One of my coreopsis tries to do this the others seem to be fine, never had the problem with my salvia though. I had to dig my hole just a little deeper and shove it in the whole a little more. I guess I didnt burry it deep enough when I planted it. After I did that it seemed to help alot, if your plants are in bloom I wouldnt suggest doing it though unless you plan to baby them till they get adjusted, cause its just like they were just transplanted. I dont know if that is the case with yours but it sure helped my leggy lazy coreopsis.

Last year my meadow sage flopped all summer (newly planted), left it be, but it's fine this year. Am having trouble with some ? green stuff lots of people grow, greyish green, maybe a little velvety, starts with a. Mine may be under the drip line of a roof that's pitched in an A so I don't see the problem with that; it's doing better this year but I wouldn't say it is thriving. It's hard to keep nutrients in some of my spots because trees roots compete for them.

I should have pinched back my coreopsis as they were leaning from the rain but not flat so I staked them up, looks bad, but I don't care, I want the blooms then will divide, didn't get an answer on the perennials forum whether I can divide in early fall or not. Don't see why not. The coreopsis were supposed to stay in back, but spread all the way to the sidewalk in a large clump.

Bloom booster has helped my lilies, but they still lean on east side that doesn't get much sun. At least I can put them in hoop stakes without their snapping this year, stems feel strong like they should.

Wallflower was gorgeous then toppled in the rain last year. Had little plastic fences and that held those back up.

How do you stake neatly and with what?

Artemesia, came to me.

Sheesh.... mine can't fall over! All I have are tiny sprouts! Except Cosmos, but those are fine so far. No blooms yet, but at least they haven't fallen and can't get up!

So sorry prof. You might need to get them a Life Alert!

I mostly just have sprouts too. No way for them to flop. At least for my WS items.

My planted catmint from last year is flopping some. I noticed the ones that have my yarrow beside them are fine. they seem to be supporting each other. I guess I just need more plants to support the others. Cram em in...

Karen

Something nibbled on my catmint. Those about two or three inches. They have a cuople of tiny holes in the leaves. Nothing else is bothered, and I know it isn't slugs...

I heard the little blue pill works on the flopping issue...

Here is a link that might be useful: No Flop Flowers

nancy: Great link! The only problem is I can't afford it for myself, so I'll be darned if I'm gonna spend $8 a pop for the cosmos to stand up! ;-)

something chewed off a few stalks of my catmint. I thought bunnies don't like it? Oh well it was not too much damage just a few bits so they must not have wanted more.

The blue pill for floppy flowers that is funny!!
Karen

That was funny!

My catmint WS last year wasn't looking that great did come back though. This year there are some buds. But it hasn't multiplied much and isn't as robust as the meadow sage (I bought that somewhere).

I planted some more seeds of catmint and have them where I can mist them in open bottoms of gal milk jugs w/holes. With tops taped on this time of year, I was getting mold, so opened them all up. Don't make my mistake even though I had cap off and lots of vent holes.

Just about all have germinated to one degree or another except for 2. I may actually get better germination than I did with some I WS'ed.

Now the problem is my WS crazy daisies and rudbeckia last year were looking wilty, dries out fast in that bed even w/all the rain we've had. So I bottom watered those in the garden. One speculated that the necessary roots can't keep up with the top growth. We talked about wilting daisies on the perennials forum, have had that problem right along with different kinds of daisies, much better the subsequent year. But the wilting Rudbeckia is in its second year in the garden. It's got a dressing of compost but needs mulch which I'm out of. That bed might be trouble, especially after I have a large tree taken out except that the huge tree will no longer suck up as much water in the back yard as it can get.

aliska12000, I have a dry bed too. It is dry not too long after a rain. I added some compost, topsoil and lots of mulch to that area. I also realized I was not seeing many worms over there so I also added coffee grounds to attract them.

It is still my driest area but is getting better. I even saw some worms there last time I dug there. Those dry spots are a pain!

My catmint was a purchased perenial last year. I did not WS any. I might try to collect some seeds this year. Last year I did not see any but I did not try too hard either.
lol

Karen

I've been having trouble keeping my tipsy pots from getting dry. They have moisture control potting mix in them and still they dry out... and it's not even warm here yet! Yesterday I had to water them twice.

Don't even talk to me about flopping. Rudbeckia hirta is one of the ugliest plants I have in my garden. It's the lazy thing I have ever seen.

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But is sure is pretty when it blooms.

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That rudbeckia is really pretty.

Karen, I had a guy till a long strip with a tractor, had him pick up some peat on the way. He didn't scatter it very uniformly, got him to come on the spur of the moment and was too much for me with my tiller. Was out of compost.

I'll just keep working on that strip, leaves for mulch were a great help last year. My family top dressed it with compost. When I dig in there, I don't find worms but did find and squish some grubs. The soil is front is sticky when I dug yesterday which means high clay content, didn't know about amending when we tilled those areas. But I found lots of worms, so that is a good sign.

