13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Not sure I would (say it was a delph)...but mainly because the stems of delphs always appear well-formed and visible with that amount of foliage...and that fat, pale stem would be the decider, to my mind. Of course, we are looking at a foreshortened image and, in truth, I would really only put money on something from the ranunculaceae family without further evidence.
Best place would be a plant nursery. Even on-line (a good way of buying ferns as they are easily packed and posted). I am extremely sceptical when seeing bare-root ferns that these have not been simply dug up from the wild. Possibly not such a crime in the US but in the UK, this sort of thing is heinous behaviour - and is, in fact, quite illegal.
No disrespect to you, Linnea - the likes of Walmart are not renowned for their ethics though.
I am of the view that healthy soil produces healthy plants and so don't fertilize per se. I add a lot of organic matter and turn it into the entire bed before I plant anything. Once a bed has plants in it, I top dress with compost and add a layer of hardwood chips to the surface every few years. This adds nutrients slowly as the organic matter breaks down, keeps the weeds down, and helps keep moisture even in the beds. The worms and other soil critters mix the soil as they eat and digest the organic matter, and I find I don't spend much time weeding mulched beds.
Keep an eye on soil moisture and water appropriately for the plants you have, which in my area most years is never since we usually get regular rain. Some plants like it drier and some damper, so know what your particular plants like. When you do water, it should be long and slow to let the water sink in deeply and encourage deeper roots. Hand held watering is almost never adequate, both because some plants don't appreciate wet leaves and splashing can spread disease, but also because watering tends not to be even or enough when done by hand. If you are in an area that needs watering most years, you might want to invest in drip irrigation which uses the water more efficiently. New plants will need regular water either from rain or from you until they develop enough roots. For most plants this is a good chunk (if not all) of their first growing season.
You might want to put zone and location information after your name in all your posts as some advice will vary according to where you are. To do this
Go to Your Houzz in upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums along with a link to find your zone.
Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.
Garden Ho, I have about 15 hostas there, from 5 years old to transplanted from elsewhere last year. About 4 astilbe.
Campanula, a shovel like you describe would be useful. I’ve been wearing rigid molded arch supports inside my shoes. That helps with a day of standing on my feet, but seems to do nothing for the shoveling problem. I’ll have to find me a welder!
Ken, no suitable teenagers around, burly or otherwise. Kids around here have no need or desire to work, or would rather work in a way they find more socially acceptable, like the girl down the street who’s a hostess at a nice restaurant. Neighborhood is also on its second wave …incoming families have babies and children.
The chain link is attached to a narrow plank, which is screwed into the eaves of the garage. The one closest to the door holds a sweet autumn clematis and a climbing rose, so needs to be sturdy. The one on front has two jackmanii, doesn't need to be quite so sturdy, but has to match the other.
I guess it's hard to make that step from just loving to grow lilies to actually cutting and exhibiting them. I bet if more people knew about the benefits of getting involved in a society more people would give it a try.
I've had the experience that people are so excited to get their hands on a new member they nearly throw free plants at you at a meeting, it's a lot of fun but your garden fills up fast as a result!
I've only entered the show once. But have been growing lilies with ever increasing abandon for around 10 years. I had the idea a stem of lilies had to be absolutely perfect before it would be worth entering. But I found out, they are judged against each other as far as condition is concerned. A bad year for lilies for you (like it was when I last entered) is going to be a bad year for everyone's. So "less than perfect" can still be worth showing.
My chief interest is enjoying them in my garden. I seldom cut any. But I appreciate them in a more complete way now.
Here's the link to that thread.
Also, if you go up into the top bar where it says 'Search in Gardenweb', type in Echinacea (the scientific name for coneflower) and wait a second, one of the options that pops up is to search for the term in the perennials forum only. Try that and you will get a lot of threads. One issue that comes up frequently is that many of the recently released varieties, except for most of those in the pink and white color range, may not be particularly winter hardy, so if you mostly have yellow and orange types, they may have succumbed.
They really do not get any water, and they really do live in barely altered limestone rubble over limestone marl. I imagine it like the limestone hills of greece. But those soils have been ( I imagine) fertilized by some fairly historic volcanic plumes.
Gaillardia, Rudbeckia (not BES varieties), platycodon are all losers for me. The first two I plant as annuals (if I plant them at all), the last one is a lost cause. A recent disappointment for me has been two tall veronicas I lost from the winter. Not sure what the deal with that is.
I also don't grow Tutti Frutti, but have other Agastaches and haven't had the voles do any damage beyond occasionally exposing roots as they tunnel, but they don't seem to eat or enjoy the Agastaches. I think the real threat to A. Tutti Frutti is winter wet. I've come to terms with the fact that while I love the Agastaches that are western species and hybrids, I can't be sure that they will winter over, even when they are supposed to be hardy. I plant them in sandy soil on a slope (or a raised mound), don't cut them back until I start to see growth in the spring, hope for the best, and sometimes have to replace them. So enjoy it this summer, but if it doesn't survive, it is likely to be the fault of the weather and cold wet soil rather than you. I don't know if growing this as a container plant in well-drained media will work or not, but I've done that with some of the not quite hardy western Salvias with success, bringing the pot into a bright cool area (sunporch) for the winter.
hi Ilovemy trees, I am in 5b too (Central IL) and I have gardened for years and just started having a very little bit of rabbit trouble (They disappeared two good sized petunia plants in full bloom) last summer. But over the winter the voles cleared out almost the whole flower bed along the garage: obedience plants, a mass of probably 4x2 that I have had for 10 years (5 teensy plants remaining), 1/2 of a really nice geranium that was probably at least a foot wide at the bass, several helianthus, a lot of bee balm, who knows what else. Another smaller bed they "took out" a beautiful napeta, completely imploded it, two teensy sprigs sticking out of the mound of soil, surprisingly left alone a 2 foot mass of white iris...too early to tell if they got my Henry Eilers BES, and the Double Trouble sneezeweed. Durn rascals! My brother had excellent luck with mousetraps baited with slightly chewed tootsie rolls, but I have a nosey dog and can't do traps. Guess it'll be annuals in those beds this year. Boo hoo. So much of gardening is trial and error...plus what works this year backfires next year. It seems like I have a run of daisies one year, and then next year it's the bee balm that shines. The voles nibbled the bark off my yew bushes on one side of the house! But they are staying green and healthy looking so far! So don't put all your eggs in one basket!