13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
I did see one with emerging leaves, but the guys that delivered mulch buried everything and burned those leaves off and killed a bunch of emerging perennials. I'm so depressed! They torched my tulips bulbs-which two days ago looked fabulous!
I don't have the planters put together yet. They are 5'W x 2'D x 2'H and will have evergreen shrubs in the back along with other plants and draping plants in the front.
My last place was Zone 5 also. I believe Creeping Jenny is good to Zone 2.
I'll take a look at your other suggestions. Thanks
I have had creeping jenny, the golden variety, in my hanging baskets. At the end of each season I leave the plastic basket in the yard. The creeping jenny looks dead but springs to life quickly in the spring. I am in zone 5. Then all I need do is re-plant the basket with more annuals, or pull out the jenny root balls, change the potting mix, and re-plant.
My husband dumped one of the baskets in the garden last fall. I was out of town, and told him to dump the dirt of any basket hit by frost into the garden. Now I have several small golden jennies going to town in the garden. I will have to get them out of there quickly. I have a side garden (the “purple and gold” bed) where I do allow it to grow unimpeded: because it can’t escape into more valuable real estate.
Though they are small and hard to see, creeping jenny flowers and sets seed. Not a lot, but some. So watch where your planters are for unwanted volunteers at the base.
I don't know which *bang* series it is and no pix yet (I just got it in the mail today from Wayside gardens) its called Sienna sunset. . . kind of a peachy typical coreopsis, they say the color fades to a pale yellow with age. I love coreopsis. My thread leaf (2) didn't make it thru the winter :(
I planted some purple ones many years ago. Of the ten bulbs only one has survived. It has never bulked up so there is this tiny plant with even tinier bloom surprising me each spring. Then it disappears. Have thought of trying some white ones, maybe this will be the year. My expectations are low but as you say they are inexpensive.
I'm not sure what happened to your hellebores, but I can give you my experience with them. I planted them where they would receive some morning sun, and afternoon shade,no mulch. I never removed any green leaves. As ocelaris said, they are nearly evergreen, and I'm sure those leaves are needed for the plants live and grow. `The only leaves I ever removed were old leaves that were dying or dead, usually around the bottom of the plant. Also, I think hellebores do better in a sheltered location where they don't bear the brunt of cold, winter winds. I think you should just leave your remaining ones alone, water them during dry spells, and see how they do. Hope this helps. Growing hellebores has been easy for me, and I certainly don't have a thumb that's totally green : )
Woodrose, thanks for your reply. Yes, I think you're right. I sometimes read the blog 'A way to garden', and she advises cutting off all the old foliage in the spring when new growth is emerging. But maybe this works better for (or at least doesn't harm) established plants than very small ones. Probably by removing the foliage (even though it was pretty beat up after the winter), I weakened the plants :(. Well, lesson learned. I will know better next time.
I have tried a bunch of the western/dry Agastaches and the only one that has successfully overwintered for me is A. rupestris. None of the hybrids have overwintered for me, even on a steep slope in a relatively sandy soil and not cutting back the previous year's stems until new growth is visible at the base. We tend to not have midwinter thaws, so my plants are usually buried under snow for a couple of months and only get the cold wet conditions they hate for a short amount of time in the spring.
I don't know if you have seen this page describing A. Rosie Posie but it emphasizes the need for winter dry and says hardiness of 5b in their garden, so your level of success may vary depending on whether you can supply superb drainage and have no winter thaws to create cold damp conditions.
Sandyslopes,
Thanks for the 'like' :) My soapwort really acts like a groundcover. I have it in an area where there are rocks bordering a sloped bed and it really stays pretty well contained there. My problem with it is whatever type of weed that winds up growing inside it that also LOOKS like soapwort but isn't. Once I wound up picking most of my soapwort along with the unwanted weeds! It sounds like your soil is probably a bit more fertile for soapwort than mine. I wish it WOULD spread a bit more...I'd be more than happy. Actually I've tried to move it around to get it going at different places around my beds and often it just didn't take. It seems to like the 3 different places where I have it, and that's about it.
I bought Lamium Purple Dragon and Phlox....neither of which is particularly susceptable to diseases or pests and neither had tags.. I noted the ones that were pesticided but I forgot; usually in a daze by the time I leave a big box.
But thanks for pointer. Iĺl continue to be attentive.
One of my favorites as well; have grown it for many years and it has not pushed anyone out yet ;-) I occasionally do like Ken and trim out anything encroaching too much and stick the cut ends in a pot of soil to make new plants. This last fall, I trimmed a bunch of it down and stuck the cuttings in a pot and left the pot outside in our zone 5 winter and all my cuttings came back this spring. Pretty amazing!
love, love, love this, and I don't think it will give you a problem. I wish mine would grow more, faster, and better! In my garden, it's a clumper and a slow grower. (I just found seed for some and hoping for lots and lots and lots of it to cover the large area I need.) Enjoy!
I go to the arboretum more often too, as a friend lives near there. Luckily the geraniums are well labelled. My "unknown" that I think may be Bevan's Variety is showing a few buds. If they are more or less on the same schedule (Mortons seems slightly ahead), I'll know when to go back to look.
I don’t know what kind of Baptisia it is. I was really surprised when it bloomed for the first time this year, and I saw it had butter yellow flowers. I was expecting blue. The yellow is a nice soft color, but it’s placed among daffodils, so it doesn’t stand out at all.
Would I be better off just adding the soil around the Baptisia? Not trying to raise its level up in the new soil? I did that yesterday (I am doing the bed in sections so everything moved can be replanted immediately) with a Alma Potschke aster that was too woody to fork out.
The Meadowsweet is Filipendula purpurea 'Elegans' (F. palmata) Pink Meadowsweet, H: 24-36" W: 18" , though I have never really “seen it in action” . I hope moving it will not set it back much. This is the third time I have bought one filipendula or other, so I was really happy to see it survived the winter.
Sounds as if you put out a nice welcome package for them. Good luck! It would be fun to watch them I would think.
Not mason territory here, but green metallic bees like our sandy soil. As their landlord, my job consists only of reminding everyone those are not little ant mounds, and that they will not like the consequences if they harm them. Not much exciting to see activity-wise at their home. They are pretty visiting flowers though.
Well, I missed a couple cocoons in the tubes, and they're still there - they're probably goners by now. Today I did notice one tube (out of oh, maybe 30 or so) was capped off, so someone moved in - YAY! Hope at least a few more tubes will get capped, but I guess one is better than none, and if that small brood does well next spring, the population will be on the upsping :0)