13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Chickens love to dig freshly planted plants up.

Here I can not use any blood meal or fish emulsion fertilizers as the racoons are sure to dig it up. Squirrels will dig I think mostly out of curiosity. Al

I've not grown this plant, but there are threads around here where people complain they are hard to kill when they don't want them, so that's a good sign for your plant!

My first reaction was the same as Ken's. If there was a border around this plant this wouldn't have happened. Now that you have a strong helper...

Maybe y'all will do best with sharing the mowing. That's what we do here. I like to mow around the spiderwort in the grass, at least until about mid summer when they are finished blooming. My honey is willing to mow the whole thing, but not willing to do all of this turning and I respect that. So I do that part of the yard. I usually do the first few passes near the beds also to make sure the outflow is directed away from them.

He sounds awesome, though. Taking the initiative to mow like that. It sounds like you know he was just trying to be helpful. Sounds like a keeper!

While I know it's a special plant that has sentimental value to it related to your Father's demise..be thankful your boyfriend was mowing the lawn and like Ken suggested,take and show him the boundaries so he'll be more careful the next time he mows..plan a border or separation from the flowerbed and lawn. even if it means pressure treated landscape timbers or scallopped brick borders. Check on Free Cycle, maybe somebody is giving something like that away..or place that request on FREE Cycle for such in your area. Somebody was giving away about a dozen round brick stepping stones and I was the lucky winner last year. All I had to do was drive less than 10 miles to get them.

We don't do anything special to ours. We do let the leaves that pile up on it during winter stay until we're ready to rake in early spring. I suppose that might provide some protection from the cold. Also, our ground never seems to freeze. We have a bit of success with overwintering certain annuals because of that.

I believe the variety is "Miss Huff". It's mostly pink and yellow with a hint of orange. I'm not completely sure, but I think this is the same variety my mother grew for several years and it always came back. Another house near her has a lantana bush roughly 6ft tall, and it comes back every year. That's why I gave it a try, and sure enough it worked.

Our NOID creeping purple lantana have survived winter too. Both have green on them, but it looks more like growth from last year and not so much new growth. If they remained somewhat green all winter I would be excited!

We tried a yellow/orange type in a pot and it took too long to come back, so it was dug up and repotted to see what would happen... Needless to say, it did break dormancy just barely before it died from what I think was stress. The creeping red/orange variety ("Dallas Red"?) didn't survive in the ground last year. And it doesn't look like the creeping yellow variety survived this year.

I'd like to grow the "Miss Huff" as large as I can this year, but with all the plants from winter sowing that need a spot, I think I might have to keep it as small as possible!

Thank you for the help!

I love Lantana and so do the butterflies and I want to get this one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Info about

Oh my Thanks for posting those pictures. Your catmint is beautiful indeed. This was so encouraging to me.

You're welcome !! Just FYI - I got it in a gallon container 3 years ago, in the fall at a big box store on a pallet of 'dead' plants. I like to call it the 'scratch & dent' section -- for pennys on the dollar cuz thats all I can afford most times...lol. I garden, but am not that knowledgable on specific plants but looked at the tag and liked what I saw.

Point being, it survived hanging out thru the winter in just a pot until I planted it early spring (2 yrs ago??) so for me, I like to think of it as very 'sturdy'. In fact, it's the most spectacular plant I have. And I don't do anything special (except feed it along with the others here and then).

So you'll have luck with yours, I'm sure. Just don't let it get too thirsty...lol.

Just saying, I don't think you can hurt it by a "hard prune" as long as you do it soon (after any risk of freeze or frost, I'm guessing).

I do know I learned alot about it on here last year (maybe yr before) when it got funky later in the season and splayed all out (got empty in the middle).

I was apprehensive to cut it WHILE it was blooming since it was so full and colorful so I only did it here and there. But looking back, I could have cut it back much more. But I hated to, since it was so full but don't think it would have hurt it one bit.

