Hydrangeas do like moist soil. Where does your brother live?
That's a nice idea to plant at your brother's house the things that won't grow for you.
Winter dreaming of clematis...and chat, of course!
Pittsburgh. I know they grow there cause that is where I spent the first years of my life :o) Yep I am looking forward to it!! Of course I will research since I have not lived there in 30+ years .
Pirl, what a stunning color combo those hydrangeas & lilies make! All my hydrangeas are blue because of the acidity, but I might try lime on some of them this year......
I will also need helping picking out some plants that will not require much work.
Thanks, Marilyn. I should go out now and continue to pull back my pine needle mulch, add bone meal and manure and then put the mulch back in place. It's 58 degrees on the first of February!
DD - plants for your home or your brother's?
Plants for my brother. Here everything is hit or miss even the cactus :o) I want to make him a list to explore and see what he likes. I will get at least one clematis growing up through something!
Last year there was a thread, maybe in Perennials, about the easiest ones to grow. I'll be back when I find it.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1196663/
Hope the link helps but please feel free to ask us, here on this thread, anything we'd recommend.
Lilies, phlox, coreopsis, crocosmia and salvias would all be top choice for me.
Thank you!! I am watching that thread now and will refer back to it when he is ready. Those are good options. I am not sure how much he is going to let me play in his garden but I am hoping it will be a lot.
Pirl, is that an east side or north side of your home? I took out a few larger Hydrangeas that were out of control on my east side and put in low growing shrubs, but might put back in a couple of the small growers for color. I dont know what else would grow on my east side.
Was out side today cleaning up leaves and sticks out of the beds and noticed that the hydrangeas are putting out new growth and the clems are also putting out growth. daffodils are popping up all over where they were planted.
It's the northwest side, Marie. East should be ideal for hydrangeas. Though some can take full sun I do think they are happier not suffering through the heat of the afternoon sun. Now, minus the large Bradford Pear (thanks to hurricane Irene) we'll find out how the hydrangeas in the southwest garden survives the heat.
Hosta and other plants that enjoy the shade should enjoy the eastern exposure. Check out the shady gardens forum:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/shady/all/
Yes! Things are popping up all over and it's a tense time since it's far too early for the plants to be so active in their growth.
DD
The five easiest perennials that would give bloom almost all season would be peonies, iris,daylilies,asters(Idon't like them) and of course chrysanthemums. These five would take your from late April/ Early May right on through October. I suspect that among your fellow gardeners here we could probably populate your brothers garden with these.
John
Pirl...remind me come spring and I can send you some of the Centaurea "Amethyst in Snow", that one bloomed all summer (except for the hail damage, I've banned all hail from my garden this year, and no more flooding either). LOL.
I'll do a trade for rooted hydrangea cuttings, hint hint. lol.
Blizzard coming in tomorrow afternoon thru e. on Sat. Then guess what.......I'm sending it east for the rest of you!!!!!!! Enjoy! they are saying 6-14" (I'm in an area that tends to get the higher amount) Whew, glad my appliances got here today....
Desert.. take a look at my have list of plants to give you a few ideas (lol), ok a bunch of ideas. Got any questions just ask, ok? When will you be planting his garden? And what zone is he a 5 or 6? Here's one of those all summmer bloomers, it's Veronica spicata "Sightseeing Blue", 28".
Just tell me the color of the hydrangeas you want and if you want lace cap or not. I only have a few mop heads.
Keep the snow!
I am going to assume a zone 6 since the person in the link from Pirl is in Pittsburgh too. I am hoping to get to his place this summer ( it will not officialy be his until March 1) but there is a chance I will not get there until fall and then it really depends on what is happening in my life. Only 2 of my kids are out of the house the rest are still in grade school and so leaving out of town even for a week is not easy.
DD here's another easy perennial for continual season color
Beautiful, John. Which cultivar is it?
I just love phlox!
