opp2
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Posts: 137
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 7:47 am
Location: Greater Toronto Area-zone 4-5

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After a heavy winter snowfall, and not too harsh temperatures my garden seems to have survived relatively unscaved. I did lose a coreopsis in the same place as last year, and while my wiegelas have leaves, it is hit and miss whether they will come back up. I lost an echinacea? wierd it's neighbour did just fine, this one, just fell over and dried up.

I've replaced the coreopsis with some very pretty blue flowering ground over called Lithodora. Still get a blue plant in the spot I want it. I also put in two climatis much to my husband's dismay.

I had a family if field mice it seems, and they nested in the bottom of my lambs ear, potentilla and one fescue. The Lambs ear died and I replaced that, one of my fescue and the potentilla next to it with a nice gold lace juniper.

I noticed that my daisies look terrible. Looks like I won't have as many as last year. Do I need to prune these back hard in the fall? I have two spots where they are all around the edges, with no plant growing in the middle.

I also put in a couple of those on some folks plants I love to hate list..japanese barberry (think that's the right spelling) a bright yellow one and a dark plum for contrast.

I noted on the don't like list, a lot of folks had vinca. I have the hardest time getting vinca to grow here. I've lost two, and replanted one area where they don't grow.

I have some nice blueberry trees up the back loaded with blooms. Hopefully I'll get some wire screens before they ripen enough for the birds to become interested in them.

Well, thats about it.

Trentt
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Posts: 38
Joined: Fri May 23, 2008 12:26 pm
Location: Wisconsin

We had a nasty winter with record snowfall (over 100 inches), but that seems to have insulated everything pretty well from the dangerous cold we experienced in February.

One lupine died, but I found about six babies so I am not too devastated. The oriental poppy also had a brood of babies. The peony I planted two years ago finally has buds on it. The Shasta daisies I grew from seed last year look fine, as do the seed-sown sedums (various types). The creeping phlox is back despite the fact that it only grew to the size of my thumbnail last year. The seedling that I thought was a monarda appears to be a mint and has quadrupled in size so some garden surgery will be necessary to move it someplace where it can fight for space with weeds rather than the perennials in the ornamental bed.

The baby apple trees I planted last year look great! The bleeding heart is in bloom, the broad-leaf sage and its offspring are back, and the tradescantia patch looks like the bullrushes that Moses was hidden in.

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JPlovesflowers
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Posts: 132
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:36 pm
Location: Northwest Arkansas

I'm an amateur at this, so I'm only going on past experience as opposed to some who are real experts, but my guess is that your daisies need to be separated. Usually if you have a large perennial that starts to die in the center or stops producing, it is time to divide. I didn't notice where you were from before I started to post, but if you are in the north, it may still be cool enough for you to divide and for them to do well. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable can give you specifics on that, but you might want to google for the info online. Best of luck! :D

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JPlovesflowers
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Posts: 132
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:36 pm
Location: Northwest Arkansas

Now I see you're in Canada, based on the weather here in 6b, I would say you are probably safe to divide still if you do it right away. However, if you are in the middle of an unseasonable heat wave, wait until the fall. Here's a great link on perennial division. Good luck!
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/county/smith/tips/flowers/divide.html :D

cheshirekat
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Posts: 264
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 11:13 pm
Location: Denver, CO (zone 5)

I like when people talk about a bunch of different perennials in their garden, it adds more to the picture, especially now that I can recognize some of the names and don't have to google each and every one.

I also have wiegela and thought I'd see wonderful pink blooms each and every year. So I planted four of them to be the focal point of that side of the sidewalk. Last summer, not a single bloom did I see. I have golden sedum growing along the sidewalk as I thought the bright yellow would be a nice accent for the pastel pink blooms. The winter snow was abnormal and that side of the yard remained under snowfall longer than any spot on the entire block. This year, I have WONDERFUL blooms from the weigelas!

But I also didn't see the lily of the valley I planted on that side for two years, so I assumed they died. This year, they are showing themselves and I am anxiously waiting to see the blooms. I may end up potting them later if they transfer well.

I planted four pink honeysuckle. One died almost immediately. The other three were kind of scraggly but bloomed the next year. Last year, I only saw scraggly leaves all summer. This year, all three are blooming.

