13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

I believe you are looking at the castor bean plant. I have one small palm which is only outside during the summer.

Surprise! My Raspberry Surprise has put out a couple of new blossoms.

Thank you for the ID's gardenbug.
The color of your Vitex is wonderful- I've only seen the cream/white ones (though those are lovely too!). Bet it stays nice and compact in a colder zone.
I'm going to have to get that phlox. I saw one several years ago but didn't get it. Keep kicking myself for it!

Oh, that Roscoea is beautiful. Pale yellow is a favorite of mine, especially in the garden.
Thanks again gardenbug! Truly inspirational garden...
CMK

Vitex starts from zero every late spring in our climate. It is about5 feet tall by August/September.

Below I'll give the URL for the Feelings series which includes the names of several varieties. I haven't seen them for sale in ages. They grow on you, but I'm afraid the nurseries didn't dare wait around for people to change their minds!

Enjoy your garden, CMK!

Here is a link that might be useful: FEELINGS

I love my Russian Sage. It can spread all it wants.

I have noticed mine do the same... After it gets out of hand and the flowers are done blooming I just cut it down... I have noticed that Sage grows back pretty darn quick.

Here's Rodger earlier this season:

I've read they're slow to establish. I planted 2 this year and it took months before additional stems appeared. Both were small plants from 1 gal pots and are in 2 different locations. They have multiple stems now & are 18"-24" high. They like lots of watering through a dry summer, so I've tried to remember them in their shady places. :o)

Becky has only reached about 18 - 20 inches here in it's second year. So far it has not been a spreader. I'm usually just thankful to have Shasta's survive the winter here.

I shovel pruned my Becky as it was a short bloomer and foliage looked ugly after bloom.

I loved Silver Princess the first year but the next year I had SP everywhere and am still pulling up random plants before they can go to seed. So no more Silver Princess.

Snow Lady has done well for me with bloom all summer if it is deadheaded. This is a favorite and the one others ask for a piece.

Snow Cap has not done as well. It stayed small but had short bloom time.

Broadway Lights is a beauty with the pale yellow blossoms that change to white. Unfortunately I have not gotten it to rebloom even though there are buds further down the stem. Anybody have suggestions on how to get this one to rebloom? Today I moved, divided and cut back several plants but still have one clump that I can experiment with.

Fabulous pictures of a fabulous garden. I enjoyed your blog entry as well.

OMG is right. Simply stellar garden Deanne! I think I let out a gasp with those last two overall garden pics!! I need to bookmark this page for when I get the winter blues- it would be a sure pick-me-up ;-)
BEAUTIFUL pictures and garden!
CMK

Thanks "ctc" for posting!
I asked 'ctc' to post because I appreciated the reminder that beauty in the garden can be hard won! And, to remind me to stopmybellyachin' about weeds and running out of space, and practice gratitude.

Now to go look up thalictrum 'splendide' as my thalictrums go black or yellow before they bother blooming.

idabean aka Marie

They are gorgeous! Such hard work, I'm sure! What do you do with them over winter?

My problem with plants in pots is their roots, they get huge, I can only root trim or upsize so much. Then they get potbound enough that they need so much water. I wish I could stunt their root growth (and no pot is small).

Yes, an excellent solution, worth the work, when space is limited. Plus, it helps to keep the rabbits away (many of mine in ground had to be moved to pots due to this issue, or the deer, or the....etc).

THanks for sharing

Oh wow. I'm sorry. I guess I'll be more thankful for just the squirrels. They do make me laugh, especially when one certain squirrel and I play peek-a-boo around a tree. They can be comical.

