13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
Centaurea comes to mind. These are lower growing and come in some fabulous colors, most of them featuring purple. They will handle the soil, but DO need to have decent drainage. Sand & clay can be a good mixture as the sand encourages the soil to drain. They will also tolerate full sun to partial shade. Echinacea is another thought, mainly because they are a favorite, though they really need full sun. Here's a place to really compare which gives the moisture, soil requirements, bloom times and heights so you can plan to plant blossoms that will not only come back every year but will provide flowers throughout the whole season while looking gorgeous together. Lots of pictures here! :). Hope this helps.
Here is a link that might be useful: Perennial flower pictures
Echinaceas are quite tricky in our climate. They often don't survive the winter and many people consider them transient occupants of the garden rather than tough perennials. Nor do they self seed much as the soggy Autumns are not conducive to seed ripening. The problem with our winters is that they don't get a good deep freeze and dormancy. The relatively mild wet conditions don't suit them.
tsugajunkie, Now that's just too cool.
I've had a bit of success with plants people say can't or shouldn't be grown and I stand corrected on poinsettias, yours look great. Its surprising what a bit a experimenting can do, what works that shouldn't work and it is definitely fun as you say. Sometimes its all about the challenge.
I would've thought people in the nursery/greenhouse trade love poinsettias, the ultimate throwaway plant that needs to be repurchased every year.
For an alternative that's not as showy but is much, much easier to carry on from year to year, consider the Jamaican poinsettia.*
I have one that is currently displaying a single set of bright scarlet bracts (usually they don't appear until later in winter). Fun succulent to grow.
*do a search for "Jamaican poinsettia" or "Euphorbia punicea" to see more and better photos (GW blocks some of the best links).
Um, I see no-one has come up with a definitive answer yet...so here is my two-pennorth.
I routinely propagate phlox paniculata by taking root cuttings - small 1inch bits of root which I lay on the potting mix, cover with more jix and fine grit and leave (outside)over winter. By early spring, there are signs of sprouting in most of the cuttings...so I suggest you leave your pots alone, put them somewhere where they will be undisturbed - maybe adding a protective cover if you feel they are at risk from digging pests and hope that the roots have retained some regenerative power. Whatever, there is no point in worrying about this...and certainly not worth repotting or planting out. Just keep your fingers crossed - life is very tenacious and hopefully, there will be signs of growth next year.
Mine too, Flora - total slime...but hey, got 34 willows, 14 roses, 30+ ash seedlings (in wild optimism), 24 garlic cloves and 3 astrantias in the ground today. Got back from Norfolk and now exhausted...but will have to drag myself round to clients to discuss some welcome work tomorrow (bloody landscaping though).
Almost everything is dormant now here in SC Kansas. My Diablo Ninebark and Summer Wine Ninebarks are turning a dark shade of red and will probably stay that way until the end of December. It's supposed to be 34 degrees Monday and then 57 next Friday. In January and February we will finally get down to the teens, but then back up into the 50's by March. That's KS for you.
There is a little possibility that your daffs may be blind next spring as they really need a much earlier planting to get their roots going....but no worry, I have bought cheap (and late) daffs before now - they will come good the following year.
Don't use a spade - get a decent long-handled bulb planter. I did 3000 of the buggers last year and it would have been a nightmare without a decent bulb-planter (although it was still a bit of a 'mare, just not such an extreme one).
Yes, have also attempted the 'plant them where they land' method...frankly annoying as they land in clumps...or too far apart...and anyway, when planted, even in rows, they look perfectly fine once they are up, as long as the amounts are generous.
Ramped down to 750 this year
Camp: I've planted bulbs quite late in the season and they've always bloomed just fine. As long as the ground can be worked, the bulbs can be planted. Referring to larger bulbs that are planted deeply (e.g. daffodils, tulips, hyacinths) - in my area, it's going to be a while before the ground freezes to that depth, if it even does (some years it doesn't). I would imagine the problem would be with the smaller bulbs planted close to the surface (e.g. crocus).
