13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
never heard of it ... and its counter intuitive ...
every leaf has cells .. cells hold water .. when the temp falls.. the cell walls burst as the water freezes and expands ... and then when it warms .. the plant either collapses [total cell wall integrity loss] .. or if very light ... the tissue around the cell drys and browns ...
if all that is true ... how in the world would dumping water on it .. help??? .. either the damage was done .. or it wasnt ...
i would love to see some links about this ...
ken
I think you would need to keep the plant wet, being spritzed all night, like they do in orange orchards.
My Mom swears that if plants thaw before the sun hits them, that can make the difference. From my sporadic and quite UNscientific observations, I think she's probably right. I think a sheet over your plants would do more for them than a dousing (and is what Mom would recommend).
Summerstar, I hope you don't mind me jumping in here, but I just wanted to thank you for asking the same question I had and thanks to everyone for the great/helpful information! I'm going to order both Karley Rose and Piglet. Can't wait to see them grow!
Happy gardening everyone!!
I was hoping someone would have answered this, because I am also curious. I just planted three Phlox stolonifera 'Weesie Smith' from Plant Delights. It looks like a very rambunctious grower, even in a pot, and it had some open blooms that were very pretty. The growth seems quite tender with thinner leaves as opposed to the sturdier and more "waxy" foliage of my Phlox divaricata, which was planted last fall and is blooming now. This makes me think that P. stolonifera will want more moisture and not be as drought tolerant as P. divaricata.
Hopefully others with long term experience with these two species will chime in?
Ispahan - I'm glad you posted because after reading Plant Delights description of Weesie Smith, I've changed my mind about where to plant mine even though it's a different cultivar. Plant Delights says their 3 year old clump of Weesie Smith has spread to 8 feet. That's kinda scary.
as far as i am concerned.. all plants do it ... well.. it actually has nothing to do with the plant ... its the sky
but i didnt realize this.. until i became a stay at home dad.. and was not limited to looking at everything after dinner ...
the prime time for said change.. is the 30 mins or so.. just before dusk .. when the sky tends to turn pink ... which on the color wheel is opposite blue.. making the blue plants seem to vibrate in their blueness ...
the observation was all verified.. when i got a digital camera.. and was simply stunned with the diversity of color of the same plant ... in pix taken during different hours .... [which is another way of saying cameras dont squint nor wear sunglasses ]
its amazing.. what the camera can capture.. as compared to the eye ...
ken
I totally agree, excellent descriptions Ken. I think white is its' own entity though, which is almost too bright to look at in direct sun but white flowers glow in the shadows and in the dark most nights. If you're the type to visit your flowers at night, adding some white ones can really be worthwhile.
Then there are Hydrangeas which offer a lot in the area of color play. Some people manage to get one side to have different color blooms than the other. I have one that has mostly blue flowers with an occasional pink and purple one. They all start out white. As the flowers age, the color gets deeper until they all turn purple. So within the course of a single day, using different angles of sun, you can see a dozen different flower colors.
Pippi, Monarda is easy to transplant - very shallow rooted and not difficults roots. You can dig up chunks kind of like sod.
I have never grown it contained like you describe. If you want to slow it down, you could try planting it in a drier spot with partial sun. It will go crazy with rich moist soil, though, even in partial sun.
I just moved an entire patch of Monarda bradburiana yesterday, started it from seed 4 years ago. It is an earlier blooming Monarda with glossy-ish foliage that doesn't get any mildew. It was getting very little sun in the old spot, but doing okay despite that, so I hope to get better growth and blooms.
Casa blanca grows up to 4 feet, but the stem and bulb is rather massive compare to the other lily bulb. For example, I planted two different bulbs in the pot. The yellow bulb is size of a golf ball, the Casa Blanca is size of an onion. The stem is pretty thick, too.
I am thinking that it dosn't need stalking in the sun, but may get floppy in shady areas.
Paul
It's actually the only oriental I still grow, most of them are very short lived here and I simply don't bother with them. I've found other types that give me more bang for my buck. They may get taller in other areas but for me Casa Blanca gets to about 4 ft. and no I don't stake it and I get a lot of wind. maybe the wind strengthens the stem enough to not require staking.
