'Spring' (?) planting ...

Kimmy: I'll dmail you....

Weerobin, I'm always fascinated by your collection of plants. It looks like you have a really good success rate too. I have tried many things here, but so many of them just don't make it beyond two seasons. If something does well, I make sure I get more and try to add different cultivars. The things that don't do well, I try again. I get excited about getting the plants, but maybe my problem is not spending the time needed to try to get them to thrive. I've had the best success with hellebores and the least success with corydalis, rue anemones, lady's slippers just to name a few... Anyway, thanks so much for sharing the pictures - I have a long list of things that I'd like to try here from what you have posted from your gardens. It is supposed to be beautiful this weekend and I plan to spend the majority of it starting the initial spring clean up. Will get the first glimpse of what is emerging that made it through last year's drought.

Aspen, don't be fooled by my postings - I made a decision long ago not to post pictures of my dead plants. Trust me, it would make quite an album. My wife complains (mildly) that our garden 'doesn't look nice', despite all the time I spend out there. But I get a thrill from a ragged-looking plant which survived the winter; she doesn't get quite so much enjoyment out of it, I guess. I have had no success with flowering borders - I'm totally impressed by many of the other DG'ers who have such beautiful gardens. My yard was sun-challenged from the start, being primarily a invasive honeysuckle-choked woodland. So over the years of clearing out the honeysuckle and trying a few things here and there, I've really come to love it. I have no botanical background and am embarrassed to admit most of my expertise comes from long winters reading plant catalogs. Then just trial and error. I failed with corydalis a lot, but do pretty well now, once I figured out it demands sharp drainage. And don't bother with the bright blue ones; they'll be smothered by your humidity.
And kimmy, gardening without a PC?? What's up with that?? I think I got the PC before I ventured out to buy a trowel!
Happy, Arrowhead alpines has woodland plants which you can buy in bulk, but I just checked the prices and they're not as good as the one you already found. But they have some other woodland plants which you might browse thru for other suggestions. And Eastern Plant Specialties (whose website is fairly nonfunctional) offers bulk woodland plants also. I ordered some of our native pachysandra procumbens (a beautiful native groundcover for shade, but may be too slow-growing for your purposes) from Eastern and they were huge (but bare root). Their prices are low, but the packaging was a total disaster - no attempt to keep plants from flopping around freely in the box, but the bare-roots came thru fine and in fact were big, beautiful plants. As for keeping track of them, I don't really bother with it. These woodland plants are pretty adapted to poking thru leaf cover. I try to keep the choking vines away and weed as well as reasonable, but a big woodland is never going to be weed-free (at least, that's my excuse for not spending much time weeding).
I'm looking forward to checking things out this weekend; supposed to be nice. Things are really popping this time of year!
As for Donna, I'll be keeping my eyes open ...

And, Happy, I meant to add that I don't have a perfect woodland groundcover suggestion.
I think I've been a little too afraid of aggressive plants for the woods.
To cover a lot of ground, they've got to be pretty aggressive, I think.
Asarum canadense covers pretty quickly, but some people complain it's too aggressive.
Others on the aggressive side are lysimachia nummularia aurea, ajuga reptans, ceratostigma plumbaginoides (blue plumbago), lamium maculatum, mazus reptans, and of course lily of the valley.
I'm nervous about endorsing any of them, because you can hear horror stories about people trying to get rid of them. But if it's a large expanse with nothing nearby to get run over, they would be quick ways to cover ground.
I personally would never use houttuynia, english ivy, vinca minor, euonymus vine, lonicera japonica - they would all cover ground vigorously and do well in shade, but they're too aggressive for me.
More gentlemanly groundcovers (but pretty slow) are pachysandra procumbens, podophyllum peltatum, epimedium x versicolor, asarum arifolium or takoi, tiarella or heucherella, polygonatum odoratum, disporopsis pernyi. I'm just trying to think of plants which have successfully formed nice spreading patches in my yard. I'm sure there are others.
Another option are the reseeding perennials which don't spread to form a uniform ground cover, but pop up color here and there. For me, hellebores and celandine poppy (stylophorum diphyllum) are good for that (and bloom for much longer time than most woodland flowers).
Hope it helps.

