Funny thing,

I have coral bells and hostas in the shade garden. All this time Ive been planning to propagate the hostas to fill it in and eliminate the coral bells.

It hit me the other day that the slugs do NOT touch the coral bells and that I should be propagating THEM to fill it in and move towards doing away with the hostas.

Ive also decided to fill in the back with pachysandra instead of mowing the creeping charlie, yellow clover stuff, "sticker plants" and tree seedlings. Why or why didn't I grab that huge pile of pachysandra cuttings at the last swap? I real DUH moment for me!

I might even move the daylillies to the back.

Gotta work with what works best.

:)
D

What about delphiniums like the Belladonna types? My 'Magic Fountain' (I only own one) just started blooming this week. My dog laid on it and the Campanula persicifolia in spring. The Campanula actually bloomed early, so don't know if my delphinium is early, too. But, if it's on time, then they are tall non-yellow plants you could use. I really like the form of my 'Magic Fountain."

Tina, do you have any lobelia cardinalis? Mine is about 4" tall, now in it's 5th year. Well behaved, one of the few things that doesn't self sow with wild abandon in my yard. It only spreads slowly. It doesn't bloom until August, but the hummers are there day and night. You could see them from your window. Here are some from last year.
{{gwi:413886}}

{{gwi:413888}}

Karen

Yanking the hollyhocks I sowed this year. The single survivor from last year bloomed amid much rust and general ugliness. I will try to transplant something else there next year.

Plans for 2011? How about NOW??? How about last year??
:-D
I have begun to yank things out last year and replaced them with bold leaves. This year I have also yanked out anything that has multiplied 10 times over... even my precious lilies.
I am having tens of everything. Enough already. Even though I have given away tons of plants every year, I still have ginormous number of plants. Uggg........

I have also potted some up bit by bit in preparation for a plant sale next spring a la tiffy. :-D

Kqcrna, love the pictures of the lobelia, especially love the hummers. I always thought you needed a real wet area for them to survive. What kind of soil do you have them in?

Mmqchdygg, I am also ripping out coreopsis, as much as I love the color, I can't stand the flopping and as you said, the deadheading is too much.

I just planted 2 new echinaceas, Sundown and Hot Lava, both are supposed to be in the orange family, Sundown should be a red orange and Hot Lava an orange coral. Hopefully they will make the yellow bed a little brighter.

Good luck deciding. Carol

The lobelia cardinalis is in clay soil, which I have been ammending with my homemade compost for about 25 years. I do give it a fair amount of water but not that much. I watered it a lot it's first year but after five years it is very well established. It gets late morning- early afternoon sun, shade the rest of the day.

It sits right in front of my porch, so the hummers keep us amused for the month of August.
{{gwi:369710}}

Karen

And here I am, I can't even get my lobelia seeds to sprout for me. They're as bad as Joe Pye. I do love them so! Yours are gorgeous, Karen.

MMQ, I'm thinking seriously about digging out the lupines so I can give something else that spot. Also, a lot of my Janice Brown daylily crosses have reverted back to looking too much like ditch lilies now, and they are in that same garden.

As I age more I feel the need to make my gardens easier to care for. I think blue hydrangeas would be great in my biggest garden, alongside my Limelight hydrangea which just loves that spot. I have lots of cocoa mulch to put down as soon as DH can help me.

Mary

Oh my YES! Started this week by reconsidering the beautiful orange oriental poppies. As nice as they are, when they mature to a good size the wind and rain wreak havoc on them and so their stay is short. One huge footing came out and was replaced by a Weigela and Piti's Prairie Smoke seedlings. Others in another garden are going to be 'cradled' by Hostas.

A lilac was moved out of the gardens and a Rose of Sharon has replaced it since I seem to be able to finally deter the deers from eating some things I'd like to grow. They have also left my roses to bloom and for the first time in 5 years I brought in a bouquet of Lillian Austin roses for the kitchen table. The Lilac which was removed had been there for 6 years and not bloomed. I think I gave it enough time!!

I will be gathering leaves like crazy in the fall. Didn't get enough this past fall and the mulching is suffering.

My BES will be left to reseed. I didn't let them do it last year and know I will miss the show in a few weeks. :O(

Moving towards making some of the gardens less work. Getting there in some cases and focusing on the progress. More shrubs and stately plants. :O)

My garden has been irking me for a couple of years now, and I'm about ready to yank everything and start all over. But, being realistic, I'm going to seriously prune the shrubs and vines, repot everything. The one thing that will definitely be yanked is the thug yarrow. It's entirely too floppy, and it won't let anything else grow with it in that pot. There may be others gone, but I haven't decided yet. There is just too much out there and it's no longer looking good to me.

And I'm tired of providing havens for these danged birds up here.

PV

lobelia cardinalis, that lobelia cardinalis is gorgeous! Can it be planted in zone 5a? If so, can I have seeds? :)

Thanks!

Already yanked:

1. tall shasta daisy - too floppy, bugs ate the petals, not pretty at all
2. monarda - nasty powdery mildew really early every year, I'm just done trying it
3. daylilies (hall's pink)- very boring, very messy with large mushy flowers falling off everyday

What's getting yanked next:
1. more daylilies!
2. tall lanceleaf coreopsis - first good rain storm and it is down for the count...the goldfinches guilted me into keeping it last year, but no more.
3. hollyhocks - pretty flowers, but a really ratty looking plant.
4. mountain bluet (maybe)- if dividing and moving it doesn't stop the powdery mildew next year it is gone.
5. ....anything else that finds me outside in the mud, mosquitoes, and heat of summer trying in vain to tie it up or shear it back to keep it upright and off other plants repeatedly.

