I'm Back From The Herb Festival

19 years ago

Wow, tons of stuff out there. Want to see my list:

Heuchera "Raspberry Ice"

Bronze Fennel

Flat leaf parsley

Tricolor sage

Mint 'Berries and Cream'

Echinacea 'Big Sky Sunrise' (yellow, of course)

Persicaria 'Painter's Palatte' (I've always wanted this)

Agastache 'Golden Jubilee'

Tetrapanax (YEAH! I finally got one that looks alive!)

Elderberry (baby)

Lantana 'Dallas Red'

Dawn, I need your input on growing the elderberry. The lady said it did not need sun to do well. Will it fit in my shady (part sun to filtered sun) back yard? She said it has white flowers and then white berries, that the birds usually get first. That's fine with me, because I'll be growing it for them anyway.

Grrrr. I got the Tetrapanax for half the price I paid for a dead one from Plant Delights. The mint sounded too good to pass up. Doesn't take long for me to drop a few bucks - I think I purchased everything in about 15 minutes of looking and knowing pretty much what I wanted.

There was someone selling a ton of iris rhizomes. I passed up the cassia (annual) although I know there are some butterfly larva that (which one?) use it for a host plant, or am I dreaming?

Lovely baskets of blooming bougainvilla, astilbes, and on and on. I hope the rain holds off until it's over.

Susan

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Comments (4)

Tomato_Worm59
19 years ago
I sure wish I was there!
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Okiedawn OK Zone 7
19 years ago
Susan,

Sounds like you had a MOST WONDERFUL time at the herb festival. Now I am sure that I must make it to that festival next year!

I don't know a whole lot about elderberry, but here is what little I do know. It is very adaptable and can handle soils that are wet for periods of time, but also grows well in soil that gets very dry periodically. I have seen it in every sun situation except full sun. It seems to thrive in rich soil and dappled shade, so I think it will LOVE your yard! I know the flowers are white, but I was thinking the berries were a blueish-black?

The only pest I know of that bothers it much is the elderberry longhorn beetle. (See the photo link below.) It will eat the pollen/nectar of the flowers. Eventually the beetle will lay its eggs at the base of the plant. When the larvae hatch, they will feed on its roots. I've seen the beetles all my life (we called them elderberry borers) but don't know precisely how much damage they do to the plants.

Some of the native American tribes in Oklahoma used elderberry in many ways medicinally: to treat liver ailments, headaches, burns, rheumatism, sores, stomache aches, jaundice etc. It is also used to make elderberry wine and elderberry jam.

And, I am glad you finally got a healthy tetrapanax plant! The 'Berries and Cream" mint sounds lovely, and I just love yellow echinaceas!

I'm glad you showed SOME restraint and didn't come home with one of everything...you sound like me, though. I know what I am looking for, and when I find it, I get it...'cause who knows when I'll find it again!

Hope you get everything planted first and then have a lovely, long rain shower to help the plants settle in!

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Elderberry longhorn beetle
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susanlynne48
Original Author
19 years ago
I do wish it would rain. Although I absolutely had to water portions of my yard yesterday, and oh, the back and legs hurt so much!

I planted most of my plants I got from Heronswood yesterday. And because they are all kind of finicky (except for the phlomis and verbascum), I had to dig very large, deeo holes for the amended soil. I added garden soil to the soil that was dug out, about half and half, and fertilized with tomato fertilizer. It is 9-12-12, so I figured that with the higher potassium it would lessen the shock. I planted the mahonia (this one is a little different; it gets red & yellow inflorescences), the crambe cordifolia, another thalictrum 'Illimunator', lilium 'Flore Pleno' (double flowering tiger); arisaema nepenthoides (a tall variety), disporum 'Black Heron', epimedium wushanense hybrid (mottled rust and green foliage); podophyllum (May Apple). The gold-leaved agastache, I planted in the front yard. I think it will be gorgeous with that foliage against the blue flower spikes. I also planted the phlomis and verbascum 'Caribbean Crush' in the front. I worked from about 11:00 until 6:30, and had to quit then. This old body just can't take it anymore, and I don't think my office would understand if I had to take off for strained back and muscles from gardening! Why, I don't know.

I really want to get the bog plants put in today, but I'm not sure it is going to get done.

I just went and bought mushroom compost at Home Depot (40 lbs for $1.99), Miracle Grow garden soil and potting soil. Also got me a scuffle hoe, which I've been wanting for a long time.

One of these days (dream) I would like to get a pair of Felco pruners. But they are not in the budget right now ($60).

Thanks for the tips on the beetles.

Susan
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heidibird
19 years ago
Sounds like you had a wonderful shopping trip at the Herb Festival. Happy growing!
~Heidi
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