13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
twrosz is absolutely right, though I didn't know that the berries are edible. It came in with some soil I moved here from another part of the property and the clump has expanded. Here is a photo with the berries; I think that if the plants were in at least some shade the foliage would still look reasonable in the fall, but they get all day sun. It grows naturally in the woods here. The scientific name for false Solomon's seal was changed within the last few years from Smilacina racemosa to Maianthemum racemosa, so you will see it listed under both names.
..another lovely pic of Elizabeth Ann there...I like this one...
..of those above...'Elizabeth Ann' - lovely foliage and flower colour but possibly another one that's a bit touchy as to where its planted....I've had to move it twice already...don't know if anyone else has noticed this with their plant...
...'Magnificum' only flowered in June for me...lovely rich colour and good foliage but I want something longer flowering...
...'Macrorrhizum Album' is my favourite of this group....here it is with another purple variety called 'Bevans'.... I love both these.... I use the white more than any other... I'd like to obtain another white called 'White-Ness' it's pure white, but deciduous.... 'Spessart' is another similiar to 'Album'.... I'm not sure which of the two I've actually got...
...if you've not heard of one called 'Patricia'...then I'd like to introduce you to that....it's a shorter form of 'Psilostemon'..and so much better...although it does flop a bit.... but a much longer flowering season...into October even...
Hello all, I'd like to introduce myself a little and more about what I do and maybe get some conversations going to fill up these boring winter nights.
- I first started Garden Web back in 2011 in the cacti and succulent garden, then moved to winter sowing but my real love has always been and always will be perennials. I have quite a few but I'm sure many of you have quite a few more.
- I've been gardening since 1990 and started working at my dream come true a Nursery/Landscaping company.
- I later was hired to start up and run two different greenhouses. After having a physical set back for a few years,
- I slowly started working in peoples perennial beds again.
- I started winter sowing as a way to propagate many perennials and have them all live.
- I also grow annuals as well and some tomatoes.
- I do this mostly for the fun of it and give a lot away.
- I also take some of my plants to the to farmer's markets.
- I also live on a corner and before I started driving again recently I sold my wares on the street corner.
- But this isn't a success story as much as it is a love story.
- I love what I'm doing and will give it away to anyone who shows an interest.
- I know very little compared to some of you, and am here to learn and have fun.
- I love sharing pictures too.
- I couldn't leave my first note without sharing some of my flower favorites.
- My favorites are Delphiniums because they are the Princesses' of the garden,
- Echinacea's, mostly the shorter ones, and it seems like I've grown found of
- Biennials this year. Unless you're a garden nut, people don't seem to keep biennials going.
I've started several seeds from seed already this year... I already seeded 2 Perennial Delphiniums (one of the Delphs was Carmine red, awesome huh?) and 2 Larkspurs.
I recently bought about 10 more different seeds to winter sow.
I Love the color peach and ordered
- Digitalis Apricot Beauty ,
- Agastache Apache Sunset ((which is one of my least favorite plants), but since it's in combination color of peach, orange and rose... I think it will be interesting,
- Begonia Illumination Apricot Shades,
- Geraniums Maverick Coral and a huge pack of
- Accent Premium Salmon Impatiens
- and just 15 Impatiens Divine orange seeds.
I ordered two different peach double Hollyhock seeds;
- Salmon Queen and
- Spring Celebrities Apricot Mix. The 2nd I will only get TEN SEEDS CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? AND I PROBABLY PAID THE MOST FOR IT, LOL, THAT'S CRAZY! Does anyone know how pretty these are? The color is very two-toned and bloom is double and frilled.
- And just 15 divine orange Impatiens.
I've sown all my seeds from seed swaps and my first two shopping sprees. Can anyone relate? Below is a Dwarf Double Pink Hollyhock from 2 years ago. 
What goes good with peach? I'm asking you, but I'm going to suggest purple.
