13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
will do Linnea. . . my hostas aren't directly under the tree, their bed is several feet away but I gather the droppings and scoop them up to use them under the hostas. If your tree droppings are pokey maybe that's why you don't have the slug problem. . .even tho it's moist. . .
I'm not too concerned with the id of the tree, as we are seriously thinking about taking it, and another just like it, out soon. We live in my husbands grandparents house and we have a pic of the grandparents holding his mom when she was a baby, the trees were 2' tall. MIL is now 64. One is leaning (bad more like laying) on the neighbors house and the other one is doing the same on our house. I cant say I will miss them.
~Debi
Will go an try to get the cranky camera to work (lens error!) tomorrow (just got back from woods)- but in the meantime, I have pennies all round the edge of pot, overlapping each other, around 2-3 deep so they do not butt up too closely to the hosta stem(trunk?). I did check and astonishingly, they are still uneaten - this is miraculous because they invariably look like lace doilies by now and have to be stowed in the corner of shame...where they go downhill even faster. Admittedly, snails have been known to abseil onto the hostas from above (after shimmying up a sneaky chaenomeles) so I may have to move the pots to centre stage to avoid overhead parachuting.
Congratulations indeed Paula, that bed looks great!
You are going to have a terrific garden, between the plants you will keep from your new house and everything coming from your previous home.
There seems to be some confusion over your Stachys, I think because folks are looking at the set of pics from May 11th as opposed to the May 7th pic. Those square stems are a very telling feature of that plant. If they get full sun they should silver up.
So happy to see your progress!
OK - I've got the Stachys pictures sorted out now. I thought I'd scrolled right to the top but I hadn't.
Regarding the Oregano - it doesn't matter if you don't know what Oregano smells like. If it has a strong herbal scent that's a strong indicator since it isn't any other common herb that I know of. If you can't detect any scent then it is definitely not Oregano. It's just a way of eliminating that candidate. It's going to flower soon so that might also help id it.
I have the same exact problem. I'm living in a gated 300 unit townhouse complex with no deer or wild animals other than an occasional possum, raccoon a squirrels.
I just took a walk and noticed 100s of cut-off Agapanthus (peter Pan) buds or crowns missing here and there but mostly where there are no windows or owners around. The crowns or buds seems to be cut off at the very top with a sharp object and are nowhere to be found! Who/what is this? Please let us know because it's driving me and my neighbors crazy spring after spring.
Apparently missing agapanthus buds is not all that uncommon :-) Although I have no personal experience with this critter, those in the know attribute the damage to "lubbers", Eastern lubber grasshoppers. It appears they are very attracted to the flower buds of a wide range of ornamentals in the Liliaceae and Amarylidaceae (where agapanthus was once located before being assigned its own family).
Romalea microptera - eastern lubber grasshopper
Oriental poppies can not take some southern climates. In Texas , the summer burns them up.... So it matters where you are, how one answers this question. I plant poppies by mixing them with sand and then tossing them around and walking on the ground. I plant them in late November along with my larkspurs..
I have hardy fall mums for many years. I live in zone 6. We have had two successive years of below normal winter temps and much cold wind. I usually cut my mums back to about eight inches every fall. I then let leaves blow into the stems and get stuck there. It causes a loose, protective mulch over winter. Sorry, it may look messy but it works.
In spring when I think that the cold is over, usually late March, I will remove the stems and leaves. Underneath are tiny green shoots, even this year after a severe winter. If a cold blast comes, it would be advisable to cover these tiny shoots for a day or two.
Trim back the foliage in spring once it reaches 6" or so. Then trim another time or two as necessary to keep shorter. Stop trimming in early July and just wait to enjoy many blooms. Of course fertilize in spring. I like Osmocote because it keeps feeding for months every time you water or it rains. Wishing you success.
I've got one that needs digging out, so far I've just stared at it contemplating the job with dread, makes me tired to even think of it but I need to trim it back first to get to the trunk. Its a three year old Yucca rostrata 'Sapphire Sky' that was a good size ($40) when I planted it and the reason it needs to go is red spiders, persistent and thick. Its already covered in them and its only mid March, not even humid yet. I fought the buggers all last summer in vain which is not surprising because in my experience red spiders are next to impossible to get rid of. The poor thing is deformed due to damage from red spiders. its too bad because as yuccas go, this one is quite ornamental and has flexible leaves that aren't too sharp.
