Post photo of your favorite perennial combinations, Part 2

This is allium past bloom with iris Ring Around Rosie

Very nice comboc everyone.
I like these,new combos iris with Maynight
oops

Ge, it doesn't matter that the alliums are "past it". They still look great.

Maithyme, wonderful texture in your plantings. I LOVE texture!

Have you ever spray painted the Alliums? I saw someone cut a slit in cardboard and hold it under the bloom and spray paint them. It really looks good. She did red, white and blue ones for the 4th. She did them while they are still in the garden.

I did mine pink last year. this year, I'll do purple. they looked good all summer this way. Lots of comments and questions from people on them. You don't need to bother with the cardboard. barely any gets on the stems.

I will be lucky to deadhead and clean up in there .No paint projects for me.

Gosh, I was looking hard for the purple sensation, didn't realize I could just paint them. I think I would like to get those real big globe kind in white and paint them something different each year, starting with hot pink!

Don't paint until they are a nice firm ball of seedheads and have lost their blooms. I was worried it would look tacky in the garden, but it looks surprisingly natural.

Sure thing, thanks! :)

Salvia pratensis 'Sweet Esmeralda' backed by camelot series digitalis.

Pic taken today.

This message was edited Jun 1, 2012 10:39 AM

Johnny jump ups (these pop up like crazy in my yard and bloom for months and months) with a bird's nest spruce. (Picea abies 'Nidiformis')

Pic taken today.

This message was edited Jun 1, 2012 10:36 AM

This message was edited Jun 1, 2012 10:38 AM

I really love birds nest spruce but it did not like me or my yard. I have Johnnie jump-up seedlings everywhere also!! Love your salvia and digitalis.

Caroline, thanks for posting the Maltese Cross. I have started it from seed this year. I like the chromatic colors. I thought it was going to be a solid warm red. The Clematis durandii looks nice with it.
I also have the Clematis durandii. I get it mixed up with Clematis roguchi. They are totally different shapes but the color is similar. The C. roguchi is a real tough one. I don't do anything to it and it grows very well.
Here's Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt and Salvia 'Victoria Blue' The VB comes back every year, re-seeds plentifully, goes with so many colors of flowers, works as a good filler, and is just a down right pretty color of blue! (a little partial!)
Editied: Whoops! That's a blue iris in the background. Wrong pic.


This message was edited Jun 4, 2012 8:17 PM

Here's the peony and salvia:

Holy Cow......I got lost....lol. Forgive?????

birder...That is one I've never grown, YET. Boy, if that color is true, wow, what a stunner. A grayed down lavender (2nd pix), very pretty. I could see it with Centaurea montana Amethyst in Snow, Santolina virens (which is a deep saturated green, which when gently rubbed smells of lemon ( I digress), with a deep yellow flower), Centaurea phygria yellow, or the purple variety, with a backing of Gypsophila paniculata pink, and a soft yellow johnny-jump-up at it's front.

pix 1: boy wouldn't that be a stunner in this combo of lavender and the red rocket series of snapdragons, backed with white babys breath. I know, digressing again.
pix 2: centaurea phygria yellow
pix 3: centaurea phygria purple
pix 4: Centaurea montana Amethyst in Snow
pix 5 : Viola johnny-jump-up, or lighter yet

Carolyn: You asked Clint for tips on growing Penstemon. I am not Clint, but I have pretty good success growing Penstemon from seed.
1. Penstemon seed has to be stratified for several weeks--a minimum of three weeks in the refrigerator. Some require eight weeks. I put my seed in the refrigerator for the directed amount of time.
2. They also require light to germinate so barely cover the seeds. I use a seed starting medium, and sprinkle the seed on top. Then barely cover the seeds with the seed starting medium. It's important to use a seed starting mix because you don't want the soil to be too "heavy" or too moist.
3. Temperature should be 45 to 65 degrees. I Winter Sow the seeds in milk jugs and set them outside on my south facing deck and let Mother Nature do the rest.
4. Germination takes place in two to three weeks. So, I allow myself 14 weeks before last frost date which means ordering your Penstemon seeds early.
5. I transplant them in single cell containers moving them up one more time as they grow. I have the best luck planting my perennials in the fall--early enough to give them time to get their roots established. I have purchased seed from Swallowtail Seeds and from Eden Brothers (cheaper per cost of seed and cheaper per shipping and handling.)
6. I have read if the seed doesn't germinate, you can let everything dry out and start over: refrigerate-then go outside, but I have not had to do this.