Weerobin, thank you for the heads up on blue plumbago. I had been considering it, despite its zone 6 status, but have gone with wintergreen instead. When I read about blue plumbago, the tendency was never mentioned. The traditional lysimachia referred to as gooseneck loosestrife is a nightmare. A LANDSCAPER put four in a bed of mine. Not only did I find it ugly, but within four months I was pulling up four foot runners that killed almost everything else in the bed. Thank goodness it was contained by a wall and possible to isolate and destroy.

I have seen the nightmare that ajuga becomes in the yards of others. Happily, it was never a risk to me because I personally find it ugly.

I'm currently ripping out the new lily of the valley.

Weerobin - HA HA HA I think I would have much more to post if I posted pictures of the dead plants. OK, I don't feel so bad about my loss rate knowing that I am not alone. With that being said, you still have an awesome collection of things that have survived and make my day when I see the photos. My place is carved out of acres of northern Virginia woodland - the only open area is around the house and even there I left as many trees as was possible. I actually prefer the plants that do well in shade and like the look of a shade garden over a sun garden, so I'm definitely in the right place. I'll just keep at it to build up a diverse collection - all it takes is $s and sweat equity LOL. It almost seems like a catch 22 - I can't wait until retirement so I have much more time to spend on the sweat equity, but then I won't have as much $s to spend on the collection. Agree on the PC and garden catalogs being a prime place to discover info.

Donna, I have both the gooseneck loosestrife and lily of the valley. Although so many people have nightmare experiences with invasiveness, I can't get either to spread the way I want them to - especially the lily of the valley which I have been trying to get huges swaths of for the last ten years. To date, just a few pips survive. Not that I would want the nightmare invasiveness, but a happy medium sure would be nice.

Well, I was just in for a quick lunch break, am heading back outside for more yardening - the weather did tiurn out beautiful today.

Have a nice afternoon everyone!
Terri

Oh my goodness. I have huge swaths. I have removed at least 300, and they are still everywhere!

What the heck is in your soil?

Beats me - good topsoil and lots of decayed leaves. I think my problem is watering - too many hot summers with very little rain. I have an irrigation system that pulls water out of the 1 1/2 acre pond, but I haven't had a single season yet where something hasn't gone wrong with it during the worst heat - like late June and all of July. I would love to have those huge swaths you are talking about - every time I see one in someone else's garden, I just love it. I have so much ground to cover that I don't think the invasiveness would be a problem here if I could ever get it going.

It's so funny how a plant in one situation is perfect and in another situation is a nightmare.
Here are another few plants from my yard yesterday.
#1 is pasque flower. Needs more sun, so not a woodland plant. Also needs good drainage.
#2 is anemonella thalictroides Cameo. It's such a little plant it can easily be overwhelmed by leaf cover.
It has to be planted near a path so you can see it - it's worth seeking out, because it's really pretty.
#3 is an example of an area of my woods which has filled in completely with volunteers.
You can see hellebore, virginia bluebells, celandine poppy (stylophorum). I didn't plant any of them.
#4 is another plant pachyphragma macrophyllla which gently reseeds itself, popping up throughout the woods.
I planted a couple of them. Now I have a dozen or more.

Weerobin, thank you for all those suggestions and comments. I'm with Aspen on lily of the valley -- I think it requires more water and softer soil than I provide. We have a lot of ajuga and it has served its purpose as a ground cover in out-of-the-way places. I do have lysimachia nummularia and it hasn't been too aggressive, thankfully. I love ceratostigma plumbaginoides (blue plumbago) and can't imagine it being a problem. Famous last words, I guess. The lamiums are crazy, though. Mazus reptans -- I think I may be a zone too cold for it -- it doesn't bloom well for me.

