PLANT ADDICTS CHAT #6

So lovely!!

Lovely!

How pretty! i have a couple of hydrangeas, but they have been slow to establish and put on a show... they're getting bigger, though... I think I need to remember to throw fertilizer and mulch with pine fines.

Speaking of Hydrangeas---"Yaku Prince" LIVES!!!

This is for you Nay-sayers (Jeff--are you listening?) that it is dead and I should
just pull it up. Paul (Mr. Rhodo Man) said the same thing.

Since it was planted in the corner of my raised bed--and since there was
nothing else I was planning to put in there--I decided to let it be and see
what comes of it.
Well--come spring, I started seeing signs of new leaf growth.
There was hope!!!
Well--all the dead and browned leaves have all dried up and fallen off
and the Rhodo is leafing out nicely. NO blooms this year--of course.
But--I expect a nice flush next year.

1 and 2 --the dead and doomed Yaku prince...March 2015

3--As it looks today--mid June.

speaking of hydrangeas? LOL

Nice come-back for 'Yaku Prince'! I have a couple of azaleas that got pretty beat up this winter but are showing strong new growth now.

What or where is WG?

I took my youngest daughter plant shopping for her birthday. She loaded up on plants for her vivariums, and I bought a Viburnum dentatum 'Blue Muffin' to help pollinate the Viburnums I already have. I heard that tomorrow's going to be hot, but I'm going to try to plant it anyway.

Speaking of hydrangeas, that Rhodi is looking pretty darned good Gita! I'm glad it sprung back for you.

Thanks, Jeff....I am happy as well...
Wonder how it did for all the others that got one of these????

G.

chuckle...

Our three looked rather worse for wear after the winter we had, sort of like yours did. Fortunately they seem to be doing a lot better now and have a good bit of new growth.

Our azalea from Paul looks super, but didn't have any blooms.

My tiny baby azalea from Paul doubled in size last year! My own attempts to root trimmings have been unsucessful... maybe i need to "dome" them or take them inside for some bottom heat? Might try that next spring for the deciduous ones... the others I have are pretty common varieties, easier to purchase them on sale.

A member of the Rhody and Azalea Society Potomac Valley chapter told me that many are hard to propagate. They take cuttings from the varieties they wish to share and send them to a specialty propagator in Oregon. He then ships back the ones that 'take'. 2-3 year process.

That's how your 'Summer Eyelet' came to be Jill. Hope every one is keeping theirs well hydrated!

Muddy, WG is short for Wintergreen, its in Waldorf, Md. Lol im just too lazy to type sometimes.

Thanks Tori.

I finally found a decently priced mountain laurel at Meadows Farms. I thought it was a pretty good deal at $35. The poor thing was being kept in full sun!

I think I'm done shopping for the season. I just need to keep an eye out for an edgeworthia and an Arnold's Promise witch hazel.

SSG there was an Arnolds Promise at Ace Outback last weekend and another variety...Diane? I couldn't remember which one was most fragrant. Which Mountain Laurel did you get?

Oh man, I really wish I hadn't gotten sick last week! I've been looking for Arnold's Promise for a few months now. I might have to give them a call and see if they still have it.

I got Kalmia latifolia 'Ostbo Red.' It has red buds that open up pink and it stays shorter than some of the other cultivars.

Wonder if their sale is still on. May be down that way early this week. Recollection is about 4' tall in pot. Will take a pic if see one .

Since this is the Plant Addicts thread, have you all tried Plant Lust?
Here is their page on Kalmia
http://plantlust.com/plant_index/Kalmia
and for Kalmia latifolia 'Ostbo Red'
http://plantlust.com/plants/kalmia-latifolia-ostbo-red/

I like seeing several growers or nurseries descriptions on the same page without having to go back to google! They say 56 plant catalogues in a single search...!

That's a handy website!

Please let me know if you end up headed out that way!

I hadn't heard of that site before. It's also useful in getting an idea of which plants might be suitable for specific areas; i.e. deer-resistant (or rabbit-resistant) shrubs that will grow in clay in zone 7a.

Muddy, one of my first gardening guides was a book titled "The Right Plant For the Right Place". It covered and cross referenced a lot of the same criteria that Plant Lust does. It also had a section on 'Indicator Plants' whereby one could evaluate a property/site by which plants/weeds etc were growing there in terms of moisture and soil type.

SSG, will do...and I can see why you have an edgeworthia on your list! Wowzers...perfect. Have you read Carolyn's Shade Garden blog on same?
http://carolynsshadegardens.com/2012/12/10/a-shrub-for-all-seasons-edgeworthia/

Yes that's where I first read about it!