Also, just FYI - it stayed green and full long into (my) fall and still had leaves on it until I cut it back early this year. I left it (probably like you did) for the birds & wildlife.

:-) Ken

By the time you posted your pruning rant, I had already pruned it out! I wasn't avoiding doing so, but rather wanted to understand it first. From what I could tell online, root rot could show up on certain areas of the plant and then eventually spread to the whole plant. The same thing could also happen with other diseases/pests.

But, as it turns out, I think it may merely be drought. While our winter was exceptionally mild, we still had plenty of below freezing temps, without the usual snow cover, and I live in an area which sees high winds. I read the plant will become dessicated but since the ground is frozen, it won't be able to draw water. In such a situation it is common for the plant to sacrifice one branch to save the rest of the plant. Upon further inspection, this was all coming from one main branch. I inspected for any sign of bugs, and there were none on the outside, or under the bark when I scraped it back. I also didn't see any of the darkening of the wood tissue near the soil line which would suggest root rot.

My only fear now is that I pruned so close to the ground that it will not send out shoots in that area. But better a lopsided plant than a totally dead plant.

wieslaw - thanks for the advice about applying the nematodes. I will try that. I don't think that problem is too severe, but I would like to keep it from getting too severe.

My first worry now always seems to be "fungus" because we've had some big problems. A few years back we laid some new sod and there was SOMETHING in it... either a fungus or a grub (although we saw no grubs/bugs) and one roll started dying at a corner and it spread throughout the entire lawn (close to an acre) very rapidly. We lost everything. Then this past fall we were growing grass from seed in a relatively small area. I laid down bags of top soil and seeded... it came up quickly, lush and green. It then rapidly was overtaken by some sort of fungus and all died (but the death did not spread beyond the boundaries of the new soil, so it was something in the soil.)

Several of my rhododendrons look a lot like the photo. I'm just leaving the damage as is for now. It was such a weird winter, with no snow and wild temperature fluctuations, that unless proven otherwise I am assuming it is weather damage. Unless the whole branch is dead, they will send out new leaves, either from existing buds or from dormant buds that will emerge from the stems. I have this type of damage on three or four varieties of rhodies in two different areas about a half mile apart. Usually my rhodies are disease and insect free, so I'll only remove the branches if they still look bad in June.

Ken - Due to all the ridiculous early warmth we've been having, my
Sweet Autumn Clematis were already swarming with new growth. . .
so I cut them all back two weeks ago! And I know, from past experience,
that I could whack them all down again in four to six weeks if the
spirit moved me, and there would STILL be abundant bloom. There
was one season I ripped a huge clump out of the ground in early March,
moved and pruned it, and then had to move and prune it again in late
May that year - but it STILL bloomed prodigiously! You can, of course,
leave it alone, and it will still bloom, but as someone else has pointed out,
primarily at the outer ends. SAC rates as one of the tougher plants to kill,
so have at it!

Carl

Definitely not Hagley Hybrid. ALL Clematis benefit from hard pruning the first few years to encourage more vines up from the crown. Otherwise they can grow long and scraggly.

SAC is in a different league as far as Clematis go. It is a monster. You can cut it back now or leave it, up to you.

If only it would have froze when the dang silver maples were flowering. I see thousands upon thousands of their evil spawn hanging from the tips of their branches.

Karen

Wow Ken....didn't realize y'all had a 'skeeter' problem in MI! Hope you're right. Here, on the Chesapeake Bay coast with wetland all around, it was hellish last year. I've formed some sort of 'allergy' where the bites swell up and morph into funny looking whelts (sp?) that I call 'amoeba shaped' and as big as quarters.

Even 'lost' my garden last year because I couldn't go outside. Just to my mailbox on my front porch was a risk...lol.

Yes, bug spray works but I have to bathe in it and then can't come in and sit on my furniture, can't rub my eye cuz probably touched my arm first, etc. Plus, as much as I used...I was going bankrupt. Just couldn't deal with it.

Let's hope your positive thinking works !!!

