Heuchera are short lived perennials?
Yardening October 2015 - Waitin on Joaquin
According to Chicago Botanic Gardens, "Coral bells tend to be short-lived and may need to be rejuvenated every three to four years. Although coral bells are disease- and pest-resistant, crown rot may be a problem if soils do not drain adequately during winter."
Plant Delights says, "The only downside to Heuchera is that they are short-lived unless they are divided every 3-4 years as the crown becomes woody. Unlike hosta and good wine, heucheras do not get better with age."
I should really check out the end-of-year sales.
Interesting SSG. I don't have any but just bought a Heuchera americana last week and it's shipping today.
I have a MIA plant: Muhlenbergia capillaris (Muhly grass).
Does anyone else have one that survived the winter? It's one of those plants that's easily forgotten until it's supposed to bloom.
Seq, I think Greenthumb said that his heuchera are not short lived, so it probably depends somewhat on your specific growing conditions.
Muddy, I've had pink Muhly grass since when I first started gardening a few years ago. I bought 2 or 3 to start, and one has survived through a couple of transplants. It's blooming right now and is really pretty, but it doesn't look like much in pictures. You really need a large mass of them to get the effect.
Ok that's good. Hopefully I can site it properly to give it the longest life.
I just put in three pink muhly grasses... hope three is enough to get the beautiful effect I'm looking for. I'll fertilize them frequently, hoping they get covered in blooms like in some of the internet photos I've seen.
I'm sure it will look nice CAM.
Might take a couple of years but I am optimistic.
Looks like Joaquin is going to hit Portugal this weekend. I wonder how much rain they'll expect from this storm. Poor SC is still dealing with the flooding.
Beautiful beautiful morning.
I planted the two Anemone americana (?) got at swap, and one bag of Gita's daffodils went around/between some hardy geranium.
Good for you Sally. I'm taking off work Monday to play in the yard. I'll be out in it Saturday too. Lots to plant before it's too late.
I put my last 11 plants of the year in the ground on Monday evening and it felt weird knowing it was the last time I would be planting until next April. I love autumn but man, I have to move somewhere with year 'round gardening !
I don't think I could do year round gardening. I enjoy gardening but I like the break too. Not only does the winter give me a break from gardening but it also gives me a break from worrying about the rain, insects, and other maladies. The anxiety level about the yard decreases.
The only thing I enjoy the break from is mowing. I enjoy the look of a beautiful lawn but unlike gardening, I don't enjoy the work involved to get there.
I hope your Muhly Grass does well, Cam. I haven't actively searched for mine, so it could be hidden by other plants, but I think it might not have survived the winter. It's also entirely possible that, not recognizing it for what it was, I threw it out this spring when it was an ugly little clump devoid of new green growth.
The only thing that saves me in fall and winter are my birds, who at times require about as much of my time as my garden. Otherwise, it would be be a series of very S.A.D. months.
Thanks, Muddy.... I hope too, especially since they are in a very prominent party of my landscaping.
I might have to take up another hobby to get me through the very S.A.D months. Hmmmmmmm. I'll take suggestions. (this should be good)
Needlepoint and cross stitch.
Those sound dangerous. Any other ideas ?
Wine contemplation...
synchronized swimming
Well, I just signed up for Cornell's Project Feeder Watch again. It'll put some structure into hours spent gazing outside at the birds, wine glass in hand.....and give me another excuse for not clearing junk out the basement.
Fear of water, Aspen... next ! Maybe I can clear out Muddy's basement during the winter.
Ha Ha, what, those suggestions aren't catching your fancy?
Seriously though, I use the winter months to try to catch up on documenting information about my gardens and plant inventory (always a struggle), and much more pleasant is the time I spend doing what I call arm chair gardening. I peruse garden catalogs, garden design books, magazines, and pinterest. Always love the creative process of new ideas. But on the flip side, I find that I have ordered way too many plants - they seem to arrive in the spring all at once, and the projects that I dreamed of all through the winter are a bit more than I can tackle. Still a fun way to spend the winter though.
Oh, and there is always football to watch :)
How about baking and then meeting up with your DG friends to share? I like cheesecake and snicker doodles.
Cam, I just love Pink Muhly Grass. I keep seeing it when I travel south but they don't sell it here and I never see it growing here so I thought it wasn't hardy in Zone 6. I just looked it up and it says hardy to zone 6. Are you Zone 6 or 7? I was wondering where you bought yours? The one sight said $12 for a 4in pot. Since I would want several to make an impact all I can say is Ouch!
Please schedule those meetings after my tap dance and banjo lessons.
Muddy, I like to say to myself. 'Who is in charge here, me or this junk? AM I feeling sorry for this junk? or How easy would it be to get one of these again if I really needed it? " Admittedly, I don't say those things to myself ENOUGH, but at times they help. I assume Salvation Army is a great judge of what is total garbage and what has any value. Last idea: DS told us to do 'Curb Alert" on Craigslist. Put it out, first come first serve, then trash.
Speaking of that, who wants the five foot tall Strelitzia? Pot is not that big, you just need room for it. I may have to stick it in the basement again, but I really don't have a need/use for it either summer OR winter.
Holly, I'm considered zone 6B here so I'm optimistic they'll be fine here. I ordered them from brighterblooms.com and got nice specimens in 3 gallon pots. Pricey, yes, at $39 each but I don't mind spending that much for good, healthy plants as opposed to a couple sites I'm not longer using because they send you plugs for $15 or so.
Terri... yes, I find plenty to do in the winter, actually... catch up on movies, reading, music, and yes, research and plan my planting for the following Spring. :)
Thanks Cam, Yes I don't mind paying a little more for plants that I can't find locally. I think I might run down to the nursery here and see if they have any. We usually do stop at the Local Nursery and the local Lowes to check out the plant offerings but haven't this year as I was determined "not" to bring home any plants. Guess that might just change. LOL
haha... I have said I'm done with planting for the year but I wouldn't bet any money on it. :)
CAM, you shouldn't pass up a look see at the Urbana Potomac Garden Center this weekend. It is really close to Frederick - just off of 270. Got an email about their 3 day Columbus Day sale - starts today. I think all deciduous trees and shrubs are 50% off and perennials are buy 2 get one free. There were other things on sale, but I can't remember what they were off the top of my head.
Thanks for the tip. Pretty busy weekend but might be worth a couple hours of my time. I'm betting lots of garden centers are trying to clear out their inventories about now. :)
Cam, you might want to research what kind of winter protection Muhly Grass needs, just to be on the safe side. Mine definitely didn't make it through the winter. I just figured out where it had been by looking through old photos, and that spot is occupied by a shrub that I didn't plant until well into the summer. I vaguely recall digging up a decidedly dead clump.
Will do. May require some stakes and burlap to protect them from the NW winds and some extra mulch on top. You would think zone 6 means zone 6 but appears it sometimes means zone 8. hahaha
Looks like some of you will be getting a good bit of rain in the coming hours. Especially those of you North of the Mason-Dixon Line... Jeff. :)
We had a few dribbles of rain earlier. I thought it was going to put an end to my gardening, but fortunately that cloud passed. The forecast says 70% chance of rain tonight, though.
That line of storms and rain coming across runs all the way from Nova Scotia to Arkansas. Impressive !
We got a short rainfall here, less than 1/4 inch and I think it's done for now. It was a good watering-in for the swap plants I finally got planted today. At the rate I'm going, I think I'll be planting into November.