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Ho yeah, Prairie...have been having a little penstemon thing for 2,3 years now, collecting seeds and growing species. Had only ever grown those garden hybrids which, tbh, don't really set my heart alight...but O, mensarum, watsonii, strictus, cobaea...be still, my beating heart, I just adore them. Cos I am starting from scratch and they are not really easy to find in UK nurseries, it has been seed all the way for me, but back in the day, I mostly took cuttings, which were quick, easy and reliable. Once the various penstemons are growing well, I will be going down the cutting route again (I truly hate all that digging, hacking, 2forks/sharp knife business of division). I would definitely be potting up and growing on self-sown ones...although it is easy to get a bit overwhelmed with too many plants and no space. I have desisted from dividing my primulas for a few years because I just don't know what to do with all the extras...
If you’re unsure, maybe prune half and leave the other half alone?
re seedlings: My Dakota Burgundy leaves are just as dark as their parent. They will bloom for the first time this year, it will be interesting to see if the flowers are the same color too!
'I don't know how you hold so much detail in your head'
O Prairie - almost certainly because there is not much else going on (vague and confused).
A bonus to spring ordering is the opportunity to pinch back the tips in May/June and root them.
I have the same problem. All the Mums I have bought from local nurseries are not hardy and die out the first year. A lot of those I bought at Bluestone Perennials have come back faithfully. They do have a good selection but I'd be interested to find another source that has a new collection for me to choose from, if anyone finds one.
Though I don't think GG said this in frank words, the newer complex hybrid caulescent plants, tend to be a bit more on the finicky side (for me at least) than the common garden hybrids in their care needs. But at least I can grow them, where h niger (one of the parents, aka the Christmas Rose) remains intolerant of my climate.
Also a note, that just almost no plant (and certainly not hellebores) enjoy mostly shade. They will tolerate it, but blooming is far far better in a situation with morning and maybe even late evening sun and overhead (noon) shade. Remember, sunlight drives photosynthesis.
It’s very pretty!
debra
O no, definitely not auricula, just saying how easily primulas will cross and seed, and the difficulty of maintaining named varieties once mixed in with other types. I agree, deffo a polyantha, and given the picotee edge, might well have some of the Gold Lace genes.
They're definitely not Virginia bluebells.
I’m curious if anyone has tried choking them out with cardboard. We’re in Portland, OR, as well, and I agree they are relentless. Pulling only works about half the time and I haven’t detected a pattern for when it works and when it doesn’t. Thoughts, suggestions?
We have a large property and tons of garden spaces. The area where the bluebells are is way in the back and not very used. We aren’t worried. Bluebells are a small section top left.
PM2, I hadn't seen this thread yet. I LOVE that first hellebore. Do you know the name? HAHA! I have some nerve asking since I never keep names of anything in my garden. I saw a tag on one today and almost got it (Wedding something) but then saw a flower and it was all off-white. Not sure if it was just old/faded flower?? Love, love, love all those daffodils!
I got out and cut a flower from each hellebore again today. There are still a couple that haven't opened yet, but this is the bulk of them. How I do love me some hellebore! LOL!
Nothing wrong with posting to an old thread, IMO. It brings the subject back into conversation and can still offer opinions, advice, experiences, and photos!
:)
Dee
I have no issues with resurrecting old threads...........IF the late contribution adds to the discussion. However, when the new comments fail to address the subject at all and go off on another tangent (with a lot of holes in its concept) and further offering unasked for advice to the previous posters that have not been active on the forums for years, then I am compelled to respond.
I've have sometimes wondered what became of "Kevin" i.e, aachenelf z5 Mpls.
Try Phlox Jeana, it's a hummingbird and Swallowtail magnet. It grows to around 5ft tall and about 3ft wide. The day I brought my first one home I sat the pot on my patio to grab the shovel out of the garage and when I walked back into the yard there was hummingbird on it. They are very reliable and the Swallowtails also love it. IIt is the highest rated Phlox at Mt. .Cuba. I have 3 of them and have never seen a speck of powdery mildew on any of .
