13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

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.

thanks everyone, it is the Monarda citriodora, my friend gave me a bloom and I saved the seed anyone know if i will have any luck with they coming up?

According to my sources Monarda citriodora is an annual.

'Deer resistant' mine is not. I normally would cut my Montauk back by about half when the new spring growth is about 14/16 high. That would occur in early to mid June. However, the deer usually beat me to it. When that happens, I just neaten up their work. The deer never come back to the Montauk a second time in a season, but do come along in July to help me pinch back the phlox right next to it.

do you fertilize it???

often.. things that flop.. are growing too vigorously.. because of excess fert [which in some cases is any fert] .. or just too good of a soil ... though no one usually complains that ones soil is too good.. lol ...

if you fert .. DON'T ...

and of course.. learn how to prune it properly.. per the above link ..

ken

mnwsgal--did you have to chill your geum seed in order for it to germinate? I purchased fresh seed in June and had 0 germination. I just took the pot out of the refrig last week and am sstill hoping for germination for my Blazing Sunset. Any advice appreciated.

I did not chill the seeds. My records indicate that I sowed three seeds on 4-9-09 and had germination of all three seeds on 4-20-09. All three plants are growing well in the same bed. They were commercial seeds marked 2008. None of the seeds that I winter sowed on the same day germinated.
Good luck.

brody,
Verbascum chiaxii is called nettle-leaved, so its leaves should resemble those of the nettle. But I have not seen it myself.

To the others: it can become weedy if you let is self-seed. I've been there. Although the wild form(yellow) is often described as biennial, the white cultivars proved to be very long-lived here in Denmark, bulding giant clumps. The roots are very thick and long. The plant can choke small neighbours. It is most attractive as young. Big old clumps have many stalks, but the individual flowers get smaller.

In your second picture, the small bright green leaves on bottom right with the long white petiole MIGHt be foxglove seedling. Any signs of miccrofuzzums on it? My foxglve seedlings tend to have long stems like that.

You should really have a great time choosing all the dwarf shrubs - it is one of the funnest gardening things ever, in my opinion. :)

Not having to do with color - here are some other comments:

Be sure to keep height in mind when planting them out. Ken does a really masterful job (see his third picture) of keeping things low in the center so you can look out into garden from the patio and framing the whole with taller statuesque evergreens. Add in all his color and texture contrasts & you have an absolutely gorgeous view. In your case you have to deal with two direction points - looking out to the street from the house AND from the street towards the house.

Examples: Are the hydrangeas the tallest shrub? if so where do you want them? do you want to see past them looking out of the house? can you? or maybe coming into the house? or providing privacy? or hiding some of the rest of the garden so people find a surprise going around them? do you want their greenery fronting other earlier blooming things? Also where do you & your wife want to see the massed flowers of roses & hydrangeas? as you drive up to the house, or from your picture window in the house?

I like to use a lot of height contrast in my gardens, with surprises here & there (see Ken's picture of the tall skinny shrub with the tiny low shrubs), not all graduated rows of stuff - but you can get dizzy if you plant so your eyes go up, down, up down all over the place (my tendancy). So don't dot all your real dwarf plants in and out of more normal sized plantings.

Also keep in mind that a truly dwarf conifer that grows an inch a season can easily be outpaced and hidden by a small shrub rose which starts at 10 inches high, goes to 18 inches in one season, and 2 feet plus high and wide by the second year.

I have also found that even carefree roses need some fertilizer to keep blooming heavily year after year. Sometimes it is good to keep things with the same cultural requirements together, water, fert, pruning, dead-heading, etc.

Have fun! You're doing a great job (and of course it is much easier to tweak a design when most things are small in stature, so don't worry if something outgrows it's space, just move it next year).

thanks for the help leslie. I always struggle with the height but I've gotten better.

Here is a pic from my last house. Its an out of season pic so as you can tell I' starting to favor conifers and late blooming perennials and shrubs to extend the season as much as possible (especially that late Aug to Sept time frame).