And it happened practically overnight, too.
I have two of these planted side-by-side in my flowerbed, they grew huge and flowered all through June and July. They looked okay on Sunday, though most of the blossoms were spent and there were only a few unopened buds left.
Now, the petals on one seem to have shriveled to nothing since yesterday. There's not much left in the way of leaves, either. And the other coreopsis isn't looking that great either.
Last year my Limerocks flowered into September (which is when I had to move to a new place, so for all I know they flowered even longer). These are, of course, different plants, but the soil here is much better than what I had at the old house (clay denser than plutonium).
I am wondering if insects are the culprit. This plant attracted a lot of small flies and beetles for some reason. I was also thinking that a DOG is doing the damage, because
the plants immediately surrounding this one (3 Mexican primroses and a Goblin gaillardia) one by one turned yellow, then brown and then died over the last month. The grass is also dead near these plants.
Anyway, I had always heard that you don't deadhead a threadleaf corepsis, but has anyone ever done it and had the plant rebloom? And is there a good way to keep dogs out of flowerbeds? (If I ever catch one in the act, I'm giving its owner holy heck...)
This message was edited Jul 26, 2006 9:36 AM
My Ruby Coreopsis looks dead
If you've got dead grass and other dead plants right around it, it's most likely some problem with that general area caused by herbicide of some sort (dog pee?) and has nothing to do with the insects you saw. As far as keeping the dog out of the garden, there are some products that you can buy specifically for that purpose, but I have no experience with them so I don't know how well they work.
You are probably right, the plants have died one at a time, in one general area. Some dog must have decided that my front flowerbed makes a good urinal.
I don't know what to do, though. I now have a great big ugly gap where there used to be flowers, and dead grass, and hubby's favorite coreopsis dying in front of my eyes. :(
I'm afraid to plant anything else there, if it's going to be "watered" by dogs. It was bad enough picking up the poop, now I can't have flowers in my own yard either.
I'd like to water the dogs' owners, but good.
As I mentioned in my previous message, there are products that you can buy to repel dogs, so you could try searching around for them (or ask about it in Garden Foes or Garden Products--I'm sure someone there will remember some names of products to help you search). One other thing you could try is the motion activated sprinklers that they sell to keep deer away--I'm sure if puppy gets squirted a few times when he's there to do his business he'll soon learn to stay away! Or is fencing an option? Once you've found a way to keep the dogs out, the salts that got into the soil from the urine will wash out and you'll be able to plant there again so it's not a permanent problem.
Thanks for the advice, I'll look into dog repellents. Fencing is not an option.
I have not had a lot of "luck" in my new home, maybe I need to change my screen name. :D
If your coreopsis aren't completely dead wonder if you cut them back they would live and maybe bloom again before fall?? I'm just thinking out loud here. Such a shame to lose some pretty red blooms.
You could be losing plants to too much moisture or too little moisture. I know the rosy coreopsis can take more moisture than the yellow thread-leaved coreopsis....What other plants are you losing in that area? It could be a dog. But, just another thought....
do you live near a zoo? some sell bags of "Lion doo" -- apparently scares the bejeesus out of dogs that like to mark territory. Alternatively, you could invest in something very prickly to plant in that spot....
My limerock ruby is doing the same thing. Had it first burst of flowers and then I trimmed back a little and I could see new buds ready to open. Instead it's leaves have turned yellowish and no buds opened. Yesterday's heat 90 degrees also seemed to be the final blow and is now wilting. I am going to be replacing it soon. Nothing else in that flower bed has behaved this way including the sweet dreams coreopsis right next to it which is still sweetly smiling away. We have been socked with rain this summer with periods of high heat and humidity.
Thanks all for your responses. I've been away from the computer and unable to answer until now.