The more organics I can get on the dry area, the better it should get over time. I think my plants will do some of the work of mixing it in because as their roots grow, they might loosen the soil a bit. Years ago, there was a long privet hedge there, grew fine, got fed up with it and kids ripped it all out, ground lay fallow for years.

Except for one spot at the driest end where we dug very deep to bury my cat and brought too much clay to the surface, the plants are thriving. Iris are very happy there. Maybe it wasn't the cat because I remember I had tomatoes there B4 cat died, and they were the scrawniest of the lot, turned brown first, and my neighbor had even lent me a very long soaker hose. I don't like using the soaker hose now for several reasons, makes weeds worse, can't chop once it's in, heavy to lift/move, connector hose has to span the sidewalk where I or somebody might trip on it, but it did make watering easier.

I may try it again once I get all my plants in there, set it up before the plants emerge in the spring so they will grow around it. Now laying it would be too tricky, so long it turns 2-1/2 times.

I need to check out how others amend their soil after-the-fact like you're trying to do, how deep I can hope to improve it, etc.

I had a nice 10" mound of catmint. One day from the window I watched the neighbor's cat practically eat the whole thing. Hmmm...maybe why it' called CATmint! LOL

It bounced back bigger and thicker after the 'pruning'...:-D
Kris

aliska12000, sounds like you have a good plan... those dry areas do take some work :)

Plants and worms will help a bunch. Mine sure have.
Karen

On the side where I'm working on a new be I covered the ground with cardboard and news paper. Added lots of shredded leaves and dumped my compost on top. I kept it watered and after about a month when I decided I would go ahead and plat pocket, the bed was so full of worms it was like I was digging in a worm compost bend.
I have been working on feeding my worms for the last few years though so, my yard is full of them.
Pattie

So if I do try the little blue pill on my flowers, should I seek help if they are still standing up after 8 or 9 days.
jim_6b

Jim....is there a scientific name for that?

I'm sure there is.
jim_6b

Nepeta Walkers Low is laying all over everything around it.

Strung some plant tie material on stakes all around them but I know from last year they just turn to horribly tangled mush when forced to stand up in tighter form.

They're gorgeous when well behaved but mine aren't behaving. Soil may be too "rich" for them but it's hard to make a few spots in a garden "lean" for them.

I should throw them in some unamended clay and see which they like better...LOL...that'll teach em.

I'm sure the Greek god Priapus 'wood' have a name for it.
jim_6b

Hey Prof, to answer your question I do have that problem and it's with my peonies. Every year when they bloom it always rains and they end up on the ground. I have thought many times about making something from some wire fence for them to grow through but have not yet. Maybe next year.
jim_6b

My Catmint usually does open up in the middle when it gets loaded with blooms, but not drastically, more like gracefully. Once it does this though it's time to cut back to around 4" for repeat bloom. The soil they are planted in in sandy, gravelly infertile soil and they do best there.

I have Nepeta musinii and although the base of the oldest plant is only about 20" in dimension when in bloom it is about 3'.
If something is nibbling on your plants it may be cats. 2 of 6 of my neighbors cats take a bite now and again throughout the season. One cat, now deceased (so sad), used to like to take afternoon naps right in the middle of one. I'd have to fluff it back up LOL!
BTW this is one plant you don't want to set-seed unless you are willing to deal with a gazillion seedlings each spring/summer. I thought I could harvest seeds from these my first year but it's impossible not to have 100 seed drop to the ground while you're cutting stems to insert in paper bags! ACK!!
Here is Catmint on May 16th and May 26th. By the time I cut them back on June 5th the flowering spires were 2x as long and opening up in the center. From experience I know a ton of seed is beginning to form at this point :O
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Really don't have manu plants that flop to the point of unsightliness; at least not due to rain. If Blue Flax is in heavy bloom and it rains they will lay down until they dry out again...usually within hours. We did get some much needed rain over the last few days though; there won't be much more of that for the next 4 months!
Wind is another story! I do have to cut back Maximilian Sunflower 2 times to get them wider and bushier than tall. I also cut back Heliopsis (False Sunflower) and Hollyhock. This year will be trying it on Aster laevis (Smooth Blue Aster), last year it's 2nd year it was looking really nice until winds made a mess out of them!

I do have 2 dry sandy/gravelly beds and one partial dry and I keep it that way for dry heat loving plants: Catmint, Lavender, Salvia, Thyme, Carl foerster Grass, Sedum, Bearded Iris, Blue Flax, Echinacea, Hyssopus, Rose Campion, Shasta Daisy, Coreopsis lanceolata, Feverfew and Agastache foeniculum. Peony does well here too. This is a bed that faces south and is the south border of my one of my veg beds. Annuals that grow well in this dry bed are: Statice, Snapdragon, Larkspur, Moss Rose, Nigella, Sweet Alyssum, Cynoglossum, Gazania, Venidium, Coreopsis tinctoria and Verbena bonariensis. I've even had Wave Petunia thrive here.
August 5th 2007
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