Autumn Plant Update

We did this earlier in the year but it's always useful to hear what has worked and not worked for everyone. Now that the planting season is winding down, tell us what were you happy with this year. Unhappy with? Doesn't have to be limited to things you planted for the first time this year - can be a perennial, shrub or tree that still hasn't done much, for example.

For annuals I tried this year, Abutilon was a non-stop bloomer, as was Alpine Geranium, which I had in more sun for the first time. Two-tone purple Petunias from HD were the best I ever had - even much better than Wave Petunias.

Lavatera were fantastic early but they cannot take full sun so they died out. Will put them in part shade from now on. Lobelia and double Impatiens were outstanding again.

For Perennials, I was happy with Echinacea Pink Double Delight. Twilight is pretty good as well. Finally had some success with Delphs but we'll see if they return.

Baptisia I planted in Spring '06 have developed into a beautiful, bushy, bluish plant. Gets light blue flowers. Will try more - maybe a different color.

Have said before how happy I am with Geranium 'Rozanne'. Knew I would like the blooms but have been surprised how quickly / densely it grows and how long it blooms. I am currently adding more as a ground cover for full sun / part shade.

Tried Gaillardia for the first time - 'Oranges and Lemons'. Liked it a lot. Bloomed a long time.

For shrubs, this was the 2nd full year for Sambucus 'Black Lace' and I am disappointed. Not much growth and then, only horizontally. Very little bloom so far. Even the foliage color is drab compared to other dark foliaged shrubs.

I like the color, leaf shape / texture and blooms of Physocarpus 'Summer Wine', but it is leggy. I will try pruning it to see of it improves. 'Coppertina' has a much nicer habit and the foliage is even a bit nicer, with the new growth being outstanding.

Love all the hardy Hibiscus but some are being eaten by some buggers. The leaves were almost completely skeletonized.

I'm a big fan of Crapes, but 'Pocomoke', which forms a great bushy two foot shrub, just blooms too late and sparsely. I panted many around my pool, expecting lots of bloom from late July through pool closing, but I just see green. Bummer. It does get decent Fall color though.

That's about it for now. Your turn!

I don't have any problem with the foliage on Black Lace or the little flowering, but the straight out growth is tougher to love.

I was very happy my 'Unique' hydrangea - real nice growth habit.
Echinaceas "Hope","Green Envy" and "Green Eyes" were nice additions.
Some nice new dahlias and a few I tore out midseason.
Some nice new zinnias I tried this year - "Scarlet Red Flame" and " Dreamlands Mix"

The absolute best thing i planted this year was cosmos "Summer Dreams".
i love cosmos anyhow, and these looked pretty on the seed package. They are only supposed to be 3' tall. After planting them several times and having them weed whacked or pulled during one of the property owners random weed-pulling frenzies, i finally enclosed them in little fences. So i got no blooms until the end of August, but boy were they worth it!
And the ones in the "garden" are 4'+.
If only i could get a picture of how wonderful they look, but i can either get scale or color well, but not both.

So, here is color:

I was so happy with the zinnia I planted from seed. It was a mix, that I can't remember the name at the moment.
Very disappointed with the wave petunias I started from seed. Not the color I thought it was going to be and only 2 white grew out of 10 and 4 of the red out of 10 and they didn't grow very well at all.
It was the first time I started seed indoors I'll try to find something else for next year.

As this was our very first serious year, I could write a book!! We tried so many new things, and a lot was a success.

Our zinnias are still going strong. We found that they like a bit of Rose Food from time to time.

The phlox, 'Natural Feelings' and 'Becky Towe', are still looking fresh and new. They like a little bit of lime.

We learned that a spiderwort might look dead and gone, but it really isn't.

Oh goodness!! There's so much to write about that I think I should put it all into my Garden Blog, and then copy bits and pieces of the Blog entry to bring it over here.

I planted verbascum this past spring and it's the same size as when I planted it!! My Gaillardia which I started from seed(arizona sun) died (I think mostly from neglect on my part!)

