13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Cameron - Thanks for the advice. Mine are just lying on the ground. I even have a trellis in front of one to prop it up. I will post a photo tomorrow. I wonder if it would be ok to prune them now.
Sorry my rant was so negative yesterday. I just had a bad garden day.
Sometimes we all get tired of certain plants and if it doesn't work for you, by all means rip it out. I've done that with plants that I'm tired of fussing over.
For me, it's the drought-tolerance, deer and rabbit resistance and the fact that it is the greenest foliage in my perennial garden this time of year (as we hit 104 degrees today).
When cutting back amsonia, wear gloves as the sap can be irritating to the skin. I just slope the sides and mound the shape to keep it upright.
The main one that I trim is also supported by ground cover of eupatorium 'Wayside' that is lush and blooming those cute misty blue flowers right now. That amsonia is also hiding the knees of monarda 'Raspberry Wine' on the slope above it and is flanked on one side by persicaria 'fire tail' in front of eupatorium 'chocolate'. The other side are native Joe Pye and solidago. Just pack those plants in there around it. Since amsonia blooms so early, i shape it before the companions get up around it.
Cameron
I planted shasta daisies from seed indoors this past winter, set out the plants in a sunny composted enriched garden this Spring (zone 7). It is now July 29th and I have plenty of foliage but no flower buds. All the zinnias, asters, and sunflowers are doing just fine. Why no bloom? Should I yank these plants at the end of summer or hope for bloom in the second year?
mandorsk - many perennials, including Shasta daisies, won't bloom the first year from seed. I grew them via winter sowing last year and they're blooming this year for the first time. Same with ladybells, lobelia, columbine, blackberry lily, beardtongue, globeflower, carnations and blanket flower. All were grown from seed via winter sowing last year, grew into healthy plants that went dormant in the fall, came up again this year and bloomed.
Revert is not a correct term here. Revert means go to a previous state. Mutation would be a better word here, as it can go both ways: back and to something new. Happens a lot in chrysanthemums. I have a yellow chrysanthemum Nantyderry Sunshine which itself is a sport(mutation) of Bronze Elegance(brown). Some shoots mutated to pink, making it identical to Mei-kyo.
The typical reaction from the readers of such posts is a 'seedling-in-the-pot-version', as if the poster of the question is a child or something. Mutations and reversions actually happen.
If 'Peppermint Twist' returns to its original state which would be 'Candy Floss', reversion would be the proper term. Some mutations/sports have a tendency to not be completely stable and do revert back to their original state. This is often seen with variegated plants. You need to cull out the original non-variegated part because it will over take the sport and you will be left with nothing but the original version. 'Peppermint Twist' being a variegated flower sport could easily be doing that.
Now some sports being genetically unstable will throw off more new sports as with the chrysanthemum example above (I've seen this with roses also) that are not like the original cultivar. Then the term reversion would not be proper.
Remy
Remy
probably when they built the driveway all the junk soil that was around went to fill in the edge after pouring the concrete, after reading i think you need to dig out the clay? soil and put some drainage material in down deep, some gravel and a good soil mix with peat moss and other compost, the key is the drainage you got to get the base right just digging out the old dirt and replacing the top soil won't re leave the problem of not draining. we ran a excavating company and the problem with all planting beds start with the drainage, you should see what the contractors back fill with.
This sounds like a perfect recipe to ruin your basement, assuming you have one. I had a house in OH with the same setup and ended up having to have steel I-beams placed in the basement to hold the walls up. You should never pile snow around your house. (Not always practical if it snowed while you were away from home, but if you shovel before driving on the surface, salt isn't usually necessary.) Good drainage along the foundation of a house is a bad thing, especially in a climate with freezing/thawing winters. You want water to go away, not down. This area should be sloped so water runs away from your house. The best thing you could do is pave this area as part of your driveway.
I have Miscanthus 'Morning Light' and it is a very well mannered grass. Not too tall and doesn't spread very wide. I have purpurescens too which is often called "Flame Miscanthus" gorgeous fall color. Oh and 'Little Zebra' and 'Little Dot' spreads faster and grows taller. Both smaller than the big zebra grass.