I'm in z5 NY and my hummingbirds go for my monarda, honeysuckle vine, solomon's seal, lantana, impatiens, tall phlox, hosta flowers, etc.
Ugh, my friend gave me some purple monarda and it ran horribly for me and then the roots broke easily when I tried to control it. It ran so badly that I ripped it out before the season was over.
This reddish/pink monarda tries to run, but it's easy for me to yank out, and sometimes, it's just better to let things run. :)
Brigitte is relaying incorrect information. Lindera takes very well to pruning.
"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.
Keep getting wind storms. Tired of it
4-10-2024:
First yard peeps for spring 2024:
Paeonia Lactiflora x Paeonia Officinalis (Red Charm peony). ;-)
10-11-2024:
We're not out of the woods yet. After a coming weekend in the 70's, its forecast for mid to high 20'sdf coming by the 4-19th and 20th. The frost is almost out of the ground except for some shady/sheltered spots, but even that's on its last leg.
Took some pictures of what is showing life around the yard doesn't look like any losses.
Betla papyrifera catkins:
Taxus canadensis strobilus:
Pinus ponderosa var scopulorum buds expanding:
Rosa Blanda chomping at the bit:
Larix Laricina budding green:
;-)
Plastic totes. Solid colors, not the clear kind. Usually pretty cheap 5-8 bucks each, often comes out in holiday colors at some of the big box stores. Drill a lotta holes in the bottom for drainage. Keep the lids because sometimes I use them on the totes for various reasons. They are on concrete. The low greenhouse caps are of the heavy duty greenplastic with metal tube frames you see at Aldi and sometimes other stores. These ones happen to fit 6 totes perfect and they are only 3' tall. I put them on in the fall and pack in leaves for insulation. They come off in the later spring after the frosts have passed. Some stuff stays green through the winter, like parsley and hardy greens. I can get taters in extra early spring too. Even though they are on concrete, the worms find their way into them and I'm always finding a bunch in them when I dig around. Probably because of the compost and mulch adds I use. I don't have rabbit issues in the kitchen garden. Some of it might be the bins, but they also don't touch the in ground part of it. I think it's more due to the proximity of the house and the worker kitties in the yard.
I use Promix because it's cheap and handy. I could go over to the bigger supply place and pick up the stuff to mix my own for a bit cheaper. But Promix is just handier.
Ferments. I do true sugar ferments. Hard pack a jar with a mix of brown sugar and green component. I tend to like comfrey, dandilion, and borage for their profiles. Put a burper on it and let it ferment for a couple-few weeks on the counter. Smells no more than if I got a jar of pickles or kraut in a burping jar. Not unplesant, almost a green yeasty grainy sort of smell. It is a concentrate, gets mixed with water for watering, or further for spraying.
Water composting. Swamp water. I stuff a lidded container with various weeds from a bed. I have a lot of kitty litter buckets handy for this. Fill container with water, seal lid. Let sit for months. Pop the lids once in a while to offgas, they stink. They are done when they stop stinking so bad. Use resulting liquid as a feed back to the beds they weeds came from. Sludge to the compost bin. Anaerobic kills life in there , and the slow can yield higher mineral extraction. Good for late fall use right before the snow cover comes. I usually have a couple large water containers that in the fall I stuff with brown leaves and let those sit through the winter uncovered. By the time spring feed watering is hitting, the brown tea is done steeping. Brown tea does not smell. I've done aerobic once in the past- it's messy because of adding a pump to aeriate the water. And in the long run algae played against me.
I also kind of curiate my weeds. Have for years. Most of what I have now are desireable weeds in the yard beds and kitchen garden. Edibles, or ones noted for high content of something X that I may want to cull into a future feed. I let those go more for living mulch, including in the totes. True bads get pulled for other composting methods.