Karen

This won't help you, as I don't know what to say. I, like you, am against chemicals.
I've been internally frustruated lately as on one side I have the neighbors barberries they never prune and I'm eventually stuck with doing some pruning and being jagged as they've reached so far into my garden (plus the numerous seedlings everywhere in spring). The same has in different spot vicious thorny wild blackberries (or just jaggers) I finally had to cut back yesterday, again they just neglect and they were reaching 3 feet over into my side, over fence. Then there's the ivy, the weed shrubs with some disease, the "wild" Rose of sharon (common name) that reseeds everywhere that's now more on my side then theres, etc. General neglect of their side, and the weeds, 2-3 feet tall, full now of seedheads that blow. The neighbor behind me, never gardens. Has grasscutters once/month. The weeds are incredible. The ivy and whatnot strangling everything. The other side has the paranoid husbund with the woodpile, uncovered compost, (unknown critters) who complains, and complains. They just have the ivy, clover, weeds... and his eagle eyed view of what he may need to complain about. And their maple, which loves to clog all gutters. Their shrubs on other end they decided finaly to cut back on their side, but left mine (sounds so funny, "my side, "their side"..!!) untouched so now it looks... rough. He was venting on how all these animals are probably hiding in them, and how snakes are probably hiding in my garden (not possible), etc. He watches my rainbarrel, to be sure it's covered. Paranoid, military man.
I'm too timid to approach, but I retreat. Not a good approach, to avoid neighbors....No easy answer.

wieslaw, absolutely gorgeous!! What are those yellow flowers with the dark maroon leafs called??!!

AdamKR, it is Ligularia dentata Britt-Marie Crawford. If I remember correctly it was a sport on Othello. It needs a lot of water. It colours best in sun, and keeps the colour well through the season.

I use a few mums with some gourds, dried hydrangeas and grass seed heads as fillers. Cheap, but beautiful. Sometimes I also put on some birdhouses.

If you do an image web search for fall "window box" you can find some inspirations. I really like this one.

Here is a link that might be useful: fall window box

or snap pix and post them here or in the name that plant forum ...

but then.. the camera is probably with the maps and cant be found.. lol ...

or simpler.. google both names and flip to the images side .... did the first one for you ... link below ...

ken

ps: best hint: get a good old fashioned clip board.. and a nail ... pound nail in garage wall ... hang clipboard on nail ... and always return it to the garage after drawing on it ... when i garden.. the first trip is always to the garage to get the saw.. and shovel.. pruning shears whatever.. so why not keep the clipboard there.. once ANYTHING comes in the house.. its lost forever ...

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose Queen salvia

Thanks. The 4-sided stems and smell made them easy to distinguish. Can't do pictures, I've cut back all the faded flower spikes. We had some folks 'caretaking' our place for a few years while we were gone. Unfortunately, there was more 'taking' than 'care' and I think the garden notebook was used by their kids. Lesson learned : NEVER rent to anyone.

Yeah, I go out into the garden at night. And I wander the paths, and then sit for a while, and look at the shadow-shapes of the plants, and listen to all the sounds. Try to catch a glimpse of the moon, or watch the clouds.

When it is 'night' in August, I'm afraid that work is just not on my agenda. Relaxing down for sleep, with my bare feet on the grass/soil, my behind on a chair, and my senses quietly open.

At that time of night, there are probably things I should be seeing, and thwarting, but at that point, I don't care enough to do it.

Time to go in .....

I'm a night wanderer, also. I go out into my woods at night, wander the paths, sit on the bench with my glass of wine and take in the fireflies and the night smells and sounds, look to see who's out there with me. If I sit very still possums, racoons and deer will come close to drink in the small pond, and I might see a fox, or an owl swooping through the trees over my head. Or maybe an armadillo shuffling its way along the path. The night blooming plantaganea hostas and flowering tobacco scent the whole yard with moths fluttering around the sweet nectar. Cool night air soothes my sun-weary skin, and it is paradise out there. I can't see the weeds or raggedy plants that need to be cut back, it all looks lush and beautiful, my perfect garden!

Yes nevermore44 as I did mention in my initial post. Do you know of ways to eradicate this pest w/o harming the beneficial insects that are attracted to coneflowers?

Does it destroy the flowers before they open up? I have seen some type of larva in my coneflowers that burrow and I think destroy the seeds but they don't seem to ruin the flowers so I have left them alone. I suspect the finches eat the worms along with the seeds. I do still get a few seeds and volunteers. You may have a different pest than I do though.
I am having a similar dilemma with my salvia plants. There is a moth larva that destroys the buds before the flowers open up so I get very few blooms. I planted the salvia for hummingbirds and butterflies so I don't want to spray pesticide on them and I'm at a loss on what to do. So far I've left those alone too. It's ruining my 'Black and Blue' and others.