13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
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)
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.
'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.
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).
now hubby and I sit out there every night with our coffee, staring FOREVER at this thing so as not to miss it, lol.
Pam, it sounds like you have a very exciting life, lol! Actually, it sounds very relaxing, especially if accompanied by an adult beverage. ;) Just googled O. triloba and WOW, really pretty flowers, but boy is that foliage weedy-looking.
I started O. macrocarpa from seed several years ago and have mature plants now. The flowers bloom in the spring and look similar, probably larger, and quite lovely. But again the foliage is a little weedy and looks ratty now.
And do I dare start O. speciosa from seed? Gorgeous flowers, but supposed to be a rampant spreader.
Yup, there's no question the foliage looks a bit weedy! But it keeps blooming and blooming, and more shoots come up all the time. And it doesnt seem to be that fussy about where it is, sun or part sun. And now that I know what they are, and what they do, I like how they look in the garden :)
Oh Terrene, yes, believe me, those relaxing moments are just what the doctor ordered. The rest of our life is completely topsy turvy, chaotic and insane. lol.
Looks like the white form of Obedient plant/physostegia. The site claims it isn't invasive but the pink form does spread rapidly. I yank it out every year but it comes back.
Here is a link that might be useful: Obedient plant
I'm pretty sure that it's some type of heather/Calluna vulgaris. If the flowers are quite small, it's heather. It's a lovely small evergreen shrub that thrives in sandy acid soil. One of my favorite plants, it comes in many different varieties with pink, purplish or white flowers and foliage that ranges in color from deep green to silvery to bright golds, chartreuse and even reds and oranges. An excellent plant, but not one that you can in general divide. I have had ones self-seed or had branches root that I could then separate from the mother plant, or I know that they can be started from cuttings if you are good at that, though I have never tried that. It's definitely a keeper!
The Wrecking Crew actually know when they're coming here. I think the smell of the ocean tips them off, but they will be asleep in the car and as soon as their mother turns down our road they get up and are on alert. :)
When you have pets one of the things you appreciate most are like-minded friends who will take care of your animals when you need/want to get away.
Michelle - we only had 10mm. of rain in July compared to our usual 70+mm. August has been a big improvement so far - ~40mm (1.5"). August rainfall varies extremely from year to year but has averaged about 80mm. over the past 10 years, so we're on target for an average August. Randy kept the newly planted things watered in July but most of the backyard has survived without water. The shade from the ash and oak is very important - we never watered the lawn at all and it stayed green through this terrible drought! I've noticed this summer that lawns in the neighbourhood that were not watered stayed green under the canopy of shade trees while any bits in full sun have long since turned brown and crispy.
Chelone - Copper's owner says Copper's like that - as soon as she turns the corner onto our street, Copper gets excited. Liam's owners say just mentioning 'Susan and Misty' gets Liam excited :-) Actually Liam arrives early Wed. morning for a week or so. Phoebe will be happy with that - she was getting a bit bored and restless yesterday afternoon. She was trying to get Misty to play with her but Misty is too old now to want to play vigorously with her big buddies. Liam, however, will gladly chase and be chased...
Yesterday Phoebe met Zoe (Rottweiler). They've met before, but it's been a long time since Phoebe stayed here. Zoe was not full grown when they met before and Phoebe was bigger than her then. Zoe is now a slab-of-muscle fullgrown Rottweiler and is definitely bigger than Phoebe! Zoe is very friendly and sociable with both people and dogs, but is a bit intimidating to look at :-) Phoebe hid behind Randy when Zoe approached! As soon as Zoe stopped moving towards her and sat down, Phoebe came out from behind Randy and started to approach Zoe. When Zoe got up to meet her, Phoebe zipped behind Randy again! I dispensed cookies all round and we walked on - they will undoubtedly meet again and Zoe will look more familiar to Phoebe next time. This morning she met Crosby (half-grown chocolate Labradoodle). They got along well, although Crosby was more interested in getting cookies than meeting Phobe :-)
Thought two days sitting at the top was enough, so just moving this down. :)
I've not used this on angelica, but it works on several other biennials-foxglove & evening primrose come to mind first, & extends the life of many perennials.
Would you be interested in trading seeds when yours are ready? I have been trying angelica gigas, but have had no luck. I read somewhere recently that they need to be fresh seeds, & would love to get seed that I know are fresh.