13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
How do you know you are getting the runnerless ones? Are they advertised as that? Can I look them up that way? The ones that I received in a trade had small berries, regular sized plants/leaves, and did eventually produce runners after a few years.
The runnerless ones ones sound like they would be great front of the border plants. One more question, mxk3. Are they ever bearing or June bearing?
Thanks for responding,
Linda
Yes, they're usually advertised as runnerless. I bought mine at a local nursery many years ago in the perennial section. I've seen some plants on-line that are marked runnerless (such as the Golden Alexandria). The ones I have are ever-bearing, though they don't produce an abundance of fruit (well, at least I don't think they do, but maybe the birds or critters get to some of them before I do...). I don't grow them for the berries, though - I enjoy the foliage, as I mentioned it's impeccable.
Kathy - I live in Santa barbara and was planning on planting Ceonuthus but I have read a few different articles that they attract "swarms" of bees and at certain times during the year you literally cannot walk too close to them. We have dogs and our garden is not so large that we can afford to avoid certain areas of it. Would you please share your experience?
I've figured it out. Two different plants. What confused me was one online nursery who said that the Aster had been reclassified as Kalimeris, which made me wonder if all descriptions by two names were the same plant. But the Aster is larger, more spreading, and late blooming, while the Kalimeris is a bit smaller, definitely more likely to stay in bounds, takes a bit of shade, and blooms early. 'Edo Murasaki' and 'Ezo Murasaki'--definitely asking for confusion, esp. given the reclassification of many in the Aster genus.
Re Kalimeris and spreading.
I've had Kalimeris incisa 'Blue Star' which I replaced due to it's rapidly spreading runners.
The runners were very high in the soil and therefore easy to pull up; however, it didn't go well with perennials maintained closely together.
All of the asters which we have (at least) are very clump-forming, though they do require periodic division.
I've found Boltonia asteroidea 'Jim Crockett', which is similar looking, a better plant than K. incisa 'Blue Star' for our garden.
I have noticed a common thread here today. Plants that have caused injury are generally not invited. For me that means barberry and roses, yes roses. I love them in other yards but not in mine. To me not worth the blood sacrifice to have them.
I get texas ranger liking his grasses alot. If I lived in Texas they would be my favorite, cactus would take some serious thought, blood sacrifice whether accidental or not.
The older I get the less a like the free seeders like echinacia( spelling) and similar plants. Lower maintenance is my favorite now. I am also a fan of plants with few pest problems.
I hate yews. A bad winter here gives them winter burn and you have brown foliage to look at forever.
Sherry
I have had Chocolate Chip Ajuga for going on 7 years and it is well behaved. If it moves more than you like, just pull it up or dig up around the outside of the area where you want it. I have no problem getting rid of extra pieces since the neighbors like it too!
Plants that I don't want here are some of the usual suspects:
Bouncing Bet - still pulling and spraying starts after several years
Species Hardy Geranium - also pulling out new seedlings several
feet from the original plant. It only blooms for a short time and
then spreads its seed and runners all over the place.
Obedient Plant - never tried Miss Manners yet though
Bishops Weed
Older Variety Purple Coneflowers-I grow the newer different colored ones and do not have a problem pulling the few volunteers that come up. The older pink ones were a disaster to keep from seeding every where.
Goldsturm Rudbeckia-a few plants tried to take over a whole bed. In two years, I had several plastic garbage bags full when we dug them up to give away.
Linda
Well, I notice that I misread and posted before about something that bloomed where it shouldn't have, and so sorry about that. I can say that I have a variegated sage plant that has survived three years even though it was marked zone six.
Regarding Buckthorn:Can you ring them and paint some poison on the bases? Call up your agri agent and see what the controls are. I only deal with Mountain ash cedar.I have been out chain sawing and clipping for a week now. I bring in the new year every year doing this.
Basal bark application of herbicide would probably be easiest. You won't have to cut out the stalks from amongst your hedgerows. IYou need to use the oil-based version of triclopyr and paint all around the stems, then it will be absorbed through the bark. This can be applied during the winter.
If you do cut them out, you need to apply a small amount of herbicide to the cut stumps, so that they won't resprout (that is what I usually do).
Here's a recent thread on the tree forum with some info:
Here is a link that might be useful: Winter herbicide for buckthorn
This post was edited by terrene on Tue, Jan 13, 15 at 0:32
I planted a serious bulb garden this fall which included mixed lilies. The warm spell we had encouraged the lilies to reach a height of 6 inches. Then we got hit with a freeze for 2 nights in the teens and the parts of the lilies above ground were frozen and bent over as if broken. They were brown. Did I lose my lilies or will they try to emerge again?
You really should start your own thread and not hang on the bottom of someone else's.
The lilies will be greatly weakened and may or may not send up new growth this year, but should survive if undisturbed. It may take 2 or 3 years to recover from this and build up their reserves again though.
