Recent Activity
I have to very large cast iron planter set worth more then the plants that are in it . So what is stopping a thief from tipping over the planter and dumping the contents on the ground and walking off with my planter. Just saying If I was on holidays and no one home. What I did was I bought 2 6ft of threaded steel rod put them down threw the planter so about 3-4 ft went threw the bottom of the planter I had a large truck rim add a steel plate acting like a washer bolted it onto the threaded rod and buried the rim 3ft down and covered. . Were I wanted the planter to stay. For Ever" Lol Add a washer and bolt inside the bowl of the planter tighten down and grinded off the threads so it wouldn't come off with a wrench. Tried lifting them up they didn't budge....5 yrs later they are sitting in the same spot.. It's is sometime what you have to do to keep what is yours ,they were my Dad's and passed down to me .Cheers...
Helianthus 'Lemon Queen' is a lovely huge plant if you have room. It is also a bee magnet. I am a fan of that pale lemon yellow too.
Did a long post then Houzz vanished it. Anyway, try again...
Bidens - either tall (heteropyhlla) or short (ferulifolia), aquilegia chrysantha, various iris, roses - from the dainty Dunwich Rose to massive climbers such as 'Mermaid;, with my username, rosaprimula also filling your brief.
Second Karin's "Hyperion' and also add citrina, Marion Vaughn, Lemon Chimes. Had others but have forgotten (10 second memory bank - worse than a goldfish!) Sure to add more, laters.
I've pulled up a bunch of barberry volunteers in Maine.
Barberry is an increasing problem in the natural areas in Canada as well. I personally just don’t get that plant, so I am predisposed to be negative about it, but now it is certainly on the invasive lists so my dislike is justified.
I grow Bloody Dock and Pale Dock. I know the young leaves of Bloody Dock are edible, but I haven't been eating them. I'd rather eat stinging nettles or lambs quarters. I love soups, and I'll use this recipe if I come upon some Rumex acetosella while foraging in future. My Bloody Dock was under seige by the bloody coralberries, but it's better now.😋🥣
Sorrel grows itself on my allotment but I've never made soup. We don't eat many soups but I have used it in salads.
PMusic - Thanks, I think the biggest part of my problem is I have so little area of the garden that is full sun, that I just don't have enough of any of these plants. And I’ve had Monarda for years, but just not a lot of it. I’ve had honeysuckle and Solomon’s Seal for years and they never drew a hummingbird that I know of. But I am still trying to get a couple of different Honeysuckle going.
That’s a pretty combination with the Monardaand lily.
RustyB - Pretty sure I am still a 6b here. I should try to do that. Take cuttings of the salvias and leave some in the ground to see if they will get through the winter. Do you mulch yours?
One thing that helped me as I was learning about monarda is that it is in the mint family. So it’s spread and habit is the same. I heard Margaret Roach say the best maintenance is to actually go in and ‘disturb’ - pull up chunks of those fibrous roots for a good culling. Made good sense to me because I learned to do the same with my mint in pots - remove 75% of it and discard.
Have you tried pineapple sage? A beautiful plant, that will grow from a small seedling to a huge clump at the end of the season. The only problem is that in my zone the flowers are very late forming (usually October). When I first planted them I had no idea they even flowered, and then to top it off got the shock of my morning when this buzzy thing made a nosedive for them on my porch!
Is there a native variety that is more desirable? Here it is oenothera biennis. Long story short, I share an allotment plot with a neighbour who for the past two years has gone AWOL. She kept indicating she may be returning, so I decided it was just easier for my sanity to divide the plot in half and maintain just my side. So of course her side became all overrun, and I noticed colonies of the evening primrose had established there.
