If they are eaten to the ground, definitely sounds like an animal and not a bug. Do you have deer passing through?
What\'s Blooming #2
There wouldn't be a question in my yard - deer! You haven't seen any around? They LOVE hostas and turn them into clumps of celery sticks in one pass. So deer would be my guess.
Deer?
I don't think it's deer. I'm in the middle of the subdivision surrounded by subdivisions. Before all of the build up of subdivisions, 26 years ago, I did have deer and they always went for the kale. Whatever is eating my plants did not touch they kale. Someone suggested Repels-All Animal Repellent and I put some of the repellant down. We will see if it works.
Hmm Weeding, that's such an unfortunate mystery. I've got my fingers crossed for the repellent working.
Ground hog moving its way through the neighborhood?
Rabbits can be pretty serious nibblers. . . . .
My Peony is giving me such joy,its blooming nicely I got my first stella dora lily flower today.and tick weed coreopsis and Summer Sun drops are doing fine too.
Had the Purple Spiderwort planted under my pines tree and is doing fine there ,but I have not seen any blooms on the White one that is planted near to the rose bush.
I can certainly see why such a gorgeous peony would bring you joy. I know it's not chic, but I love the old fashioned scented doubles the most!
That is an incredible peony! I use to have neighbors that had a huge cutting garden and sold bouquets in their driveway with some vegetables all season. You just took what you liked and put the money in the can. During peony season, you got a HUGE bouquet of all different kinds of old fashioned peonies for $3. It was gorgeous! Their daffs were incredible too. Of course, they sold the house and the new people ripped everything out.
There is something about winter where you think you have all this room in the garden for new plants. So about two years ago I went iris crazy on ebay and bought a bunch that I really didn't need. Anyway, they are just about done blooming, some for the first time. I figure I'll post a few here from May.
1. Siberian Iris - Riverdance. This one I have for years, not ebay.
2. I have the name of this one somewhere I think. The other white with yellow in the background is probably Bride's Halo but I don't have a good shot of that one. I like the unknown one better.
3. I think this is Brown Lasso when it just opens. The purple fades.
4. Another I have to look up.
5. Not Batik
A couple of more from the end of May. Funny thing about irises, they always give you extras so when only some bloom and you don't remember buying it, you never really know if you got the wrong one.
1. & 2 At first I thought they were the same and the color difference might be the camera but the beard was different.
3. What Brown Lasso becomes. If this isn't Brown Lasso, it is a look alike.
4. Another white and yellow with a small bloom. Have to say this one was a little disappointing compared to the other white with yellows but it might mix in well with the old fashioned irises.
5. Gladys Austin didn't fade like Brown Lasso and the flowers were larger.
Thank you DonnaMack and Loretta , I do not usually cut my flowers except to give to my only daughter who lives upstairs.Last week she was a little bit down as her Dad was hospitalized , so when she cam home I left a lovely red one in a bud vase for her , It really cheered her up ,she commented about the lovely fragrance .Your Irises are beautiful ,what variety of colors you have , I have Peach,purple, yellow and white. I am just like you do not know where it plant so many of the Irises ,lol
1. This one came with the house. Actually, it makes a nicer plant and takes some shade. I think the white small one in the last post would mix well with this one.
2. And yet another.
You may wonder how I fit all these. Well of course, not well. A lot went into a long border along my neighbor's chain link fence. Some I tried mixing in with others. Sometimes it works, sometimes the foliage is awkward. Eventually I'll weed them to a few favorites, I suppose. I need a parkway area too!
You've got some beautiful Iris Loretta! I'm thinking you DO need all of those. The information about fading is always good, I've got to believe that reduces your bang for your buck.
Cytf, your photos are nice too, I love your Oenothera!
How can a peony not make anyone feel a little bit better?
That Oenothera did catch my eye too but I've always been afraid of evening primrose. Is it well behaved or does it spread like the yellow? It really pops when I see it in other gardens.
Robin, I have at least twice as many iris that didn't bloom so I'm not sure what will be in the long run. If I was smart, I would have gone to the Presby Iris Garden which isn't far from my house and just copied one of their many nice combinations all ready figured out.
Beautiful iris photo's. My mother always had the most beautiful iris. Those photo's remind me of some of hers.
I've been out in the 92 degree temp weeding my iris. It amazes me how hard it is to keep the unwanted vegetation out of the iris. I'm experimenting by adding some pine needle mulch to them.