I planted these as bulbs in the fall a couple years ago. Mine are all in the grass under shade trees scattered here and there. It's typical silty loam soil that can get pretty damp in the spring because we are low lying, but dries out over the summer. They seem to like it there.
nurseries that have watering systems
==>>> presuming you do not have a misting or watering system ...
i think your prime consideration should be how many times a day you need to water ...
i would bet those little quarter inch plug trays.. need to be watered a couple times a day ...
what potting up does.. in ONE SENSE ... is introduce fresh media ... if you put a seedling into a larger pot.. and leave it there for 3 to 6 months.. the media simply MIGHT get old ... and not drain nor perform to expectation .. the way you wish .. or accumulate salts [fert] .. which in the long run can be a problem ...
if i were you.. i would try MANY methods.. and see which fails.. and which performs..
the thought that you personally can ID and perform with ONE SYSTEM.. might end in disaster ...
finally.. germination is NOT variable ... its what you do with them after ...
ken
ps: are you working in a greenhouse.. or will ambient humidity be a variable also??
Ken, thank you for responding. I just have been germinating and setting out perennials for years in the manner described in the initial post. I've never kept them in pots past a point where they are *just* large enough to be set out, although they needed to be shaded and coddled for a while. No greenhouse or watering system in place other than me checking status daily. I'm trying to avoid anything super finicky as far as germination goes or with a very slow growth rate.
I guess I'm asking if there is *any* benefit for the non professional to utilize these other types of flats and/or if one wants to grow a decent sized perennial "plug" to pot on only once, what the recommended size of the plug cell would be for good rooting start.
Yes the maple seedlings are a pain but what I really, really, really hate are the buckthorn seedlings the birds plant. They dine on them at my neighbors and then do the fly and drop leaving me with a gazillion of the #### things and they grow in dense shade too. Should I tell you now how I really feel?
The happiest day of my life was the day the City chopped down the nearly century old American Elm on the Blvd next to my house. I hated that tree! When the seeds fell, they fell like snow - covering every square inch of my yard and garden with tissue thin round seeds to a depth of almost an inch. They stuck to your shoes, they blew into the house every time you opened the door and every single one of them sprouted in the garden. Each year I could count on pulling thousands of Elm seedlings until the snow once again returned. They sprouted in the middle of perennial clumps. They sprouted in every crevice between bricks and stones. They covered the surface of the pond. And they fell for weeks.
The Dutch Elm beetle is my hero.
Kevin
It looks very similar to my Penstemon pinifolius 'Magdalena Sunshine'. According to High Country gardens Penstemon pinifolius 'Magdalena Sunshine' is 'slightly more compact than 'Mersae Yellow' and is a bit more floriferous'. You may be able to find 'Magdalena Sunshine' locally.
I'm jealous. I wish I had a good spot on the south side of my house to try it but there's a concrete patio there.
I'm curious whether you and your friend mulch your lantanas over winter.
I suspect, being in the midwest, even though your temps occasionally drop down below zero in the winter, it probably doesn't stay there very long. So if you have a protected spot, you may have good luck with zone 7 or even zone 8 perennials. It's fun to try. Just don't spend big bucks on them.
Lantana 'Miss Huff' is supposed to be a hardier variety and I've read of some people getting it to winter over in zone 7, not sure about zone 6 though.
Yes, my friend and I both mulch our lantanas during the winter. I think that could be another reason why they do so well, but I really think that a combination of the south facing structure that protects from the north wind, the mulch, being so close to zone 7 (the reason for the mild winters), and the fact that our sandy loam soil drains extremely fast is what does it.
I had no problem finding purple pillow geranium when I bought mine. I believe it is one of the more common varieties. I should warn you it is very short and acts a bit like a groundcover for me.
We got them in this spring at the nursery where I work. They came in a bag of 30--bare root--before I put them in pots for sale. Nice, big, fat bare roots so they were ready and eager to grow once they got soil and some water. In a week they were up and growing.
I wouldn't worry about bare root plants, that's the way they come before you buy them in nursery pots, and the way I prefer to plant in my garden, so they can wake up in their own beds.
Sandy