Poll: Grade your garden

If you were passing out grades, which plants would get an A right now, and which ones would get an F?

Here's what doing great in July in my zone 5 garden: hollyhocks (deep pink fig-leaf, double white, double pink, and single pink), 'Gypsy Deep Rose' baby's breath, lacecap hydrangea, viola (still!), the coloring of 'Sedona' coleus (the plant doesn't look so good due to insects munching on the leaves, but the color is outstanding now that I've moved it into the sun), wood fern, and 'Lucky Peach' lantana. Oh yeah...and the weeds are doing FABULOUS. :-P

Most pathetic looking plants: It's hard to choose just one to be the worst, because, frankly, so much of my garden looks homely due to disease, insects, and overly wet weather. However, if I have to pick it would probably be the 'Sitting Pretty' hosta, who is NOT pretty at the moment. It was just a baby when I got it so it wasn't very strong. Something started eating it as soon as it was planted. Then, some animal dug it out, so I replanted it, but the roots had become quite dry so I wasn't sure if it would survive. Then, something dug it out again and tossed it aside like garbage. grrrr... Roots were completely dry by the time I discovered it, but I replanted it again, just in case. Second place goes to the celosia, who is really hating our wet weather. Tamara

My poor Hibiscus looks horrible, buds dropping off right and left. The ones that open, if you could call it that, are all chewed up. I bought a systemic and some Neem to try to get it under control. So, when I get home, the systemic was half full or half empty....gggggrrrrrrr. Someone had used it and put it back on the shelf!

Hydrangeas - macrophylla, serrata, quercifolia and arborescens - all doing great! Doublefile Viburnum full of bright red berries. Daylilies are fantastic, as always. Too many others to name are also look fantastic. Only a few annuals (out of many) not doing well. Great year so far - even got my first ever Stewartia bloom the other day. Planted it about six or seven years ago as a small 2 or so gallon.

Victor

Oh victor! That is encouraging! Please post a pic, that is such a pretty tree.

Let's see, all of my sedums are doing very well, Purple Emperor, Vera Jameson, Autumn Joy, Dragon's Blood and Tricolor (new this year); definitely want more of these!

Not so good, is the canna I thought would add height to a bed, help me decide if I needed something tall in that spot permanently. It's short, ratty looking and no flowers.=0

Thanks Prairie. Here she is!

Victor

OOOh, she's a beaut! You deserve to be proud. Can we see the whole tree? Such interesting bark, or is that only later in the year?

your gardens sound so interesting. mine are finally starting to pick up. otherwise some of the plants kept frying and i kept replacing. right now one of my prettiest is the monte negro lily. rhudbeckias are coming along nice and the daylillies are full of blossoms and buds. the annuals are just starting to fill in. the red celosisia are pretty and the stocks are coming in nice. all in all for the dry weather we have had things are finally looking nice and filling in.

I'll take another pic when more blooms are open. The tree is only about four feet tall. Also - just came across a disappointment this AM. Delphinium 'Summer Blues' was planted this Spring. It looks pretty bad right now. Hope it survives - it was my first Delphinium. Any ideas? Received average rain for the most part, though that rain came in periodic downpours. Soil is well drained and it gets sun for most of the day.

Victor

Fun thread! My best looking bunch of plants right now have to be my delphinium. I have several, in shades ranging from powder blue to deep violet, and they all look splendid. My foxgloves are also at their peak right now. Also, with all the rain we had in the northeast, I have my best-ever rose year. (took lots of pictures, since it will probably never happen again).

the worst plants? Well, that depends. Hollyhocks and garden phlox keep getting munched down to stubs by the deer, so they definately qualify. Many of my perennials have become insect food, so they all qualify, too. It's okay though, because at any given time, there is plenty of beautiful flora to enjoy.

Sure, leisurlee, rub your delphiniums in my face - my only failure is your star! Make me look like an amateur!

Victor

We've had a solid week of downpouring rain that finally broke a prolonged drought, so my plants are pretty stressed. The ones that seem to withstand anything and are looking good right now are the loropetalum, pentas, plumbago,esperanza, plumerias, crinum, Knockout roses, coral vine, copper plants, purslane, caladiums, sweet potato vine, and oleanders. The ones looking a bit stressed are the portulaca, periwinkles (fungus from so much rain), some begonias, coreopsis, and agapanthus all suffering from too much rain The delphinium gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago and were pulled up along with some salvias that didn't make it. It's great to hear what's doing well in other areas!