A very pretty little tree, Catkin. You might be interested in this thread over on the Trees Forum.
Here is a link that might be useful: Larch discussion
there is a new salix nursery in vt and they list a huge #. I esp love Salix Alba Sericea, a far superior silver leaf alternative to Eleagnus or weeping pears. We let our ~20 yr.old sericea get to above our house in the driveway, where it grows right up against the house's non-crawlspace addition. We started coppicing it 4 yrs ago: we get our tree guy (he needs a cherry picker for this) to cut the leader way down to where we want it to sprout and we have him chain saw the leader at an oblique angle such that you could only see the cut if you were able to stand BEHIND the tree. The thing never misses a beat; it sprouts vigorously and produces a fast canopy (of thin branches) about ~10' below where it had been . We do this every 2 yrs or so. We could cut it WAAAY back if we wanted because salix sprout new growth all over their trunk. The one drag about it is that it sucks up all the moisture at its base, but we are still able to grow our normal packed bed style very close to it.
We have another alba sericea that we keep coppiced down to ~ 6-8' because it is in a mixed perennials/shrubs border and we don't want shade there. Ditto the salix britsensis which has flaming coral new growth.
We also just got a YELLOW leaf salix! and are crossing our fingers to see PINK pussywillows on another new one. We had a Scarlet Curls that never lived up to its name and we finally, after 15 yrs, tossed it. It also had started getting these teeny shiny green black beetles that ate holes all over its leaves. The world of willows is GIGUNdous!
mindy
I really didn't wish to get into any kind of argument with anyone. I was only pointing out that the terms of use of Garden Web were being infringed ...." the Terms of Service and applicable copyright, trademark and other laws govern your use of such content. You may not post to the GardenWeb Network, copy, reproduce, retransmit, distribute, publish, commercially exploit or otherwise transfer any material subject to any Rights." The OP was posting photos which people clearly assumed were her own when they were not. In fact if Getty images spotted it there could be unpleasant repercussions. They trawl the web constantly for material they own and threaten people who use it without permission with legal action. It has happened to an acquaintance of mine who innocently used an image found via a Google image search. I don't believe that it is mean spirited to point that out.
As for Chelsea, I agree with every word Campanula wrote.
If this were an argument it would be about how one deals with other contributors to GW.
The mean-spirited part was not pointing out facts, it was the part of the summarization which included "but it is disingenuous and rather underhanded to put these posts here ---".
If I saw any evidence that the set of pictures was actually intended to deceive, I would likely have agreed.
Very nice, nhbabs.
One of the things about perennial gardening which strikes me most of all is the gardening potential for large, maybe rural, properties versus small urban ones.
Obviously, the two present some different challenges as well as some different opportunities.
nabs, those shots are simply fabulous. Personally I am partial to neutral color schemes with a spot of color here and there more so than a riot of color and flowers, thats why the O. grasses and silver plants are so appealing to me. Winter is a good time for that along the roadsides here, to me its prettier with various shades of white, grays, buff, rust and dark browns in the grass lands as opposed to a undefined sea of green. I like fall & winter best because all the various green colors separate and its definitely the only time of the year lawns are appealing with that open area of light cream color contrasting with evergreen plants.
Here is a blog I ran across the other night. I am 99% certain this garden would appeal to me more in fall and winter than spring or summer. I sorely wish I had the amount of space you have, thank you for posting those pictures. I love the berries and the soft colors. Heather is definitely a plant I would grow if I could, that is one of the best understated, neutral plants on the planet in my book, I'm more than a tad jealous of you luckiest of of dogs who can grow it.
This is my second year of gardening. I keep a spreadsheet but I've never actually taken a tally.
Let's see...
10 roses
9 mini roses
5 hydrangeas
1 peony
12 hostas
47 perennials
2 rose of sharon hibiscus
23 allium bulbs
So... 109 plants? Oh gosh. I shouldn't have done that...
Not knowing which peony you chose, in your next binge, i venture to suggest you look into the "Festiva Maxima". It is bright white with small streaks of stark red.