Weerobin, nice. My favorite out of this group is the anemonella thalictroides Cameo. Has anyone had luck with the native geranium maculatum? I've seen it naturalize in woodland areas, but each of the three plants I have are just holding their own - not dying out but not spreading either. One of my favorite combinations is old fashioned bleeding heart, virginia bluebells, phlox divaricata, plox stolinfera, and geranium maculatrum - saw this in mass plantings on a garden tour one time and have been trying to recreate it in an area down by my creek.

I found a gorgeous native geranium maculatum in my yard. It was, if you can imagine, by a chain link fence, so I moved it. It was quite large. It collapsed into pieces, so I am waiting to see what happens to the parts this spring. But it is the only one I found in my yard, and it had clearly been there for years. I have seen the same plant spreading all over the nearby trails, so I am puzzled about its failure to spread on its own.

I also inherited a very nice old fashioned dicentra (bleeding heart), next to the chain link fence (lots of people have those awful things), so I have surrounded it with ferns and an oakleaf hydrangea (notice the billion maple seedlings). I want to add mertensia to the area.

Everything beautiful that I inherited is near a chain link fence, and on the other side is my neighbor's junk - tires, garbage cans, plastic chairs and the like. There is debris that blew out of garbage cans that has been on their front parkway since last Monday. I really dislike living near people who make their junk visible from your yard. This hydrangea had not bloomed in 20 years. I moved this too. The new background is autumn joy clematis, installed by the previous owners to disguise another chain link fence. I have them all along the west side of my house.

I seem always to have a few geraneum maculatum, I presume courtesy of passing birds.
I haven't noticed any tendency to spread out or fill in - they just pop up here and there.
They do fine in the shady woods, blooming surprisingly well.

I love them. They are new for me. When I dug it up and it collapsed, I spread the plants around. Of all the geraniums, I think they are my favorite (with biokovo providing the most competition).

In the area around me, they grow in clumps!

weerobin - you mentioned pasque flower and I was just looking into that one a couple of weeks ago. I had a plant for a couple of years, even managed to collect seed from it but I don't think it likes being moved much. And it seems like it's more of a prairie plant so that might explain why a gifted plant died in all shade last year. I was all set to order some but thought I'd be doing it a disservice.

Raulston Arboretum keeps giving me pasque flowers (3 so far) and they all die. I leave their plants in the pots they come in, and most thrive. Then I transplant them. The pasque flowers never make it to transplantation. They will give me tender plants that do fabulously. I have no idea why I am toxic to this lovely plant!

Donna - thanks for that input. Perhaps the pasque flower is just one of those touchy plants. Now I don't feel quite so incompetent.

Hi Donna- I think it is likely your soil is too acid for the Pasque flower long term survival. I too could not keep them, and finally looked it up-they are native to chalk soils in England and Europe. They are cold hardy but they want lime. I am trying again. See below the thread I started in the Pacific NW section about "lime Chips" which I read about in a few places, but have not succeeded in finding yet. It seemed to me that if I could put down some small limestone rocks by each lime-lover I plant, I could then basically forget about extra lime each year. Seemed like a good idea but it's the actual doing that is hard. I did find a bag of "marble" chips at Ace Hardware. Maybe someone with geology knowledge could say if this is likely to erode enough liminess to help?
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=9434231

If it's any help, my pasque flower grows on a fairly steep hillside.
I suspect the sharp drainage may also be helping here...
You can see it's situation better on this picture.
And before anyone comments, the weeds purposely remain there to help with hillside soil retention.

Of course, I think all the slopes around here are limestone bluffs,
so that could support MLM's idea about lime preference.
I recall from a thread last year that Pirl uses hunks of concrete in planting holes for alkaline-loving plants.
Bits of broken up concrete are probably more readily available than lime chips.
If Pirl does it, it must be so.

I had pasque flower on a hill and it disappeared after a few years -- I'm planning to do a soil test; until then, I don't know the pH. Maybe it just is a short-lived plant unless it gets perfect conditions?

