It's December - let's celebrate our gardens

Everyone has such gorgeous gardens. I am really enjoying looking at them.

Willow - here is my iris that is like yours. It is called 'Pass the Wine'

Carolyn, that is a beautiful area. Your iris does look like mine. Gemini also has one of these mysterious beauties. "Pass the Wine" sounds good. I'll write that down with a possibly in front of it, but at least I'll know which one I'm referring to now if I put it in my notes. It multiplies really well so I will be needing to move parts of it soon.

"Pass the Wine"- that rings a bell! ...I just mistyped it, and wrote "Pass the Wind" LOL!!!

Wow, go to work and miss a lot.

I love the Lollipop lilies, jmorth.

JoAnn you should consider cutting the David Phlox back each year. It looked really nice. Bushy.

Polly, When should the Phlox be cut back?

I was just wondering that myself....

I would say when they are around 2' tall, maybe early June for us. And I would pinch the front ones back and let the ones behind grow tall, as I think Neal said. I think you can pretty much pinch them back anytime up until they get buds, but it will delay flowering then. So at about 2' for tall ones like David.

Thanks Polly,I did get split blooms where the deer had eaten them.
The Davids are in the middle if a group with Lilies behind and Husker red Penstamons in front.
I will cut at 2 feet to see what happens.There is always the possibility the Huskers wont appear this spring.I bought a 4 pack and they struggled in 3 places,lost 1 and the other 2 looked OK in October.
I cut Davids to the ground in Oct.

If you still want the phlox tall, Jo, no need to pinch, but if you let them grow to about two feet, and only pinch 1/3 of the way back they will still be pretty tall.

Once you get a Husker Red Penstemon established they are very good about coming back.

I bought 4 packs at EarlyBird on RT 13 in Ithaca.They are my fav when I visit my sister.
I also bought 2 packs of Agastache Apache Sunset.All have survived and havnt disapointed me,I love them in the DL's and Liliums.

Hi ya'll

Gemini-sage and Willowind- I love the free flow of your plants, so beautiful-- it is like one color flows so easy to another. I wish I had you guys around for input and support-- I'm new at creating a garden, it seems as if it is so easy for you.

I just love all the beautiful pictures that this group has posted,


Thank you, thank you.

Cedar cottage.

I had the same problem 2 years ago.
The influence here will help you achieve what you want.

Thanks cedar, but really, its just a matter of trial and error. Every summer I'm out there digging something up and moving it (at the wrong time of year) because it just doesn't work visually. My gardens here are 3 years in the making, and at first everything came from my old garden. While I did know all the plants well at that time, some of them changed their habits due to the environment change, and didn't quite have the appearance I'd anticipated. And of course anything new purchased from a picture often looks quite different in the garden. So now I just see that as part of gardening- a constant shifting things around. And you DO have us for input and support!- just post pics and you'll get more suggestions than you'll know what to do with, LOL.

I'll certainly second Gemini's comments. The beauty of DG is that you have all kinds of people around for advice and ideas. I keep a legal pad (started out with just a little notepad) by the computer just for writing down ideas and combinations that I particularly like.

Pirl really did open a treasure chest with this thread, as you can see from the length of it. Many, many people have contributed and enjoyed each others beautiful summer gardens. I think the seed and plant companies should underwrite us as this has certainly added to my list of hopeful purchases. What a fun way to play with color, texture and size. There are so many different artists here, and different styles...that's what makes it so much fun. I'm glad you've enjoyed it cedar cottage, and hope you'll join us for more fun and learning. Believe me, there are people here who really are experts!

It sure helps the winter blaaahs

Cedar --

GE, Gemini and Willow are all right on. I cannot believe how much I have picked up from DG. I spend all winter going through other DGer's garden photos and taking ideas and inspiration and planning what I want to do as a result of their photos. I too have seed catalogs and 3x5 cards on my computer desk so I can jot things down as I go. Not only have I learned alot, but I also enjoy spending the time I cannot be in my garden in this way.

Continued here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1064648/