In fairness to us plant sale people, sometimes it’s not only what takes over our gardens that we pot, but is easy to divide, pots up easily, rebounds nicely in the pot for an easy sale. I’m no expert, but I’ve been learning a bit about propagation through trial and error. I’ve learned in my established garden that some plants form such dense, thick, root masses - that you can easily take chunks of it out, chop it into small bits, and each of those bits produces a nice size plant very quickly. Most of these plants don’t fall in the invasive category - just in the easy to divide category. I have this one single helianthus; I dug it up and the root mass was huge, like a rhubarb. So I literally chopped it in half, threw the one half back in the ground, and the other half divided into like small bits. Ended up potting up 18 one gallon containers! Thought I had gone overboard by doing it too early in the season (early March!) and had likely messed up, but all those pots are showing great growth.
somewhat OT,
but the O speciosa seems to catch moths, because the flower spure does not go together well with some of the "moth notzzels" (what is the proper term for their drinking organ, pls?)
for some reason several moth species get stuck in the flower while reaching for the nectar and die. I read about it on a German garden forum, but there are other articles on this phenomenon as well
just so you can avoid it if you are into wildlife gardening (or just considerate). I personally toyed with the idea of getting some plants, liked their resilience, but switched to something different after learning of the "moth catching"
Well done for your patience. This is a great example of why you should live with a yard for a full year before making any dramatic changes. So many posters come here for advice having 'ripped out' existing landscaping and then wondering what to do next. They'll never know if there were things they would have loved if they'd waited a while.
Must be Canadian prices :-)) 25 camassia bulbs from my favored supplier are $9.00 at 2024 pricing.
I haven’t really done any serious ‘bulb shopping’ since I discovered a wholesale place in the middle of the pandemic. One of the YouTube channels I follow did a recent video on some of the sticker shock prices she has seen recently, and she’s in Michigan. Look at this one for a pot of forest grass!
Another box from GC came today..I had forgotten I ordered that one..Stand By Me clematis. It came in about a 1 1/2 gal. pot and looks good.
" It'll be on me if it doesn't make it. "
Not necessarily :-) Florida sieboldii has a reputation for being futzy and hard to establish. I have attempted multiple times myself and I can say in all truthfulness I have never had that much difficulty with any other clem, regardless of cultivar or current condition. But once established (at least a couple seasons) it is a tough little vine with amazing looking flowers! I have managed to get mine, grown in a container, through the last 5 years and a move to a new garden this winter. It was originally a transplant from my sister's garden when she moved house, so off to a rough start in my care and not always ideal conditions in the interim.
Good luck with it. Of all the many different clematis I have grown in different gardens over the years, this one is by far my favorite.
Just as GG says. They've been around a long time and they save time and space trying to grow one's own successfully from seed. The tricky bit is done for you. On the other hand they are vastly cheaper than buying plants. I've only bought them once, to produce a large number of Violas for a wedding. But I have a friend who buys hundreds every spring in order to run a plant stall at her church. There is no way she could produce such a large number in such a variety at home. The ones she and I have bought have been extremely good quality.
A few weeks after being transplanted into modules on arrival.
It's possible that its Solidago flexicaulis, but the leaves in the 2nd picture have wider winged petioles than typical S. flexicaulis. Other plants that would produce this amount of root growth would be Verbesina and Leucanthemum.
A shasta daisy of sorts?
Ive researched it more, and those winged petioles are normal for the first few emerging basal leaves. Yes it's most definitely Solidago flexicaulis, Zig Zag Goldenrod. I had no idea the roots were so agressive. Maybe they are agressive to find sunlit areas to colonise under the tree canopy? I hope the small Zig Zag Goldenrod, that I planted last fall, is as healthy as yours
Solidago flexicaulis, Zig Zag Goldenrod
First, we are talking about two distinct types of hellebores. Without getting too technical, we can just say that they grow differently, flower differently and to a lesser degree, are cared for differently.
The first two pictured - Pink Frost and Ivory Prince - are complex hybrids in the group of caulescent or stemmed hellebores. These tend to be fully evergreen so foliage is left intact until after flowering (flowers from top of leafed stem) as that stem will not flower again, although the foliage can remain attractive indefinitely. Caulescent hellebores also tend to grow taller than the stemless forms, don't live as long, resent division, have heavy, often patterned foliage that remains quite durable, have a limited color range and in the case of the hybrids, are almost always sterile.