Dear all,

I'm in Indiana (Warm half of zone 5)and have acanthus spinosus which I got from my sister over 10 years ago. More like 15. It has NEVER bloomed! My sister's is in
a warmer spot than mine but also zone 5. She dances with
it moving it around but still having it--about 5 places now. Hers blooms most years and sometimes blooms extrava-gantly. What should I do to get bloom--threaten it! Move
it. It's a pretty green plant which contrasts well with
daylillies, helianthus, adenophora, lamb's ears etc. which
are all around.

Unfortunately I've been to Salem, Oregon where a daughter
lives and seen what it can look like and my sister saw it
going wild in the Greek Isles. Please, I'd like about half
a dozen stalks in my own yard.

grandma Chris

These plants are often listed as only hardy to zone 6, but I found one locally (don't recall name offhand) that was reputedly hardier. It is about 6 years old now, and is starting to send off multiple babies around it, in my 5b garden. I like it a lot, but it is proving to be invasive. Nice plant though, very impressive.

Uh oh. Once again, foot in mouth...lol. What's the difference, so I can learn.

It was given to me and I was told it was called both Rose of Sharron and/or Hibiscus?? It does get big deep pink blooms, about 3 to 4" diam.

Bonnie

Ohhh...also mxk3, meant to thank you for compliment :)

The root was firm and not mushy, neither was the white part. There was nothing green about the sprout, except the yellowish bit on the tip. I did not bury the white part though. I guess I was worry about crown rot.

Paul

Sounds like you did it right. I have bought varieties of daylilies like that. When they've grown too long in the bag, the newer sprouting part is often white...I'm guessing due to lack of sunlight. So I do the same -- leave it up out of the ground because in ideal conditions it would have been green...lol.

Again...good luck!

Bonnie

This link explains some of the confusion about why there can seemingly be frost at air temps above 32 degrees.

If you are only scheduled to have surface temps of 37, I would say it is unlikely that you see frost, especially if there is any sort of wind going on.

Here is a link that might be useful: Frost

ahhhh

if garden could so simply be reduced to scientific certainties ....

IMHO .. there are too many variables to come to any answer with specificity ...

temp is not the only variable ... you must add .. cloud cover .. wind.. micro climate .. and elevation ... and suburbia ...

e.g. .. across my 500 foot wide lot.. which is 8 feet lower in the center 100 feet.. cold air pools as it move from high to low.. since warm air rises.. and many springs.. the forsythia/yoshino cherry ... down there do not bloom in bad years ... due to frost or freezes

so if the forecast is bad.. you have to either go zen.. ala doris day .... what will be will be ...

or you take action.. if you wish ....

but your decision can NOT be made on some precise forecasted temp ... NEVER FORGET ... mother nature is a cruel mistress ... and it brings her supreme delight to mess with our heads ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Mine are all up and starting to bloom but seem to be blooming much smaller this year than last. Hmmm...

My Brunnera is not completely up as large as it should be but it's blooming already. Tonight, though, we are to go down to 26. My plant is next to the house, in a protected area so it should be all right. We did cover the Maiden's Blush lilac that is already starting to bloom. I hope it will make it without cold damage.

Linda

Little Titch has done well in my garden.

poor soil and good drainage helps to keep them compact

bye, Lin

Mine are in full sun, I'm pretty sure they prefer sun but will be okay with some shade. Full shade would probably have them fade away . . .

Not sure if anyone is at all intersted in the outcome but...it lived!!! I am thrilled. I looked out last week and there was nothing, looked again yesterday and pink buds are welling up!

I actually DID end up moving the plant to the wine barrel planter behind the shed, where it is shady and cool. The last leaf died off soon after, but I decided to let it be and see if it would retun in fall or spring. So pleased it did! I wish I had a spot in the garden it would like, but at least it is living where it is- hopefully it won't mind life in a pot.

I will be interested to see if it goes thru the same die-back process come summer. Maybe that is the norm with this plant...
CMK