The truth about the longevity of Echinacea please (!)
katyajini
2 years ago
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katyajini
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Dwarf apple tree bark shedding help please
Comments (1)Dave: There is a condition known as sunscald which occurs in northern latitudes when the low-angle rays of the sun strike the trunk while ambient temperatures are way below freezing. This causes thermal shock on the trunk, and can result in bark splitting. Many growers in northern locations paint their trunks with white latex for that reason. It is debatable whether you are far enough north for this condition to occur, but in northern Nebraska it may be possible. Truth be told, there there may be other factors at work here, and it is not always possible to pin them down. Stuff just happens to trees, and if it does not seriously affect the health and productivity of the tree, you can be grateful for that. If these are full-dwarf trees and they have made it to 14 years without serious issues, that is pretty good in itself. Dwarfs will not compete with standard or even semi-dwarf trees for longevity. My semi-dwarf trees that are older than 15 years have lots of bark scaling on some of the upper limbs, but they continue to soldier on and produce, and I don't plan to remove them. It sounds as if you attention to spraying is very good, but I don't think there is any chemical spray that could have prevented bark splitting, and assume that the white worm was just taking advantage of a place to hide. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA...See MoreNew echinaceas for 2010 (and some cool new heucheras)
Comments (26)First of all, I rarely post on this forum and have NEVER to my knowledge posted about Terra Nova before. Let alone ganged up with Gardengal to "rattle" about them. I run into Gardengal on many forums because we seem to have similar interests but I've never met her nor emailed with her though I'd like to. I usually post on Clematis and Northwestern Gardening though I visit many other forums occasionally. I was stunned to see someone criticizing Terra Nova which was done in the first post. To me Dan Heims is a local garden celebrity and hero to plant collectors everywhere. I have no knowledge of how long they trial their plants and no knowledge of their plants not doing well in other zones. I certainly am not admitting anything or modifying my defense rattle in any way because I haven't participated in any discussions about Terra Nova in the past. I have dozens of Terra Nova cultivars in my garden and don't have any problems with them other than Autumn Blush corepsis which I've killed twice. I do have an online friend who is in the garden design business in NY and she loves Terra Nova plants too. I do not work for Terra Nova, I was a florist for twenty three years and now sell gifts and home decor wholesale to stores. I have talked to Dan Heims once on the phone because I was interested in hiring one of his former employees. That is the extent of my personal contact with him. He gave her an excellent reference and I did hire her and she was an excellent employee but Terra Nova wasn't a big part of our conversations. I have toured their display garden twice as part of an open garden tour here called Le Tour des Plants in the fall. It is an amazing garden....See MoreAdvice please! New England gardener in Los Altos
Comments (16)Dahlias do grow easily and well here as long as they get water. About the only problem is that they often need staking to avoid breaking up as they can get so top heavy. You may be having problems finding those specific plants because they are more East Coast full sun plants than what would ordinarily be used here. Varieties of Coreopsis are fairly commonly planted here, and should be easy enough to find. If I were looking for full hot sun plants for a color boost this time of year, I'd also consider any of the different color forms of Arctotis, almost nothing could be easier. Lavenders are really showy this time of year, and readily adapt to hot full sun. Callibrochoa hybrids are also often perennials here, and give nearly 9 months of color with some water. Sweet Alyssum, Lobularia maritima in the different color strains beyond white is also a great filler short lived perennial for full sun. There are so many choices of different Salvias, and so many that are only summer annuals back east but can provide near constant bloom here, such as various Salvia greggii hybrids, S. chamaedryoides, S. clevelandii 'Winnifred Gilman', S. leucantha cultivars, S. chiapensis, S. 'Indigo Spires', etc. Teucrium cussonii or Nepeta species are also really dependable for this exposure, and there are lots of beautiful foliage plants that would fit the bill as well, such as the chartreuse foliage of the dwarf Breath of Heaven, Coleonema pulchrum 'Sunset Gold'. Alstroemeria cultivars and hybrids are also great choices for waves of bloom off and on all year long. You might also consider using some of the new cultivars of Nemesia fruticosa, which seem to stay in bloom almost all year round in our conditions, and things like Verbena bonariensis, V. rigida var polaris, Euphorbias such as E. myrsinites, E. characias, E. dulcis 'Chameleon' are all long lived and drought tolerant. Other great perennials to consider might include things like Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve', Erigeron glaucus or E. x moerheimii, or some of our California natives such as Mimulus aurantiacus, Eriogonum grande var rubescens, or Zauschneria canum. If you want to add some bulbs that really do great here, why not add some Amaryllis belladonna, Scilla peruviana, Sparaxis, Ixia, Freesia, Watsonia or Dierama pulcherrima, which all get larger and more floriferous every passing year. If you want to use plants for foliage color, there are lots of other choices besides Physiocarpus; Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' or 'Golden Spirit' are really showy now, as is Choisya ternata 'Sundance', or various Phormium cultivars or the silvery Astelia chathamica or A. nervosa. For purplish foliage with lavender flowers over a long summer season, I particularly like Ageratum corymbosa as a smaller sized shrub, and the blue berried Dianella intermedia or D. tasmanica can be impressive in summer as well. A web site that could help clue you in on what great choices we have in our Mediterranean climate would be to browse the Annie's Annuals Nursery in Richmond, California, about 45 minutes to an hour to the northeast of Los Altos, on the other side of the bay. Annie has some of the coolest plants around, and her web site may get you thinking beyond what you are familiar with from back east. Check it out at www.anniesannuals.com. You might also find it interesting to check out some wholesale California nurseries with great photos of their plants and descriptions of preferred growing conditions, such as San Marcos Growers Nursery of Santa Barbara at www.smgrowers.com, or Monterey Bay Wholesale Nursery at www.montereybaynsy.com....See MoreHow much do you care about accuracy?
Comments (34)>oh great-I've got tons of real and grad work to do and now I have to go look this up! Hee, been there, done that on more than one occassion (but whats more fun?) Yep, forgot that part (its been ages since I read it) so I conflated those two (ironic that we are talking about accuracy here :) Thanks for the correction. I do remember the four of them were quite close. Very good book for anyone interested in the time period. >I fear that history is often fiction with longevity I like that line, and am afraid you might be right. Happens throughout history. If a Roman emperor newly crowned wanted to erase his predessesor from history, he commanded that any building or monument with his name on it be chiseled away. Certainly the Soviet Union was doing some major touching up of photos and articles. And we have our own misinformation currently in progress. And since history is usually written by the victors, it should be expected, and questioned. The problem is that we usually don't know when we are looking at it. So the question above is still a very good one: how do we know what is accurate? What are the clues to something that is either playing around with the facts or an outright lie? How much searching does one need to do to be sure, and what happens when so many primary sources conflict? (Chris, this is why I'd love to be a researcher. My problem is I'd start from one point, and then my search would lead me into five different directions. This caused many problems during my grad school years...)...See Morekatyajini
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