13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
There are several different types of Digitalis, and flowers on different Campanulas can also look differently. Besides, flowers on Digitalis resemble the flowers of some Campanulas a lot. I think you should specify your question a little more precisely.
There are places in every garden where it is impossible to spray weeds. When I was growing up hoeing was the job assigned to the kids, both because it needed to be done and to give them something to do. I still remember how and have a long handled Japanese weeder that makes the job a lot easier. Al
Mulching with non-decomposing organic matter seems better than pruning to me, at least that's how SoCal often handles our 6-7 months with no rain. You don't want a flush of nitrogen to stimulate new growth during a drought, as Rhizo noted above. So this is one of the rare situations where a few inches of bark or pine needles or clean straw mulch would be better than great, N-rich compost or soils.
When our drought-resistant natives have finished blooming in summer, many of us in SoCal prune some then, but not more than 25-35% or so. Sorry, I don't know your conditions & plants well enough to be of much help
What hostaholic2 and wieslaw59 write here is true. I checked my Bluestone catalog but their description of this new variety is written exactly as follows:
Rudbeckia fulgida var. Fulgida
There is no descriptive name for this plant as there are for most other plants. Gloriosa Daisies (also a Rudbeckia) have names such as Cappuccino, Cherokee Sunset, Indian Summer, etc., but not the Rudbeckia I'm interested in.
I put a call into their help desk this morning and left a message asking for clarification as to the exact name of this flower. I'll post back when I hear from them.
Meanwhile thanks for the reply Vivian 2010. I'm glad the foliage is smaller as it will expire less water here in Zone 7. Too bad about the flower size though. Maybe they'll work to increase it.
There are several "natural" varieties of R. fulgida:
var. deamii
var. fulgida
var. speciosa
var. sullivantii
As mentioned, the popular cultivar 'Goldsturm' is a selection of R. fulgida var. sullivantii.
As advertised in the OP, R. fulgida var. fulgida is typically later and/or longer-flowering than the more common 'Goldsturm'.
Japanese blood grass, Imperata cylindrica 'Rubra'-- rich soil, mulch, crowding from other perennials, & winter wet did it in. After reading about warnings that it's invasive, I planted them right next to tall sedums ('Autumn Joy') to corral it, but maybe that wasn't a good idea.
In my opinion both C. takesimana and glomerata should be banned or be sold with a BIG BLINKING RED WARNING. Both of them are impossible to remove once they are in the middle of another plant(I don't use chemicals),unless you dig it up and wash the roots, pulling all the pieces of the campanulas out. It took me years to kill C.glomerata(I hope it will not come back). C.takesimana was a little easier to get rid of.
There's good and bad about Joe-pye weed. I started with one (non-hybrid) plant about 9 years ago and now there are at least 50 scattered around the garden (promiscuous reseeding). One good thing is that they add flashes of yellow to the garden even after going to seed (goldfinches love the seed and I'm seeing them frequently perched on Joe-pye seedheads, enjoying a snack).
Here is a link that might be useful: Goldfinch chowing down
I have been enviously eyeing the pics of echinacea hot summer so was pleasantly surprised to see it in my local nursery. However it looked nothing like the pics posted here. Was just various shades of pink. Whereas the catalog pics look like those posted by enabled. I wonder If there are regional differences to flowering? Anyway glad I didn't mail order it.