Spring Report Card

Primrosesue, I love primula, and spied one starting to bloom yesterday, but no picture yet of one called 'Double Take' primula auricula. Plus I should have some Primula Japonica, but many others that I have tried have died too. I did take a picture of a strange green one, that I am surprised to see as it looked bad last summer. I bought it from a picture in a color catalog in 2006 from Dutch Garden that sucked me in as I love green flowers. Picture is bad and the blooms not really open. But it is a real green with a yellow edge. I need to go hunting for a few others today to see if they survived the winter. Patti

Patti, I've seen that green one, but not sure if I want a green flower - there's enough green in the garden for me!

Don't know, Chuck. Maybe someone else? Does anyone else have this 'problem'? It seems I always want to plant things - especially the multi-season interest plants - closer to the house where I can easily see and smell them. Hate to 'banish' these guys to the perimeter.

Chuck, your rose is probably a bit susceptible to the cold. Not enough to kill it, but enough to cause cane die back. If you want to give it a head start in the spring you could pile up mulch around it after your first hard frost in the fall. Just remember to gradually pull it away from the plant come spring. The only other thing is food. Roses love food and if you get a rose fertilizer you can use it on clematis also if you have any. Pretty rose too!

I think I lost my Honey Dijon rose. Looks pretty much dead. It was one of my favorites. But a pasque flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris Rubra) that I planted in Sept 2006 and didn't appear last year has reappeared and bloomed and looks great. Strange. It was lurking I guess. Patti

Too bad about the rose, Patti.

I have noticed one of my older P. 'Coppertina' getting a bit leggy so I will probably prune it after flowering.

Chuck, what a nice bush... where did you get it from??? my experience is limited since this is year 2 ... but some epson salt, bone meal. blood meal and you should be ok... that's what I feed my roses every year...

Off topic. I thought Dusty Miller was an annual???? Does it come back???

I bought these as Dusty Miller. I know they are Dusty Miller, I can remember the tag! Now they have been in my little bed, this is the 4th year. Evidentley they are still growing! If I can remember right, the 1st year I plucked them right out but they always seem to come back.

I've had them come back a few times. Found some more casualties today. Some columbines - too wet I think. Bummer - they were nice ones from GC. Also, the deer apparently took some leaves from one of my JM's. Thought I had just sprayed it. I re-sprayed. And expletives flew.

I know I bought them as Dusty Miller and as Annuals for a front border type thingy. I can remember the tag. I bought them at Home Depot with a gardenia in Concord NH, in 2005. That was back when I did not know the difference between a plant, bulb or seed. Oh well they are growing again. I might be 49 years old, but I can remember that as plain as day. Shaking my head.

Double check this, but I think there perenial & annual types of Dusty Miller.

Kassia' the funny thing is that it was given to me when I was in the hospital a couple of years ago. I really don't remember who it came from or what it was called. I just call it, THE SURVIVOR.

Sorry about the deer munching on your JM, Victor. Have you tried spreading Milorganite on the path they take?

Dusty Miller almost always comes back for me. I treat it as a perennial. I'll take a photo if I find a plant tag for it.

I haven't done the perimeter with Milorganite yet like I normally do. But I did put around the beds, including in this area. And I sprayed it too - I believe less than a week ago.

Chuck, in my opinion then your mini rose is a parade rose - they are from canada and very hardy....

I mentioned the 'Ken Dearman' primrose a few days back. I think I see microscopic signs of life - glad I didn't pull it!

Found more casualties today. Monarda 'Raspberry Wine'. Also, one of my dwarf JM's I planted under the large one in the fall has leaves that are wilting and dying. Not too happy right now.

I think one of my humming bird mints are dead.... one is up about 6" and the other no signs of life

Another unhappy find. My huge clematis Duchess of Edinburgh seems to have crapped out. I saw only three buds and hardly any foliage. I's a group 2 and sometimes they need to be cut back when they're old. The stems get too big and woody. This is from two years ago.

Our Rasberry Wine seems to be growing. Pink tulip 'Gander's Fantasy' is just coloring up. I don't think they are darwins, but are not the early species. First St. Dwarf irises are starting to bloom.

How old is your Duchess, Victor? I have four of them and I'm considering cutting them all back after bloom. Two are grown on the Crepe Myrtle and reached the top last year when the Crepe had finished blooming. It looked like the star at the top of a Christmas tree!

It was my first clematis - about 9 or 10 years. That must have looked great on the crape. Photo?

I'll check to see if I have a photo but when I saw it my first thought was to write to you asking if pink Crepe Myrtles ever develop white flowers at the top. It was only when I was working behind the Crepe that I realized it was the clematis in bloom.

The one thing that I am disappointed in besides the roses in the rose bed, are the lavender 'Provence'. They are very slow to come back this year and although they are getting new growth they are looking really ugly right now compared to the english lavender which is all nice and covered with new growth. I don't recall them looking so crummy last year. One is more established and looks slightly better but I do not know if these will remain. The peonies are budding up and most things are really getting revved up now with all the rain.

Did you remove all the old top growth from last year? To my sense of smell it's the best lavender on the market and I only buy others if I need shorter plants. They really don't want damp soil - could that be the problem? They also demand excellent drainage.

I love how they look in bloom, so nice and tall and airy. There really isn't enough growth yet to tell what is really dead yet. I trimmed them at the end of summer as usual but maybe all the strong wind over the later part of winter got to them just like the roses out back. I will give them more time to put on a bit more growth then trim out the brown stuff. They are my favs so they get a good chance to get with it.

When I stopped trimming my lavender, they did better. One of my Provence is flopped over, but growing.

You did take off the spindly stuff at the top, didn't you?

We have a nursery that sells herbs but mainly lavender out here and they always trim their plants so I followed in their footsteps.

I didn't. Maybe I should?

After I can see what's growing and what is dead I prune out the dead stuff in the spring. After flowering, which is late summer usual for provence, I deadhead and shape a little. Here is some info: http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/how-to/articles/pruning-subshrubs.aspx

Lavender is the one plant that really didn't make it this year. I've kept an eye on it but there was hardly any growth so I have cut it back to the part showing green. Hope for the best.
Chuck

nice article Ngam. I experimented with one of my lavenders this spring and gave it a hard prune about a month ago. It died. Afterwards I read that pruning too early in the spring can do them in. It was suggested to wait until the weather is reliably warm before pruning lavenders.

Just the old top growth, Victor. If you see new growth further on down the stem you could prune a bit more but as Louise said it's always best to wait for new growth to show up - just safer, not mandatory. I don't cut Russian Sage back until I see new growth either.

Thanks for the article, we transplanted a sick munsted and I am looking at brown tips now. Will prune back to ner growth today.
The article explains why I lost a few plants at the old house.

Just found this thread - great idea Victor.

My lavender seems to be making a strong comeback. I w/s it last year, so this is it's second. I have some annuals that are returning[reseeded]; Cosmos, california poppy, dill, and nigella. My two clematis are also coming back strong. Two others I think I should have prunned to the ground. I guess I'll wait and see.

Pat, thanks for the sub-shrub article - valuable info!

There is a shoot that I don't recognize in the area were I planted that yellow ladyslipper last fall. I have my fingers crossed.

I have yelled 'shoot!', or something similar, in the garden many times.