13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Hi Steve,
I just ran across some wonderful links posted by Freda Cameron (now dyhgarden, formerly wonbyherwits). Freda writes on travel and garden topics & has posted her pictures of Monet’s gardens at Giverny, Jardin des Plantes, Jardin du Luxemboug, etc. On each page you will need to scroll down past the initial links & topics to the text. Links after the text are not underlined but you will see that they are links when you move your cursor over them. Prices & schedules may have changed of course. Have fun & give us reviews of what you see when you come back!
“Do You Know the Way to Monet’s Gardens at Giverny?”
http://definingyourhome.blogspot.com/2013/10/do-you-know-way-to-monets-gardens-at.html
Her pictures of Giverny plus other gardens in Paris from her different trips:
http://definingyourhome.blogspot.com/p/monets-gardens-and-paris-2009.html
I grew it in my old garden, Annette. Perfectly well-behaved shrubby plant that offered an interesting evergreen texture. Always generated questions and interest from garden visitors :-) Definitely more of an oddity than a garden staple.
Haven't seen it offered for sale in my area for years, tho. I think the more or less universal avoidance of English ivy in the Pacific Northwest has scared away any interest in virtually any selection of ivy, even one which never develops adult foliage or produces flowers.
I divided my old (~15 years) clumps of Siberian Iris and not only was it not easy, the divisions were just eh - not really very vigorous and spotty flowering. I hit an end-of-season clearance and replaced those divisions with new clumps in fall 2013, which grew beautifully last summer. So, frankly, for the amount of labor required and less than great results, I say just ditch them and buy new plants if they aren't looking good anymore.
Thanks, everyone. We're selling the house and moving in mid-May, so with everything else I have to do, I think that I will tell the new owners that they need to divide them in the fall. :) They're young and a lot more energetic that I am, and I do remember that this is a long process (I think that there are about 16 huge plants...)
True that leaving old foliage may offer some protection to a perennial, but we live north of Toronto (as per glmtoronto) and I invariably cut back (almost to ground level) our own, and any other mixed local perennial garden I do, by the previous late fall.
On the other hand, that's what perennials do; namely, die back leaving no living part above ground in winter. Perhaps if plants are close to the limit of their hardiness range, for the location, the protection might be desirable.
I usually cut back in the fall, and I imagine my climate isn't too different from yours. The exceptions would be the western Agastaches like A. rupestris, woody herbs such as sage and lavender, or anything that's particularly borderline as to hardiness. I make sure to cut back plants that might carry over disease such as peonies and phlox near the beginning of my tidying process since I never know when we might have an unexpectedly early snowfall. If I am not able to finish before snow buries the gardens, I try to do it early enough in the spring that the soil in the gardens is still frozen. I try not to step on the beds, but if they are still frozen and I accidentally step on a bed, it won't compact the soil the way stepping on sodden ground will.
SB - could they have been trying to grow/flower while still under a crust of snow that was blocking light? "It'll be interesting to see if the leaves green up now that they are exposed to full light. I thought the ones in my picture above were also looking a bit anemic and I assumed that was due to them only recently escaping snow cover.
Don't worry about the snowdrops, they'll green up fine over the next few days. Often when spring comes suddenly they come up yellow first and then the chlorophyll takes a little longer to develop. The inside of the blooms might stay yellow , its a nice effect I think.
I should have taken a pic of everything I did to protect it over the winter from the temps and from critters. NHBabs I'll try something stronger this year; I remember spraying the area with liquid fence late fall. I wrapped the back and large area of the front tightly and flush to the ground with 20 or 25 yr landscape fabric and around the actual plant with half inch wire mesh.
Hey ken I normally wouldn't bother to protect a clematis either but for this cultivar the base is hardy to our lower Z5 temps but the upper growth is a lot less likely to make it. I never heard that about the wood though.
I don't think my question was very clear. I was asking if there's something anyone knows of that I can apply to the actual remaining stem that the chipmunk nibbled the bark off but it still looks like the cambium layer is left intact. I'm hoping that the rest of the stem is alive and i will see some flowers off it.
Thank you so much for all your help. I was reading that chrysanthemums require so many hours of daylight and sunlight. Unfortunately for me, I live in a park where they keep the lights on all night. Will this be detrimental to my mums? I've posted a couple of photos of my mum still in the pot from last fall. The pot is about 12" diameter.
Thanks again.
I grow mums in a sunny spot. They are survivors from a group I bought 15 years ago! Over the years, they've been moved half a dozen times. They were once in an area that got more light than they do now and what I noticed is that the flower color was deeper in the sunshine; the leaves appear to be the same. What I do in zone 7b: prune with kitchen shears on Memorial Day weekend and again on 4th of July weekend, taking about a third of the growth off (pinching is nice but they grow fast, both in height and width, so clipping is better and the plant doesn't seem to mind) (my mums are not in a location where anyone would notice the 'haircuts' like they might notice a potted plant) -- fertilize at half strength once a month from April thru September -- cut stems off to about 2" above the ground when they stop blooming or over Thanksgiving weekend (whichever comes first).
In iffy winter's it's so important to leave the old flower heads on hydrangeas all winter, it's a little extra protection for those tender tips. In March last year I cut an old hydrangea back hard to renew and thin, grew back beautifully, no flowers but that was expected. We had an early freeze, in fact it was the only one we had the beginning of November, looks like there will be no or very few flowers this year :(. The hydrangea a few feet away is fine, still has the old flower heads on, probably nip them off today.
Annette
Losing hellebore blooms sounds extremely disapointing. Thank you for the tip Annette! That makes alot of sense. Next time, I will leave the old flower heads on. I will definitely cover them next spring. At least we didn't lose the wisteria in that area.
-mag, I don't know how the Anemones would feel about gravel. My experience is that they like a good soil that is loose and rich in organic matter. They are so shallowly rooted that I feel the layer of gravel would impede them on their slow bulking-up process.
I think the Geranium is a much better choice...a very tough and dependable plant.
CMK
I've have Lonicera periclymenum 'Serotina", and it is unbelievably fragrant from about 6 at night until 8 or 9 in the morning. I've also have L. sempervirens 'Cedar Lane', which is beautiful, and attracts hummingbirds, but doesn't have a fragrance. Both have been free of pests/disease.
Lonicera Sempervirens or coral honeysuckle which is not invasive nor does it have a fragrance but grows well and behaves on a trellis.