The rest of your photos are examples of Helleborus x hybridus or the so called "oriental hybrids". These are stemless or acaulescent forms with leaves and flowers emerging separately from the root crown. These are the types of hellebores that typically have their foliage removed in late winter before flowering as it looks pretty tatty by that time as well as making it easier for the flowers to present without the distraction of old, tired foliage obscuring them. Once the flowers emerge, new foliage growth follows rapidly thereafter to replace whatever might have been removed previously.
Acaulescent hellebores tend to be squatter, longer lived, more readily divisible and generally self-seed freely. And of course the xhybridus have the widest range of color and forms available.
Some plants are easy to talk about and describe.......others are not. Hellebores fit into that second group :-) So none of your questions are ignorant, Marie. I have just not explained myself well.
Let's move away from botanical terms and just talk about stemmed hellebores and stemless ones. And I am going to omit referring to any species plants for this purpose as species hellebores tend to be unknown to most US gardeners as they are often less hardy and rarely as showy as the hybrids and are typically found in the gardens of only mild climate hellebore collectors.
Stemmed hellebores are often complex interspecies and intersectional hybrids. They produce a leafy stem that will bear flowers at the terminal end of the stem. So leaves and flowers appear on the same stalk (stem). They also tend to have quite durable and often heavily patterned or marbled foliage that will remain looking good indefinitely so they do not get pruned back before the flower season and most gardeners will not remove these leafed stems until the foliage starts to get rather ugly looking (as all evergreen foliage eventually does). I have had some last a good 2-3 years before it needed to be removed. As stemmed hellebores will not rebloom a second time from the same stem, some gardeners don't wait and remove those flowered stems whenever the flowers fade. FWIW, a stemmed hellebore will push out new grow each season so there should be no lack of flowers even if the old stems are left in place. And these complex hybrids are also very often sterile and frequently patented so no self seeding and no division - clumps either need to gradually expand on their own or you purchase additional plants :-)
Until recently, stemless hellebores were the ones grown most often by most gardeners and are almost exclusively reserved for the xhybridus varieties or the so-called oriental hybrids. So-called because H. orientalis is the primary parent and for donkeys' years these were simply called oriental hybrids. Orientalis as a species is virtually unknown in this day and almost all xhybridus forms have ventured many generations beyond that simple parentage. That's where the complexity of colors and markings come from - a little dash of this species and a dash of another :-))
These are considered stemless because the leaves and flowers appear from the root crown on separate stalks - flowers first in late winter or early spring, followed shortly thereafter by a stalk that will develop into new leaves. These are the hellebores that most cut back the old foliage on in winter, as the foliage typically looks pretty done in by that time of year and removing all the old foliage lets the usually downward facing flowers show their stuff without being covered with leafy greenness. Few if any stemless hellebore/xhybridus are patented and all are very fertile so self seeding of an established happy clump is a given. They can also be easily divided to increase your stock and relocate to other spaces.
As I mentioned, almost all hellebores sold are hybrids with the exception of H. niger or the Christmas rose. You will find a few collectors growing argutifolius or foetidus but with only pale green flowers, they are not favorites, with most folks sticking to the hybrids.
Debra, your Ivory Prince is an example of a stemmed hellebore, a sterile complex hybrid. Royal Heritage is a seed strain of xhybridus, so a stemless and self seeding hybrid.
I hope this makes things a little clearer but feel free to come back with any questions and I will do my best to answer them :-)
Sounds like you made a wise decision. I’m sure there are other worthy retailers out there. Ironically, the same company started to show up on my feed and I can see how folks might be tempted if they don’t check them out thoroughly.
Getgoing, I would not touch that site either….when I clicked on your link, my Norton security immediately labeled it as an unsecured site!
debra
Yes, I could look at the sun during totality but when the sun barely peeked out of the shadow of the moon, one very quick glance was all I could handle then it was back to the free cardboard eclipse glasses from the library. Lucky I didn't buy any plastic ones from Amazon. Who are these people staring at the sun? A few minutes after that and it was back to playing disc golf in the twilight.
R you misunderstood me. I was trying to say 2:08 looked more like 4:30 or 5.