Things to add or do next year:
1. Start more natives, especially grasses and sedges.
2. Don't wintersow any more spring or early blooming annuals. Our lack of a nice spring season does not seem to do them any good, plus it delays my getting them planted out. It goes from too cold to germinate and grow, right into hot weather that seems to stop their growth and makes them "flower". I have too many tiny annuals that are 1/10 their supposed size, with one spindly sad little flower.
3. I may need to start a holding bed for perennials too. I try to fill in bare spots from yanked plants with my new seedlings, but they seem to get crowded out. It was easier when I first started the beds for all my wintersown babies because everything was the same size at planting time.
4. I'm going to try not to feel guilty about yanking less than desirable plants next year. After all, I only have so much room, and want to try new things every year since wintersowing is so easy!

Funny that someone should mention this subject... I have been a busy busy girl... This is a pic of the end of my street (we are the only house on the street), hubby made me a holding bed so I could rearrange my gardens.

{{gwi:413891}}

I have a couple of friends coming by to take some of these of my hands.

The daylilies are just too messy looking for me, same with most of the iris, columbines and perennial geraniums. The potentillas grow too messy for me and the others are just too darn big.

I waaay over planted in some areas.

Happy yanking
Lisa

I thought I would post a pic of another area that is clean because that last posting is suCh a mess!! I still have some work to do but it's much better!

{{gwi:413893}}

{{gwi:413895}}

Hosta anyone??

Molanic! We live in the same spring-free state! You're right, it goes from too cold and wet one day to hot and dry the next and there's none of that intermediate weather for things that need it.

It's always been frustrating!!

Beautiful beds, Lisa. That second picture has an unusual looking lily that either has hosta leaves or is growing up through a hosta. Which is it?

So...you won't need any purple irises at this fall's swap?

Darn.

;-)

Neil, I'll try to get you some seeds. Often our storms steal the seeds in the wind or break the stems on these because they're so tall, but I should be able to get some with a little effort.

I hate seed saving, get lazy. It's not that I don't know how, it's just something I avoid. Though some of my prettiest mutts have come from my own harvested seeds, sometimes I get some butt ugly things too. And I always bring bugs into the house on the seeds. One year I had more assassin bugs in here than dust particles. (My husband asked what are these weird bugs and where are they coming from? My dining room was covered with drying flowers for seeds. Duh! He really is intelligent, has a high IQ, wouldn't you THINK he could have guessed? I didn't admit to anything... )

Karen

Lisa, Lisa, Lisa!!! Do tell us what is that plant in the middle of the second photo or else Deanna and I will, er, ... do SOMETHING!!!

We need to know. It's a matter of survival here. I am going to die if I don't find out. PLEEEASE!!!!!

Yes, I was wondering what that is, too.

Karen

Not sure for 2011, but I finally dug out 3 clumps of grass in one section of garden and replace w. Jacob Cline Bee Balm yesterday. These were divided sections of grass from another part of the garden, they looked amazing in that area, the ripped out grass grew prostrate, and it was a green sprawling mess, and in an area where I wanted some color and height.

The plant in the middle is a lily cappaccino (tango). I got it in a round robin box ans just love it. It has just one stock right now and is leaning into the hosta. It's about 30 inches tall but appears to be reaching for the sun so it's drooping into the hosta.

Deanna, In the first pic way to the right you can see a plant with pink flowers drooping down....that's the plant that I gave you at the swap last month.

Mmqqhdygg, sorry for highjacking your thread!

Lisa

Lisa, I looked up that Cherry Bell as soon as I got home and I can't wait for it to bloom here! It is really beautiful and thank you so much for making it my b'day surprise! I'm hoping the peony makes it, too. It's only leaf was broken at the swap, and I see one red eye on it. I'm hoping they can store enough nutrition in their roots to make it through the winter and put out stalks next year. I gave it a VERY deep watering a couple of days ago because we are so very dry here now. Our grass is crunchy brown because of our lack of rain.

Again, your yard looks great!

Yellow...

{{gwi:413897}}
{{gwi:413899}}
{{gwi:413901}}
{{gwi:413904}}

Okay, not sure of my plans for 2011 yet, just a few comments to add...

That IS a very pretty Lily, Ishareflowers, and your beds look great!

MMQ, you do have a lot of yellow! Although it's very pretty, maybe you can just mix some other colors in there.

V1, I have tons of seeds of Lobelia cardinalis if you'd like some, but I've only had partial success winter-sowing it. It actually reseeds better for me than it winter-sows. Little plants pop up all around in empty spots (with no mulch) and the garden path. I now have 3 good-sized patches. This is one of the hummer's favorite plants - they go crazy over it.

I am going to yank my 'Blue Clip' campanula. Too much deadheading to keep it looking neat and it opens in the center when it is large.

Any replacement suggestions? In front of a pink hydrangea, white phlox, penstemon 'Husker Red' and next to a tiny white daisy, and gypsophilia repens, pink. Scottish blue bells nearby. Maybe a ferny bleeding heart with bluish foliage?