13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
pull back the mulch ... add a layer of compost.. and garden fork it in.. breaking the surface.. and opening your soil ...
then remulch
this time of year.. you could pop out the plants.. rework the whole bed .. or a portion.. then replant the plants ... though a lot of work.. your rewards could be very high ...
ken
Thanks Terrene. Like you I also like to remove all of the growing material, be it peat, paper, burlap, etc. I've never had good results leaving it on and found that the plants often suffered over the winter with that junk left in place. Lots of companies have moved to plantable pot material but I'm seeing really difficult growth or even losses with them, so now I'm using the hose to blast off the paper plugs before planting and already am seeing better root and crown development. I can't imagine leaving a coir pot in the ground either.
I have ordered from them for years but the price increase alone caused me to stop!
The higher cost of gas -- and with it heating and electricity --has caused a marked increase in many things. Can't really fault them there. I've seen a lot of nurseries going out of business which is unfortunate.
I know, mxk3...it goes against the grain, doesn't it? There was a volunteer Crapemyrtle on this property when we bought it. Pretty color but without the genetic improvements of modern hybrids. It would develop PM as soon as the new leaves began to grow. All I had to do was hose it down every day until the foliage matured (3 or 4 weeks) and the issue was solved.
Nevermore...you need to treat this disorder early before it is able to completely infect the cells of the plant. It's too late to do much of anything at that point. Even Neem oil can only cure this disease in its earlier stages.
Wieslaw...you did such an amazing job with your garden. I love the way the plants flow together as well as the way you meandered the lawn throughout the garden. Looks amazing!
Would you mind sharing what those colorful plants are in your garden...I am still fairly new to gardening so my identification skills aren't completely there yet. Some look like Rhododendron but I can't quite tell.
Than you!
ATekk, they are basically all rhododendrons, most of them deciduous(azaleas)
The first three on the first picture : Golden Eagle(orange), Feuerwerk(red), Golden Sunset(yellow)
Picture 2: Klondyke(yellow-orange), Blue Peter(light violet), Homebush(pink)
Picture 3: Persil(white), Klondyke(yellow-orange)
Picture 4: Klondyke and Hachmann's Feuerschein(dark red)
Picture 5:Silver Slipper(cream), Hamlet(salmon orange), Narcissiflora(light yellow) Jolie Madamme(tall pink)
Picture 6: left for the tree R. Kokardia
Picture 7: R.catawbiense Grandiflorum, in the background R. catawbiense Album(white), Borsault, and azalea Gibraltar
Picture 8:dark purple is Tamarindos, the light pink on the left in the background is Soir de Paris
Picture 9: Ballerina (white), Sylphides(light pink), Gibraltar (red), the yellow is either Gold Flame or Gold Flare(possibly mistaken identity)
Thanks for the comments.
I've been overwintering a wax begonia someone gave me for a few years now. I save one to keep on a bookcase next to a lamp(with a compact flo bulb). It tries to put out small flowers occasionally through the winter, but I pinch them off. The leaves get lush and it makes a nice houseplant. In the spring I split it into 3 or 4 plants and use them in different areas.
Maybe you could keep a pot of it and try a wicking watering system while you travel. I haven't tried it myself, but here's a link to wicking info on the African Violet forum via a search on the Houseplant forum...HTH
Here is a link that might be useful: wicking info
Al - the French roundabout plantings would not be left out over the winter. They are summer bedding plants. Usually Begonia semperflorens are grown from seed every year for this purpose.
mytime - you say "I travel a lot in the winter.." I don't blame you ;) Zone 3/4 brrrr.
The fleshy roots of the Alstroemeria contain a lot of energy stored that should cause it to regrow. Do your best to keep moisture in the root zone, as they are not considered drought tolerant. We have several flushes of growth and bloom per year. After bloom I will pull the stems, not letting them make seed, and in a few weeks new flowering stems will emerge from the ground. Al
It does look like Autumn Joy, although there are a couple similar ones. Autumn Joy is probably the most common one. VERY easy to propagate. I like to cut mine back by half or so sometime in May. If I want to propagate it, I push it in the ground where I want it to grow. If no rain expected for a while I water it for a few days, but probably not necessary. I cut some in May this year & never put them in the ground. Left them on a rock pathway, they aren't dead yet. I really should find a place to put them, they want so badly to grow.