I've bought roses from many different nurseries . Started with Almost Heaven Roses, which was about 30 miles from me. I'd visit there every spring. Used to buy from Pickering. Have bought many from Burlington Roses in CA, Roses Unlimited, David Austin Roses, Countryside Roses, Palatine, Edmunds, Hortico, The Antique Rose Emporium, Rogue Valley Roses, Vintage, and I have had a number of trading buddies.
Yes, l collect the hips in my own garden in fall. I usually wait till they turn orange though not all turn orange. I cut them open with a small paring knife like you'd cut a grapefruit. The seeds are pretty big and white. I dig them out with the knife. Here's what they look like:
Yes, if you want hips you don't deadhead. Most of the new seedlings bloom within two months of sprouting, maybe 3 months. I did have one that grew pretty big without blooming. I figured it was maybe a climber, one that would put most of its energy into growing before blooming. Well that plant finally bloomed and was beautiful but so far doesn't look like a climber. But many bloom quite early while still a few inches tall.
I have made alfalfa tea in a huge rectangular low Rubbermaid type tub. If you make it in the cool part of the spring and steep it four or five days it doesn't stink. It smells like fresh hay. I think it's because it gets more oxygen with greater surface area. IMO the stink of it made in deep trash cans is anaerobic bacteria but I could be wrong.
Prairiemoon, yes they may have cross pollinated or maybe they're self-pollinated. You don't know what you're going to get whether you do the crosses or just grow open pollinated seeds. That's the fun of it. If they just cloned the parent plant you may as well take cuttings. Half the fun is the surprise of what you get.
If you try growing them from seed you might consider trying more than one variety because some germinate much better than others. If a variety balks at germinating I still may not give up on it. Sometimes a rose that never germinates will suddenly have a good year and I may get one or more seedlings from it.
There's a lot to learn about growing them from seed so you might look at some old posts about it. Some of the rose breeders here have good info. Washing the seeds can be a good idea though I don't think I did it last year. I put them in a little kitchen strainer and rub them around a bit to get off the orange stuff and perhaps they get nicked a little which might help with germination.
prairie - are you planning to get some ducks? I know they don’t crow like roosters do but I’ll bet their constant quacking could drive one - well, you know - quackers! 🤭
I'll post again about the coffee, since I found an article about it: (the soil scientist quoted is named Linda Brewer :))
Again, my experience is with diluted coffee poured on the leaves being protective, but is similar to what the excerpt talks about.
Excerpt:
Perhaps more exciting than the positive effect of coffee grounds as a compost and soil amendment, is its potential as a slug killer, Brewer said. Research shows that using a 1% to 2% solution mixed with water as a soil drench caused 100% of slugs to leave the treated soil and subsequently die of caffeine poisoning. A 2% solution of caffeine applied to the growing medium of orchids killed 95% of orchid snails and gave better control than a liquid metaldehyde product – the common slug bait.
To make a 1% to 2% soil drench add 1-part water to 2-parts strong brewed coffee. For example, use 1 cup water to 2 cups of coffee. To reduce slug feeding on foliage, add 9-parts water to 1-part brewed coffee and apply as a spray.
“A sensible approach would be to apply diluted coffee to a sample of leaves and wait for a few hot and sunny days to watch for leaf burn or other damage,” Brewer said. “If there’s no damage, go ahead with spraying.”
Sadly slugs and snails are not deterred by coffee grounds around plants. They happily attack my hostas even when the soil is entirely covered in them. https://www.gardenmyths.com/getting-rid-slugs-coffee-grounds/
As for spraying coffee on foliage, I believe the experiments were done with a caffeine solution, not brewed coffee. And in a wet climate spraying anything is a hiding to nothing. I'd be applying it everyday.
I've just removed three of my giant garden snails from a clematis obelisk. I cleared it yesterday too. And the day before ...
@arbordave (SE MI) - what would you think about starting a new thread for 2024? I love this thread, but it's gotten so long!
If you hit the box with the number of comments it will take you to the bottom.
tj
Thanks Bill and prairiemoon.
It is indeed Bombyliidae. the picture matches. This is a very cute fly and it hovers like a hummingbird moth.