I ended up with the original one, though I'm somewhat concerned that it sat all day Sunday--a very warm sunny day near 70 degrees in full sun. The medium in which the roots were wrapped was still quite moist when I opened the package Monday afternoon, however, and the plant looks good--still dormant but with lots of buds about to open. The buds seem soft and not dried out so I'm hopeful and planning to plant it this morning.
Just adding if anyone is following, the plant looks great after almost a week in the ground and cool, rainy days. Buds swelling.
I'm propagating roses, shrubs, and sun and shade perennials. I root the cuttings in perlite. The "bark fines" are intended to be part of the media for potting up the cuttings after they set roots.
I've had an issue with root rot and am contemplating a 5-1-1 type of mix discussed in the thread linked above. I'm trying to understand how fine are "bark fines" supposed to be.
1/4 - 3/8" is the preferred size for bark fines for container soils. If too much product less than that size (or significantly larger), I'd screen it first to remove excess small particulate matter and/or large chunks.
Good customer service - or the lack of it - is one of the primary reasons I frequent certain retailers and avoid others like the plague. It certainly seems to be in short supply these days!
It may very well be regional differences or the size of the establishment but most better retail nurseries and garden centers in my area have dedicated plant buyers on staff whose business it is to locate and order specific plants from the scores of wholesale growers they have access to. I was one, once upon a time :-)) Each week we received availabilities from the growers as to what was in stock, looking good and available that week and I would place my perennials and groundcover orders accordingly. The buyer for trees and woody shrubs would do the same, although most of the trees were preordered the previous fall.
Most of the larger nurseries will accept special requests as well. That's how my long desired Spigelia 'Little Redhead' came into my life! 😁
LaLennoxa, I hope you can locate and get your hands on the Ruby Slippers oakleaf. I grew one in a previous garden and it truly is a stunning plant. Very floriferous and with gorgeous late season and fall coloring.
My sister and I were out shopping for some supplies for my new garden last week - essentials like a new hose and a weed whacker - so we stopped at Home Depot. This is a retailer I only visit when it seems to be the last resort or the best pricing as a) their plant selection is dismal and not well cared for and b) decent customer service is almost nonexistent. We were pleasantly surprised when an employee in his early 20's went above and beyond the typical to assist 2 little old ladies pick out the proper weed whacker for the situation, showing us several different models he thought best, and then proceeded to carry the selected item to the check out for us. He was so helpful and attentive that we both had to compliment him on his superior customer service!!
So it does exist and sometimes in unexpected places, if maybe not as commonplace as it should be.
Unfortunately, your city has used that terminology incorrectly. 'Xeric' means dry or arid and 'xeriscaping' refers to a landscape that thrives in a very dry or arid environment. A no lawn front garden is just a front garden that lacks any turf grass - rainfall or moisture has very little to do with it. No wonder it was confusing!!
I think service berry is the same as Saskatoon berry. I do have that also, in the back yard. We usually have enough berries picked and frozen that last until late January.
For trees consider serviceberry, eastern redbud, pagoda dogwood, or other smaller trees that are native to your area (planting natives not only increases the likelihood your tree will thrive, it will bring more pollinators to your yard). For the plan, I would focus on a hedge of shrubs to the left of your driveway to satisfy the requirement. I would plant the small tree 4-5 feet off the angled part of your sidewalk on the right. I’m assuming you need access to the backyard on the right, so if you plant any shrubs on that side, maybe have your focus be any screening you want to do from the street or neighbors (so maybe a shrub or two behind the tree to create a little courtyard feel to the area to the right of your front door). There are a fair amount of native perennials that do well in shade or part shade, and those I think should be your focus to the right of your driveway— too many shrubs and it’s just going to have an awkward, overgrown/unusable vibe in a few years. Native perennials for shade that I like (I’m in MN zone 4 so check your own options) include heuchera, Pennsylvania sedge, goatsbeard, wild ginger, wild geranium, wild blue phlox.
You could also consider just doing native grasses or sedge in the front portion of the area to the right.
