13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Wonderful, I've never seen this offered either but I have seen it mentioned/pictured in many books, mostly written in the UK. Camp, good to know about it being started easily from seed. Do you also save your seed from this plant--silly question, I know!
I got a good laugh on this one. It makes a lot more sense growing S. greggii in pots than a certain someone I know of who's been growing prickly pear cactus in pots for quite some time now, in Texas (!) of all places.
The G. salvia have a fairly compact root ball but think of those poor suffering cactus who like to send out 6 or 7 ft long, shallow, anchoring roots being confined and stunted in pot prisons. If anyone asks me, a pot amounts to cruelty to Opuntia cactus. Up north where its wet I could understand but in Texas?
Personally, I would imagine the salvia is probably an excellent candidate to be grown as a pot plant, thats probably why the ones I planted in what I call crap-hardpan out there are going great guns in full bloom. They don't seem to mind root confinement. Its one of those plants that will grow where nothing much else will I found. I overuse them shamelessly.
I guess when it comes to "why are you doing that" some people would wonder why this Okie just forked out $50 for 5 plants of a strain of Los Lunas Little Bluestem when the whole country side is covered in the stuff. Answer is "I have my reasons".
I had my reasons too. I was just beginning with cactus and those coreid bugs moved in in force and reduced the ones in the ground to weeping bleeding 200 lb monstrosities. They had me spooked. The pads in pots on my elevated bridge seemed to be escaping them. I had not improved the soil for the cactus beds to receive them. Time got away from me. Even Cactus does not like this limestone marl/caliche. I have been bringing in soil finally. Broke ground on another bed. This might actually be a good thread. "The crazy things we do in the garden for a good darn reason , or for that fact for no reason at all."
Having grown up on a farm, growing was a must, but beauty was not. I don't remember growing anything that was not to be eaten. Time in the garden was just like all the rest of the farm, just different seasons. We were poor and depended on the garden, what we did not eat fresh we canned for the winter. We are pleased to see the grandchildren well enough off, that their gardening is for their enjoyment, not a necessity. Al
Vividly recall toddler memories of plants as special friends - the weeping willow that whispered above my sandbox, the bleeding heart that towered over me by the garage, the lilacs that so generously shared their perfume in amazing Spring. We moved to an old established garden when I was 4 (the house was nice, too) & my folks kept the gardener who'd tended it bi-weekly for years, having no interest in maintenance. Especially enchanted by the banks of azaleas terraced out front, crept downstairs before dawn & mastered the door lock to wander in wonder among them, returning to bed before anyone awoke, to dreams filled with gardens in bloom. (Been exploring those dreamland gardens ever since...) Tagged along with the gardener, grew to know each plant & tree & begged my own little plot to grow flowers. Given a foot deep stretch along the back fence uncultivated for years, took great two-handed effort with an adult hand trowel to pry & pound that unrelenting dirt into something approaching the tilth & scent of the proper garden beds. Had to grind some of those clods between stones & became closely acquainted with differing properties of earths, "borrowing" trowelsfull from the back of cultivated beds where only a small body could venture without notice. Treasured gifts of a child-sized watering can with a colorful decal of "Mary, Mary, how does your garden grow?" beneath Mary watering her flowers and packets of marigolds & morning glories. So began my life as an eager participant in the great magic of the natural world - a gardener.
My son expressed vague mumbles of the "that's nice" variety over the years but never seemed interested until he bought his first home with established greenery but few flowers. Began asking advice & specifics about this & that in a manner that showed he had been paying attention after all. Borrowing a stack from my bookshelf & supplied with clumps from this garden, he began adding flower gardens to his own. Marrying shortly after, his wife caught the bug. Together they cleared & planted a vegetable garden, put up a compost bin, landscaped a steep hill, built a pond & a deck, created expanding garden beds. Twelve years in, they're still going strong in the garden.
