Is it time to start planting perennials now?

I have to get my plants out of my house and garage. Right now, I have about three dozen stella d'oros that need to be planted. One of them has begun to bloom. I am going to do my best to prepare the bed tomorrow to put them end so that all the blooms don't end up in the garage. I also have over a dozen echinacea that I am going to put out. They have already been kicked out of my seedling room because they grew so large so fast. None of these are from seed, so they all have a pretty mature root system. Even if we do get another cold snap, I believe that all these plants will be fine.

Now comes the questionable plants. I have alot of black eye susans that I grew from seed. All are over two feet, one is at least three feet - its taller than the light in my tallest shelf for my seedlings. I tried to take a picture of this, but I'm not sure if you can see it clearly. I would like to put these either out in the garden or at least in the unheated garage, so that I can make room for more seedlings that desperate need to be transplanted. There will be plenty of room in the garage when I evict the daylillies and echinacea.

None of my other plants are even close to going into the garden. The perenials are all too small, and its too cold still for the annuals. Is anyone putting perennials from seed into the garden yet? I hate to have put in all that time and effort to kill them just before they bloom.

This message was edited Mar 28, 2007 11:53 PM

This is the picture. For some unknown reason I wasn't able to put it in before. If you look closely to the left, there is a plant that is higher than the lights. There is also a taller one in front on the right.

My potted perennials are now outside but can be moved under cover if the weather turns quickly. Perennials that are established in their pots would most likely survive a freeze although you could lose what little top-growth has already come out. I had mine out in the snow the week before spring and just covered them with a sheet of plastic. They kept growing under it.

What about spring bulbs? Is it time to put asiatic and oriental lilies in the ground yet? I think it might be, but I'm googling around this morning, trying to figure it out....

Crittero, I think you can plant Asiatic lilies any time the soil is workable.

Mickgene,

I'm going to follow your lead in just bringing the perennials out. I'm still a little leary about planting my black eye susans, but I have to do something. I just realized this morning that the tallest one is actually able to touch the top of the shelf above it.

Meantime, I am going to be doing more heavy duty weeding, which unfortunately for me mean killing my earthworms. I think my worms enjoy sleeping directly underneath the weeds. Yesterday, I kept slicing the poor things in half. When I was a kid, I was told that if you cut them in half, they would regenerate, and you would get two worms. While I now know that this isn't true, it would be great for my garden if it was.

As long as I am slaving away, I am going to plant my asiatic lillies and liatris.

When I get back home, I want to post several pictures of some weeds in my garden that I am not familiar with. One I am positive is a weed, and the other one is so pretty, that I would buy it as an accent plant - unfortunately, it grows like crazy all over my perennial bed. Since I think that these are regional weeds, I am going to post them here. I haven't seen either one in Connecticut or Georgia, when I lived there.

Thanks, claypa! I wanted to get them in the ground soon (before they start sprouting as my garage warms up!)... maybe this weekend...

Penne, don't worry about the worms... for every one you slice, there are many, many more in your garden!

I've got a weed growing all over some areas, very low growing, almost looks like mazus reptans... little blue flowers... I think I like it, unless I find out that it's some sort of thug!

critterologist- does it look like this? I have it all through the lawn right now, this is a closeup, when you're standing you can just make out the flowers

critter, I've planted lily bulbs in March and had the growth killed by a freeze before. So I started potting them until late April and then transplanting. That way they get a head start for their first year. Then in subsequent years they come up at the "right time" to not get frozen. Such smarties! I think the problem the first year is that the bulbs for sale have warmed up and start growing too early that first year.

pennefeather, unless your Black-Eyed Susans are some unusually weak hybrid, I wouldn't hesitate to plant them now. Rudbeckias have never been a problem in my spring garden, and they're always up early. I've been seeing them popping up since the last snow cleared.

i have some of those little blue flowers popping...they are cute, so i hope they aren't a problem!

Sally, yes, that's the one! Do you know what it is? I'm hoping it's not a pest, because I rather like it!

I've also got henbit growing all over, but the guy at Southern states said it would die back in the summer heat... also, it's shallow rooted, so a little cultivation with my new electric Mantis (love it!) seems like it'll take care of it.

Mickgene, some of my established oriental lilies have started popping up, so I figure it's probably safe to plant my newly purchased ones now -- fortunately, I think they're still looking dormant.

Most hardy perenials can go in the ground now.The chilly temps in many cases make the plants stronger.If it gets really cold you can always use a piece of poly or even clear plastic bags[grocery bags]
to cover them with.
Black eyed susans will self seed usually.A little work this year will pay off for years to come hopefully.
The little blue flowers everyone is seeing may be persian speedwell.
Its listed as a weed.In my yard it seems to prefer the shade.Sunlight
seems to keep it in total check.You may have to weed it in the areas
Links to persian speedwell.The second link is better
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/WEEDS/persian_speedwell.html
http://ipm.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/verpe.htm

Thanks for the ID! Heh, I'm growing other species of veronica on purpose... I might just keep this one in a few places and see how it does as a groundcover... I've got false strawberry growing in a back bed, and I like it, so it's only a weed if it grows where you don't want it, LOL.

the persian speedwell is doing mighty fine in full sun here- its taking full advantage of the areas in which I reduced the previous lawn weeds last year. Other than that ,it hasn't been a pest before. I don't think the seeds spread very far since its so low growing.

I've got a bunch of it growing where I'll need to till up when I plant out peppers... I might move some of it to the border of the perennial bed...