Margarita Sweet Potato, Petuinas, Coleus, Dragon Wing Begonias, African Iris, Asparagus, Foxtail and Kimberly Queen Ferns all doing good. Little baby Orange Tree from Florida a friend got me while on vacation. Most of the Lilies are doing good, some not so good. Toriena is full and lush but really low on flowers right now, not sure what's up with that. Not doing good are Agapanthus, just can't get the hang of these things. Geranium, Foxgloves, Pentas and a Macho Fern that can't seem to make up its mind if it's doing good or bad. A canna that is lookin pretty ratty. Got some Plumerias that are in limbo. Just bought a Datura Ballerina Purple, has about 8 buds on it. Almost forgot, Mandevilla doing great.

This message was edited Jul 10, 2006 8:02 PM

I feel so inadequate when I read these posts. I don't even know what half of the plants you Texans are talking about are! In any case, it all sounds lovely. Glad you got some rain. I wish ours would go away. Seems like it's all we've had.

I think the weeds are winning in my yard. They look healthier than my flowers, especially the crabgrass!

Our yard back home in WV really didn't have much grass to speak of. It wall all dandelions, wild violets and clover. In the spring time it was beautiful when the violets and dandelions were in bloom. A swath of yellow and purple. In the summer little white flowers and the honeybees a buzzin.

Great Topic Zone5girl!
Most of my yard gets full Southern exposure sun all day.
In 10a the Lobelias that are in full sun are doing poorly, but the ones that get afternoon shade are doing great.

Most of my flowers were started from seed and are CAlifornia Native, and I'm glad I got lucky and chose those- I didn't know a thing about gardening when I sowed them. The only thing I will change next year for my summer blooms is maybe purchase the flower seeds separately rather than all mixed together so I can have more control over placement for height.

This is my first summer here. Butterfly bush is lovely, and the stargazers are full of both blossoms and buds. They smell heavenly! In the sun garden, echinaceas, yarrows, cleomes, delphiniums, barcopa, lemon thyme, prostrate rosemary, and sweet williams are doing great, even though I just planted them in late spring. In the shade garden, most of the plants have already bloomed, but they're growing great! I have lady's mantle, monkshood, astilbe, heucheras, cranesbill, Japanese painted fern, southern lady fern, wild sweet williams, and bushes surrounding - bluebeard, mock orange. The mints are all doing well, too.

My roses are being attacked by Japanese beetles, so they look pretty sorry. There's an ornamental cherry that looks pretty sad, too. Something is eating the leaves and leaving the leaf "skeletons" behind. I don't see anything on it, though, so I'm at a loss here.

I've only been in the house about 6 weeks, so for roses that HAD to be transplanted at a bad time, they're all doing great! Golden Showers and La Reine Victoria have buds, and Zepherine Drouhin is threatening to have some as well. I lined the new fence with oleanders and they're hanging in there; they'll probably be suddenly super in a few weeks or so; plenty of heat for them!

And I finally got my gutters! Using a garbage can as a rain barrel, but that will do for now.

Leisurlee, I don't know many of the plants either that are popular down south. I think that those of us up north probably have to have different perennials because they need to be cold hardy. And I know what you mean about rain! My plants look like drowned rats!
Tamara

Update - had not walked the garden much in the last two weeks since school ended. Did so today and found a few more casualties. Corydalis 'Blackberry Wine' has suddenly just faded away! Had about six plants - five from last year - and there is only one that has any life left at all. Weird. Also, many of the 25 Geranium Biokovo I planted this Spring apparently have died as well. Very diappointing, to say the least. On the flip, daylilies are beautiful, crapes are about to start blooming, butterfly bushes are spectacular, among many others. Will continue to update if I remember.