92 degrees! Yikes! We are a relatively cool 83 with a breeze. Not ready for 90's yet though we had a day or two.
I did do pine needles around them. It worked OK. I have weeds everywhere.
Beautiful irises and peonies!
I don't have tons of sun-loving perennials,
but what I have seem to be just getting going.
First is a pretty poppy - can't remember the cultivar.
2nd is my only Asiatic lily, Forever Susan (in honor of my sister).
3rd is Eryngium Big Blue - it will get bluer as it matures.
1. Spigelia marilandica continues to bloom
Edited to add that the next two are more at home in my partly shady yard.
2. A hellebore which stars after their brethren are done blooming;
this is Helleborus argutifolius Helen Starnes.
Foliage is it's merit. I don't think I've ever seen a flower.
This is about as good as it looks - mildews terribly once humidity sets in.
3. I've been a fan of bletilla's for a long time.
I posted an image of B. striata Kate last week.
This week, it's B. striata Yokohama - a lighter shade of lavender.
Very pretty.
This message was edited Jun 6, 2016 8:59 PM
I can easily see why you're a fan of Bletilla's, they are beautiful. That's a really good photo of Yokohama!
Your Asiatic Lily is a wonderful honor for your sister and a very touching gesture.
I think I'm going to look into getting some Spigelia, yours have been in bloom for a while now. I've got a spot with 3/4 shade it just might do well in. I have an unidentified Rose I started from seed there right now and it needs more sun. It's a shame I can't move it somewhere else.
I think I've sent peony Cornelia Shaylor before but I can't resist. They were impossible to find in this country so when I ordered them from Canada I purchased three. Back in Lake County, where I lived before, the sun was so bright it would bleach them white. Because the light isn't so intense here. I get to enjoy not only the shape but the lovely color for days.
I see I closed down without posting.
Wee, you have such interesting plants! I've always loved eryngium but are they as spikey as they look? Don't want to hurt my dog's feet (or mine). Even so, I've tried and they just wither and disappear in my yard or they never germinated, even fresh seed (Miss Willmott's Ghost).
1. Corn Poppy - first one, not sure I'll get any others.
2. Allium fistulosum - Japanese Bunching Onion
3. Egyptian Walking Onion
4. Calla Lily
5. Rose Campion (with a little dryer lint).
Robin, Congratulations on your rose seedling! That's awesome!
Cytf, it is good to know that Cornelia Shaylor can last a few days. It's a beauty!
Loretta, I love the color of that corn poppy - does it reseed?
Have you had it very long?
Also, being a fan of odd plants, love those walking onions!
And yes, the eryngium (leaves & flowers) can be painful. But I really like them, partly because the deer (except the masochists) leave them alone.
Mipii, I'm super impressed you were able to coax a real flowering rose plant out of a seed. Seems too miraculous to be possible.
And Donna, that lovely pink peony - so nice! My peonies are all species peonies (because they're relatively shade tolerant). They tend to be way-early spring blooming, so they're long done by now. But I'm noticing peony seedlings all over the place, so I'm busily putting little wire cages around the seedlings so the varmints don't nibble them to death.
a couple of lilies. The orange one is tango lily Halloween.
Wee, that poppy is a self sown one so yes, it reseeds. I'll save you some if you want.
After the roses come the lilies! Very nice, Weeding. That Tango is a lot of fun. I have a Tango too but I don't remember which one it is.
This message was edited Jun 8, 2016 10:20 PM
Loretta, what beautiful pictures. Love the colors.
Wee, I am now about 40% shade and I love what I can do with it. I had a lot of plants that were shade tolerant but preferred sun, so now I am really developing my shade areas with plants that can ONLY take shade. I love the way it widens my planting palette. I find myself concentrating more on texture in my shade areas.
I have several peonies that are now blooming on secondary buds. I love the ones that do that. Festiva Maxima and Cornelia Shaylor do it in particular. I also find that I really like lighter colored peonies because you can see the detail of them better.
A vendor from whom I bought Mrs. FDR sent me a peony that I knew was not Mrs. FDR. Now in it's second year I can see that it is Coral Charm. I know a lot of people like Coral peonies, but they look very "man made" and artificial to me. Klehm has made a fortune hybridizing them. Happily, as an unknown, I threw it in the back yard where I have some sun. If a new peony doesn't bloom for two years I dig it up and throw it in the back and ignore it. Oddly, it then gets the memo and blooms. I have two in the back that I will move to the front. but Coral Charm is going to stay there!