Hey PM - just one note of clarification here....I am a dude here, though I have absolutely no gender hangups :-)
Oops! lol Sorry about that. I have no idea why I assumed that. I always enjoy the male perspective in the garden too. It often seems to me that there are more female gardeners than male. So it's nice.
" I can barely get them established in heavy shade. "
And that makes a certain amount of sense :-) Hellebores are shade tolerant but not necessarily shade lovers. Most species in their natural habitat grow in quite open locations and some are native to very dry, sunny climates and prefer as much sun as possible (eg. H. argutifolius).
Ideally, most of the popular hybrids like the early season sun position under the canopy of deciduous trees. This provides maximum sunlight when in flower but some protection to the foliage in the heat of summer once the trees leaf out. Heavy shade is not at all to their liking.
Here’s another clump I have growing. The original was the yellow - I don’t know the variety. At the time, I had no idea they were actually producing seedlings, I just left it there and the clump slowly grew. Then I realized there was a pink variety working its way in there…then I began to notice there were seedlings and the pink maybe was coming from the new seedlings…you can see from the second photo the small up and coming seedlings…
If you're looking for "compact", one of the newer cultivars of V. carlesii would be your best bet. All of the V. x burkwoodii cultivars I'm aware of (and I grow 'Mohawk') can reach 8-10' high and probably nearly the same size in width, depending on local conditions. Mine is already about 7' tall after 3 years in the ground and has needed occasional pruning of vigorous shoots to keep it "in bounds."
I also grow V. carlesii 'Compactum', which has taken on a nice, compact, rounded form of about 3x3' after a similar amount of time in the ground as the 'Mohawk.' Several of my neighbors have the more old-fashioned straight species variety of V. carlesii and it definitely tends to grow a bit more wild and "unstructured" at maturity without pruning.
The burkwoodii blooms about 2-3 weeks earlier than the carlesii for me, but I find the fragrance similar and equally pleasing on both. Neither blooms for a particularly long period of time, but I recall the bloom time being a bit longer on the carlesii.
Fall color on 'Mohawk' for me is usually an attractive rainbow of yellows, oranges and reds, while the the carlesiii can take on a nice raspberry red color, but usually quite late in the fall (and early freezes can eliminate the possibility).
@sah67, I am debating getting a viburnum compactum from bluestone perrenials vs. viburnum carlesii spice baby. I am trying to figure out what the difference is between them. Reading your post makes me think that compactum is more compact than spice baby.
I have burkwodii in a pot and also the old fashioned carlesiis. All of them are blooming now. My burkwodii is not as fragrant as the carlesii for some reason. The flowers look exactly the same. I would with carlesii.
I don't think I've grown Burkwoodi, but I have to have had a half dozen different Viburnum over the years and I only have one left. They haven't done well for me for one reason or another. But - I LOVE the carlesii and even though I shovel pruned that because it was diseased, I definitely plan on getting another - and maybe 3 more...lol. I just love that fragrance, as much as a rose or a lilac....none of the other Viburnums I had, were fragrant like that. And it was a strong fragrance.
Oh my gosh - tulips? They won't be blooming here for another four weeks or so! The daffodils have just started, I noticed some hyacinths coloring up, but the tulips are only showing leaves so far.
Since you posted a picture from last year, I have some shots of my tulips from last year too. I hope that isn't cheating! - I really love tulips in the garden, and the ones that I don't use as cut flowers all tend to return, multiply and flower very well for many years. (Don't hate me for that) I have tulips that were planted about 15 years ago along my front walk and they have gotten so thick this year I will have to dig and divide them. My summers are very dry and the soil is a fertile sandy loam which makes the tulips thrive here. I kiddingly call the areas of my garden "Little Keukenhof" that have tulips growing in them!
Mixed varieties of Lefeber tulips
Don Quichotte
Salmon Parrot
Blushing Beauty
Sonnet
Mixed Parrot tulips
More Don Quichotte - one of Grace's favorites!
I cannot remember the name of this one - Apricot something
Juan
Annika
I don't think you can ever have too many tulips! When the new ones start to bloom this spring, I will post some more pictures, if that is okay with you guys.