DanceyTx, I have already cut the dead one down to the ground, and took out about half of the one that's still living. There are signs of life at the base of the one that I cut in half, but I think the other one is totally shot. What's left of it is brown and crispy. I do not think it will come back next year. I pulled up a red salvia that had gotten too big from a different bed, and planted it nearby to fill in the gap and cover up the coreopsis corpse, and it seems to be doing okay there.
ceejaytown, I try not to overwater the coreopsis. I grew Limerock Ruby last year at a different house, in clay soil no less, and they were still going strong when I moved away in September. One thing I did notice is that they didn't like heat so much (leaves drooping straight down in the afternoon, then perking back up once the sun was gone). But watering them frequently didn't seem to make them like the heat any better, so I stopped doing that.
I don't live near a zoo, greenjay, but I bet the lion stuff would also scare away a certain tomcat who's decided my deck is in his territory...
Mary1NYS, I think it very well may be the heat. I have three other kinds of coreopsis (Zamfir, Sterntaler, and Moonbeam), and while the first two have stopped blooming, they're all healthy and green. Thriving. I'm starting to think Limerock Ruby is too delicate and temperamental for me. But then, so is the grass I planted this spring. When I originally wrote this, the grass was fine except for the "crop circles" caused by dogs. After two weeks of blistering heat, now it's ALL dead. Even though we got tons of rain during that time.
Oh well. I think next year I can find an airy red flower that's a little tougher. And maybe put down some sod instead of seeds.
Good to see ya back! Well at least maybe you have one of the reds that will come back next year. You never know about these plants. ;)
I have one Gaura that from the top of the soil looks dead as a door nail but I am leaving it there just in case the roots are still alive down under there somewhere. lol
Lin
my ruby is the only thing in the butterfly garden of dozens of mixed plants that has kicked up it's heels and looks deader than a doornail. It was a new plant early summer 1 gal size in full bloom, just browned out stalks showing now....all around it is well ......no pets and I dont use insecticides or man made fertilizers...haven't noticed any bug activity, just bees, butterflies, and hummers...
excessive heat, no rain , supplemental watring...It must be the heat, surprisingly tho all else is well...zennias finishing up for the season and they always look bad at the end....cut back lanced leafed coreopsis, black eyed susans, ironweed,.groundcover geraniums...
Is Limerock Ruby one that has been around for 2 or 3 years? There's one cultivar that reminds me of LR that died the first year in my garden. I brought it back to Lowe's the next spring since the have the guarantee, and the clerk told me that they had learned that it acts more as an annual. At least in my zone. If it wasn't limerock ruby, it was another rose colored one.
I haven't tried it again, but I was very disappointed.
Winging, it is a bright dark red, if that description makes sense. Practically maroon but very vivid. Here's a picture of mine from last year (I have no idea if it survived the winter, because I moved away last fall).
I had always heard that this variety is not winter-hardy, but the two I bought this year don't seem particularly summer-hardy either. Problem is, my husband loves them, so I'm probably going to be forced to buy them every year...
I think the one I had was pinker-rosier. I don't have the old tag which is a shame. I try to remember my failures, too.
I hope yours bounces back.
w
winging... that may have been Limerock Passion. I grew that last year and had rosy pinkish blooms. It was gorgeous all summer and bloomed practically through Fall. It never came back this year although was listed as hardy then. The Limerock Ruby I was hoping would last me through the summer as I was growing it as an annual since I heard it wasnt as hardy as once thought. It was very pretty while it lasted.
My Coreopsis rosea "Sweet Dreams", which was dark pink with a darker pink halo (or was it the other way around?) looked gorgeous until the heat of summer last year, and never came back this year. I had another rosea that didn't make it either. I thought they were supposed to be easier than "Moonbeam", the yellow one. Apparently not so.
I am a newbie, don't quite know yet how the threads work, so I apologize if I do something against netiquette.
I noticed that Beginner had asked a question about deadheading coreopsis. I have posted a similar question probably in an inappropriate forum because noone has seen it yet.
