13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
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 :-)
Thanks so much for the ID! I had never heard of that plant before. I typed it in Google after seeing your replies and sure enough, that's what it looks like! I wonder if it flowers late in the year. This plant is big and hasn't gotten any flowers. I really like the looks of this plant and am glad that I kept it in my butterfly weed section instead of pulling it out. If it does flower yet, I think I'll save some seeds and plant it elsewhere next year. We have a small bank along the road where we're thinking of planting something because it's hard to mow there, but I'm not sure if this plant would be tolerant of the salt that will get on there in the winter from the road.
I'm into butterfly gardening and I don't know if the butterflies would be attracted to the flowers, but as far as I know it's not a host plant for any kind of butterfly. I just think it's worth keeping because of the beautiful foliage.
Cathy
My Sang came about a month ago as a bare root plant, so it's just growing leaves now. I did notice something about it's foliage that's similar to my roses; spider mites find it attractive. I'll need to remember to include it in my spray schedule.
I do not agree with one of the statements above that sanguisorbas don't need staking. This is not true,unless you want them to lay down on the ground or leaning very much , then they do not need staking. I have had a number of them and only following plants are selfsupporting: Pink Brushes and Red Thunder. The majority of the taller ones will be knocked down by rain+wind. Stand up Comedian will stand when young. In bigger clumps the branches growing outermost will start prostrate and then going up, taking much space. The worst of all: Chocolate Tip. It DIED from mildew!!!
Bravo Woody!!!!! Wow, this is looking great and will be spectacular in the coming years. I wish I had your luck with clematis. They always seem to wilt or get eaten by the voles so it's a celebration when I have a good showing by clematis vines. Love you collection and placement of these beauties. Looking forward to future updates
Deanne
Deanne - the swag may be my consolation prize to compensate for the decline of Vyvyan Pennell! You might have noticed that I didn't post any pictures of Vyv this year... I obviously made a big mistake when I cleaned out a lot of dead older wood in spring 2010 in an attempt to encourage it to regrow and climb higher than the 3-4' it used to achieve. It put out some nice new growth last summer that was climbing nicely and looking good. This spring the new growth it put on in 2010 also looked good - until a couple of giant snails munched through the stems! It went into a severe decline after that and only managed a couple of flowers. The killer heat this summer probably hasn't helped much. At the moment it's a few pathetic stems and leaves, no higher than about 8"! I can only hope it might regrow from the roots next year like The President did this year. The Pres. had died from top to bottom last summer - just sort of dried up and turned beige, not the black of wilt. I thought I'd lost it but it came back very vigorously this spring. I'm hoping Vyv will do the same next spring.
Where i live there are many tall fir trees and during winter storms branches get broken off. I sit and watch; smiling as I see all that free stuff falling from the sky. In early spring, I fire up the shredder (electric) and 'harvest' the gift from Father Winter.
The wild grasses here get chopped down before they can set any seed and I mulch the strawberries with the straw.
About 3 years ago a friend was cleaning up their mother's place to sell it and delivered many bags of trimmings which were piled out back. I'm now harvesting piles of brown gold (compost)
I never turn down 'free'
I love fall leaves as mulch. I get plenty where I am and use the leaf blower/vac to shred them. So easy to use and they shred very well too. If I want them really shredded any more I can just dump the leaves out of the bag and resuck them up. The more you do this the finer the leaves.
I use them as mulch, and also use the rest for my compost piles. I don't waste any.
I also don't rake out the leaves come spring. Just leave them in place and let them decompose on the spot.
I found out two years ago that this expensive plant is prone to foliar nematodes. I haven't ripped them out, since I do like the brightness they add to shady spots, but I rip off any affected leaves. Maybe it will help, maybe it won't, but it makes me feel better for the moment. :) And Ken is right, you can't rid your garden of them, and many plants are hosts, so I've learned to live with them.
in my z5 ....
it would depend on what fert .. absolutely no time release ... and it should be applied very sparingly ....
i used to collect roses years ago .. got up to 125 .. and fert'ed too heavy .. too late.. and killed about 40 of them once ...
a hyper-fertilized plant.. will go into lush vegetative growth.. at a point in time.. that it should be winding down.. and hardening off to a z5/6 fall/winter ... and when they do not harden off in late fall .. they rot ... rather than go to sleep ....
that said.. a little of this or that.. or a diluted foliar feeding should be a nice pick me up ..
just dont get carried away.. and think more is better .... and you can make up for something left out this summer ...
frankly.. if you have a moderately fertile soil.. you probably need nothing at all ... so dont get carried away .. they are not children.. and will not go 'hungry' ....
ken
stay away from nitrogen.. that is the root of the problem ..
look for a fert with numbers like this: 6-12-12
low nitro with a higher number for root growing ....
its the nitro that will force the fast late lush growth if too much is applied ...
i can get a 50 pound sack for about 15 bucks at the local feed lot store ...
ken
Up here one week of extreme summer heat, I think, suppressed the plants even in shady spots--so despite all the watering I did faithfully, so may plants here failed to bloom normally. I found this Bugbane on sale a week later probably because the garden center was bailing. Anyway, I'll mulch the base and hope for the best. The Snakeroot wants what it wants!
I've grown Cimicifuga racemosa for a long time and love it. It likes a good moist but well drained soil and doesn't care for competition with tree roots, so that could be a problem in front of the yew. There seems to be some confusion between this plant and cultivars of Cimicufuga simplex, which include Hillside Black Beauty, Black Negligee, Brunette, Atropurpurea, Elstead, White Pearl etc. Cimicifuga racemosa is an entirely different native species, earlier blooming, green-leaved and generally more robust. The flowers have a slightly unpleasant smell but nothing to get worked up about. It's a see-thru plant, so will work anywhere in a border, including the front.
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.