13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

Many thanks for all the great ideas. I'll be making some plans when I start cleaning up in a few weeks. That blue mist spirea is a stunner.

The vine in the background is grape. It has never produced. The whole thing comes out of one stem on the short side of the arbor (not visible, parallel to the garage). It's not close to the house and makes a dandy screen. I have photo showing the arbor in 1920.

I can't count on the cousins to water anything, generally. I've stopped planting pots.

re: the nepeta, I'm going to have to pull a lot of it out in order to see the topography. It is out of control anyway. Can it take the abuse and survive?

What is a good way to mark the few plants I don't want to disturb? I need to mark them now and have the IDs still in place in the spring. Popsicle sticks never work. LOL. You'd think I'd get a clue with my tomatoes.

I didn't address the soil as I don't actually know what is going on under there. Generally a shovel runs into large round rocks pretty quickly. Guess I'll find out soon enough.

What is a good way to mark the few plants I don't want to disturb? I need to mark them now and have the IDs still in place in the spring. Popsicle sticks never work. LOL. You'd think I'd get a clue with my tomatoes.

==>>> wood rots.. as you have found out ...

easiest way... snap pix.. and use your photo editor to add names on your computer ...

plastic knives .. sandpapered a bit to roughen.. and then a #2 lead pencil .. lead has a half life of a few million years.. compared to ANYTHING ELSE ... insert the end with the writing into the ground.. to protect the writing from the elements ....

both suggestions.. together.. is the fail safe ...

i use landscape flags to mark thing ... sharpie on those out to last a season ... the flag irritates me.. until i actually move the plant.. so i can get rid of the flag .. lol ... [in other words.. i mark the ones to move... compared to what you said]

for grapes to produce.. they need an incredible amount of pruning .... like about 80% of the vine ... but i claim no expertise with that ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: bigboxstore ought to have them .... a lot cheaper than this

well I sure am in the dark! haha

If you have plenty of room around your property, someone with a good shotgun or rifle will solve your problem right away.

We had a neighbor who couldn't bring himself to 'clean out' the 'chucks under his garage, and they proceeded to tunnel under lawns, buildings---took over the entire neighborhood! Elderly neighbor fell down into several of his tunnels before he found someone to get rid of the varmints. Those caught with Hav-A-Heart traps were back in the yards before the folks who took them to the 'country' to drop them off could get back home. Good luck! This one sounds well-fed and ready to supply you with endless hours of anguish and entertainment unless you really want to 'fix' the problem.

(Sorry PETA enthusiasts. These things do too much damage to go uncontrolled.)

Gum Drop is on my want list, it isn't showing up around here yet. And...I love the looks of Secret Romance, such a soft luscious pink.

Annette

I do not know if it applies to all Raspberry Truffles, but all the plants I have seen(incl. mine) had weak and somehow twisted stems, requiring support. What are they doing to all these plants???

Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' also will, if given the chance, escape into your lawn, producing an interesting (?) dappled yellow-green effect. Lysimachialawn is not as well known a malady as Ajugalawn but can be equally pernicious.

Any groundcover will escape into your lawn if you let it--thymes, vinca, etc. You do have to control groundcovers if you have them.

For me Coconut Lime was the strongest plant out of the three. Green Envy was NOT a beauty for me. Pink Double Delight is a weak grower and number and quality of flowers fell drastically from the second year on.

Pink Double Delight has been anything but delightful for me.
First year from nursery was full of blooms. Second year weak growth and stunted blooms. Third year same as second.

It took me awhile to get on the catmint bandwagon.

Not a perennial, but zinnia is the one that comes to mind as a plant I'd love to try. I don't have much shade, but I drool over hellebore. So some of it is that I don't have the right growing conditions. Some of it is that we don't get some plants here in Vancouver until a year or so after they come out in the states, if they come here at all. By then I often forget about the new plant. I do the same as you with grasses, (and hostas), I want so many, but only have 3 varieties. There's always next year, and creating shade. :)

Yeona

Caryopteris roots in a glass of water in the window in a matter of days. Try it in the Spring.

The lavender is another story. I would skip trying to root that one. It's not easy!

Sheesh..thanks..I didn't even think to look at the propagation forum...go figure that out. If I had thought about planting this bed earlier in the year I could have found the plants but I doubt I will now until spring-unless I go online $$. Hence the propagation question.

