Rats! I already placed my order with both Bluestone and T&M, and didn't buy any Achillea because folks on some forum here were talking about it being a "garden thug".. Now I have to place another order with Bluestone. LOL!
Edited here to say I just went to Bluestone's website and they have too many to choose from -- Pirl, do you remember the name of your Achillea? And I saw Russian Sage at the garden center yesterday -- is there a certain kind or height? There might be more than one copycatter here.
Pirl, is this a good enough message to remind you we want to see more pictures??? :)
Suzy
This message was edited Jun 1, 2007 7:13 AM
Companions for the new echinacreas
Just buy a packet of seeds and you'll have all you want of the Achillea. It was in '95 that we had the huge display of them, prior to digital cameras, and I don't recall the name but they were from Park's.
Our Russian Sage is the older variety (don't recall the name) and not the so called improved and lower one. I want tall - not low. Too much of what's "improved" is precisely what I don't want. If I saw a list of RS names my memory might be jogged.
Yes, Suzy, this is an excellent reminder.
Now I've tried twice and it won't accept my picture. I'll try again in a minute.
Sorry. Now I've tried five times and a few photos but I can't get them posted.
Definitely a copy cat, but take it as a compliment!! :-)
Pirl,
I found by multiple tries that if you don't have a comment and try to submit just a picture, it won't work, but it won't tell you that you did smth wrong either.
I'll try it now.
It seemed to work and yes, it's just a little hot weather humor. Next photo will be better.
babygardener - I try and take everything as a compliment! The whole bed, behind the dog's pen, is about 23 - 25'.
Now for the whole view, as I have it.
Looking from the opposite end.
Some of the lilies.
nice pics, pirl. About the lilies, is it safe to assume that as they multiply they sort of support each other? Yours look pretty straight compared to my relatively new plantings.
Funny that you mention that. Some of the taller ones, which were close to the fence, are now leaning forward to escape the clematis. Others do support each other, just as you said.
something to look forward to: plan support groups, lol
Gorgeous!
Suzy
Thanks. It's always a work in progress.
Pirl, your garden is beautiful. Do you get help with it or are you working alone? I actively disuade my husband from doing anything because he is hopeless. Last week, he insisted on helping to trim the azaleas in front. I had been doing it for an hour, was exhausted by the heat, and scratches, so I gave in. The moment that I gave him the clippers, he put both feet on two seperate caladiums and smashed them to the ground. Then he insisted that he hadn't done anything, and that they were like that already!
I did take your suggestion regarding planting closely. I actually had a surplus of plants from the seed starting that I did this year, but have been reluctant to use alot of them for fear of not allowing enough air to flow. Because many of them are still fairly small, I found that I had some fairly large spaces. Now I have filled many of those space with some of the annuals that I started, and added some additional perennials. I'll probably post some picture in the next month, when it has really filled in.
For me it works better if the husband does the wash, the cooking, any required cleaning and leave us alone outside unless we ask for their help. Jack does his vegetabe garden and the window boxes but does help with watering the front containers and planters.
I did take pictures of the whole fence, in three parts, but the only thing blooming now is the clematis. The fence is 16' plus 4' at each end so it's 24' of space but the end where the Echinacea is (along with others in the photo) is probably 5'.
Lilies are to the right of the section in the picture I posted, so you can see how tightly they're packed in there. The brightest green is the Russian Sage. I've added more plants - Pam's choice digitalis.
Hi, again. Just checking in with an echinacea question--Does anyone know?....
Out of all the purple colored coneflowers--which one blooms early? Including the short ones like 'Kim's Knee High'?
I'm looking for some 'purple punch' for my late May/early June sunny border....
My liatris aren't blooming yet, neither are my monarda, verbena bon., zinnias, other coneflowers....purple loosestrife is beginning to bloom, but I would like to get rid of it.
Tabasco - please see: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/728703/
The very first glorious photo shows a salvia that might be the punch you're looking for.
Thanks, pirl, that is a very good looking salvia -- 'blue queen'--looks quite tall in the photo and may be just the ticket, but the google write ups say it's just 12 inches tall. I do have 2 other salvias in the garden but they certainly don't appear as striking as the one in sherrygirl's garden... Will look into it!
Tobasco, my Kim's Knees hasn't bloomed yet, but I'm expecting the first one is about a week. I just planted them this year though. I do have some echinaeas that have already bloomed - I think that they are magnus. The new ones that I planted have several blooms, the already established ones still aren't blooming yet. I do have Kim's mophead which also looks like it might show its first bloom this week.
Although Al is in a different zone, he may be better prepared to answer this question since he grows so many different ones.
My first asiatic lily is blooming today! I would post a picture, but it is raining.
I went outside to play in the rain with my son, and I realized that I was wrong. I have two blooms on Kim's Knees.
I haven't been in this thread because my answer was more coneflowers - although I have a couple hydrangea paniculatas by mine. Anyway, I don't think there is a purple that is particularily faster at flowering. I do have some purple blue things blooming now - flax and ajuga - iris just finished.
this is pale purple(echinacea pallida) today.
Thank you both for sharing your observations. Good to know Kim's Knee High is blooming. Thanks for getting wet, too!
Al, thanks for the photo of the coneflower as of yesterday. It looks like a happy plant and on the verge of flowering. I know Menasha is a few weeks behind our area.
I think I will go out to the plant nurseries tomorrow and see what they have in stock. Maybe they have KKH and some of the shorter ones.
I think they would work in containers, right?
I don't have good luck with having perennials thrive in containers so ask at the nurseries and see how they feel about it.
Well, went to three good nurseries today and they were all sold out of coneflowers. I think all the lurkers on this thread have bought them out!
So ended up at Home Depot and they had 2 kinds--a white one and 'Bravado' which I didn't recall discussing here...so it was on sale, bought 5 and planted them. So we'll see. Nothing special, I think.
My first idea was to plant coneflowers in containers, stash them in a sunny place and let them grow, and later place the pots in the flower border when my Eremurus and other plants are finished blooming---you know, use them as ''cheaters''...
Oh, well...
We leave Wednesday for a couple of weeks in CA so I will have to catch up on DG when we get back. Take care, all. t.
Tabasco, have a good trip. By the time you return, I should have some pictures of the catmint that I bought today. I only saw it in about five different yards on my way to work this morning. It's amazing what you see when you know the names of the plants.
I'm still thinking about Pirl's Russian Sage, but I would have to expand my bed to really give it a good place. Maybe I'll wait until 2008.
I keep thinking that some nice person is going to walk by my house, and say, "What a beautiful yard. How much do you want for that house?" Just dreaming! :)
The real PIRL, my late but very dear former neighbor, had the opposite happen and the people bought her house and the neighboring garden plot between us, ripped everything down (including the house, the aged trees and shrubs and perennials) to build their own mansion. I shall never return to that block.