If I can find the picture, a Salmon Geranium and a lavender Cleome
write me or email me at Graceygirl777@gmail
Hi micki! Thanks for the intro. It sounds like you are really into gardening for flowers from perennials. I agree that you can get alot of plants from wintersowing seeds. I did it last year for Esprit penstemons and out of 100 seeds, I got about 50+ plants. Unbelievable. The others i have less success with but enough plants for my taste of them. I got some cherry brandy rudbeckias, some foxgloves and lupines as well as a few daylilies.
Thank you for the advise, i'm going to pull them out of the bag now and have a little peek to see where they are at. I have kept them in the house but in a cooler location, although having said that, it didn't keep my canna pretoria from sprouting or my peony. I have garden fever at the moment. I'll i want to do is plant. Ha! Thank you again for the sound advise.
BloomCin, those are gorgeous! I love the pink ... i got a mixed bag of colors. I hope they turn out as nice as that. :D
I have in my notes that I planted a mixed sack of astilbe from brecks last year on April 1st. 7 or 8 bare root plants, all completely dormant. I kept them in the bottom of the fridge - in the bag they came in, which had air holes and moist media - for 3 or 4 days waiting for the weather to break to plant them. I remember it did snow after that on April 15 (tax day), but they all lived, and 5 or so of the 7 bloomed last year.
I prefer this page, top 5 nurseries by category -
thanks for the list, d-boll, but I don't grow Hostas. It's like saying to the deer, free lunch here. Over 95% of what I grow, and it's a very large garden, range from somewhat deer resistant to highly deer resistant. I just don't have time to spray more than a few tempting plants, and hosta a simply too tempting.
One of my very favorite nurseries was Seneca Hills Perennials. the owner carried a number of unique strains of uncommon perennials (i.e. spectacular strains of Arum italicum pictum with highly unusual markings on the leaves) and a few woodies. I miss that nursery very much.
I knew you would like them woods tea. It blooms all summer then the plants just sort of shrivel up and sort of self trim themselves at ground level into oblivion by mid September after doing super duty all spring thru summer. Each year the bulb gets bigger and after two or three years it will make a big mass of succulent foliage that looks like a miniature tree surrounded by lots and lots of babies that bloom the first year or are easy to pull. On a scale of 1 to 10 --one being easiest to sow and grow-- they are a one becoming what you would call a pass along plant.
I had two plants that are competing for supremacy in this regard. My Snake broom weed or is it Broom snake weed ( Guiterezzia sarothrae) And Havana Snake Root( Eupatorium havanense, Shrubby boneset, white mist flower, Barba de viejo). The honey bees, 5 types of native bees , butterflies of every sort, honey bees, wasps, praying mantis and spiders were all on it at the same time with their haunches loaded in yellow pollen. After it bloomed past its time they all congregated across the yard on the white Havana Snake root and exchange their yellow jodhpurs for white ones. They made me laugh with their activity. The Havana snakeweed bloomed till late November /early December. Its popularity with the bees might be because there is not much else that is in such full bloom at that time. I am encouraging more of them around the land. They are both natives and can deal with the worst of the worst weather that is dealt out here.
Broom Snakeweed
.Havana Snakeweed
See, this is the part that kind of scares me off - the storage and moving of tubes and houses, etc. I admit to being a negligent gardener (although part of my defense is my working 3 to 4 jobs, so it is a time thing to some extent) and I don't want to kill off anything because I don't get around to storing things properly. Same reason I don't feed hummingbirds - I'm afraid I will kill them because I didn't get around to cleaning the feeder properly!
We have lots of mason and bumble bee's here. Their quite docile actually and erratic in fight. They never watch were their going. We bump into each other on a regular basis. Have never been stung by either. Their rather humorous when they encounter a structure in their flight path as they can't quite decide what to do about the problem.
I order from Everlast Label Company, good prices, free shipping, good quality. In case you wish to take a look here is the link.
Everlast Label Company, Garden Labels | Plant Labels | Garden ...