SSG, most nurseries get their new witchazel stock in the fall so they have them for the following spring.

I was browsing a nursery several weeks ago and saw a 'Jelena' for 20 bucks. It had to be bought; you rarely see them at that price. It has some damage that is callousing over near the base of the trunk but the plant looks healthy otherwise. I'm planting that and the 'Diane' I got in that new 'Loblolly' bed I'm making with all those shrubs. On a side note, I don't know if others have experienced this but it's been a banner year for witchazel fruit production on my established plants. I've never seen so many. I wonder if a particular pollinator was more present this year than in years past while it was blooming.

Seq, that's interesting. Behnke's told me they get most of their witch hazels in the spring. I'll have to ask around.

I just put an "interest" discussion thread in the group buy forum for lilies -- thinking oriental and orienpet, mostly, but post what you'd like to find and I'll see what I can do!

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1398192/

Perhaps I should not have said 'most'. My local nursery gets theirs in the fall because they want them first thing in the spring when they are blooming so they can sell them easier. The witchazels bloom before spring shipping from their vendors so that's why they get them in the fall. I just assumed most would do this, guess not.

Does anyone know a good vendor for Asiatic or Oriental lilies? I bought from B & D last year and am pleased. I'd like to get more of them but would like to check out some other places too.

The size of bulbs we got from ADR once were much better than what we got from VE, so I think we'll be ordering some more ADR lilies for spring. The group buy forum link above is for B&D or The Lily Garden or any other vendor y'all have to recommend. So far it's looking good for an order from The Lily Garden... :-)

I'm also thinking of making a foray into cannas next year, as there is a highliy recommended canna farm in SW PA. They have a big selection of brugs, also... Can't do it this year, though, too many other hits to the garden budget! Look -- http://www.karcheskycanna.net/home.html

Yeah the VE bulbs were very small and unimpressive when next to the gigantic ones from B&D last year. I'll have to check out the group buy on the ones from the Lily Garden.

My Santa Rosa order came today!

Good to know about the VE bulbs.

Any especial "ooh, what a fabulous looking plant" recommendations from the SR sale list? What made you drool as you unpacked it? :-) I admit, I still haven't pulled the trigger... too many unplanted things here as it is, and every time I browse their site my shopping cart gets fuller. LOL Maybe I'll just get some things for the "pocket ponds" that are unoccupied. Or not... I have irrigation stuff to buy and the big bill from the tree work..

Yes SSG do tell!!!

The East Coast heat wave early this week may have been too much for some of the plants. Who knows how long they were stuck in the back of trucks or processing centers. They all needed a nice long drink of water.

Delphinium 'Summer Blues' is looking so pitiful that I may ask for a refund or an exchange. There are only a couple of leaves left and it looks like the rest were broken off. I don't think it's strong enough to survive transplantation.

I got a hibiscus 'Luna Swirl.' I'd bought one last fall on clearance (edited to add it was a gallon sized plant, bought locally) which surprisingly didn't make it over winter.

I also got a couple of heucheras and veronicas. Heucheras don't live very long for me (especially in the back yard), so they need to be replaced regularly. It just gives me an excuse to try out new ones. :D

I'm most excited about Salvia 'Purple Knockout' and Penstemon 'Blueberry Taffy'.

That 'Blueberry Taffy' looks so pretty in pictures! It's supposedly only zone 7 hardy.

This message was edited Jun 18, 2015 8:02 PM

'Blueberry Taffy' is really eye-catching. I think our only lasted two seasons.

I love that color! Blueberry Taffy's the perfect name for it.

What do you think happened to it? Was it just too cold?

Have no idea.

Funny that Edgeworthia chrysantha was mentioned above...here's a few in fine form that I saw while in NJ this past week.

Wow, VV, beautiful Edgeworthia!

I missed the opportunity to get one locally this spring. It was such a cold and dreary spring that I didn't do much plant shopping. I may need to start calling them in February.

This message was edited Jun 19, 2015 5:56 AM

That's too bad about some of your plants from SR SSG. I had an order that got similar treatment earlier this spring and one of the plants even fell out of it's container; it was fairly pathetic. I left SR negative feedback on the Garden Watchdog. I had sent them an email about it and they never got back to me. It was also pretty obvious the plants were packaged poorly. I don't think I'd buy anything from them again.

I try to buy from Bluestone Perennials whenever I can. They have quick shipment, package the plants carefully, and the potting soil is usually still damp or even wet then they plants arrive.