Victor

Victor, I will also have more casualities after the wretched weather we've had this week---lots of hard, pelting rain and high temps/humidity. Already had to cut down some of the pretty hollyhocks as they were blown down in one of the storms. Many of the hostas are sitting in a pool of water. And with clay soil, it won't be draining quickly. *sigh* Tamara

I guess I would grade my gardens a B. Everything is still looking pretty good here even with the high temps and humidity now. They really wilt down during the hottest part of the day but bounce back by morning. I am watering everyday now. I have most of the gardens ammended well now so I'm not overrun with weeds. All my Knockout roses are blooming as is Bill Warriner, Red Ribbons rambler, Caldwell Pink, and Tamora. My Brugs look good but no buds yet. :( The zinnias are going crazy! Very pretty and the butterflies are having a ball. All the verbena (red, white, purple, and pink) are doing good. My new baby Butterfly bush has three blooms on it right now. Shasta daisies are taking a rest but looks like the new plants will start blooming soon. All the Lantanas look good. Hostas, caladiums, ferns, and lilies all look good. My daylilies are still blooming. Oh I forgot about my White Iceberg and Mrs. Sam Houston roses. They are doing good and the iceberg has more buds I noticed today. Elephant ears and banana trees look nice and cool. My new baby Geraniums and Root Beer Plants look good. All the potato vines are growing like weeds. My Morning glories haven't bloomed yet but I didn't get them planted till late. Texas Star (red) has been blooming. Looks like my bougies will start blooming any day now.
All in all I can't complain right now. Just hope the plants can hang in. The weather is going to get even hotter they say.
Lin

I'd give my gardens a B, overall.
Hostas all look great, as well as hydrangeas,stargazers, casablancas, numerous day lilies, Salvias, hibiscus,roses,dats,dahlias,phlox columbines, huecheras, physostegias, EE's, Cannas, castor beans, Echies, dianthus, sedums, tuberose, tuberous begonias, asiatic lilies, perillas, persian shields, and numerous shrubs.
I give a D to some lamium I planted this spring-looks like it's dying-also my beautiful clematis I'd wanted so long-I think it bit the dust.
My mandivilla is super phenomenal-and the few annuals, like zinnias, bi-color ipomea vines and persian shield are going crazy.
My flower beds get an A+ for no weeds. I swear by preen. All beds are also mulched with shredded hardwood-looks great.
The Japaneese beetles almost shred the upper part of a 50 ft. property fence line coverd with Virginia Creeper, but for the most part they leave my bloomers alone.
Can't forget my bunches of shasta daiseys, and black-eyed susans which are show stoppers.
Some of the echies are pretty puny and disappointing. :-(

Great idea to score our gardens, but I think you all are being pretty tough on yours!

I am pretty pleased with the blooms on all my plants, and I am thrilled that my 'Wintersown' flowers are actually growing and blooming. That really surprised me since I am such a klutz with seed sowing! So I would give my garden an 'A' for that.

I would have to give it a 'B' or 'B-' for plant placement though. I had such big ideas after reading all the 'color echo' threads from last year about placing my new plants in color groupings and that has not been entirely successful. Timing was off, color tones clashed, just generally ugly combinations--so I need to do some fine tuning on that.

I also have to work on foliage contrast and getting better focal points. Ah, well, it's a good thing there is always next year!

It's interesting to read your comments! t.

Hi Tabasco-I had the same problem so I went to the experts at BHG for help! I largely copied one of their garden plans in my front yard, it really worked, even swapping out a couple of cultivars. And the best part is, now I can tell why mine didn't always work!

I had what felt like divine inspiration a few days ago, in this narrow, longish bed, under the windows of my dining room, where fragrance would be a nice bonus. I bought a dark colored Summerwine yarrow and plopped it in next to a blue foliaged oat grass. I realized then that I had enough feather reed grass, white-centered hostas and purple spiderwort to repeat the grouping several times. So I did that, filling in with more yarrow. Now I need more blue oat or other blue-foliaged grasses! Just these 5 plants, and w/a few little groupings for contrast in between the repeating groups, I think it really looks great! Now I'll have to wait and see if the little groupings work. Does this make sense to you? In other words, rely on the foliage for textural contrast first, then use long bloomers in 2-3 colors and vary the shade/tint of those colors. My first (and only so far, this is a work in progress, LOL) grouping is Stargazer and Garden Party lilies on either side of a pink butterfly bush. I would've preferred a dark purple butterfly bush, but that's not what I have LOL. I moved the Stargazers from where no one could even see them, and I got the white lilies on clearance because they're done blooming too. The next grouping will have to hold up to moist soil, under the hose bib, so I was thinking some dark purple irises would look nice, maybe some burgundy gladiolus? What are your thoughts?