In a cool(er) climate, it'll probably hold its color. I've had a P.F. "Pink Beauty" for a handful of years now. It stays a clear candy pink until the temp climbs over 80 degrees - then it fades to a creamy peachy pink. But the same creamy flowers will go back to pink again as the temps go down. I'm fairly happy with it... as we have most summer days here with temps in the mid to high 70's.
Perhaps the same could be said of the mycorrhizae fad. Maybe it helps get a new plant off to a better start maybe not. I do know that any plant I've transplanted does already have micorrhizae colonized on their roots all on their own. The tougher the spot from which they were moved the more mycorrhizae they have.
container wise...unless you had to take an axe and shovel to chop up roots so you could remove the plant from the container. could not pull them out....you have not had a good dose of mycorrhiza on your plant...eggplant, pepper plant and tomato plant...you can capture your own from virgin forest soil...it cost very little this way....but takes a little time and studying, but simple...chemicals, kill the good stuff....keep your soil full of worms, then you are headed natures way....the forest knows how to grow giant trees....the indian
I didn't see serviceberries mentioned. Not at all rare, but given the horrified looks I've been given when grabbing a couple off a shrub at the park and eating them, "average joe" doesn't know that contractor special is also edible! And I THINK I read somewhere that some hostas and peonies ( or parts of them?) are edible. Double check of course, but if I am remembering that correctly, then joe would definitely not be likely to help himself to a hosta salad. Don't forget edible natives. Ramps are a lovely ground cover if your soil is right and fiddleheads are great when they mature into ferns.
river, thanks for the scoop on the Hosta Library, I will check the links out!
Thanks, Babs. We don't get super hot her in the PNW. I think I'm in your camp of the *half day sun* thing. I may have taken the shade suggestion too literally! I have lots of deep shade. We're remedying that as we're able.
mx and Sherry, do you cut the Bergenias to the ground? I've seen pics (UK)of them thriving in (seemingly) full sun and they are gorgeous, IMO. Anyone in GW UK gardeners grow them--in sun or shade? Got any pointers? Thanks for chiming in! Camp? Flora? Marlorena?
ken, what can I say, thanks for the awesome reply--it made a lot of sense to me! Good to hear from you.
tex, thanks for weighing in on this. Interesting that the sun lovers do well in your version of shade.
peren, thanks! Your garden is drop dead gorgeous! I have one Rodgersia that is being choked by Alchemilla--must move it and give it room! Thanks so much for sharing!
Hey rouge, I'm guilty of the too close thing, too. I have to laugh at myself when I see examples this in my garden, saying to myself *What was I thinking?* Mind if I ask if you're male or female? Not meant to offend, just curious.
purslane I appreciate your advice, thanks! It's apparent I need to more experimenting.
Agree with what others have said about testing your soil first, usually through your state ag center. I have a home tester which cost apx $35, & have compared the ag center's reports on my 3 soil samples w/ what my own tester shows - pretty accurate. High end testers cost apx $75-100.
I grow the herb comfrey, make a tea like the alfalfa tea described above & apply it with a sprayer or a watering can. I would worry that comfrey used as a mulch or in compost might grow new plants all over the place. Comfrey tea smells until the leaves turn black, then it stops smelling. As I remember the alfalfa tea that I made never stopped smelling until I poured it on the plants, then there was no smell. Comfrey grows very quickly here, dies back somewhat in the winter & costs almost nothing. See links below.
Has anyone mentioned a worm box (vermiculture)? Very cheap as the worms eat your rotten produce, newspapers & eggshells & provide liquid gold to your garden.
Info on comfrey as fertilizer, see p2 of link for "liquid fertilizer":
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/comfrey-power
Comfrey needs room as it has a huge taproot. It can also throw a seed. I am currently cutting off the flowers until I can get the sterile one, Russian Comfrey Bocking #14, developed for this use & recommended. Also see book on link below:
http://www.nantahala-farm.com/comfrey-root-bocking-14-s.shtml