13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
UPDATE:
My experience with this annual in the summer of 2014 was nothing special (as I wrote above).
To make a long story shorter I purchased another and this has done very well this season.
Here it is today:
What has your experience been with it this summer?
The tiny root offset from mine has grown incredibly slowly, but, in its favor, survived this year's cycle of incredibly wet followed by very hot and dry. That would have killed some plants. So it seems at least to inherent the humidity tolerance of Digitalis: for comparison the Canary Echiums cannot survive here in summer. (I suspect the spectacular ones at Longwood are bulked up for winter display in their special air-conditioned conservatory, not the normal production ones which of course would be quite humid in summer. Alternately, they are raised in a cool summer climate by a wholesaler and shipped here for a single season of specialized finishing off and display, as is the case with Longwood's annual Meconopsis show. They are grown in Alaska and then tricked into late winter growth by HID lighting.)
I will try to keep it happy over winter and hope for a re-bloom next summer. I wonder how they are propagated.
Salvias that are marginal and are best planted with time to settle in. Don't cut them back till the new growth shows in the spring. The hollow stems can carry rot into their crown. I would protect the S. black and blue this winter. take some cuttings for insurance and root them in perlite.
I agree with gardengal, why on EARTH would you just decide to cut back arbitratily? If you're cutting to prevent certain plants from seed set, that might be a reason...otherwise, they've survived on the planet for thousands if not millions of years, without humans trying to tell them when to go dormant.
The best advise for most house plants applies here, plant it and leave it alone a bit. Don't fuss. Water if and when you must.
yes I do...but mainly during those gloomy times of year when a handful of primroses in a jam-jar...or a couple of auriculas perk up my glum spirits...same when the heps and berries start to appear. I am a plonker and not an arranger and generally a jug of lavender or a few nasturtiums is all that's required - I have never gone down that Constance Spry route although I did have a couple of friends who embraced that whole Japanese thing (forgotten the name) which always seemed to involve oasis, wire and stiff twisty stems in a gravity-defying spectacle.
Catkin, as sandyslopes says, you can start wintersowing on the solstice, although I think many people do this more for a symbolic gesture, and you certainly neither HAVE to start on the solstice nor do ALL your sowing at once on the solstice. Believe it or not, weather (i.e. snowfall or not!) permitting, I'm often still working outside at that point - either putting down leaf mulch (which I put down after the ground freezes), or, sometimes still cleaning up my zillions of leaves to begin with. And even if there is snow, I'm too busy with the holidays to start wintersowing. I usually start near the end of January to mid-February, and I do about 6-10 containers at a time, a day or two a week, and take my time with it, sowing all the way through April. IMO, this is absolutely, hands-down, the best way to start seeds, and the most fun - nothing like the smell of potting soil in January! I'm so excited for you and hope you have a great time with it - I know you'll have success!
Camp, sometimes those little spring bouquets are the best! Nothing like a few cut snowdrops or muscari or mini-daffs in a jelly jar on the counter to get one excited about spring, and one of my very favorites a bit later is a little bouquet of lily-of-the-valley to perfume a room - a little bit of heaven!
Ken, they tend to get 'tired' in the South after a time...usually mine are blooming by mid June. They get a good seed set and then devote energy to that..then pick up again in August or early September...then rapidly downhill as things cool down in fall.
If anything, they're almost too successful and weedy here...though I love them for that.
Here's a photo from a few years back:
Hi, planted black eyed Susan last year. Loved them. But they never came back this year. After reading the comments here, I think I might have a couple of small ones coming back. I'm in Scotland, would the climate be why they're not coming back? Appreciate any help.
My Mums name was Susan. I was delighted at how beautiful they were.
I think there's valid points on both sides here. Gardenweb is by far the most civil and informational forum I have personally encountered on the internet, and if it had gone away had Houzz not picked it up earlier this year then I think that would have been a tremendous loss. That said, there were some changes that occurred which possibly devalued GW as a source of information exchange a bit. If this was a forum about computers and newbies were constantly asking questions that omitted some very basic piece of information like, say, the type of operating system they have or something, I can see how that would be irritating for the computer experts, especially if until very recently it hadn't been an issue. Houzz could include a sticky "Please read before posting" thread at the top of the page that had some helpful tips newbies could consider. Not everyone would read it, but many would and it might be a win/win for those who do and those who respond to them.
As far as warm welcomes go, I did have negative experience when I first started posting last year when I asked a question about the mature size of a plant I just acquired and the first response I got from an established poster was literally, "You know...there is this thing called a search engine where you can probably find lots of information...this was the first result I found, and as it's St Louis Botanical Garden, should be a good reference." Which I thought was a wee bit sarcastic and uncalled for. The link that poster provided was also unhelpful as my question clearly had to do with conflicting information on the plant tag and what I had already found researching online. I chalked it up to the responder writing me off just because I was a newbie and I did thankfully get some very helpful responses from others who did have direct experience with the plant in question. I'm glad that the polite and helpful responses on here seem to outnumber the others by a large margin.
I go to the home forums a lot, and it helps to know a state or zone there too. People ask questions about building codes, real estate related things, etc. They say "In MY state," blah blah. Well, what state are you in? These are not new people to the forums. Long time posters. I had to change to Houzz, but I did put my state and zone into my screen name line. It just helps others help you.
Not everybody gets the bullseye rash when they have Lyme Disease. It is a very misleading fact about LD. That is one reason why it took so long for my gf to get a proper diagnosis. The doctor wasn't aware of this fact, so since there was no bullseye rash, she didn't have LD. Thankfully she dropped him, and found a doctor that was better informed about this disease. But by then, more than a year had passed since she got it, a year with no treatment. It has messed her up!
Transplanting in August wouldn't make a difference with yucca, its best to do it when its dry so you didn't choose a bad time. Think of it like a tuber or bulb. As long as you got enough of the tuber its got the energy needed to re-establish as long as its well healed where you broke it loose from the original plant and it doesn't rot at the cut end. The tuber will store fine out of the ground, rather like storing sweet potatoes.
I'd store them dry over winter if I lived up north rather than transplant, that is, if you have an early wet fall/winter. You could then set them out next year. Down here we have warm dry weather that extends into October or early November so it would be safer to plant in late summer.
It really depends on the type of Yucca. I know that Y. rupicola has sensitive roots and likes transplanting when it is COLD and dry. These are not Y. rupicicola. Possibly Y. gloriousa or Y recurvifolia. Both are more moisture tolerant than others but callousing the roots is always a good idea with Yuccas and increasing drainage into the structure of the soil is good..( I always love it when people from NY say it is hot. I bet y'all laugh at us texans when we do the BRRRR act)). I am always struck by the problems that people have in your neck of the woods in getting rid of them when they no longer want them. It sounds like a huge struggle. They do not do that here where they are at home. True we have a Yucca weave that comes in and kills them every once and awhile . Hard to be grateful for a bug that kills, but maybe I should.. The plants up there must think that they have gone to heaven not having these critters around.. This variety is a clumper and sends out side shoots and makes itself at home. I also give Yuccas a week after planting before I water them.