However I had really good results from my creeping thyme and lemon thyme( I think I'm going to use this as a weed barrier for one of my gardens next year) another success was two rose bushes 'Fairy', they have been blooming pretty much nonstop!

saanansandy:

That's a great idea about the creeping thyme and lemon thyme. We may try that, too.

Your post also reminded me that the Coral Bells we planted in May are exactly the same size today as back then. They never flowered, either. But, they still look just as green today as they did on day one. So, we don't know it this plant is worth it, when we are looking for color, and not foliage!

Will chime in later, but Victor, that is the red lily beetle. You find them on your lilies earlier in the year (they are less devastating to the lilies.)

Good tip on the Rose food for zinnias. I'll try that next year. I had an amazing season with the zinnias. I plan on doing more next year.

I also was amazed with the Bright Lights Cosmos. The ones that got all day sun were amazing and will be repeated along with some more varieties next year. The ones I planted up front in part sun got about 7' tall, but no blooms.

The Gaillardia puchella that I grew from seed seem very happy where they are. I wish it wasn't an annual. I am going to try and collect seed to plant again next year.

I loved the Blue Pimpernel and the Blue Cloud [annual larkspur] and will try to do successive plantings next year to create a longer bloom time.

I also loved the Globe Amaranth - it filled in real nice and is an excellent cut flower with my pink baby roses.

I was very disappointed with the Hyacinth vine and won't repeat that.

Oh I almost forgot!! I ordered 5 blue willows and they have shot up about 18 inches and spread very nicely! They look so lovely when they sway in the breeze! I think I only watered them the first two weeks after planting and they are doing well(I was very neglectful on the watering this year!)
I also had good luck with my evening scented stock:

Watering! That was certainly tricky this year for us as well. In fact, I should be out there watering right now, but the little one is very caught up watching Sesame Street.

Forgot to say that I was very pleased with the growth of my 'Pee Wee' Oakleaf Hydrangea. I was concerned that the removal of a large Maple last Fall that shaded them for most of the day would cause a problem. They adapted to the full sun very well. I did water them a bit more.

Also very happy with the continued growth of my 'Dragon's Eye' Pine.

This message was edited Oct 27, 2007 12:45 PM

I am really liking the oak leaf hydrangea. The spot where I want to plan them gets strong mid-day sun which seems to already stress the other hydrangea there. I would also love to put one under the red maple. Can anyone recommend a good nursery for them?

Disappointments : larkspur - I was expecting wonderful results - but got just scraggly plants - started from seed. Sweetpeas that I slaved over but never really flouished. Morning glories that were supposed to be "mixed" but turned out to be just plain.

Successes: Dianthus Helen, Catmint Blue Wonder, Garden Phlox, Hicote Lavender,

LILIES!!!! The roses!!!!! especially little Showbiz. The foxglove - Apricot Beauty.

Pink Equador Brugs - very impressive!

Stuff from seed - petunias were very slow to develop - but once they took off, were truly amazing. Cornflowers - unbelievable, as were the baby's breath, and the linaria. Red poppies were delightful. Black currant swirl datura - finally got some to germinate - they are fabulour

Surprises - stuff from DG members like the lovely yellow primrose, the butterfly bushes, marvelous marigolds, Moon flower vine (morning glory - alba) sedum, astillbe, a fabulous white brugmansia, bleeding hearts, irises, hosta, and a terrific pink zinnia, and daylilies, hardy geranium, - all have thrived!!!! :-) VERY HAPPY. Many of these were planted on the terrace. (some I kept for myself . . .:-)

I was disappointed in the litle ornamental grasses I used, I figured they might not work because of their short height. I have a Mexican Feather and Bronze carex in the ground - they'll be up higher in pots next year.

I'm not as much into the grasses as I used to be - especially Miscanthus. Too floppy after a rain and a pain to cut back in Spring when it's big. Pennisetum 'Little Bunny' is nice. 'Rubrum', an annual here, is nice. My favorite grass of all is Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'.