For the last coupla years, i have only planted species tulips but have usually picked dozens of hybrid garden tulips most years until I noticed them looking a bit diminished this year. Am going to plant another 500 or so this autumn - am clearing spaces already with this in mind. I mostly edge my beds with them as they have a small footprint for the amount of bloom and colour...and they are incredibly cheap where I live - around $12 per 100 bulbs.
Wow! Didn't think I'd see this thread pop up after all this time and kind of shocked and the amount of controversy in the replies. It's just a garden show. At the time I posted it, I was STARVING for some good garden porn. Thankfully, there is a lot more out there now. My big crush these days is John Lord and his secret garden. I also have been fawning over the absolutely gorgeous gardens in the first season of the British House Hunters-type show, "Escape To The Country." Shout out also to Carol Klein, whose exuberance I find infectious. I'm grateful for everyone who waxes enthusiastic and shares lovely gardens on the TV. They have helped me through many a bleak winter.
Because of the strong angular shape of the sculpture, I don't think it lends itself well to flowers or perennials. My first thought was to pave it, at least around the center and add gravel or rocks. I did find this pic with the kind of dried grass that undulates like waves in the wind, which might be a nice contrast to the metal.
Some other ideas:
Aggregate:
" Hey @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9), I think this will be your first full season in your new digs? Do you have some interesting garden plans for this, your inaugural year? "
LOL!! I have plenty of plans but the weather and old age are not making things easy for me :-)) I'm off to a very slow start.
My garden is tiny - around 500sf - and will be containers only. For it to look the way I intend it to, I need a lot more broadleaf evergreens to give it substance. When I moved I only took what was already in containers so most of my BLE's were planted in the ground and got left behind. I've got lots of plant shopping to do!!
I've only purchased a couple of new plants so far but I am busy gathering supplies........multiple bags of potting soil ingredients, 2 new galvanized stock tanks for my few edibles (and I am excited about having them on hand), a hose and a weed whacker. Area is much too small for a lawn mower and besides, there's a lot of pots in the way :-) I had hoped to have had all the existing lawn removed and a walkway and river rock to replace it for a good container surface but my landscaping funds can't cover that expense so now it is a full DIY project.
I am not sure how photogenic it may be this season - gardens don't happen overnight, even in containers - but I'll see what sort of pics I can come up with as the season progresses.
GGal, is this the first time you are growing in galvanized stock tanks? I have had that idea to try that in the back of my mind for a long time. I’d love to hear your first hand experience.
Mxk3 - So funny, I LOVE watering. LoL I have to catch myself from spending too much time lallygagging around with the hose. I think when I am watering, I’m stopping long enough to actually get a good look at what’s growing. I find it meditative as well.
BTW, I hope you post more photos of your deck garden this year, I really enjoy it.
LaLennoxa - I agree, nurseries in my area do everything to try to get you to buy the largest size annual. To me, I don’t know how it profits them because they priced me just about out of the market. I buy a whole lot less and now I start from seed too, rather than spend a fortune on plants for containers.
One nursery near me, has someone on staff that does a really good job creating these very pretty sample containers and then they make sure that the contents are all available only in the largest size and the most premium plants. I don’t feel I want to reward that kind of decision making.
And I don’t consider your methods ‘cheap’. Your financially sound decisions are frugal. Which never used to be a bad word, in a different generation. I also do what you do, and use plants from the garden in containers. I normally need to divide some perennials every season and I will add my own divisions to containers for a season and plant them out in the garden in the Fall. Sometimes I will use a houseplant in an outdoor container. And sometimes I try to overwinter and use those in the next year’s containers.
Does anyone plant bulbs in containers for spring display?
I don’t normally cram a lot into each container, I try to give each plant the expected room to grow. But - I think I might try a few pots planted close together this year.
Marmiegard - I do like an arrangement of single plants in containers too.
Squirrels used to be pests in my containers until I stopped feeding the birds. I don’t see them in my yard nearly as often.
"Does anyone plant bulbs in containers for spring display? "
I tried that one year, I think it was daffs or tulips or maybe both; they all rotted out over the winter, so I never tried it again.