Last summer I put in 4 of these new Alstroemarias. If they survive, I may add more. This will be my first experience with Alstroemaria. I also want to start some groups of orange/coral and deep blue Phlox along my neighbor's white fence. My shade garden could use a lot more Astilbe too. It's been a struggle for me to get some Astilbes to take, but I've finally figured out that the more water, the better the Astilbes.
What do you want to add to your garden?
I want it ALL, lol!
This year, I'm working on structure. I've been following some of the threads on this forum closely - many of you have named plants that I've never heard of before and now just have to have... but I will take it slow. But some of the larger plants and shrubs are coming my way - I'm getting at least a couple of Amsonias, a Hebe, a Daphne, 2 Clethras (16 Candles) and some more. It's been great finding out that there's so many great shade plants, too - lets me get more trees without feeling like I'm sacrificing gardening space.
Last year was The Year of the Hosta for me. This year will be The Year of the Shrub.
My list is long. I need some Baptisia, Shasta daisies, lots of mums from the co-op they just had, lavender and Blue Paradise Phlox. Those are all things I haven't tried, 'cept for mums. I'm planning to get some new shrubs too. I'm thinking Dogwood and Viburnum.
I need to replace some things too, either because I didn't get enough to begin with, or because they're dying out. I need more yellow columbine. I like to get a couple of bi-ennial foxgloves each year so that I always have some going. Also like Leonotis, which is tender here, but I always forget to bring it in for overwintering.
That's for starters off the top of my head...
Sheryl, it does seem to go in spurts like that. I used to grow Hebes at my other garden and loved them. It was just across the river about 3 miles away, but it's always warmer over there. I tried some when I first moved here and they survived one winter, but didn't make it through the next. I can't seem to find any that say they are rated for zone 6.
Last year I put in two Clethra Hummingbirds. They smell so good and the bees love them. But they require a lot of supplemental watering. Except for Cneorum, all of my Daphnes are doling great this year.
You're right about the structure, I have a lot of plant moving to do this year.
McGlory, I read somewhere that folks sow their Foxgloves half in the spring and half in the fall, so that they always have new ones starting. Sounds like a good idea. For a yellow columbine, have you considered "Denver Gold"? It is a deep yellow bloom with very long spurs. Blooms profusely for well over two months.
Right now I'm waiting for some more buds to develop on my Viburnum bodnantense "Dawn". I hope that it blooms in February.
Actually, I want to say that the place I found the Hebe was a specialty nursery in Oregon that you suggested in a thread, Mary ... lemme go look.
Edited to add...
Yeppers, I think this is it: http://www.edelweissperennials.com/Large_Image.aspx?plantName=158#
Of the two they sell, both are listed for zone 6. This is going to go in a bed that is between my [brick] house and a sidewalk. I have been planning to do a black and white garden in this space... guess it will be a black, white and blue garden.
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Gosh, sheryl, I'll have to go look there for them. That is the exact type of location that mine were planted in. I think those had come from Forest Farm.
I think 'Denver's Gold' columbine is what I have. I just didn't get enough. All my flower beds are new, beginning in 2006 and adding a bed every year since. I plan and plan and budget and budget, but I tend to underbuy rather than get enough to fill it in well. After a couple of year it starts to become obvious that I need a few more than what I originally put in.
You may find that you have quite a few baby Denver Golds already starting in the spring. I rarely buy less than 6 of any plant and maybe only 4 of them make it. I know exactly what you mean. My beds were all newly started in 2005 and they are very large and not full yet.
Ugh - me too, my frugality does not always serve my gardens very well. Maybe we should start the "one cool plant" support group - it's my biggest design faux pas, I think. I have OCP all over the place, lol.
Okay, Storms - you're making me nervous about my Hebe.
Sheryl, from the different posts that I have seen folks from Tenn make, I think that your area is generally warmer than mine. It seems that almost everything in Tenn blooms sooner than here. I know that whenever VV tells me something should bloom for me in Jan, it never does until the end of Feb or beginning of Mar. How is your climate in relation to his in KY? Are you high up in mountains?