Mom became a gardener when my folks retired & Poppa became intrigued as well. She shared stories of her mother having a green thumb & winning prizes for her dahlias, saying I was just like her, out in the garden at all hours. So the contagion jumps in all directions along the generations. The gardener after my own heart is my granddaughter, who's grown up in both gardens. From stroking the lamb's ears as a baby to our jaunts through garden aisles sniffing, exploring & discussing the offerings, she's absorbed familiarity along with the keen sense of magic. Now a preteen, she responded somewhat indignantly "I know my flowers!" when recently quizzed during a garden stroll. Along with Latin & common names, indeed she does. May the joy of gardening grow with her & hers liveslong.
Yes to all of the above, love them! Foliage plays a big role in my planning. Not everybody has to be a star but we need great foliage to back up those lesser players.
Kirengeshoma is a wonderful plant with its maple-like leaves. Aruncus aethusifolius for its ferny foliage and European ginger for that wonderful shine and roundness of leaf. Thalictrum foliage is so nice too. I am sure I will think of more!
Ah, thanks Tex! Weird about the Sedum! Saw a Matrona for sale today for 12 bucks--no thanks, I'm too cheap to pay that much LOL
Casey that sounds lovely! I have what I think is an Astilboides tabularis but have always gotten it confused with another plant whose name I don't recall. Is the new growth glossy? Do you have pictures of your great choices? Thanks for chiming in!
Peren, thanks! I had a Kirengeshoma but it's disappeared over the years (gotta check for it). It was too dry where I had it--lots of root competition. Should have moved it long ago but only did it last Fall, now I'm not sure if it came back or not. Off to look up European Ginger!
You got my vote on the butt kick--how tacky can they get and can't you just picture the scene with the blower? Guess they only concern themselves with the yard they are paid to clean up. Worst part was I'd spent the day before gathering and cleaning up piles of pin oak catkins, it looked like someone had strewn horse hair stuffing all over the driveway and half the front.
'sing cuckoo'
although I have yet to hear that distinctive sign of spring...but we did see a fabulous marsh harrier touch down in the woods to eat a vole.
cammassia are the last of my spring bulbs to bloom - just getting ready to extend their petals - maybe in a day or 2.
Boy you got that right. I've got tan lines and its hot already. Air conditioner has been used several times. The car is an inferno unless the air conditioner is on, humidity is setting in making me really dread June which is downright miserable and I got a tick the other day--on my neck!
I'm working like mad to get stuff done before it really sets in and taking advantage of the cooler days for digging and transplanting but the window is closing fast. After this week of rain and roller coaster rides, I think THE DERBY will have begun. We just gotta keep our fingers crossed and get through May Tornado season and then look forward in anticipation to a long hot summer blazing down on us for the next several months. I just hope we don't have a month of consecutive 100+ degrees this year, we were lucky last year. I always get a bit apprehensive for what we are in for. Its getting serious now. Please!! no hail this week, the whole place is in full swing bloom and I don't want it beat up to heck.
It took over my yard in down town austin. It is a seed spitter . Hit me in the eye one day. I HATE this plant. I would suggest all of you to not plant it. It is an invasive. in Z8 Texas . Then again, if you are where it will get killed by the cold winter, you do not have toworry about this. I spent hours and hours and days digging it out of the ground. I finally moved and when I took my other plants I took them bare root. I did like it when I first saw it. That is why I planned it BUT I lived to rue the day. I live happily and sleep soundly Ruella free.
I'm in zone 8 also. It is extremely invasive. I bought a 3 gallon pot of it about 12 years ago and sat the pot in the flower bed in my backyard. I never got around to taking it out of the pot (young mother, went from 1 child to 3 when I had twins), but it took over the flower bed (about 3' X 10'). I finally dug everything I could out of the flower bed 3 years ago and I still have to dig up new shoots to this day. Pretty, but a horrible plant where it is hardy.
I've learned so much from Growing With Plants:
http://www.growingwithplants.com/
I also enjoy Each Little World, because she knows so much and we're in a similar zone:
http://eachlittleworld.typepad.com/each_little_world/
She doesn't post very often, but her blog has the best photos and is a true design inspiration:
http://www.thegracefulgardener.com/
If you put the term 'blogs' into the search box up top and choose the option to search in Perennials, several threads will pop up. Here's one.
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1610064/what-are-your-favorite-gardening-blogs?n=3