13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

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.

Nice choices. Please post next summer too so we can see how it has grown. To keep grass out, you will want to cut in an edge. The trench will keep the grass in the lawn rather than migrating into your new bed and will need renewing once or twice a year. (Alternatively, bury an edging strip.) Otherwise it will be a never-ending and mostly unsuccessful battle to keep the grass and garden separate.

yep was just looking up on youtube how to edge the bed. I think I will go with the trench as opposed to an edging strip.

I know I am late to this thread but I just came in from cutting back my yarrow and it bloomed just fine with 4 hours of direct sun.

Btw OP did you ever plant your Yarrow in this lcation?

General decline of yarrow described above does not have to be due to growing trees. Many of yarrow hybrids are short-lived and require dividing/replanting each second/third year to stay alive. Besides, yarrows can attract some kind of aphids, that live on their ROOTS! When new yarrow hybrids were released on the market some years ago, I bought 1 piece of each kind(or just about). Only 1 is still alive.

well if you leave out pertinent facts.. then you get shotgun answers.. lol ... you would save me a lot of typing if you did give all the facts up front .. lol ... i hope you have one cutting in a glass of water in the house.. just to prove me wrong ... its got time to root and be stuck in the ground by mid sept ...

and.. as with conifers.. mail order will get you what you want ...

i am still trying to recall that name of that mum seller.. they offer ... back in the mid 90'2 ... like 500 varieties.. FOR TWO BUCKS EACH ... they were just single stemmed rootings as i said.. but at two bucks.. i think i bought about 25 varieties.. it only took a few years.. to be down to 10 or so.. truly z5 hardy plants.. but it was neat .. because they were much different than the usual bigboxstore offerings...

it was a short family name .. lee's???? ... .. whatever.. odds of someone popping in and reminding me are low ...

ken

Damn, I thought I picked up two Red Daisy Mums and one was Coral Daisy...little tag was at the bottom of the pot!

Well if they make it through I'll have 4 Reds and 4 Corals.

I actually really like mums and late blooming plants for that matter. In spring your so happy to see green that everythign goes by in a blur. By late August you're so used to green and so many plants have tuckered out.

Well, it's not the four lined plant bug damage, but I'm still leaning towards botrytis or some other fungal disease. I would remove all the leaves, just cut the plant down to the ground, and throw them in the trash, not compost pile. It may even send up fresh foliage this year still.

Thanks anitamo. I'll try cutting them all back and hope for new, unaffected growth.

Dee

Is it just part of one plant that is variegated or is it an entire plant from seed?

I had a variegated Uvularia grandiflora (Merrybells) seedling appear in my garden probably 3 years ago. It's remained variegated, but the growth is very weak, so I don't know if it will make it or if I even want it to make it. Interesting though.

Even though I deadhead regularly, I still get a few seedling of Phlox paniculata now and then. I usually leave them grow to see what I get. So far, I've been pleased with each one.

Kevin

Several years ago, a white with lavender/rose center flower came up along side my Phlox David. I've seen pictures of Phlox Delta Snow and this looks exactly like it. I separated it from my clump of David and have been growing it in it's own spot for 5 years now. I had thought it might be a seedling from David, but it seems more likely that it's a "sport." Any seedlings from David and my other garden phlox varieties are a pinkish purple, and all look the same. I also have a seedling here from Eva Cullum that is a bright lipsick pink. It's in it's own area of the garden and has grown well over the years.

Neither of these plants has variegated leaves though.

Linda

You could just buy a pair of Muscovy ducks. They love to eat slugs.

Hey, thanks everyone. As of today it looks like the slugs have been doing a real number on my ligularia. My husband went to Lowe's and got some slug bait and spread it all over. Apparently he hadn't noticed how they were also enjoying other parts of yard, so he was glad to get the wake up call. We have had a lot of cool rainy weather lately, weather that slugs love, so that has to have been a factor in this. From the way our two plants look today, I am not sure one will make it. We'll just have to see how they overwinter and do next year.

Someone is tired of Agastache "Golden Jubilee." I can't believe it. After it started looking bad in July, I pruned it back and now it's so full and covered with blooms. The golden foliage is beautiful with the lavender tinted flowers. If you don't like it, prune it drastically and it will surprise you with a new bloom cycle. I personally am loving the plant this year. I didn't prune it last year. What a difference it makes.

Personally, I'm tired of Daylilies. They are so common. Everyone has them. I don't want any. The blooms don't last long and the foliage is ugly. They aren't as nice or long lasting as the Golden Jubilee plant, that's for sure.

You got that right, Connie! Although I must say this year things aren't bad because we've actually had a decent amount of rain since mid-July or so. Usually this time of year it's a crispy mess out there, though.

You're fall bloomers are going already? My "Pamina" Japanese anemones are budding already, they always bloom earlier than my "Honorine Jobert" anemones, but not opening quite yet. I expect the fall show to get going in 3-4 more weeks. Agree re: fotergilla - what a gorgeous fall color show from those. Oakleaf hydrangeas, too :0)

Hello again, I just looked at the foxglove and everything including the foliage is brown nothing on it is green. So should I cut it down or leave it alone and since it is a biennial that means it won't return until the year after next right.

A biennial generally only lives for two years. It grows foliage the first year and flowers and dies the second year. If allowed to go to seed, you may get seedlings the second year (in late summer to fall) and then those seedlings may flower the 3rd year. In this sense, the plant may seem *perennial* in that it persists in the garden, but it is through new plants each year, similar to how an annual may reseed in your garden.

To confuse matters more, some individual biennial plants may live for more than two years, especially if they are NOT allowed to go to seed. Many plants, once they produce seeds, have a change in the hormones produced. After producing seeds it may signal the plant to stop growing, since the next generation has been assured. :)

Additionally, many biennals are now being bred to flower the first year. I know there are foxglove and sweet william varieties that can flower in approx. 4 months from seed, without the winter cold period most biennials need.

If your foxgloves are brown and dried up, I would cut off the dry parts. You may get a new flush of foliage from the base and they may even flower next year. Sometimes when I cut down my foxgloves in late spring they send out new flowers the same year. In order to be most assured of having foxgloves next spring, you can start seeds inside or on a sheltered porch NOW. Transplant them to the garden by beginning of Oct (they will just be little seedlings). Next spring they will hopefully flower for you.

Good luck and happy gardening.

Good to know that they will bloom! I just transplanted a bunch of them into a new area. I hope they resemble the parent plant. Anyone know how long it takes before these seedlings bloom?
Thanks,
Sarah

Oh, I just re-read SandyGarden's post... blooms end of second full summer? Wow... very fast maturer! Should have LOTS of liatris end of next year :)))
S.