That's some cool-looking fruit it produces!
I just noticed that American Meadows is having a 50% off sale on perennials that will be shipped in the spring. The sale includes some hard-to-find native woodland plants.
PLANT ADDICTS CHAT #4
be sure to check Garden Watchdog before ordering, Muddy... not sure how they're diong more recently, but for a while American Meadows seemed to be having trouble shipping nice plants -- seeds were still just fine, so the reviews were very mixed depending on what people had ordered.
Thanks, Critter. I've been looking at some of their prices, too...very high for some things, e.g. shrubs that come in 4" pots and cost as much as 2 gallon ones for sale elsewhere.
I bought some native woodland plants from American Meadows (bare root) and none of them did anything. It was basically a waste of money. That was probably spring of '13 though. If they're in a pot, I might give them another try but definitely not bare root.
Good to know! I've never ordered from them before and, after hearing what you all have to say, maybe I never will.
I'd trust them for seed, though, at least unless things have changed in the last year or so. I think we were looking at them last year as a source for, oh heck what's that one & only host plant for that sweet tiny blue butterfly? LOL
Lupines for Karner Blue butterflies? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karner_Blue
I had given up on growing Lupines anyway - they do not seem to like our climate - and after reading this from the article I think it's not worth trying again:
"A feeding trial found that Karner blue butterfly fed 1st year wild lupine had one of the lowest survival rates observed and significantly longer larval durations than larvae fed older wild lupine that did not flower, was flowering, had recently flowered, or was grown in shade and was in seed."
I have unsuccessfully tried to grow Lupinus perennis for several years now, including purchasing young plants last year. No matter where I plant them, or how I prepare the soil, they do not thrive. Will not make further attempts. Sigh....
Same here.
Everything I've read says they like to grow in sand, or sandy soil.
I mixed lots of sand in the soil before planting my seedlings and they still died. I have a feeling that trying to mimic their preferred growing conditions by using play sand or construction sand is futile.
At least I ended up with a nice amended area in which to grow other plants!
When purchasing sand for soil amendment, be sure to buy the bagged product sold along with bagged concrete mix and bagged mortar mix. Avoid play sand sold in the garden section of large stores, as it is often carbonate sand. Instead of being inert grains of silica (quartz), it can be small grains of abraded coral, shells, etc, all made of calcium carbonate. It is essentially the same as adding ground limestone to your soil and will shift the pH (acidity) to basic. Not good for many garden plants.
As ground shells, I wonder if play sand could give some race minerals too?
Well, never mind, My Southern States has Azomite now!
http://www.azomite.com/about.html
That's good to know; thanks!
I have bought sand at garden centers as well as at Home Depot, and most of it was probably play sand.
I'm growing Russell's hybrid lupines in full sun and clay soil. I wouldn't say they're thriving, but they're doing ok. I wintersowed them a few years ago.
They look nothing like the gorgeous lupine fields you see in pictures, though. I don't think it's possible with our summer heat!
The main characteristic of "Play Sand" is that it does not clump when wet.
Thus--it is used in sand boxes.
G.
Yes, that's exactly the plant and the butterfly i was trying to recall -- thanks!
I've tried to grow lupines from seed, also, but they weren't the native kind. I don't know if this applies to our native Lupine perennis, but I was browsing the Jelitto Seeds site yesterday and found an interesting article on a seed-borne lupine pathogen, apparently rampant, that causes young plants to fail as soon as summer heat sets in. That's pretty much when i'd lose mine; I just thought they didn't like my yard. Jelitto's solution is to carefully sterilize their lupine seed, something I bet few suppliers bother with. They said you can put seeds (from other sources) in very hot water for 20 minutes to kill most of the spores, but that method generally results in lower germination.
See this page: http://jelitto.com/Plant-Information/Tips-Tricks/Recommended-growing-techniques-for-Lupins/
ATTENTION! Van Engelen's sale has gone to 40%. I ordered crocus bulbs (easy to sprinkle around!) and PINK daffodils. The crocus species collection is down to $15.45 for 250 bulbs, insanely cheap. I even got some more 'Roseus' for Joyanna. With the daffs, I got 'Precocious' (frilly pink cup that's probably the truest pink of any I've seen; we got a few from B&B last fall) and 'Audobon' (lovely strong pink rim around its small cup, really a beautiful daffodil). If anybody wants a few, I'll share! (70 cents/bulb) I almost picked up a mini with light lemon petals and pink cup, but I figured 100 daffs was already pushing it.
ADR just sent me an email that they are 25% off on remaining bulbs. I doubt I can get free shipping at that price, but even with shipping it's probably a 15% discount. Pretty sure the discount includes amaryllises. If you're interested, see this page: http://www.adrbulbs.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.available/index.htm?utm_source=11.19.14&utm_campaign=25%25+Clearance+&utm_medium=email
Also, I spotted an email from Kinsman -- last FREE SHIPPING offer of the year, on orders over $35. They have wonderful arches and other nice things. I got the arch I'm using as a grape arbor from them, and I love it.
Gardener's Supply is also doing free shipping, TODAY only, but on orders over $75.
Oriental Trading is doing free shipping on ANY order today.
And it's the last day for my free shipping (no minimum) and 30% off at Kohl's... LMK if you want me to play personal shopper!
And that's all the news from my in-box!
oops... Kinsman free shipping offer needs a code... it's KCJOLLY
Wow, insanely cheap is right!