No, I'm at the edge of the Cumberland Plateau, kind of the foot hills of the Smokies.... There's a river running through my back yard and the Cumberland River is right up the street, so I think that mitigates a fair amount of weather, but we get some awfully wicked winter/ spring winds on top of our little hill, here. It will only dip below 10 degrees for maybe a few nights per winter and what snow we get rarely stays more than one or two days. Does that compare?
Oooooh, I would LOVE to grow Alstroemeria but it gets too cold here. I have to settle for the 3 for $9 bunches at the local grocery store, at least they last a long time. Anyway, my perennial dream is not too exotic. I would love to grow big, beautiful garden phlox and 4 o'clocks like my mother and grandmothers grew. I don't know why I can't get them to grow!
Sheryl, We don't get all that many days below 10, maybe 9 to 12 in a season, but snow here often stays around for more than 3 weeks at a time. It's done that twice already this year. Last year, it did that 3 times, even in March. The river would definitely keep your area warmer. My other neighborhood was in a valley (Valley Forge) with a river nestled between two tall ranges of the shortest mountains in the US. I can walk there, by crossing the river and the weather over there is very different. It's milder and much wetter.
Zinnia, I don't have any experience with 4 o'clocks. But I do have good luck with Phlox. Do other people in MI do well with Phlox?
McGlory, On Critterologist's advice, last year I put in 6 Lavenders "Grosso". She said they were the only ones known to be reliably hardy to zone 6. I planted them in a extremely dry windy exposed situation and they did very well. I expect them to get a good bit larger next year and almost become shrublike.
I also put in several Baptisia last year. One was a yellow variety called "Screaming Yellow" It is planted in dappled shade in an extremely dry windy bed. It did very well. I also put a blue variety in beside it, which blooms a lot earlier and completely laid down in the wind. It did bloom beautifully, just looked funny as heck with it's head completely bowed. I'll have to see if I can find it's photo.
Zinnia, I'm with you on the Alstroemeria. I'm waiting for something besides 'Laura' to be hardy to my zone. Laura is nice, but I've heard also tempermental.
I ordered Vera Lavender from Bluestone, stormy. It's supposed to be hardy to zone 4, but I don't know anyone that's grown it. My entire garden is a dry windy location. :-) That's why I rarely go for big-leafed plants. A yellow Baptisia sounds interesting...
If I had columbine seedlings I probably weeded them out. I have lost more stuff to early weeding and forgetting what seedlings look like than I care to mention. Sigh. Every year I tell myself I'll remember. And every year something is lost because I pulled it up.
McGlory, Columbine foliage is very distinctive looking even when very young. Be on the lookout for it this spring.
Here's that yellow Baptisia. It was blooming here on May 25th.
Oh, wow! I think I need that! Very, very, very pretty! I have a friend who says if it's a yellow flower I'll like it. I fear she's right. I only have one bed with no yellow in it. I very much garden by color...
What are you looking for in Astilbes? I have three 'Peach Blossom' plants which I like a lot, although they're not very big because they aren't in enough shade. I thought maybe the reason I had to water mine all the time is because they got too much sun. After re-reading your first post, maybe they just like plenty o' water.
Nice! I put in two Baptisias last year, can't find one of them now, think it might have gotten out competed by some grass. Have any of you grown Baptisia "Prarie Blues"?
LOL, Sheryl, since you asked....
Oh, pretty color. Not too upright, though, eh?
I just popped in here to see what others were putting in. I haven't made any decisions, yet. I need to get busy since I'm trying to start all mine from seed.
That Baptisia "Prarie Blues" is beautiful. I think I'll have to put it on my list!
Bergenia! And coincidentally, DG just published an article about them a week ago http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2742/. I wanted to get some last fall, but my local nursery didn't have them. I guess this year I better buy them early!
And yes, I need more Denver Gold columbine too, they are like a different plant than other columbines - much more sun & drought-tolerant. I have a couple but they have not re-seeded for me - though maybe they will this year...