Here's some Penstemon digitalis--the box on the right. I had already taken many plants out of the container.
It's probably way more than you wanted to know.

Kathy: If you are referring to the color of the Salvia 'Victoria Blue', the color is correct. As I said, I am partial to this plant-and so easy to grow.
Here it is with a couple of other plants:
1. Rudbeckia and Salvia VB
2. Daylily and Salvia VB

I am goin to ad Victoria Blue to my list.

Birder

I am sorry about that....

I have 1 penstemon that I started from seed a number of years ago - other than that, I cannot get the seed to germinate. When I have bought whole plants from the nursery, I lose them. I seem to do better with other plants.

birder, ooops, I was referring to Salvia grandiflorus, one I have not grown and would love too. Sorry, I was starting at the beginnning of the thread, never made it past your question to me yet, lol.

Yes I also love Salvia Victoria Blue, which is also available in white. Rarely do they overwinter for me tho.

Carolyn: have you tried growing them indoors under lights? That's how I start most of my seeds, with exceptions, (those that I know which reseed in the garden), and annuals that can be seeded outside. I only have 2 that reseed in the garden for me: Penst. strictus Rocky Mountain Blue, pix 1. The other is Penst. Red Rocks, pix 2. My penst. Pike's Peak Blue has yet to ever reseed. My new aquisition of Penst. palmerii is new last spring and should bloom this season, can hardly wait, it's pink, FRAGRANT, and can get to 5-6 foot tall. It's native in the southern climes of Colorado, and New Mexico, available from High country Gardens .com.

I love growing Salvia Victoria White, Salvia Reference, and Salvia Strata together in pots.

I do find that it self seeds, coming back year after year. Here it is in the ground, transplanted from seedlings several years before.

I love it with parsley. So do my buds here. Munching on the parsley.

Kathy

I have tried growing the seeds under lights as well. I have no problem with the penstemon barbatus coccineus, but the rest just don't seem to take for me. That is fine though - as I have many other flowers that seem to grow without any problems.

Donna -

I love the salvias as well and have them all over the place. Are your caterpillars from last Fall? I planted parsley last year and have read that both the black swallowtail and the anise swallowtail include parsley as one of it's host plants. I put in parsley last year and will plant it again next year for these little beauties.

I grew this penstemon Husker Red from seed last year. I kept the seeds in the in a damp paper towel for 6 weeks before sowing and had very good results. It's with Heuchera Coral Charm, Nepeta Walkers Low behind.

Pic2 Geum Totally Tangerine, Heuchera Palace Purple, Stachys- I got the Geum last year, this is its first flowering for me, and I'm madly in love.

Pam

I love Geum also but it isnt a great shower eher.I think mine is in the wrong place.
Bloody Mary

Another view of Husker with Dianthus Arctic Fire, also from seed last year.

Veronica Incana pure Silver, Cerastium tomentosum (seed last year), and Lavender Munstead

This is the first Geum I've ever really liked. It's the most exciting color and most profuse bloom by far. Supposedly it goes all summer, but that remains to be seen.

Pam

Beautiful pics. I love all salvias and penstemons. I have one geum that I got on clearance last fall that is supposed to make red flowers. Excited to see it bloom. It's in my red, yellow, and orange bed near gaillardia, crocosmia, rudbeckia 'prairie sun'.