I'm a bit puzzled by your question. If you're planting rudbeckia now (which variety by the way), you should be dealing with growing plants, not dormant plants. Are you saying your plants die after you transplant them or do you always get them before they've sprouted (very early spring)or very late fall after they've gone dormant (I guess) although my rudbeckia keep their leaves through winter. Maybe other varieties don't. No clue.
Some are annuals, some biennials, some perennials, so it's kind of important to know which ones you've been dealing with. I'm not sure of this, but in my experience and in my zone rudbeckia seem to do better transplanted in spring. The ones I've tried to move in the fall (mainly Goldstrum) never make it through the winter.
Kevin
I was a little surprised to see that Swallowtail Garden Seeds classifies all Rudbeckia seed types as annuals. I know from experience they self-seed but evidently that's how they give the impression they're perennials. I've been yanking seedlings from the neighbor's lawn and they didn't plant Rudbeckia...I did!
The site is sunny, average-good moisture, soil is alkaline but good.
The soil here is acid and where I have Rudbeckia growing, it's nothing more than sand & rocks. They get full sun but they're on their own as far as nutrients & supplemental water. It's just a guess but maybe your soil is too good for them. I find they do best here if they are growing in the worst soil & get no care whatsoever, including water above & beyond what Mother Nature provides. That being said, I noticed they were just as happy this year with plenty of frequent rain as they were last year when we had 4 months of drought from June to October.
I should qualify these comments and state my plants were winter sown from seeds, not grown from nursery stock. Health & endurance-wise, winter sown plants are giant steps ahead of nursery-grown plants.
Thanks for responding, gardenweed. I posted here because I was getting sizes that were not consistant from the googling I did. One site would say that White Bouquet grows to 6 feet tall, and another said that is a more compact variety - whatever that means?????
Anyone else have White Bouquet in their garden?
Linda
At same age, if annualy cut to the ground White Bouquet is as large as Royal Red that is larger than Pink Delight.
One consistant source for size is Longstock Nursery listing:
http://www.longstocknursery.co.uk/buddleja-c31.html
Another "iffy" method is to dig a hole or trench, set the pots in to the top, then fill the trench with fallen leaves. I used this method successfully to over-winter a dozen roses in containers one year. I think it was a fairly mild winter, that helps too. I'm zone 6. Good luck. When I was a kid, my Mom had Mums that came back every year. I agree what they sell these days is less hardy.
If it's so water hogging, how are day lillies and sedium thriving there?
====>>> ESTABLISHED plants can compete with the tree.. and successfully deal with drought ...
your issue is how to get a recent planting.. or transplant to get ESTABLISHED .... which will take some time ...
also.. from experience .. its the feeder roots.. the thin ones.. that use the water.. and if you dig a hole thereby slicing all the roots .. and put a plant with improved soil in a hole .. and hand water only that hole.. i will give you one guess where the tree will grow new feeder roots ... and NEVER fertilize that hole ...
so.. if you can get it in there.. and get it ESTABLISHED ... many of the hardier plants will compete with the tree ..
this is why if you grow a plant to a large clump.. and then move it under a tree.. it has a better chance of succeeding.. rather than trying to get a bunch of babes to grow in there ...
ken
Agree with Ken on the "clump" transplant. . .learned after many failures
that smaller, immature plants will really struggle. Under my two birches,
established epimedium and ferns have thrived; when first planted as a whip,
one birch was underplanted with Vinca minor and has developed into a lush
carpet, accented by a golden Hosta "Sun Power". . a .young hosta didn't make
it, but a 2-gallon "SP" is thriving. Several Nandina domestica and a
Stephandra are successfully nestled under the other birch.
Carl