble Miracle Gro and the plants are scattered.

From the label:

• With a Watering Can: Mix 1 tablespoon of Miracle-Gro® for every gallon of water.

For All Flowers and Vegetables: Use 1 gallon for every 10 square feet of flowers and vegetables, every 7 to 14 days.

For Roses: Use 1/2 gallon for small bushes. Use 1 gallon for large bushes. Feed every 7 to 14 days.

For indoor plants, mix 1/2 teaspoon (not tablespoon) per gallon of water. Apply every 2 weeks. We do not recommend foliar (leaf) feeding for houseplants.

last year I got, on ebay, 160 starters in the end of august for about $28. the majority came back and I didnt get them into the ground until late november/early december.

Logisxti....great price....please share seller's name. :)

The size of the spread, related to things like the growing conditions and how long the plant has grown in situ, obviously affects the ease with which it can be removed.

I've found well-established chinese lantern and common mint not so difficult to remove manually from our clay soil. Well established spotted bellflower is more difficult to deal with.

As to spreads of (uncontained) goutweed, I've just refused the job. I'd feel the same about spreads of crown vetch, which has been sold here as a garden perennial (rather than just for erosion defence on a slope).

Personally, I would not use Round-up, especially gardening professionally. Beyond the farmers, there's also the consumers to think about with things like Round-up resistant corn and soy.

I strongly sympathize with others who feel garden centres should either identify perennials which are often invasive or just not sell them.

I'm reading these comments as I think about a good way to tell my wife that I bought her, and she planted, the devil! Along with cala lilies and fox glove

Thank you for your response. I don't think the issue is being caused by too much water. I live in Northeast Ohio and it has been on the dry side rather than too wet this summer. I did treat the garden bed with a deer repellant, could that be causing the problem?

I know some plants are sensitive to sprays, but I don't know about European ginger, and I don't know what was in the spray specifically.

I have asters that are single stems very leggy and flowers about 2 inches wide, if I cut them will they grow more stems and bloom again. It's June in Portland, Oregon

Are they annual or perennial asters? Annuals should bloom all summer. Perennials might bloom again, might not.

Martha

It's not what it does in your yard that's a problem with the honeysuckle. It's a true invasive, where a bird eats the berries, flies to another place and then poops out the seeds with a dose of fertilizer. In fact, that may well be where yours came from since I've never seen them for sale, though they used to be sold as ornamentals. This is a problem when the bird leaves the seeds in a wild area. I've seen meadows and wood edges filled with honeysuckle seedlings, and it's a constant battle for me on this old farm (that is mostly grown up to woods) to remove this type of honeysuckle, as well as Japanese barberry, glossy buckthorn, and Asian bittersweet to name the four worst of my invasives.

first ... black spots of mulch... are not a bad thing ... sometimes the eye needs to rest ...

i agree you have great backbones there ... and frankly ... dont need much ...

all you needed to do.. was to fill in the blank spots with some annuals ... for small flashes of color ...

you could also plant bulbs in those spaces come fall ... for another season of flower ...

do keep in mind.. some of the spaces.. may have been left empty .. for snow removal.. like around the mail box ...

as a young gardener.. and new to this garden ... frankly.. you need to do what you are doing.. AND RELAX ... just sit in a chair.. and study your space.. there in really no static instant gratification.. in the EVOLUTION of a garden ... and i read a bit of that.. between your lines ...

ken

Thanks Christin, I thought it might look nice there too, my want list and must have list seem to be growing by leaps and bounds :).

Annette

I did try that A. splendens but it promptly died out for me

UPDATE:

It just came to me today, all of a sudden, that the two Assarum Splendens I planted last year never came up this spring...not a trace.

Yes, it's milkweed with orange flowers, just like that one in the picture. I didn't think it would get that big in just one year! I'm looking forward to it!

I did the same thing as southergardening24. Mine bloomed the first year but were very floppy with lots of aphids. This year they are looking great and much bigger, so far no aphids. They still have a fair amount of lean to them, either due to rich soil or the wet spring we've had, but at least this year they're not laying on the ground getting muddy.

I put mine into a border with various prairie grasses, mostly prairie dropseed but also sideoats grama. I planted them in groups of three or so, spaced about 1-1.5 feet apart within each group. They have filled in and I am glad I did not space them any closer.

Thank you so much! I edited my zone so everyone can see it now. Looking at other pictures, I do think you are right about the phlox. Other other two, I may just have to wait to see what blooms.

If you post photos when they bloom, I am sure someone will recognize them.

Again, thanks to all and still waiting anxiously for my flowers...Planted quite afew perrenials, so I am anxious...

Hello All and thanks for all the help...couldn't wait till I got flowers...they are oenothera, or Sundrops! Thanks AGAIN!