Thanks for passing on that tip about the concrete chunks for alkaline-lovers. Makes things a whole lot easier, especially when there's a mix of both the alkaline- and acid-lovers.

Hmm. How to procure concrete chips?

Construction/demolition projects? I had some from when we did some plumbing work and had to break up concrete floor. Have been using the chunks as a hidden retaining wall in the garden.

Big Box stores always have broken concrete and lots of little pieces in the block and paver loading bins/areas.

Ok, thanks.

My woodland peonies are beginning to open.
Paeonia wittmanniana (#1) is just too beautiful !!!
And paeonia japonica is just getting started (#2).
Probably my all time fave. Simple, perfect flowers.
The woodland peonies thrive in part shade, but are all early blooming.
I've got half a dozen varieties. Easy care, beautiful blooms.
So if you've got shade, but love peonies, they are a great choice!

I didn't even know those existed! Where did you acquire them, weerobin?

Mail order. Paeonia japonica is fairly widely available.
The others are less commonly listed.
I've got a couple others which should be opening soon.
Hope the weather cooperates, because they can be beaten down by a bad rain/storm.

Weerobin, I am so psyched - an Anemone nemorosa 'Vestal' has finaly made it in my shade garden (at least thru this winter) and is blooming its sweet little blooms... Terri

How nice! It's always a thrill to find the plants each spring.
They have to struggle against the fallen leaf litter
and at least in my yard, a whole assortment of invasive thugs.
But I think they're tougher than they look.
Here's Vestal in my yard last week, consorting with an ajuga.
The towering ajuga gives an idea of the anemone's small stature.

Terrific photo!

That is a nice combination with the ajuga and the anemone. It was a thrill to find my anemone blooming yesterday. Today I had another nice suprise - there are signs of life in one of the two clematis I planted last year and thought had died during the hottest part of the summer with little to no rain. I think the second one is definitely gone, but at least one made it!

Add manure, compost, mulch and water with Epsom Salts - 1 TBSP. to a gallon of lukewarm water for each clematis. They should respond.

Nice tip, Pirl. I had two die back to the ground this past winter. Not much snow cover until late and a lot of frigid winds.

Being too soggy this weekend for planting, I spent a drippy yesterday pulling weeds.
And of course found time to take a few pictures.
It continues to be a very cool spring and plant progression is far behind last year.
#1 is a pretty Tiarella along with some volunteer ajuga.
#2 is dicentra spectabilis alba.
#3 is Brunner Jack Frost.
#4 is our native pachysandra procumbens.
It has beautiful mottled foliage. New foliage is coming up in the middle of the clump.
#5 is disporum flaven, with pretty yellow dangling flowers.
All of these are in a heavily wooded setting and seem to flower fine.

Edited to add that on reviewing the pictures, I suspect some of you eagle-eyed observers might see that despite my Saturday of weeding, I may have missed a few ...

This message was edited Apr 28, 2013 2:36 PM

So here's a plant called mitella diphylla.
It perfectly reflects my gardening style.
It's an obscure plant with flowers so tiny you have to get on hands and knees to see them.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get a macro in focus ... (the cursed wind!!)
But here it is in all it's glory.
You won't find it at WalMart.
Enjoy!
#1 is the whole plant. Then closer and closer ... Wow!
I'm sure you'll all be rushing to order one for yourselves!

Last couple pictures from today.
I showed one of my woodland peonies earlier in this thread.
Here's another one, with an unpronouncable name, so it's called 'Molly the witch'.
Real name is paeonia mlotosewitschii. A beautiful soft yellow.
Just opened today.
And I also wanted to show a pretty trillium, called t. stamineum.
Just planted it last year, so it's just a single stem.
I was hoping for a pair this year, but will have to be patient.
Things are really beginning to pop.
Eager to see what's going on next weekend!

That Trillium is a show-stopper with the paler foliage really setting off the flower.

I also really like it.
I just hope it settles in and starts to feel comfortable enough to make some babies!