Hi Pirl, just got back from my garden and I noticed some growt on the old branches on most of my clematis. I have not trim them jet, I was going to put some manure on it with bone meal. Should I leave them alone and not trim them or when March comes trim them and let the roots grow out. It is warm it here, and everything is started sprouting, some of my lilies are 4 inches high, the tulips are piping out too. I hope we are not going to get surprised with some havy frost and loose everything. I just bought a Hanrii clem, in dry root stage and have some little sprout on it. When should I plant it, or should just put it in a flower pot, and cover with mulch and put it in ground in March or April. Seams like I have pinks and blues, so I wanted to have the white with my new blue Daniel deronda which will come from Brushwood ..I have days off so I will be playing in the dirt all weekend. Thanks, Etelka
Just had to have some color in the house, so I bought some Cyclamen, my favorite from way back home.
Your cyclamen is wonderful and is a nice bright spot of color. We still have amaryllises in our kitchen window.
I'm no expert so I'd say to trim away any dead stems but always check carefully for buds. For some lanky stems you still can cut them back to get a bushier plant even if they do have buds.
I'd plant the new clematis just as you described. It's your choice whether to raise it for a year in a pot or plant it directly in March. Each person does it the way they feel is best. Last year I grew Belle of Woking from the same stage as you have Henryi right now and it did fine but I had it in with other potted plants so they always got watered - that's critical for new clem's.
Have fun over the weekend.
Plants grown in the ground are almost always get bigger faster than in a pot (from my experience).
Pirl...oooooh gosh, pink or purple sounds great. Now how long you want me to hold that snow for you? I have more than 18+" so far today. Give me some ideas of what you might like in return, ( I really could share some of that snow). Truely am glad for the snow but will hold up progress in the kitchen, no water for a few more days I guess, phooey.
Pix is passiflora carulea (crucifix vine).
Such a pretty passiflora, Kathy.
Rats on the kitchen work being halted during your snowfall that made our evening news. Hearing that it came down at the rate of two inches an hour was amazing. Please keep it there and send it here at the end of July. Thanks so much!
I can take cuttings from pink and purple but unless your pH is between 6 and 6.2 (very exacting) they may not retain the pink color. Purple seems even testier to get right. Read more about changing the color of hydrangeas here: http://www.hydrangeashydrangeas.com/colorchange.html
HI everyone. I heard about that snow too. Over 18" wow - that would have been a snow day for me if it were here on a weekday.
I have hydrangeas too - love them. I only have blue.I have one lacecap that is blue and 2 mopheads that are blue - different varieties planted right next to each other. I so love the blooms. I would love to get a pink one but it seems that the soil ph plays a huge role...
timeinabottle - that phlox is so beautiful! is it fragrant?
Kiseta - that cyclamen is really pretty. I live cyclamen.
Maureen, I remember cyclamen in Europe is a favorite flower for the March 8 womens day, we always bought it to our grandmas or mathers. When I bought to cyclamen also bought a Pee-Gee pink Hydrangea, I hope it makes it I need to get some color in my shady back yard that has a lots of bushes but is to shady for clematis . It was a 5.99 special with lots of green shoots on top. This is a internet picture.
Kiseta - that's so pretty. I've never seen a hydrangea like that one. Very interesting.
Anyone ever hear of "Clematisguru"?
I pulled up some old posts from 2009 and this person had amazing pics...i couldn't believe all the clematis combos pics. I see that they are no longer on daves...i wonder what happened to them? His/her pics were amazing!!!
Kathy - hope you are surviving the snows. I also heard 18" of snow.
Etelka - I love your hydrangea. Is that Pinky Winky?
I remember ClematisGuru - Yes, her pictures were gorgeous. My own personal opinion - I thought things got rather nasty when she was here.
Carolyn, on the bag it said Pee Gee Hydrengea, when I googled it, it showes that it can come white or pink, and you can actualy trimm it to look like a tree. It will grow 18-20 ft. It would take more sun then a regular Hydrengea. I bought it at Lowe's for 5.99,
Good price for that hydrangea. It looks like one I bought this past spring at a much higher price from a web site. Mine did not bloom last year I am hoping I get blooms this year.