Getting the timing right is always fun in gardening, isn't it?

BTW-Ken I have a greenhouse :) But it's new and it's my first year learning how to use it.

Beca (who is now off to look at the propagation forum...)

I agree yeonasky, seeds are easier than you think. Trudi Davidoff's winter-sowing technique (see Winter sowing forum) is fun, easy, cheap, and like "sowing seeds for dummies". Makes it very easy for the beginner, and usually gives you more confidence to start even more from seed, and move on to more complex germination techniques.

Gardenweed, my Crystal Peak had 100% germ. and is blooming now, at all of 6-8 inches tall! Pretty little white flowers. Also, my Digitalis camelot lavender and white are both blooming this fall and they are coming true to color. Also, one of the Echinacea Pow wow wild berries and three of the Bravado are sending up blooming stalks. All of these blooming the first year from seed. Awesome.

I have a tendency to hold off on expensive new introductions until they've proven themselves equal or superior to what's already out there.

..."somebody HAS to buy them to MAKE a verdict. If everybody waits, no verdict."

No problem there. Lots of people just have to possess the latest and greatest, even if it isn't (as the various threads griping about new Echinaceas hybrids suggest).

New seed introductions are generally a lot cheaper and more worthwhile for me. I use this fabulous spring sowing technique and get lots of plants from it with ease. ;)

That last shot is the sweetest....

Happy Belated birthday wishes Norma!

Beautiful summer sequence Yeona! How well I remember the days of Motocross! Looks like all of you had a perfect summer day!

My photo is of my Josephine clematis - not very common here. It was gorgeous this year, although it wasonly its second full summer. I am so pleased! Looks like I get to close off this thread!

Cheers,

Julie

I have two beautiful baptisias and the seeds just fall to the ground and germinate. I dig 2 or 3 year seedlings each Spring, but wouldn't bother my full grown ones. Mary

Yes you can absolutely dig and divide Baptisia. It may be difficult, but you won't kill the plant, even if you mangle the roots.

Now, if the voles nearly wipe out your big beautiful Baptisias (like mine last winter) then it makes your work a whole lot easier. I was left with just a fraction of the original root system, but at least there was something of the plants left.

Dividing Baptisia is easier than a large Miscanthus grass, or a big Joe Pye weed!

hmmm, must agree with growlove - it does look awfully like physostegia )although I am claiming duff eyesight)

This is the plant in question:

This is Physostegia virginiana :

This is Salvia pratensis:

They are too different to be confused in my opinion.

Yes Michelle, this huge plant came from a seed that I started in my window a year and a half ago. I think I will be facing the same sort of thing again next year as I started a Starfruit tree from a seed after we ate the fruit. It is a lovely lacy plant but is already about 18" high...

Just can't help myself *LOL*

Cheers,

Julie

That's quite the plant Julie. It sure looks nice in your house.

Norma

While astilbe like regular moisture, they also really like good aeration. Often the soil compacts around them so they don't get the moisture and aeration at the roots that they need. They also grow out of the soil in time, so a fresh layer of mulch on them each year can really help.

And they don't like heat, but it was a pretty hot season in most of the country.

I'd rework the soil really good, add tons of organic matter, replant and mulch, and possibly move them out of the morning sun into more shade. Also it is tough to keep them perfect if they only moisture they get is from the hose. They really prefer a naturally moist garden to do their best, but not everyone has that in their gardens.

Good luck,

Chris

The one that didn't even flower was planted last summer, 2010. It did not flower at all, hardly even grew this year. The other one was planted this year, had 2 lousy flower spikes more brown-looking than the promised red (I don't know the variety) and that was it. Perhaps the juniper shrub roots are out-competing them for nutrients. If I moved them under a tree, would that help? We have gotten a regular monsoon of rain this year, plus I filled in when it was dry.

Mine seeds, though not prolifically.

@ aachenelf 'still haven't found any mention of this problem '.
Don't consider it a problem. It may be a blessing in many cases. There are actually a lot of plants which cannot be fertilized with their own pollen. Just to mention a few: many cultivars of apple trees, pears, cherries, Lythrum salicaria, some lilies, blueberries, and many more. That's why you have to have at least 2 different trees to get fruits.