I was very happy with my dwarf dahlia's that I grew from seed - they bloomed like crazy in such beautiful colours! Of course I also LOVED my moonbeam coreopsis...I can't believe how long it flowered.

Our snapdragons did exceptionally well, even though they were planted in the 'holes' of the cinder blocks.

I love Moonbeam too - have had it for quite some time. You do need to mulch around it because it's so open in form. Weeds grow through it easily.

I have been delighted with Salvia 'Victoria Blue'. I was hoping it would be perennial in my zone, but have heard from others that it is not (it's listed to 7b). I'll mulch it and hope for the best, but will start more from seed for insurance.

'Flammenspiel' is a medium height helenium (4'), described as amber-red, that I have found to be very attractive and floriferous.

'Lauren's Grape' poppy ... outstanding annual (wintersown)! large flower, gorgeous deep purple, long period of bloom.

My entire rose garden has been a delight!!!

Jan:
Do you have a picture of the Victoria Blue?

Hmmm do you have any of the pink coreopsis Vic? I have heard they aren't as nice but I bought two this fall because I love pink!!!

No, I have not tried any yet. I like pink too.

Hmm interesting! I will let you know how mine do since I bought 2 of them this fall! Ugh I wish me luck!

Dawn, I bought it many years ago and it seemed to shrink to almost nothing in a couple years. But, they probably have improved them over the years.

I would love to get the 'Pink Chablis' Caryopteris.

I have to say my favorites in the garden this year are Euphorbias. Most of these were planted last fall and I'm anxious to get a few more in the gardens since they've done so well. Posted these in the Mid Atlantic forum but want to share them with my favorite forum :)

First up, 'Blackbird'

'Helena's Blush' did real well and has lovely variegated 'blooms' as well

'Jade Dragon'

'Orange Grove' on the left and E. martinii on the right - 'Chameleon' with darker foliage was also planted in this group but unfortunately did not fare as well.

My newest purchase, 'Tasmanian Tiger' - had been looking for this one for over a year and picked these up at a plant sale in Richmond a couple of weeks ago - now if the weather would just cool down so I'd feel like planting them!

This one is not in the garden - a container planting, but have really enjoyed it this year - this is it's third year and it finally liked the location and tripled in size! Euphorbia cotinifolia

Those are really interesting texture and foliage plants Debbie.

Real nice Debbie. I love Euphorbia. I lost Jade Dragon and a few others rated for zone 6 so I stay with the hardier ones.

Al,

I think a Miscanthus Adagio would look perfect there, or if that's too big, a Miscanthus Little Kitten. (They don't get very floppy, either).

My favorites this year have been my new species, Siberian and Japanese Iris. I also love Baptisia Purple Smoke. I had some gorgeous Hellebores this spring, got lots of babies from them, and just planted out the babies I grew on in plugs. Phlox Babyface, Junior Dream, and Pixie Miracle Grace I also liked.

Candyce, that Feelings line of phlox looks really nice!

Thanks for the compliment, Polly. Those are always so nice to hear!

Another flop planted last year - Meadow Rue (Thalictrum). Was gorgeous last year with its wispy pink blooms. Never returned this year. Bummer.

Gram, I had Salvia 'Victoria Blue'. My local nursery sold it as a perennial and I was thrilled with it the entire summer after I planted it. When it didn't return, I nearly cried. I almost dug up the ground to see if it was just late coming up... It was gone. About two months later, I found it's tag and it said 7b. It didn't stand a chance.

I love those Euphorbias RCN!!

Harper

Debbie, Those are great.

Love those Euphorbias! I thought I had lost mine (and oldie) but enough was left that now I'm pleased to see it thriving.

The lilies and the Japanese irises were my biggest thrills this summer. Shallots also did very well.

Disappointments mainly with many newer daylilies that just looked awful!

Here's 'Shocking' - its aroma was as beautiful as the flowers.