Does anybody have any experience with growing lenten roses in Tx? In the plant files it says atleast some of them will grow in light shade. But I checked the Forest Farm website and I think they say they all need atleast part shade, which I think means half day sun. So I'm confused. I know that sometimes a plant that needs half day sun in the north needs only light shade here in Texas.
Also I'm wondering about pulmonaria.Does anyone grow this especially in alkaline soil?
This message was edited Nov 2, 2005 7:24 PM
Lenten roses in Texas?
Lenten (and Chrisrmas come to that) roses, Helleborous Niger, will grow with no direct sunlight at all in the UK. They would HATE the Texas sun! They don't want dark shade though just no direct sunlight. Hope this helps
Could they take the Texas heat?
Oh yes, just not the direct sun, we have one in our shade bed.
I just read that Sedrick has four of them and they have never bloomed. Been in the ground 3 years. What kind of soil do you have? Do you water them alot?
We have heavy clay topped liberally with Landscapers mix and mulch. No we water only when the area looks dry. We don't use the sprinklers on automatic unless we are awy.
Silver-
I have many hellebores...some I traded for, some I grew from seed, and others I purchased by mail order. Heronswood has some fabulous ones, and that is where I purchased most of the ones I got by mail order.
I am adventurous with plants, and love to try to grow marginal things. It has cost me dearly(especially when I went through a monkshood stage, lol), but on the flip side, I've discovered many things that do well in my garden, despite what "reports say"...
Hellebore and peonies are the two that have pleasantly surprised me the most.
My hellebores are planted in a bed that faces west. They are protected from the hot late afternoon sun, by the nearby trees. I planted most of them around the drip line of the trees.
Too close to the tree, and they don't get enough light to bloom. Too far out of the drip line, and they'd get burnt. Right on the drip line, or at least close to it, seems just right. Mine get about an hour, or two of direct sunlight, the rest is bright, but filtered.
I have some new ones that I'm going to try in an east facing bed. I think the east bed will get a little more sun, than where I have the others, but it will be less intense sun, and during a cooler time of day, so think it will work just fine. Plus, there is a tree nearby, to filter the sun, past 10 am.
They've all bloomed for me, and most bloomed the very first season in the ground. The flowers are a wonderful welcome site around Christmas, and last a long time. I've had some last several months!
We had predominately black clayish soil, but a little sandy loam, compost and landscapers mix, make it wonderful soil.
They area where the hellebores are, is on the dry side. I do not have a sprinkler system(other than "ME") and it may get a little extra water from the regular sprinkler every now and then, but mostly just gets rain water, and not much supplemental water.
They are not only doing well, they are multiplying(not by runners, just clumping...kinda like a daylily would do...)
Hope this helps and "happy hellebores!"
-T
Seedpicker, yes that helps alot. I've heard they are expensive and I don't have money to burn. The trees you planted them under were they pecan trees by any chance?
Nope, but we do have a lot of pecan trees. These are close to a red oak, and the others will be close to a live oak...
the pecan trees are closer to the back, by the creek...
They can be expensive, but my experience(with Heronswood) has been that they send aged plants that are large. I've seen "other" nurseries charge $12 for a 4" pot...that is too much...they'd take YEARS to bloom...
better to spend a few more dollars and get some really nice ones.
-T
Thanks Seedpicker. I'll look them up.
I'm obsessed with hellebores and peonies and i've been told by several nurseries that those two won't do well our Texas heat especially peonies. I have about 7 hellebores and 6 more coming in a few weeks. I have 3 peonies and 5 more (expensive) peonies roots coming this October. I was very discourage after being told that i won't have a chance but Seedpicker, you've given me hope. Thank you! Any advise you can give us Texan hellebores/peonies lovers?? I would REALY appreciate it.
ed
Marylee my Heleborous took off like crazy just started blooming last winter and well worth waiting for. Also they reseed like crazy. A DG buddy in Georgia sent me some too ... I think I got enough already! lol ...but I still want that red one and that deep purple one.I cant find the pic with it in bloom .. actually they just stopped blooming about a month ago. Mine are not in too deep a shade either... just under the Mimosa tree.
Sylvia, well I still haven't managed to find a hellebore, but I havent' had any money to spend on it either.:) Mabe I could get a seedling or cutting from you at the next RU?
Elaine, good luck with your peonies. I'll "watch" and see how yours do.:)
Marylee you sure can but I, but I dont know which is which. lol
Elaine-
On both the peonies, and the hellebore, they take more sun than you'd think they could. But, the part sun being MOSTLY sun, and part shade for a few hours, or here and there throughout the day, as the sun peeks through other things.
I'd say 6-7 hours of east sun(like from daybreak to around 1:00 or 2:00) or 4-6 of south or west sun is perfect. They cannot take 8-12 hrs of SW sun, like a rose or sunflower. But, if you don't give them enough sun, they won't flower. The more sun you give them, the more water they'll need, also.
Bury the peonies shallowly,...much less deeply than they recommend. That 2" is for other parts of the country. Here, you should just barely cover them. This is so that they can be more exposed to cold temps(when we actually have them, lol) In the summer be sure they have a light covering of leaf mulch, or other type of mulch to keep them from scorching.