Yes, yes, after the roses come the lilies.
Thanks, Donna! And it should be Hydrangea too but for the third year in a row, the macs have been frostbitten. However, two H serrata seedlings have a couple of buds.
Ok - I LOVE Coral Charm but I do get your point! I've had it for years and it has slowly been overtaken so I have to move it. For the last couple of years, I had less and less blooms and even though it only lasts 3 days, I would not remove it.
From better years:
I apologize for my obnoxious remark! I should not have made it. It was quite thoughtless. My mother would smack me. She raised me better.
What I should have said that it conflicts with my color scheme. And that I have an unpleasant sort of connection to them.
Someone gave me one and it did not do well. The interesting thing is that when I was at Klehm 's gardens in Wisconsin he remarked that Pink Hawaiian Coral was incredibly prolific. He had a whole field of them. I remember wondering why they were so expensive. Festiva Maxima, after all, is also common, and you can buy it for $15.00. The other thing is that a dear friend gave me about $105 in peonies from Klehm and none of them bloomed more than once before disappearing. I had a lot of experience with peonies at that point. But I did notice that the roots seemed very long, with eyes on both sides. It is impossible to plant a peony properly that had eyes on both sides - which end is up? I found that they tended to rot. A friend in the trade told me that the new trend i peonies was to propagate them very closely together in a manner that leads to this. Between getting the wrong peonies from some domestic suppliers (3) and having peonies die after after coming domestic suppliers (2), I remembered that my original peonies had come from Canada. So two years ago I purchased 5 for myself and went in with a friend who also bought those and martagon lilies. The peonies that I have been showing you., which have only been in the ground two years, all came from Canada.
But that still does not excuse my thoughtless remark, and I hope you will forgive me.
Donna
Donna! Lol! I didn't take it personally! No apologies necessary! Actually I feel that way about a lot of flowers!
I don't think I have much of a color scheme anymore because so much of what I buy, I've never seen bloom in person or a lot is from seed but I have a weird knack of planting the same color next to each other. Not that I want that.
I've only bought from Klehm once quite a few years back. Both did OK. One is stingy and one is not. They do touch up their colors. Where do you buy from in Canada?
Loretta - That Coral Charm PEONY. I have never seen one like that - it is BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Loretta, you are a doll!
Parkland Perennials in Alberta. My second year peonies need staking. I put them in October before last, and every single one bloomed with multiple flowers last year.
http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/206/
I had to buy a phytosanitary certificate for $15, which the owner was quick to tell me, but I split the order with a friend and we bought 10 peonies and she bought six martagon lilies. It was all shipped to me, and we split the certificate.
My very first order, years ago, was from a Canadian company that has since changed hands. I don't know why they are so much better than anything I have received from several American companies. The only peonies that perform like that are from White Flower Farm, but I ordered four peonies from them over time, and only one was the correct one.
Not to disappoint you, Donna but did you read this on the Parkland Perennial site?
"Our peony collection has been sold to Adam Yakabuskie of Calgary. Plants will be divided and moved this fall to their new home where they will be propagated and nurtured and will be available for sale again in a few years. We would like to thank our many customers (fellow peony lovers) who have been very loyal to us over the years. Adam plans to supply the same quality plants which our Parkland Perennials customers have been accustomed to and he will be continuing with the Parkland Perennials name.
We will continue growing and supplying martagon lilies as well as some lilium species."
I'm too late! All the good ones are moving on! But they do still have martagon lilies and some really nice ones so thanks for the link, Donna.
WeeRobin! Have you checked out Donna's link? Awesome martagons here, perhaps a little pricey but where else can you get these?
http://www.parkland-perennials.com/cat/section.php?id=5&sc=0
Thank you, Brenda. Hopefully I won't kill Coral Charm when I move it this fall. There are a few coral peonies and they all look very similar to me. Somewhere I have pictures of a few when I visited Peony Envy a couple of years ago. If I find them, I'll post them.
Speaking of lilies, I found an old picture of Lilium pumilum.
Bummer!
I'm beginning to think that I am the kiss of death. I purchases several wonderful roses from Pickering Nursery - and it closed the next year!
In a few years! The thought of waiting that long is awful. Fortunately, with a single exception, I have every peony I want. I am so happy I got the Cornelia Shaylors, which would have been almost impossible to obtain. I am so happy that I placed the order. I have never, never see peonies of this quality, except for another Canadian vendor who has also moved on, leaving the business to his son.
