13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

I get rid of things that don't bloom/grow reliably and plants that turn out to be more invasive than I can deal with.

Campanula is one plant I will never put in my gardens again and am not sure it I will ever get rid of it. Fall blooming anenome, the lavender one, will be pulled out except for a small amount which I will really need to keep a handle on.

Floppiness, running habit, blooming too little, health issues, non-thriftiness, not ornamental enough, lack of vigour, too much vigour(roots all over the garden), replaced by something better, causing skin damage(dictamnus).

I have a garden I just started under an oak tree. I was going to add Aster Divaricatum (just above), and also Biokovo Geranium.

My Ajuga is doing well in dry shade in a couple of places in the yard. Chocolate Chip has really taken off!

I don't remember if it's mentioned above, but Ceratostigma Plumbago has been a dry shade winner for me too.

Here is a garden under an ash tree in OH in it's even though the garden was just over a year old at the time, from previously being sparse grass. There are hostas, columbine, creeping phlox, Pulmonaria, Bergenia, Trillium, violets, Polemonium (jacob's ladder,) a few bulbs, Lamium, a little lilac, ready to be a tree if the ash got emerald beetle borers (I moved, remains a mystery,) and a few others I don't remember and can't see from this angle. 4" of mulch can retain moisture for weeks.

Of your list, I would avoid the Vinca. Just too sprawling/spready to play nice with the other plants. In general, you don't want vines in a flower bed. Entities like Vinca or Ajuga that rapidly spread really do best in their own, well-enclosed space. Spreading through other more self-contained plants, these spreaders can make the whole thing look like a confused mess. But, like most things-gardening, this is subject to your personal opinion on the matter.

I buy compost in bulk from Burnco , a place that sells landscaping rock, soil, brick and so forth. I put it on my flower garden in May but don't work it in much - leave it on top as a mulch - it seems to supress the weeds. If I get a chance, I will put some on again in the fall.
If it is a new bed, I work it into the existing soil as it has a lot of clay.

I use llama and alpaca poo, our neighbors have huge piles of it, free for the taking. i also take my little 2 stroke roto tiller and dig in a bale of peat moss if i'm working in a new area or lifting and redoing an old bed.

Definitely prune in the spring. You stand a chance of losing your BB over winter if you prune it back now.

Sometimes they break dormancy so late, many gardeners think they are dead. So be patient and wait quite a while before you give them a death certificate!

My daughter planted a Pink Delight this summer and my advice to her was to mulch it in heavily as soon as the really cold weather starts here. My experience has been that if you can get your BB through its first winter, you should have it for years. A little extra mulch over winter never hurts.

Linda

I pruned mine in the fall last year 3 bushes completely died, I'll be trimming in the spring from now on.

My thoughts, also. But with such density, I'd lean toward crown gall.

I'm happy I posted this. How about root-knot nematode? I found this previous thread on GW. Looks like it's curable.

What's really odd is that this plant has shown no signs of decline. It's been growing and blooming for years now.

Here is a link that might be useful: root-knot

I always wondered why it was called that. Cool.

What would I do without the Garden Web & great helpful members?!

-Vieja

I've not grown that particular BB, but in general Buddleia are known for dying over the winter, especially in z6 or lower. One thing most agree on is to wait until you see new growth in the spring before pruning/shaping. I've not tried to grow one in a container, but a container is considered to be at least 1 and usually 2 zones colder than where you actually are. An unprotected container is also subject to repeated freezing/thawing so it is a difficult environment.

Out of curiosity, I googled this plant and looked at all of the links from pg. 1 of the search. It seems to be a new cultivar available for only a few years, most of the sites that sell it are in UK and have no info about winter hardiness. Most of UK is zone 8. I did find this, "Temperature Tolerance: A hardy plant which should survive normal winter conditions outside, especially if protected from the hardest frosts." That doesn't sound good since you're in NJ.

If it were my plant (in NJ,) I would consider it as only hardy to a higher zone and dig a hole for the container near the house and cover with a big pile of leaves.

Thank you very much for your advice!

I've also given up on Moonbeam altho' I think it's the prettiest one out there. I can't keep it alive and I'm tired of spending limited garden funds replacing it year after year. It's sterile so the seeds won't germinate which makes winter sowing it a dead end (pun intended). Zagreb is a stronger yellow but it's an amazing performer so I've resigned myself to just dividing that and planting it around the garden.

Since her coreopsis has re-seeded I'm guessing it's not one of the threadleaf varieties. I no longer grow any of the other varieties but when I did I left them over winter. If more plants than I wanted survived the winter I dug them out, moved, gave away etc. the extras in spring.

So has it bloomed? Any clues? inquiring minds wanna know...

So, what was/is it? Physostegia? White? Let us know.

sooey

Sounded like waiting a bit?

I personally would wait until they start their growth in the spring. I know mine will survive whatever I do to them at that time.
Cher

'Visions' is easily 10 years old. My guess is mid- to late 1990s for commercial production. The other varieties within the series are indeed more recent.

I can attest to the fact the plant I have is not very drought tolerant. We're now in our 5th week with no rain, temps have been high, but I have been watering. Within the last week, this one went totally crispy. None of my other astilbe have done that. I know it's not dead, but it sure is ugly right now.

Kevin

I lost one out of every three I planted in zone 5b. Here in zone 6 I haven't lost any yet and they seem bigger but it maybe it was because like Holly, my zone 5 soil had a lot of clay.

I have had some for six years and still going strong. Once in a while one won't make it through the winter but compared to other perennials I rate its longevity at at least average.