This message was edited Jan 30, 2010 1:17 AM
I like those Denver Gold. I'll have to look for them. On one of my walks before snows hit, I found a wild Columbine. They were going in amongst some rocks so I carefully got two plants and they are now growing in my bathroom. Can't wait to see what they look like when they bloom.
Hellebores, hellebores, hellebores. I'm hooked on them, now. Especially the one with silver-ish foliage. I'm just a little nervous because the shady part of my lot is also on the west side of my house, so at some times of the summer, they could get western sun. Any experiences?
McGlory and Zinnia - I was just shopping at Brent & Becky's and noticed these hardy Alstromeria- https://store.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/summer/genus.php?genusid=62 ....
Where did you find your variegated plant, Stormy?
LOL, MaryEv, Don't think that your Baptisia will bow like mine. There's an incredibly strong natural wind that comes across my roadside bed as well as 55 mph car traffic wind too. Yours should stand up just fine.
Lisabees, great choice! I grow 3 different Bergenias in the front of my side and back beds and am awaiting for some more that I ordered from one of the co-ops last fall.
I'm also adding another yellow Columbine, Yellow Spotlight as well as two variegated ones, Leprechaun Gold & Lime Frost.
Sheryl, That Tangerine Tango Alstroemaria is very pretty. I had looked at that one, but it requires full sun, which I don't have. I got the variegated Alstroemaria from 2 different sources. One was Garden Crossings. The other was Lazy S'S. It's called Alstromeria psittacina "Variegata".
I have all this to find places for
http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/vbc/bigred/83648/http....Whoops...error on this one,let me try again
this one should work
http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/vbc/bigred/83648/
http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/vbc/bigred/83632/
This is what I've WS ....so far...I'm not done yet
Argh!
P
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error on that first addy...won't let me fix it
BigRed, That's a great list. I see a lot of my woodland favorites on there. I've had no luck with the Double Bloodroot. Paid big bucks for them twice, and they've never materialized. Dutchman's Breeches is another toughie too.
Hepaticas are lovely and it's wonderful how early they bloom. My Filipendulas burst into bloom right after the Aruncus fade. You are going to have lovely gardens with those plants you have selected.
Geez, now that's impressive organization! And the amounts, too - wow, Peggy - do you have time to eat?
Edited to add:
I just might have to put in a order with Lazy S's - thanks, Mary!
This message was edited Feb 1, 2010 10:47 AM
That's an awesome list of plants Bigred...I only wish I had more shady type areas to try some out.
Warren
stormy,
I just set out some dutchman's britches last spring and still have some in pots so we'll see. Just got the dbl. bloodroot start from a friend. I have my work cut out for me this year. Now if the weather wouold just co-operate.
Cat,
must ahve plenty of time to eat since I need to drop more than a few pounds.
This message was edited Feb 1, 2010 10:52 AM
Warren,
I had more shady area but my neighbors(NFH) cut down a big oak tree in their yard and threw a bunch of shade beds into the heat of day and burnt up a bunch of stuff. I've got to re-do some shade beds to make room for everything that needs planting out.
Bigred, I've even had that problem when I've cut back the canopy too much. It used to be that I never had to weed my shade beds. But now that I've been raising the canopy more and more each year, there's a whole host of new weeds growing over there. I have about 50 Hosta and Heuchera that have to come out of my roadside bed. It's just way too dry over there for them. Between the Maples and the road wind, they are not prospering.
I hear that on cutting down trees. I had some huge, beautiful wild Jack in the Pulpit...the state is widening our road and took all the trees down. Needless to say they all burned within a few days. I've truely never seen Jack in the Pulpit as big as those wild ones. They had to be 18"-24" tall with leaves as large as both my hands spread open together.
doesn't that just make you sick?
I don't have enough experience but wasn't sure if I could dig them and move them to another area of woods. Do you know if that is possible?
mcg, If they're not going to survive where they are, I think I would just go do it!
Point well taken. They hopefully won't start the road widening until the ground thaws.