R. triloba is generally a short-lived, reseeding perennial. You can encourage perennial behavior by cutting bloom stalks to the ground when finished blooming and before stalks dry. However it reliably reseeds. Volunteers are easily pulled as it lacks a taproot. Great plant. Have had it for years here in Dallas, TX
i cant imagine.. why a guy in NC ... would bother putting anything in the garage.. you really dont know what a cold winter is.. lol ...
right now.. with 3 days of single digits... i have about 200 potted plants.. tipped on their sides.. sitting on the ground in MI ...
not to mention ... some of those you list.. are MI hardy ...
they are tipped on their sides.. because they freeze solid .. and we dont want water accumulating in a frozen pot.. during any freak warm spells ....
do not confuse air temps with soil temps .... as pots behave differently .. and mother earth is quite a buffer ... for any short term cold snaps ....
just never leave black pots in any winter sun ... they can heat up too fast ....
so if i were you .. i would just stack them.. on the north side of the house ... and ignore them until spring ... the house will buffer them also .....
there are different rules if you are zone pushing.... but i dont know why you would be doing so if you planned on putting them in the ground anyway .....
ken
Agree with Ken, zone 7 is not exactly a harsh winter zone. The plants you've listed are all pretty hardy, and would most likely be okay outside even in pots. Or you can just leave them in the garage until it warms up some. Just be sure to give them a little water every 2-4 weeks.
I overwinter 2 or 3 dozen plants in the garage every year. Some are tender, such as Salvia 'Black & Blue' and Magnolia grandiflora, and others are 1st or 2nd year seedlings that are still quite small.
I even brought in an Asclepias curassavica 'Silky Gold' and am growing it as a houseplant this winter! It's doing great, making some buds.
Nevertheless, I do have a few hardier specimens in pots outside in a semi-sheltered location (such as a Cornus alternifolia in a 1 gallon pot, hardy to zone 3).
Holly do replace dead leaves, but more slowly then deciduous trees. If they ever lose *ALL* their leaves they are probably dead. If they lose a few they will grow them back.
You could try using hollytone.
There are many species of holly, but I suspect some of the more common ones would be borderline hardy in zone 5. Shelter from the wind in the winter might help. (eg a tarp).
Thanks, mtnrdredux, but I do believe that mom is spelled a different way :) Thanks to you too, aftermidnight, for the link. I found another one which seems to imply that the seeds should be found at the bases of the petals. After tearing apart some of my shriveled mum flowers, I didn't find any seeds, but my plants probably just don't have time to make them here in zone 5.
Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Breeding As a Hobby
Mtrdredux- My mum gives me seeds every now and then. She's the one who started it all lol
I started a few mums from seed this spring, they did well in spite of my abuse and even put out a few blooms. Had I planted them out of their four inch pot prior to September I'm sure they would have clumped up and put on a great show, but I'm sure they will for next year now that they're in the ground.
Maybe three years ago I had mum seedlings coming up that had self sown off potted mums siting on the front steps. The parents died but the seedlings bloomed beautifully the next year!
I might even have a few seeds leftover in the packet I sowed this spring. They're not all that small.
A fun project I like to do, now and then, is to make my own sawhorses. I figure if I'm wanting to do so many wood projects around the place, I should be able to make my own wooden sawhorses, right? And then make more for friends, family, etc.
But also, I used them (and other standing objects that fit the role) as the things I can put around my garden area and drape any cloths on it to help protect a particular area if it gets an unexpected cold temperature, especially in early spring when late cold temps might roll through as plants are starting to come out of dormancy.
I make a living building furniture for others so I know my way around tools. I think starting with some saw horses is a good idea. Keep your eyes on craigs list for scraps of wood, and rock and MORE TOOLS.. Things are often given away. I got all the rock for free and half my wood. I did get the 4x4 wood at 1/4 price on craigs list.. The cedar planks I got for hauling away. The rock i got from a ranch that was being torn down and made into a mall. here are a few pics of different projects. I am not a professional rock person and I do this by myself. Things have to be done quickly and cheaply. I am a bottom feeder. I keep things simple.
I call this the Backwards garden because I planted the garden and then built the deer proof fence and raised beds. Still not bad for a middle aged broad.
There were some casualties but the crepe myrtles made it through unscathed. In my whole gardening life there has been only year they didn't but that was because an early arctic front hit in mid December after a very long & warm fall and nothing was hardened off, most of them recovered from the roots however and started over from scratch. In Kansas, they all died. Go figure. I never can.
The only thing I lost in 2011 was a Santa Rita cactus and a couple of zone 8/9 agaves. Compounding the problem with regular blasts from the arctic north is that there is rarely snow on the ground, if you can imagine. Its also very lively in spring when the warm moist gulf air regularly crashes into the dry cold stuff from up north leaving us at the mercy of these two extremes, its earned us the title "Tornado Alley", OKC is dead center of that area. I probably sound like a broken record but people around here do talk about weather a lot.
It makes me wonder about plants that survive just fine here but seem to succumb to cold further north judging by what people post. Maybe its about moisture along with duration because we certainly do get very cold for several days but usually warm back up again-- up and down, up and down.
Its cold here in NJ but no snow and little precipitation. I'm thinking about watering the ground looks dry. I hope we get some significant snow or rain soon.