An artemesia the hubby picked out from Walmart grew into a big scraggly thing that I loved to pet, but grew tired of looking at it. Last year, it was one thing in my front yard that grew profusely after the heavy snow. But midsummer it turned to dust and I was anxious to replace it this summer finally. But now it has resurrected itself. It was just the right height and I'd divided it once to keep the shape but it grew too fast. The faster it grew, the faster it looked like a masticated rag. Even tried to spread pieces of it around to different areas so I could get it out of that spot and the hubby wouldn't miss his plant.

We have a juniper bush that is on my most unwanted list that I wanted to get rid of when we first bought the house, nearly 20 years ago. He wanted it to grow to provide shade for the west side of the house. This particular type doesn't really grow high. Somehow, it has grown to the roof. But it is so unsightly and scraggly. I had to clear out years of debris from under it and found out I'm allergic to juniper. Most of the dead limbs from underneath I cut out so it could get water - the soil was like concrete. I amended it for several years and planted a ton of windflowers to cover how bad it looks. Not one came up. This year I planted black-eyed susans and hope I have better luck.

This spring, I carefully added some bone meal to my weigela, honeysuckle, and other flowers. I didn't add as much as the instructions said to because I didn't want to burn my plants. Last winter, I also nearly killed myself shoveling snow so that the hubby wouldn't use salt to melt it. I think that combination helped, but I'm also trying to plant bigger clumps of plantings. The weigelas will get columbine, poppy and foxglove companions. I planted a lot of fall bulbs, but will also plant echinacea and different rudbeckia.

I think the monarda is related to the mint family. I planted some bee balm, which is Monarda didyma, because the hummingbirds and especially the bees like it.

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JPlovesflowers
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Posts: 132
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:36 pm
Location: Northwest Arkansas

Wow! Sounds like you've been busy....I would love to see pictures. I love perennials, because they are an investment, you just have to learn what works for you. I planted shasta daisies several years ago and loved them, but they were 4 foot tall and when it rained they fell over and all of them looked awful. I found a variety this year that is 8"-12" tall...I'm hoping they will work out for me. I also planted dwarf sunflowers this year and they have just done awful...they were so cute I couldn't pass them up and who can screw up a sunflower? Well, I can, I think it was too early and not hot enough. I'm going to move them and replace them with lantana for the hummers. I love monarda as well, I wish I had a place that could handle its height, I would plant it by the loadfulls. I learned a few years ago to buy things I'm not familiar with in small amounts, then if they work out and I like them, I mass plant them. Good luck with all your efforts. I'm sure the climate in Colorado is a challenge :wink:
JP

cheshirekat
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Posts: 264
Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 11:13 pm
Location: Denver, CO (zone 5)

I totally agree that perennials are a much better investment. The only annuals I really like are those that will readily reseed and those I can eat.

I had daffodils that fell over when it snowed. I left them. I hope next year they are more sturdy because they aren't getting any help from me. I like having flowers to look at in early Spring but I'd think that the first flowers to present themselves after winter should be able to stand on their own. If not, I'll just wait for the strong perennials to come along.

I was going to plant some shasta daisies. Thanks for warning me. It's true that some things don't work out as well as we plan. I'm mixing tall and shorter perennials since my entire front yard is my garden there are different views. I want the best view from the bench I buy to sit out in my garden. But, I also like my walk-arounds so I'm not always seeing the same thing. Having different heights throughout gives my view more dimension I hope. Besides, my liatris isn't tall enough to keep me from always viewing the neighbors.

I am always taking photos in my garden. Took some today to test my new 2G flash card. Hopefully I'll have good shots and can post a few later this weekend.

ahughes798
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Posts: 75
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:38 pm
Location: wauconda, IL

Well, monarda is in the mint family and has square stems...so maybe don't dig that one up just yet.

minnesota_girl
Senior Member
Posts: 155
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 4:29 pm
Location: Minnesota

I love perennials but I do like annuals because they add color because I find they often bloom all summer so when you got nothing blooming there they are. I like to put small petunias in coffee-pot sized teacups (with drainage holes) throughout my garden and pansies on the edge of my garden.



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