Look at the quality of this Mrs. FDR. From my former home - obtained from Canada. In the last picture, those hulking peonies are Mrs. FDR and Cornelia Shaylor in bud, from Canada. It also explains why I didn't think I could take them!
Loretta, I've seen plenty examples of Lilium pumilum but none like yours!
The ones I've seen are a drab pale reddish/orange.
Yours is an incredible saturated red and looks like it has much sturdier substance.
Is it a cultivar or a hybrid, or just your random L pumilum?
Look at all those buds! That's incredible! How long is the bloom period for you, Donna? And you say Pickering is gone too! I think I knew that but I forgot. I'm wondering if I ever ordered from them. I think I did once but I can't remember what I got from them.
Wee, that one is from Brent and Becky and I think that's their typical offering. I don't remember if it is the original bulb or the seedlings. The original bulbs went to seed and never returned but the seed was very easy to germinate. The seedlings never produced any seed though and eventually disappeared. I would like to get it again but it got a little pricier. Still, it was cute. I should do it.
Mrs. FDR and Cornelia Shaylor both have a long period of bloom because it has a lot of secondary buds. So they can actually bloom for three weeks or more. You think they are done and then BOOM! more buds open and more flowers appear. I think this is a more common trait with peonies that are cultivated and are from the 1930's and before.. It was, I suspect, a selling trait. People used to have multiple homes at which they spent limited periods of time. So in late spring or early summer they wanted the best possible show. Then they would leave that house and move to the next one. So in the era when people had multiple homes peonies were in huge demand for their displays at homes people spent a couple of months in. Go back to those houses in the summer and there wasn't much there. And they and those who lived their year round wanted huge bouquets for the house. In multiple rooms.
And since they had gardeners to take care everything, it didn't matter if the peonies needed support. Particularly if they were for the house.
Pickering had problems wit both the United States and Canada because of their graft root, which was extremely hearty. No one gibes anyone hell for sending out plants on Dr. Huey (like David Austin) a notoriously unreliable but powerful rootstock. Pickering roses were recommended to me for their hardiness. I have NEVER had one revert - and I must have purchased at least 30. The patriarch of the family passed away, and now I understand that they are growing roses on their own roots. I miss those big Pickering plants. Incredibly reliable, incredibly inexpensive. I remember ordering roses for $14 each and paying $16 shipping for four, and receiving two foot plants that bloomed within six weeks.
I hope that they will be back.
Must I be the bearer of bad news again?
http://www.pickeringnurseries.com/
"Pickering Nurseries to close permanently.
Thank you for visiting us and following our company. Though we had planned to reopen this spring it obviously didn’t happen.
After a great deal of soul-searching I have come to the decision that my future doesn’t lie in the rose business. My attempts at rooting roses showed promise (it’s not that hard really) and I have composed a complete and viable business plan. But to be honest my heart just isn’t in it, though even as I write this I teeter back and forth.
So, Pickering Nurseries is now closed permanently. I thank you for all the successful years we enjoyed.
Best regards,
Joel Schraven
Pickering Nurseries"
Thank you for the information on peonies, Donna. I never knew to look for secondary buds. A friend of mine picked me a flower from her garden today and I noticed a secondary bud on hers so someone is trying to tell me something!
1. Verbascum
2. Kalmia Keepsake
3. Kalmia forgot the name
4. blue eyed grass - the problem with this is you don't want it mixing with your chives and they both like to seed around.
5. First year for Kangaroo Paws which was finally available here locally. I had searched for this a few years ago for a friend but never found it. Now they don't want it so I have it instead. Fine with me.
I will always be grateful to the lovely people at Pickering. One way in which they were tremendously helpful in posting Joel's Picks. Or sometimes I asked them directly about a rose, and they would recommend another. Always successfully. Amongst them:
Madame Hardy
Marie Pavie
Enfant de France
Rose de Rescht
Constance Spry
Marchesa Bocchella
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Morden Blush
Dublin Bay
Heidesommer
High Hopes
Gruss an Aachen
Quadra
Sea Foam
Stanwell Perpetual
There were many more roses, but these are the Joel's picks or recommendations from them that I personally received. And every single rose was successful in my old garden. And except for Heidesommer and High Hopes, which I cannot find, every single one of these is in my new garden.
I bought my first Pickering Rose in 2003. I will miss them so much.