I've dug out small types before which aren't too bad really, shrubs can be worse. The big guys are a different matter because there is as much underground as you see above ground so its all relative. The problem is its not a root, its a tuber. You can't kill tubers like you can roots because its a big energy storage unit down there whose function is to feed, create and replicate yucca above ground like a gigantic potato.
oh dear! there are so many of us!! I am notorious for going to sit with my DH, on the deck or the front porch to enjoy the lovely evening......for about 5 minutes, then I quickly proceed to get up, wander off toward happily growing weeds, deadheading that is crying for my attention and on and on......all the while, my DH is trying to carry on a conversation with me as I wander across the yard. I need to focus!!
I will never forget one consultation I went to where the entire front yard was overrun with donkeytail spurge. So I say be very afraid :-) And it is on our state's noxious weed list if you need further justification. If you want a similar look, opt for Euphorbia rigida. A well behaved choice.
I love hardy euphorbias but I seriously dislike those that seed themselves around willy-nilly. And E. myrsinites fits that bill.
greenhearted in our zone at least for me F. r. does not attain thug status. It does not form a tight clump but roams within reasonable parameters in a large garden. Does your clay tend to hold plants in check? Mine are in good loam.
linnea56 Filipendula purpurea 'Elegans' is not a thug at all. The flowers are white, however the stamens are reddish giving the flowers a pink look. Maybe not nearly as pink as some images though lol! It is a terrific plant that I hope you really enjoy, I know I do.
peren.all, thanks for the additional info. I live in farmland territory (surrounded by cornfields) and the ground here is pretty fertile, though it is on the alkaline side which binds up some nutrients (hello, iron chlorosis). My experience is that if a plant can survive the heavy, somewhat slow to drain soil then it tends to take off after its established. But I generally don't try and plant things that require different conditions than what I have.
Pest trees? Can you eat my variety? I have many fruiting mulberries...soooo messy. Stepping on the ripe mulberries and tracking the purple juice all over. And they keep coming up everywhere. Then there's the poplars (cottonwoods) which have roots taking over my lawn and impossible to grow anything in the ground within 30 feet. And there's the 6 cherry plum trees planting long ago along the driveway dropping plums as we speak and the birds continuing to plant new ones. Also the amazing liquidamber. Huge tree dumping spiky balls so I had to finally give up the lawn underneath as mowing was a real hassle. Aaaand, the "wonderful" ailanthis trees along my east border...I've devoted this year to killing them, spray the suckers weekly, after having had the trees cut last fall. They are relentless.
I have two very nice fruitless mulberry trees, good shade, no falling fruit.
Note: I did not plant any of these. A prior homeowner is guilty.
Thinking of Wieslaw and his great mixed herbaceous perennial gardening.
Personally. I still hate the neighbour's and the township's silver maples.
Another really bad one here is introduced (invasive) common buckthorn which is spread around via birds. No I don't want to get rid of the birds!
There was a large buckthorn thicket in our neighbour's ill-kept garden. However, (luckily?) he was quite happy to have us pay to remove it. He's also been quite happy to have us pay to remove branches from his silver maple which overhang our property.
Not sure whether our diffidence should extent first to our neighbour or to his trees. Still the neighbour's not all bad, certainly not as bad as his gang of trees.
Lily of the valley is pretty but it only blooms for a short time in the spring and then you are left with leaves. In my mind it is invasive and very hard to get rid of. It took me 3 years of constant attention to get rid of all of mine. It took over the bed completely so it was impossible to plant anything for bloom later in the year. It spreads by rhizomes under the soil. If you've ever tried to get rid of quack grass you'll know what you are dealing with.
I liked it at first, so much so, that I pulled up extras and put them into two other flower beds. BIG MISTAKE! This stuff needs to be contained or else it spreads and makes a dense carpet. I keep pulling it away from other plants so it won't choke them out, but so far I'm losing the battle. Someone on GW put a barrier around hers and she says that works well. I wish I would have done that. Too late for me now, but I hope this helps someone else.