We came from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1060042/#new
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Polly, that Crambe (cordifolia) is excellent. Many times people have to stake the flower stalk(s). For fhe the rest of the readers: it may look like a little tree, but it is a perennial. The large leaves in the shadow below the white "Baby's Breath" belong to the crambe.
Polly's Crambe: http://www.lejardinage.be/images/blanc/PL0000078128_thumb.jpg
December color in the garden (II)
Thanks for starting the new thread Rick.
Do you grow crambe? I was thinking it was marginal for me here.
Thanks for the link!
Hey youse guys - over here! >waves< ...
This message was edited Dec 11, 2009 8:15 PM
Sorry about posting on the old thread, as I obviously knew the new one was here.
Mr Canthus:
That crambe maritima is lovely! I'll go look up the zone.
According to this website crambe codifolia is edible, tastes like chicken, woops cabbage.
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Crambe cordifolia
I am known to go through the garden eating many plants. A little bite at first, if it doesn't kill me and tastes good, I'll try it again. I try just about anything with berries.
Wonder what the Crambe would look like next to a Baptisia....
Huge, LOL.
A blue one?
I'm thinking ornamental grasses? I really don't know. Something big. Suggestions?
I do love baptisia though. I planted 10 Wayne's World this fall.
Chocolate Joe Pye Weed.
That would be pretty.
I have this Berberis that I really love and have put it in many places. It gets around 8' tall (not the 5' it says in ads), and it would look beautiful with the Crambe, but I don't know if I could handle more barberries.
Royal Cloak.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/112494/
I think it's blue - I just planted it this past summer, so who knows, really....
It will look really pretty with Crambe, and probably will bloom at the same time, but the Crambe gets around 8-10 feet, and the Baptisia around 3'. But if you had a few Baptisias I think it would be a stunning color combo.
Joe Pye Weed gets about 5 to 6' tall.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=7033402
I have some that get over 10 feet tall. I love Joe Pye Weed. One I really like is Joe White, have you ever seen that one? There's another white one Bartered Bride, but the flowerhears are not nearly as nice.
I have Gateway, Carin, Chocolate, Joe White, Little Joe, Baby Joe, and some of the species. Can you tell I like Eupatorium.
Thanks for the new thread: I am challanged in "Thread making"
All great ideas for Crambe combos i think. Perhaps also some of the taller June flowering Alliums planted in front.
Cynara scolymus and C. cardunculus also work well with theur foliage in my experience and if you like big grasses, then perhaps grouped in amongst clumps of Miscanthus for some earlier interest
I've tried to plant my garden for interest all year round so at the moment I have the following in bloom, daphne bholua, mahonia Charity, Viburnum bodentense Dawn, Sarcococca confusa, schizostylis coccinea, Rose Evelyn! and my hollies are full of berries. My Wintersweet also has buds on and my hellebores have new buds showing. My snowdrops are even poking through!
Galanthophile, I love Sarcococca, but unfortunately so do my voles. It is really a perfect low growing shrub. Dark, glossy & evergreen, very fragrant flowers and nice berries. I may try one again. Thanks for the reminder. It fit in well with my other acid loving shrubs. Mine used to bloom late January through February.
Double Knockout Rose is still blooming this week.
Those really cold temperatures brought some nice coloring to this Euphorbia Helena's Blush.
very nice
That Euphorbia is beautiful! I see some non-variegated stems, will you have to cut those off? I've had some plants that I understand you should cut out solid green growth to prevent the whole thing from reverting back.
Don't know Gemini. It was new summer before this one. I thought about that. I think it is new growth. I've had the same thing happen to this Hypericum Tri-Color. The center branches, which are from last year, are variegated. the outside growth is all new and green. I may call the nursery where I bought them and inquire.
I think you need to cut off the green leaves or they'll take over.
Galanthophyle. You've got a great aray of winter colour.
Most of the flowers in my garden I'm afraid are various bits and pieces from summer still hanging around after the party. Nearly crashed the car earlier when I saw a big Cactus flowered Dahlia poking over a wall in a village I was driving through. Can inagine it night still be there on Xmas day.
Anyway, here is a genuine winterlander. Iris unguicularis
Ooo, pretty!
That is very pretty. Is it an Iris that likes to be near water?
No. Quite the contrary. It comes from Algeria or somewhere like that and likes a hot baking sunny dry spot.
It just waits until winter before it flowers
Oh.... is it one of these?
Wait, no, it couldn't be... these aren't actually Irises.
Sheryl, Are they winter bloomers?
Yes ma'am, they are. And have to be kept very dry during the summer. I bought some from a really interesting site: http://www.thebulbman.com/Catalog.html .... even if you think you recognize some of the names, it will probably look quite different from what you are used to seeing. The only ones I've seen commercially available that he sells is the Ornithagalum (sp?) dubium.
Now that I'm on the site, they are Moraeas.... 'Butterfly Iris'.
Sheryl, How tall are they? What month do they bloom?
I want to say mine bloomed in February in Phoenix, but I'm not positive. He lists them as cold hardy, but I think that might be to zone 8 on a very cool day, lol. They're about a foot tall, although he says taller, but that was mine....
Sedum spurium 'Fuldaglut' is one of my favorite over-winter ground covers for excellent color. Sedum 'Angelina' is a close second.
Pretty - is that frost on your sedum?
It is lovely like that.
Mr_Canthus, how cold does it get there? I have some Iris ungulares seedlings that so far have withstood -9C (15F) by accident. (I meant to bring them in.) Now I am wondering how much cold they will really take!
The seedlings only sprouted the first week of August.
Rick
Fantastic Iris unguicularis Mr_Canthus!
I think my zone is 8 a or b and this Iris is absolutely totally hardy here. We don't go down as low as -9 C very often though. In fact there's only been a handful of mild frosts so far this year.
I love the frosted Sedum Willmetge. Its things like that keep the garden inspiring even when its asleep