My Moonbeams were wonderful until just a few weeks ago and when their blooming declined I knew I had to deadhead them, but I did not know how. So I ended up just grabbing handfuls of them and cutting them off with scissors. There are still lots of seedhead precursors (i.e. they will ripen soon). With this method I am sure I also cut off lots of buds.
Any thoughts on this would be most welcome.
I also have a pink one (not Limerock), and it has done quite well except in the beginning when it tended to flop and then perk up after watering. It needed a lot of water in the beginning. But it is really pretty now.
Thanks for your input.
Clementine, I don't know where you put your other post because I haven't run across it yet, this forum is definitely the right one to post in, but the best way to get your question answered is to start your own thread. You may get the answer you need here, but if you don't or if you have another question that's not related to this thread, here's how you start your own. Go back to the screen where all the threads in the forum are listed. Then either look towards the top left of the screen where you'll see a link (right under where it says garden talk) that says Post a New Thread, or scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and you'll see a blank subject line to make a title for your thread and a blank box to put your question in. Hope that helps!
Beginnerlucky,
I have problems with 2 of my neighbors and their dogs,
The one neighbor 2 doors down has 2 big house dogs, They let them out and they run the neighborhood and mess in everyones yard but their own... The new neighbors across the street have a pup (big clumsy lab/collie mix) They just let him roam all over, b4 we left for vacation it got into my garage drug stuff out. It got into my new raised garden bed. I took him home and told them the law states you have to have it chained up or on a leash or fenced in, if you want to keep him, keep him home. I love all animals, but have allergies to all them so I no longer can keep a pet. Anyway, I asked at the township hall what we could do about this and they said to call animal control but then the building inspector told me how he handled a similar situation. He bought some x-lax and broke it up in individual squares and placed it where the problem was and after that they stopped coming around... I guess the owners decided they didn't like cleaning crap up in the house so they keep it in their own yard.
I haven't tried it yet cause we left for vacation, but the lady in between us is suppose to try it. Her yard gets it worse than mine does. The ppl who have the 2, think they can do what they want, where they want, anytime they want, take anything they want and answer to no one. And their 15 yr old has such a filthy mouth on him most of the time. my road is 1/2 mile long, I live on the dead end. They play music out in their pole barn from morning to 10/11 at night and the WHOLE neighborhood can here it. (hard rock) I want to move soooo bad, never did like the area, but dh won't :(
Try the x-lax your problem may go away.....
Connie
(it doesn't hurt the dog, just upsets the owners and they never know the reason their pet is crapping all over their house ;o)
This message was edited Aug 12, 2006 9:32 AM
I have a coreopsis moonbeam that just will NOT quit. I never deadhead it. I bet if I did it would bloom harder. But it doubles or triples in size every year, meanwhile I'm trading little clumps away all summer. I have had similar experiences with the pink/red cultivars. They just don't seem nearly as hardy as the yellows.
xxxxx, Carrie
Thank you so much for telling me how to get answers better than I had thought before, ecrane. It looks like I got some answer from carrielamont about deadheading. Now that I have cut off a lot of the plants they look kind of ratty, but it has also been so extremely hot and dry here, that I guess I'll have to be patient for while.
Clementine, I had asked about deadheading threadleaf coreopsis this year AND last year. I had a different problem last year, they got way too big too fast and just flopped over to one side. Not too attractive. I solved the problem by wrapping planter's hoops around them, and they looked much better after that.
This year, in a new place, the problem was that the darned coreopsis were dying. What I had heard was (a)you always always deadhead the lanceleaf coreopsis, to extend the blooms (b) you don't deadhead threadleaf coreopsis, it doesn't work. For sure, when you look at one of these plants, there are spent buds and new buds that are only fractions of an inch apart. It's well nigh impossible TO deadhead the things unless you want to spend a couple of nitpicking days at it.
But my problem, and probably yours as well, was that the whole plant was turning yellow and then brown. Because it seemed to be spreading, I finally just went in and hacked out all the brown sections. I had a 50% success rate. There is definitely new growth at the base of the one plant. The other is a complete loss.