I don't know if the shipping is worth it just to buy $7 of crocus bulbs, though.
Shipping from Van Engelen is 10%, and they are calculating on the sale price... that's $5 to ship $50 worth of bulbs (their minimum).
You could plant a little crocus lawn... :-)
Oh, I just saw that $50 is their minimum. Oh well! I certainly don't need that many bulbs!
My plan was to plant a small crocus lawn. The grass seeds I planted this fall didn't germinate in certain sections, so I still have chunks of bare soil in the front yard.
You've seen my front lawn... Joyanna's crocus lawn fills just a small part of it, and we put in over 3000 bulbs (I think we got 2 kilobulbs planted during the party, and I put in the rest the following week).
just saying that a thousand crocus bulbs (for less than $70!) may be just the thing for your bare patches.
Wow, there are 3k bulbs there?
I wanted to start with just a hundred or so and see how much the squirrels dig up the bulbs. It's prime squirrel territory out front.
Do the squirrels eat the bulbs they dig up, or just leave them scattered about?
It's odd, but squirrels don't dig up bulbs in my yard. I think they would if my digging left nice loose soil, because they would take advantage of it to bury nuts.
A front yard near me has big shady oak trees and a crocus lawn, it's very nice. Don't know about the squirrel question though.
I haven't had trouble with squirrels, voles, etc. digging and/or eating *species* crocuses. the large-flowering crocus varieties, forget it. but the smaller ones seem to be pretty pest-proof.
There are way more than 3K crocuses out front now - they've been multiplying!
Jill, I don't think I've seen pictures of your crocus lawn since the crocus have multiplied. I hope you post some pictures in the spring!
My squirrels dig up everything. They even dig up daffodils and muscari. I don't think they're digging them up to eat them, but just trying to bury their acorns.
Jill, I've always considered doing a crocus lawn but I've wondered about the effects of lawn fertilizer and weed killers on the crocus bulbs. What are your thoughts on that?
SSG - Since most, perhaps all of the acorns have fallen, try removing them all from your yard so there are none for the squirrels to bury. Plant bulbs right before a rainy period is forecast and tamp planting locations so that the soil is no longer an attractive place to bury anything. Buy a large, inexpensive shaker of crushed red pepper and sprinkle on those locations, repeat after rain until soil becomes indurated and indistinguishable from the rest of the yard. The red pepper worked well for the pots on our deck last winter. After application, all the digging ceased.
Sequoia - even bulbs "eat", and lawn weed killers act on dicots (broadleaf plants). Such products do not kill monocots, which includes grasses and bulb type plants.
Hm, that might actually be doable! I try to get as much of the acorns, but they're so little and there are so many!
This message was edited Nov 20, 2014 8:50 AM
Try a leaf blower, works well for the small ones.
Sequoia, what Greenthumb said. Although I do try to wait until the crocus foliage has died back before putting down weed & feed, but that might be an unnecessary precaution.
I did an article on Joyanna's crocus lawn, here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2882/
I bet you wouldn't get as much digging from the squirrels if you planted the crocus bulbs where you have established grass... just lift "flaps" of sod with your spade, put the bulbs into the earth, and tamp the flap back into place. There are step by step photos in the article (I think Sally was my "hand model").
Following on to Critter's and Greenthumb's suggestions, the solution definitely is to try to obscure the fact that you've loosened the soil.
After planting anything, I tamp down the soil and brush leaf litter or other stuff on top so that the area blends in and critters cannot tell that I've done the digging for them. When I plant really small seedlings that would be killed if squirrels dug them up, I surround them with rocks until the soil stabilizes. I have used bird netting to protect areas where I've sowed seeds.
I like Greenthumb's idea of using red pepper. I sometimes use commercial animal repellent, but red pepper might be cheaper.
This message was edited Nov 20, 2014 7:35 PM
I've tried red pepper before, but it didn't do much to deter the squirrels. Neither did commercial animal repellent.
They tend to dig around areas that I can't tamp down, for example around the roots of newly planted trees. But it should be much easier to tamp down the lawn. I really want to a crocus lawn, but I'm running out of energy, time, daylight, good weather, and money! I may need to wait until next fall.
Jill, I love that article. :) I'd love to see how much it's spread!
I hadn't read the article before...what a fun idea! I love the photo of her little foot next to the crocus.
I usually put crushed red pepper and ground black pepper over newly planted bulb areas. Last weekend though, I only used Milorganite. We'll see tomorrow how that panned out. It's barely light when I leave for work and dark when I get home so I can't really check on them. Anyway, all the daffs and tulips were planted at 6", deeper than what most squirrels dig.
Jeff--
Let me know how the Milorganite worked on this .
Then--i can add it to my "spiel' when i try to sell it to customers.
G.
Well I know it does work in the spring when the sprouts first come out. I had minimal nibbles before the daff bodyguards were large enough to keep the rabbits at bay.
"Bodyguards"????????
Do you mean their leaves? G.
Yeah the daffs are toxic to the rabbits and other critters and they'll leave the tulips alone if they are all planted together. DonnaMack suggested it in the bulb forum a couple years ago and I had great success with it this spring.
The squirrels in my yard dig up the daffs, too. :/
Daffs near tulips don't deter the voles around here... this fall, I've planted little alliums all around the tulips and put a Frit. imperialis bulb with each tulip patch also... we'll see if that helps.
Here's what Joyanna's crocus patch looked like last spring:
