Shoes and socks plants??
PLANT ADDICTS CHAT #3
sorry, should've used quotes around the term...
"Shoes & socks plants" are plants you put around the base of taller plants that are gangly or unsightly in some way... they give those plants the "shoes & socks" they need!
Nice terminology Jill, I like it!
I thought maybe it was a reference to ground covers...I get it now - they cover other plants' bare feet.
If you're in the market for Hosta 'Guacamole,' let me know.
I have a GIANT Guacamole that I'll be digging up next spring. It can probably be divided into at least 3-4 plants.
It's a healthy, fast-growing hosta, but I just need a different colored hosta in that spot.
Our HD just clearanced most of their Hostas. $3--as usual.
Thanks SSG but hostas are on my 'least favorite' perennials list. I appreciate the offer though :)
SSG, we'd be happy to give it a new home and even dig it.
That sounds good, Pat!
Let me know when you two are coming this way.
Got my fix today, by moving and dividiing Ruellia. I'll have several to share next year. Something you don't see around here too often- Ruellia simplex, Mexican petunia.
Also moved and divvyed a Susie Wong daylily, got it form John and Ruby way back. This made some room for a few fall pansies.
Holly, I found some tubers of Gloriosa and will save them for you.
Couple of orange Tiger lilies came up too, those tall neon orange spotted ones Lilium longifolium. Kind of invasive. Any body?
Thanks Sally
Sally, was that the 'beautiful' purple flower near the corner of your house? If so, that is gorgeous!! If I may be on the pleasemayihaveone list?
You got it Jan!
Woohoo!!!!!
I'm looking for a dark-colored shrub in a part-shade location. Sun from around 8-9 am to around noon or 1, so I think some full sun plants could handle this location.
I was thinking perhaps 'Wine and Roses' Weigela or maybe Sambucus 'Black and Lace.' I don't mind if it gets tall, but I'll probably trim it to keep it narrow, no more than 4 feet across.
The soil is well draining.
Right now I'm leaning towards 'Wine and Roses,' simply because you can find it easily on sale at local nurseries!
Any opinions on either of these two? Or maybe an alternative?
Maybe Physocarpus 'coppertina'. A very pretty ninebark.
Thanks, Jan! I should have added that I already have a physocarpus and am looking for another dark shrub for variety!
I LOVE ninebark, though!
I LOVE ninebark but the one I had very much wanted to be a wiiiiiiide bush. Long arching stems. I think Weigela is not quite so inclined- but get other opinions as I have limited experience.
Sambucus seems the most upright of the three to me.
Weigela? That's a fountain-shaped shrub, in my experience! Long, arching stems, yes indeed. I think you'd have to do a lot of pruning to keep it narrow. Then again, I have a couple butterfly bushes I'm trying to convince to be single "trunk" standards, so who knows what SSG can do with a little creative pruning!
Sambuccus... you can start with one that has a more upright form when you buy it, and then just keep pruning to encourage it to stay narrow. I think that's a pretty good bet. I had one that didn't make it through the winter a couple of years ago, but prior to that it was maintaining a fairly narrow, if oddly contorted, shape... if it had been staked properly, it would probably have been straighter (now I know).
consider/ check into Loropetalum?
OOOhhh....Lorapetalum!!! I'd make that work even if it didn't fit. That is probably my #1 plant I'd plant if I lived in Z7.
Jill, now I remember seeing pictures of those long, arching stems of weigelas.
Sally, do you know if local Loropetalum survived last winter's cold? They're supposedly hardy only down to 0 degrees. I'm wondering if they're hardy enough to survive single-stem pruning in this region.
Seq, we cross posted. So what's so great about Lorapetalum? I don't think I've ever seen one in person!
Ashamed to say, the Loropetalum Coleup gave me died in heat and dry last summer...can't help about hardiness.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/56039/
Oh my, it's got gorgeous neon pink flowers in the spring shaped just like my beloved Hamamelis. A real stunner. I'm pretty sure the leaves are evergreen too. This variety has reddish bronze leaves to give all year color. I'm probably not doing it justice but it's definitely top on my list of Z7 plants.
This message was edited Oct 16, 2014 8:31 AM
yes Loropetalum is very pretty!
There's a PINK Hamamelis?
There are red and maroon/purple varieties but I've never seen or heard of a pink one. I meant that the flowers are similar in shape/size to hamamelis, not that the colors were similar. Maybe I should edit that to avoid confusion.
Make sure you all read today's Article by Todd Boland.
It is on Monkshoods....very informative and many illustrations
of the different varieties.....
G
Mine is starting to bloom G! I'll try to check out that article today.
I don't think it got down to 0 last year... not sure I even remember single digits... it just got cold & snowy & stayed that way, without the usual warm-up periods. Extra mulch and maybe a burlap wrap to protect from wind during the first year or two often gets you an extra zone... I need to do more fall mulching. I always think I'll get to it, and then I get carried away with fall bulbs instead. LOL
Yeah well this plant grows 4-6' and I wouldn't be doing that to a shrub that large. It's better to just go without. The coldest we got last year was -4 so that is cold enough and we had plenty single digits. I wouldn't take the chance. I don't like to be a zone pusher.
Jill, how soon we forget! LOL :D
We got into the single digits lots of times this past winter. Dulles even hit the negatives a couple of times.
Sallyg and I live 10 miles apart, but can often be a zone apart tempwise especially in winter due to weather patterns and moderating influence of Ches Bay. I warm up sooner and cool down later than most active posters here . One source says I have 232 days between last frost and first frost. Sally. 194. Greenthumb and Aspenhill 154,
I suspect that if loropetalums were reliably hardy and good growers in the areas around DC that we would see them everywhere! However, much of the woody material grown for this area is northern rather than southern grown and most growers won't mess with 'iffies' and risk loosing their over wintering stock and supply which is almost always field grown.
As to a dark leaved shrub/tree for part shade. I'm finding that some crepe myrtles survive (with few blooms) in lots less than full sun!
The loropetalum I gave to Sally was one of the dwarf varieties and I do find them finicky re water and heat. Lost mine, too for same reasons. The one on my newspaper route has been there almost 20 years now, so it varies. That one is neat when blooms but very non descript when out of flower. Of course it is not a new dark leaved cultivar like 'Carolina Midnight' or others.
Good info.
Not to sidetrack but the Clethra on campus are def suckering. I checked today. If they were seedlings they would have pulled out today but they are firmly rooted. With a trowel i could maybe get to some roots...
With a little border shovel, you'd definitely look official. Trowel would just look sneaky. Be bold!
LOL, maybe I just remember the days we went outside!
BTW, Dutch Plant Farm's 50% off sale started LAST weekend, and I didn't see the email! Oops. Not that I need more things to plant, but I'll head out there and report on what selection remains. Their "sidewalk sale" of hard goods usually has some good deals, also.
Oh thanks a lot Jill >:( LOL
I was just going to write in on this thread to ask you all for some help because I have a major addiction problem. I just bought another 100+ bulbs and now I'm up to around 800 for this season. I'm getting a little nervous because I'm realizing I'm an addict! Someone help!!
I guess the first step is admitting you have a "problem," but you know you're just going to find a bunch of enablers here. :-)
You're not really a bulb addict until you start counting in "kilobulbs," a term my DH coined a few years back.
LOL Seq, you bought *MORE* bulbs?! :D
I'm impressed!
Meadows Farms now has 25-75% off on ALL PLANTS!!
Aspenhill, Behnke's is still at 25%.
Yeah SSG, I have bought more :hangs his head in disgrace:
Kilobulbs!!! I hope I don't get to that point! I keep telling myself it's ok because I might not get to do this next year. I have to go big this year in case we have a baby sometime next year.
I know someone on Nantucket who plants between 4-6000 bulbs yearly. Pics of her garden are SPECTACULAR in the spring. Would love to see it in person.