The Pee Gee hydrangeas can take the sun, Etelka, and they do bloom on new wood. I hope you have a good show this year. They like moist soil, not drenching wet. You got a great buy.
Many of us remember ClematisGuru, Maureen. She was fortunate to have hired help to do the work for her. She gave good instructions and posted great photos but I got the feeling she wasn't out there dragging around bags of manure, bone meal, compost, etc. for her clematises while those of us now on the Clematis Forum seem to be the type of gardeners who do it all. Carolyn is right - things did get a bit testy while she was here.
Marie - is your hydrangea in sun or shade?
Sorry about the snow, Kathy.....last winter our Jan. total was over 80" here....this year it's 6! The storm is going by to our south....no complaints here.....
Etelka
Great price on the Pee Gee. I have a Pee Gee. We put it in when we first moved to this house in 1997. The flowers start out green, then go to white and in September will take on the pink hue. Mine is in full sun - I am sure your full sun is stronger than my Northern full sun!
Thanks for the info Carolyn and Arlene. I guess that's why she is not on the forum anymore. Her pics sure were gorgeous. I got some good combo ideas from the pics. Like: Polish spirit and solina or Polish spirit and perle D'azure.
I really want Perle D'azure - just not sure what i want to pair it with. I may go with Polish spirit.
have a good day everyone.
Maureen
I have two Perle D'Azures - one is paired with Betty Corning and the other I just put in last year to climb up my pergola with Huldine. I think anything you pair Perle with would be gorgeous!
That is gorgeous Carolyn! I agree that anything would look good with Perle D'azure - i just want to make sure it blooms the same time. I have a betty corning on order too:-)
I also ordered Huldine to grow with Jackmanii i also ordered.
Carolyn...Wow!... That's a stunning Pee Gee!!!
Robin...Oh my, 80", thats the sort of amounts the mts. get. This storm one area got 50" in this 3 days stint (foothills, just west of Denver, was a couples miles north of Blackhawk, my casino town, (where I win all My millions of dollars).
Pirl...I will be ammmending my soil to get the ph down (peat, saw dust, and what one is it....oh ya superphosphate). I put that website in my garden notebook so I can refer to it again later. thanks.
I ended up with about 20" (snow) where I am, will try to get some photos, forgot to do so today as I was busy getting the car out of my 300ft driveway, and then mashing down the snow so I can bring my car home ( drove my daughter's Excursion home, phew, sure am glad tooo!!!!!!) Problem with the snow it put off getting my countertop cut (outside job), til next weekend, shucks no water for another week. Egads!!! Fingers are crossed for Saturday to be good weather. Paper plates and plastic silverware for a few more days. LOL!!!!
Kathy
Thank you.
Glad you posted - I was wondering how you were faring with the snows.
Yes, Kathy, glad the snow stopped....last year, it never did here until the middle of Feb....then it rained every other day, causing horrible flooding....this winter is just wonderful.....getting spoiled by the temps in the 40s & all the sun! Don't know what will happen to my clems....or any of my perennials for that matter....but having an open winter is glorious.....
It's a balmy 65 degrees in sunny GA. It's nice but scary. We're supposed to get down into to 30's at night this week. The hyacinths are up and booming, so is iris Cantab, crocus Yellow Mammoth and other crocuses, as well as my trumpet daff and daff Cassata. The clemies have big leaf buds, and the peony pips continue to increase in size. Last year we warmed up in February and never got cold again.
I can't believe I'm saying this but I do miss winter. There are even bees out buzzing around my camellia, and lots of bird activity around the yard.
I have to add that I'm sitting on the deck and the scent of hyacinth l' Innocence wafting in the air is divine ;-)
This message was edited Feb 5, 2012 5:07 PM
This message was edited Feb 5, 2012 5:08 PM