In general it has seemed to me that peonies seem to be able to take a little more sun than hellebore. If you have spots that lean more one way or another, put the peony in the sunnier spot, and the hellebore in the shadier spot.
Some peonies are better suited for our heat than others. If they are scheduled to bloom too late, we'll already be too hot for them to bloom right.
It is best for Texas to select the earlier bloomers, so that they have a chance to bloom before we get too hot.
I've had the best results from Doreen(which is recommended for the south) and dancing butterflies. Both are single form. Supposedly the doubles don't do as well in the heat, but can't really say because I've not had any doubles bloom.
Somewhere on the peony forum we discussed all this, already. Wish I could find the thread. If I do, I'll post it here Ü
-T
oops...(double post edited off)
This message was edited Jun 6, 2006 3:16 PM
There was a lady that used to work at the school I'm at about 14 years ago that somehow, managed to grow the most beautiful peonies in her back yard in Houston--she used to bring armloads of them into school and put them in huge vases in the teacher's lounge. This would be spring, before the end of the year. Haven't a clue how she did it...I left the building shortly after that and now that I'm back; she is no longer there.
The older they are the more they bloom. Mine aren't but a couple of years old (and I only started with a couple of eyes each), so only get a couple of blooms.
There is a huge one in a local cemetery here, and it is very old and very loaded every spring. You can see the blooms from the street and the street is a good 80 away from the plant!
-T
The peonies across from our house bloom EVERY year. I asked the owner and he told me that he doesn't feed them anything. When he has his house up for sale, I told my husband that I will come over one night for some 'midnight acquisition'. My husband did not like that idea so I came up to the guy one day and offer to buy his peonies plants. He refused to sell it, he said the peonies come with the house when he sales the house. My husband got mad so he finally agreed with the 'midnight acquisition' idea. After a few nights of deep thoughts, I decided not to acquire anything; I went on Peoniesparadise.com and ordered me 5 Pink Derby bareroots. They'll send to me this October. I'm so excited and nervous since my zone is too hot. But for a peony lover like me, i'm not giving up!
Thanks so much for the tips and encouragement. YOu never know, it might be my turn to post my peony pictures on here some day.
Elaine.
You are entire zone colder, so you should have NO problems growing peonies Ü
I still cant grow Peonies! I got a bush thats been in the ground for five years, not one bud have I seen.
dehart What a shame the peony scrooge wouldn't share. Division is actually good for the root stock. I grew up in the midwest and we had peonies on the farm. Mom would frequently divide her peonies and share with friends or start new plants. When my Mom moved to town, she dug up and divided a few of the plants with interested family members and took some to her new home. She has since made three major moves and took a start with her each time, leaving an adequate plant where she lived. What a legacy. I have never tried peonies in the south but loved the large vases full throughout the farm house. The house smelled wonderful. Had to be careful as the blooms attracted a black ant and if we brought in cut flowers made sure there weren't any hitchhikers.
Folklore says that peonies planted on all four corners of a home will ward off evil spirits... our farmhouse had plants on all corners. No evil spirits.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! pod
City_Silvia-
What variety of peony do you have? How deeply was it planted?
-T
I dont know :(...I bought three of them from Springhill about five ot six years ago. can you tell from the picture?
No, they're almost impossible to id, until they bloom.
Looks like they may be leaning forward? Can't really tell, but if they are leaning toward the light, they are trying to get more light.
Not enough light will cause them to not be able to generate enough energy to bloom
-T
T. I may have had this plant 6 or seven years... on the MSN gardening group ... I was told I moved them too much, to get them out the pot and into the ground and dont ever move them again. They have been in this sunny location for almost three years. Actually they did better when I had them in a pot. , they stood up and had little buds as if they were going flower ... then the buds dissapeared. I dont know what cultivar this is, maybe I can ask Springhill ... it sure look different from anyone else's bush. And no I didnt plant them deep. you got any suggestions? ... also this plant apears to be spreading in the ground ... maybe thats why its flopping?
It is true that they resent being moved, and may skip a year of blooming, but if it has been in the ground undisturbed for three years now, it should have bloomed by now.
You said it set buds, but they disappeared...a few of mine have done that because the blooms opened too late, or the peony was immature.
The others that bloomed several weeks earlier, and in cooler weather, bloomed just fine.
If you do anything to them right now, you'll certainly not see blooms next year, so I don't recommend you move them right now. The fact that they TRIED to set blooms, means they might actually be successful next year.
Next Spring, if they don't bloom, I'd definitely try something else. And, their "floppiness" is pretty much normal. That is why so many use those peony rings to hold the foliage up.
What I was referring to by leaning was not the flopping, but rather, if you look at the plant as a whole, does most of the foliage grow to one side...the side that faces the sun. If it does, it is trying to maximize the sun it receives and would probably benefit from more sun.
If yours are near a tree, simply thinning the branches may help bring more light to it, without moving it...
-T
Thanks T! I got another one I got at Lowes last year off the markdown ... it was very pricey and I got it for a steal, lets see how it does. btw ... When the Peony had the tiny bud, it was in a pot