You do what you gotta, I guess. I don't think cutting back a healthy plant hurts it much in the long run, though it may not bloom as you want for the remainder of the season.
By the way, I have three Moonbeams out front this year. One gets a lot of sun, the others are in mostly shade, and all three are exactly the same size (small). This is not a picky plant. They're a litle thin, but this is their first year, and I have to say that they are not nearly so high-maintenance as the Limerock Rubies. Wish I could dye these babies red somehow. :D
Cegoins, I am LOL about the Ex-lax but I would never do it.
I really, really like dogs (although I've only ever owned cats.) I have always said "The minute I want dog poop in my yard, I'll get my own dog", but I don't want harm to come to any of them. The dogs you mention suffer from poor ownership. If they start crapping all over their house, the selfish owners might just destroy the dogs, or dump them at a shelter, which would probably mean the same thing in the end.
Anyway, I think my flowerbeds are just about on the wane for this year. I'm going to try and find lion urine over the winter. :D
Hi Beginner: Well, I have whacked my Moonbeams about in half and they don't look happy. It makes a lot of sense to me that you would get both the seed heads and new buds with this method, but I did it first, because I do not really know, and second, because they had stopped blooming. I watered them well and now I'll just wait and see.
My pink one - I don't think it is Lime Rock - I treated similarly, maybe I cut off a little less.
I'll post, if they do anything interesting - like grow and flower again.
Sorry about your dog situation.
HI, here is just a quick update on my coreopsis problem. I asked someone at our local cooperative about how she does it, and she does it exactly the same way I did it!!!!!!! She said she just grabs handfuls of it and shears it off. Then she fertilizes and waters. I just watered.
But do either of you have new blooms?
XX, C.
Sorry, I don't, but we have had very hot and dry weather, so I think I should be patient. In the meantime my rosea has started blooming again, not very much though, but it still looks lovely. What is your experience, C.?
It's really been too wet and cold to go out and check on the Moonbeam. Sometime soon, though, I must venture out to that bed because I've traded away the lemon mint in front of it for a short loud coneflower, I forget exactly which one. My first good experience with perennials was my first plant at my old house; I planted a Coreopsis Early Sunrise and it grew and grew and grew. It wasn't fertilized, I never knew I should ammend the soil or anything similar, but maybe that city dirt was similar to a prarie, because it was as hardy as anything and just grew and grew. Here at my "new" house (12 years or more now) we splurged and bought tons of Stella D'Oro dylilies and I became so TIRED of yellow! I sort of forgot about red/pink coreopsis after my DH bought a trailing one and planted it behind a taller plant (?) but it didn't come back so I forgot about them again.
Which is the red one you're talking about? I'm interested in pink/red/orange colors for my new back garden.
Also I have a "doggie-be-gone" coleus which if any of you wants it, I might PAY you to take. It supposedly smells awful to dogs, but it smells pretty bad to me too. I guess if it were in the ground here, it wouldn't smell unless something came near it at its level. It doesn't bother me when it's in a pot on the ground and I'm sitting up. It's an annual for me, but you could take cuttings.
xxxxx, Carrie
My pink coreopsis is a rosea, that is all I know, because I got it (half price) at Home Depot. If you look at the pictures in DG, it seems to me that the petals on mine are a little darker, sort of medium pink. But it is very pretty when it blooms.
No thanks for your stinky coleus.
I am glad you had good luck with your dirt. I have had to amend a lot, since it is right in front of the house and when they built it they took away all the top soil - can you imagine. It is like a brick, see my post in the Welcome Mat category if you'd like.
We haven't had a drop of rain in weeks and weeks. Where we are it seems thunderstorms are mostly avoiding us, going either north of us or south. Now we are expecting Ernesto, and we can really use the rain. I guess, you will get some of that too, Carrie, in a few days.
Oh, I have already had some, thank you, I'm waiting for a clear day to dig my trades!!!
xxxx, Carrie