13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

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.

If you ever get out to south central WI (Madison area), I've heard from other gardeners that The Flower Factory has a lot of daylilies. Looking at their list, there are certainly more varieties than I've seen at the nurseries I usually frequent.

Here is a link that might be useful: flower factory daylily list

They are definitely on my wishlist. They are right by Stonewall nursery, which is supposed to be a good spot for conifers.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks for the suggestions. You know what's weird? I could have SWORN the blooms earlier this summer were more pinkish than purplish. In fact, I thought I actually checked the plant online to see if that was the normal color. I have blooms now on it that are purple, just like standard Anise Hyssop. I don't think plants change color like that, so I must be slightly crazy.

I checked out the Pow Wow Wild Berry, and I think that would be a fantastic pairing, as well as a very welcome color to my overly yellow fall garden. Will be buying some seeds to WS this year, for sure! I also did put some purple in and around it, as well. Thanks for all the great suggestions!

tepelus, I placed Asclepias tuberosa not in front of it, but very close. This garden area gives me more opportunity for large swaths of color, and I'm hoping those two areas will blend very well.

nhbabs, I hadn't thought of red, but that would indeed be a fantastic color with those yellow-green leaves. That would really "pop" (I think "pop" has got to be one of the most over-used words today). Getting me to thinking...I have 5 GJ plants now. I can divide them next year and pair them with some red bloomers.

Thanks for all the suggestions. It's so helpful to hear your thoughts, and your suggestions always help bump me out of my rut!

I think you are definitely on the right tracks...grasses, Rudbeckia, Echinacea...I think it would be perfect with dark-leaved companions as well...Cimicifuga, Heuchera. Here's a pic from my garden a last wee, you can see it nestled between almost all of those ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: My Blog

Happily, my plants don't protest when I tell them
"You need a haircut!"

I'm talking to them sometimes, but not loud. I pay for them and give them what I think they want, so in my opinion I'm entitled to criticize and threaten.I usually know what is my fault and what is not my fault. I have a flower bed with 6 different phloxes. 5 are clean as a whistle but 1 is totally white from mildew. Not my fault. OUT! Also no need to cry over a dead or dying plant. Dead plants are good. They've been tested and found unwanted. There are others who gladly will take their place.

Definitely a mint cousin. Could be catnip. Could also be lemon balm. As terrene said, crush a leaf. What does it smell like?

Thank Terrene and Linda.

it does have a smell like mint, I am not sure it is catnip or catmint?

from the fence.. dig and establish a dead zone.. a path.. and mulch it heavily ...

when you remove something .. mulch the empty space ...

just start working it in ....

most weed seed needs sunlight to germinate.. the point of mulch.. is to bury them.. and retard germination of as many as possible ... the point being.. its much easier to stop them.. then try to remove them when mature ...

violets seed THREE!! times per year .... and that is why you are always digging them ... they were so cute when i first started gardening.. i grew to hate them with the passion of the heat of a million white hot suns [and if you give me a nickle i will tell you how i really feel]

lemon balm.. or bee balm [is that what you mean] .. grows on rhizome-like runner roots.. and will ignore mulch.. if not be encouraged by it ... i gave up on bee balm long ago for such ... as well as the very similar growing mints .... cute little babes that grow into monsters ... with little or no encouragement .. lol ..

so part of what i am seeing .. is a newbie who need to 'edit' or remove some plants that are not performing to satisfaction .. rather than trying to tame them with mulch

TRUST ME.. you do not have to keep every plant that is bothersome.. they are not children.. you can abandon them .. lol ...

ken

Thanks for wanting to take such good care of a garden someone else planted! I imagine that they are pleased as I would have been if some of my prior gardens had been as well cared for.

You will want to do some careful placing of the mulch/compost even in March, since though you won't have to be avoiding all the plants' leaves at that time of year, some plants aren't happy with the crown buried in mulch during the cold and wet of spring. Those plants are likely to rot, so you want to try to avoid the crowns in placing your compost. Finer mulch is easier to settle in around plants than larger textured mulch in my experience. Also, with wet soil, be careful where you walk so that you don't compact the soil. I have rocks I use for stepping stones.

Bee balm isn't lemon balm. Lemon balm seeds voraciously and I have regretted the day I brought some home from a plant swap.

I don't mulch the areas I want forget-me-nots as mulch is pretty effective in keeping them from sprouting.

I'd suggest deadheading over a bucket (to catch any ripe seeds) those plants like the lemon balm that spread by seed and not putting the seedheads in your compost pile unless it gets hot enough to kill seeds. Now is the time of year to do that before the seeds drop. It will reduce your weeding next year, especially if you do it every year before various perennials go to seed (like your violets in late spring.)

Corn gluten if spread at the right time next spring will prevent some of the seeds from sprouting, so you can also spread some of that around, preferably right before a rain so that it settles into the soil.