Thank you BoS ~ for sharing I'm looking into them. There was a good sized/impressive *Zebra* I passed by yesterday from my favorite nursery ~ will have to check it out more!. *Morning Light* was the suggestion of another nursery person I talk to. Also saw lined along our local HS's corner sign very beautiful *K Foerster*!
In the mean time I was able to ask the young neighbor ~ the impressive clumps he has is called *Northern Switch* (spelling ?) he planted last season. He also named all the others he had around an old tree ~ the K Foerster didn't look as impressive even w/ the blooms ~ perhaps lined up along the fence might be better.
Again TIA for any personal experience, anyone can share on the *Northern Switch*!
The established ones should be fine next year, not sure about the baby hellebores.
Re: Bloodroot: They disappear for seemingly no reason (I have lost established clumps, which I've posted about before, and for the life of me can't figure out why...) so if you lose them don't be too quick to blame on the mowers.
I had one for a good long period, but inexplicably, it died last winter.
I liked it because it bloomed quite early and then put on another show in the late fall. Neither show was overwhelming, and it was never as floriferous as other cultivars, but I liked it a lot. The scent was wonderful and the flower colour unusual.
To be fair, it was also planted in an overcrowded bed, and might have produced a better flower show with the room it deserved. I think I planted it about six years ago, or even longer, when it was first released.
It appears it's going to be a challenge finding plants to fill this bed. This is what the bed looks like now after 6.9 inches of rain fell in one day.
While the area doesn't get flooded often, the area is underwater for a few days a few times a year. So basically I need plants that grow well in the shade and is tolerant of water.
Currently, the plants on my list are:
Swamp Milkweed
Cardinal flowers (may be)
Paul
Depending on if it will be dry most of the time & wet just a few weeks of the year or if it will be moist during the growing season...
You might be able to direct some of that water to a channel & plant on the higher sides of it to prevent drowning plants during the high water times.
What grows well for me in the shaded moist woodland:
groundcovers: Ajuga reptans, Golden Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia), spotted dead nettle (Lamium maculatum)
grass like foliage: Acorus (sweet flag), various Carex like 'Ice Dance', Iris (I. foetidissima, Japanese Iris), common orange daylily
Hosta
Astilbe
Aruncus (goatsbeard)
Japanese anemone - fall bloomer that tolerates part shade
Tradescantia (spiderwort)
Mimulus (monkeyflower)
Try looking at this swale garden creation with pics (uses rock to help control water & fill space)
http://herselfshoustongarden.com/2007/01/swale-garden.html
Here is a link that might be useful: bog plants
My yard has TONS of markdowns but one important thing to do is smell the base and/or root area of the plant. If it smells like rot...pass it up. Often when they are almost dead, they will overwater them and they are goners for sure (easy to also do if you tip the pot out like ken suggested...then take a sniffer)
I think it's a shame that the craze for dwarfness has resulted in standard-sized platycodons being so hard to find. The species and non-dwarf hybrids have stature and elegance that the cramped dwarfs lack.
I'm not sure what cultivar I have, but it's a blue that gets to about 3 feet and blooms nicely in June-July.
I too have an older blue that I've had for 10+ years that would get up to 3-4 ft. if I didn't whack it down to a foot the end of May every year. I don't want it that tall plus I love how bushy it gets and there are dozens more flowers if I cut it back. I have a white that also gets too tall, a double white that stays about 18-20" and a shorter blue as well. I'm growing Fuji pink from seed but it's too early to tell how tall it will get. Seeds were from Hazzard's and their website says it will grow to 24".
Beautiful Lupines! What a lush patch, with a lovely mix of colors. Phonegirl, if you'e around, how did you sow all those plants? Do you find that the colors seed true? Or is that just big mix of seed?
Sorry for all the Q's, I would just love to know how you grew them!
I have tried to grow lupines, this year I had three that were doing very well, but after a few weeks of 99 degree weather 2 died, I dug up the last one and put it in a pot and brought it into the house, I don't think it's going to make it, what can I do? I love lupines and the pictures are BEAUTIFUL OF THE LUPINES!!!