Kathy---that was an excellent, excellent tutorial on cold moist stratification. Super helpful. Thank you.

Fine Gardening did an article 2 issues back where they compared/tested every geum in existence. Very enjoyable.

Pic: barberry, euonymus, Nepeta 'Walker's Low', and an evergreen shrub.

This message was edited Jun 6, 2012 5:41 AM

Nice foliage colors.

I used to grow Salvia Victoria every year. Then I started collecting Veronicas and perennial Salvias and thought that was enough. But Vicky is such a great filler while waiting for the others to fill in, I think I'll have to start using it again. And I looooove the combination of the 3, how gorgeous!

Hey, Carolyn, don't apologize! I just didn't want to butt in on the Penstemon seed. Just one more comment re: growing Penstemon. You have to have very good drainage. I put mine on a slope. Penstemon can't stand to have the roots kept wet.
Okay, two comments on Penstemon. :) I have Penstemon 'Huskers Red'. The blooms were so prolific, the stems couldn't hold them up. I s/h staked them. I thought H. R. was one that was supposed to have strudy enough stems they wouldn't have t/b staked. I will know to stake them next year. My Penstemon cobeae ended up toppling also. We were on vacation, and I think we must have some strong winds as some of my lilies were knocked over as well. Unless, of course, it was the ornery deer.
I have daylilies edgeing my yard between the "wild forest area and beyond" and the landscaped lawn area. I noticed they had gone along the edge and clipped off the blooms to the daylilies. Grrr! They also had walked through my okra bed--deep holes in my garden and several plants missing. I will have to re-seed the okra.

Carolyn, for give me for not answering about the caterpillars. Getting old and didn't see it.

I grew parsley years ago and it spread everywhere. Which I LOVE! The rabbits would bite off the tops so it wouldn't bloom. If it doesn't bloom it doesn't die. Then when there were so many plants they could not nip them all, a number of them started flowering. Do be patient - there has to be quite a bit of it to attract them. This was three years after planting.

It's a gorgeous ground cover plant that spreads without being invasive.

These pictures are from early June over a three year period. I am now trying to establish it in my new yard, where I have the rose Marchesa Bocchella and allium Christophii.

Donna

One of my favorite compinations which includes Candle Larkspur (Delphinium grandiflorum), Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa columbaria), and Gordon Biggs Daylily (for some reason it shows up very faded in my soil/climate).

Donna

I wondered if the parsely didn't flower, that I could keep it. Mine is getting ready to flower, so I need to cut the flowers back. Thank you for the heads up on that one!

Carolyn,

Do cut back at least some of the flowers. But leave a few for our caterpillar friends, and for seeding in future years.

combos for today

GE- beautiful! Is the #2 Husker and a Veronica? I just love that combo!

Mclowdis, how the heck do you get delphiniums to grow in Ks?
I can't grow one to save my life around here.
I blamed the heat, but you're ruining my theory.
What's the deal?
I only succeeded once in coaxing out a flower - I was so proud, I took a picture.
(Don't laugh, please...)
Looks a little pitiful in comparison with yours!

I just found another.Campanula Blue Waterfalls ( Bluestone perens ) and Heuchera Stoplight

The Salvia or veronica Eveline( never can remember which ) is with Sedum Postmans Pride. I gave PP another year to shape up or it would get tossed.

GE, I got Veronica Eveline last year at the end of bloom, and it hasn't started yet this year. I hope it looks as good as yours when it gets going. But that's a SEDUM?! Yikes! The colors are great together, but for a sedum it's quite wimpy. I wonder why?

I do love seeing all the combos, so inspiring!

Pam

Pfg: as stated above that sedum was given a third chance after I planted it in the wrong place. It needs more sun than it was getting.
I think it takes a long time to get going,this is the second year in tha garden where I have it.
There are 2 moe dark sedums with it just incase.They are small and dont really show.
The eveline was planted in 2010.

Found this fav from last year
FataMorgana and xones Summer Sky