Spring Gardening

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LovelyLadyLux
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Spring Gardening

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

I know this is only January but soon as the New year is over I turn to thinking about what I'm going to plant and grow.

I moved a couple years ago and have spent the last couple getting all the foundation plants into place - heather, rhododenrons, pieris, fruit trees, sedums (on top of the rock walls). Also have daffodils in everywhere to naturalize too........soooooooo now I'm looking for suggestions for other perennials that are fairly easy to grow. Same type climate here as basically in the UK.

Anybody have any favourites that just bloom and bloom and bloom and are super easy to grow?


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Post by Kevininabydos »

Monkshood (Aconitum) gorgeous cut leaf foliage and beautiful blue/purple flowers. Clumps get bigger each year and can be divided after 3/4 years to make more plants.
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Monkshod - I just looked it up on the net. Quite pretty and so long as it is easy to grow will give it a whirl! Thanks KiA! Appreciate the tip.
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Garden -

Post by Jayway »

I have great success with weeds, they mostly look after themselves - - :roll:
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Post by Horus »

Depending upon available space, I recon a good clump of Lupins takes some beating. The ones shown below are an experimental dwarf variety that a friend gave me, so are not as leggy as standard Lupins and carry their flower spike all the way up. The beauty about 'Russell' Lupins is that if left alone the bees will pollenate them and the seeds will produce countless colour variations in future plants. Nothing like sitting outside in your garden on a warm Summers day and smelling the perfume of Lupins wafting in the air.

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If you have some sunny wall space or fences that needs brightening up, then any type of Clematis will add loads of colour. This variety is 'Nelly Moser' and it will flower prolifically, usually twice a year, but keep them well watered.

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Post by jewel »

Agree H about the lupins -love them, saw them growing wild in NZ. Also ove all clematis and nelly moser one of the best, also love my jackmanii "president" a vivid shade of purple.

Some of my other favourite perennial herbaceous flowers are:
Aquilegas (grannies bonnets) which also seed themselves around so fill up borders well
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Delphiniums which are various shades of blue and come up year after year, the taller ones do need support - the willow ones are good. In the foreground are Astrantis which are also a good perennial.
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Foxgloves .....not strictly perennials, more biennial but they do seed around and look dreamy in among the honeysucle
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Poppies!! In different shades of red pink and orange........heavenly :P
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Lavender...and lots of it! Loved by bees and flutterbys ...I prefer the English lavender (augustifolia or hidcote) but the french ones are lovely too. Looks good among roses
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as does nepeta (catmint.....and the cats really do love it) I grow "six hills giant" and does well
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There are so many LLL but I also sow seeds especially annuals such as nastiurtiums borage and calendula - among the veggies too as they attract beneficial insects and look wonderful too good to "soften the edges" hope these are of use ? Happy planting :)
"If you understand, things are just as they are, if you do not understand things are just as they are"
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Gorgeous photos!! I've grown lupines in the past and had kinda forgotten about them. Thank you muchly for the reminder H! They're going to be the first seeds I buy cause, as I recall, they were super easy and the colours outstanding.

I have 1 small clump of lavendar in already on the far side of the house and 1 clump of foxgloves (purple ones). I got 1 more white one (can't remember the name but I think something like Sir Lancelot) at a Garden Place late in the fall. Not sure if it made the winter or not.

I've never been able to grow Grannies Bonnets (or Columbine as they're called here - Aquiglia). Not sure why as some people have gorgeous ones. Mine seem to fungus up and die.

Poppies are a great suggestion. I love 'em and so am going to add them to my list.

Nepeta I'll pass as I'd hate to attract a poor little kitty into the garden to have the dog get an eye on him. My Friday (terrier) has never actually caught a cat but he sure is death on them and will chase them if he gets a chance.

Now - on the delphiniums - do you start them from seed? And are they actually easy to grow? I have never ever tried them and do yours stay upright? or do they need staking?

My 'score' today was that I'm going to get a shovel cutting from a friend of one of her hollyhocks. She says it is a deep dark purple. I've never tried one of them either but am hoping it'll take and form a clump.
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Post by Horus »

Delphiniums are easy to grow from seed :) although they will take a couple of years to flower, here are a couple that I grew from seeds.
I took some seed from them last year and I will sow them this year to try and see if there is any cross pollination of colours when they flower.
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The other really easy one that will grow in even the poorest of soil is Nasturtiums. They flower all through the Summer and if you collect the seed you can plant it the next year. Often you will find that they 'sport' new colour variations like the ones shown here, all were grown from the previous years seed.
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

I've added your delphiniums to my list H although I think I might try and purchase them already started. Part of the problem of landscaping this yard is that it is terraced and goes up a hill at an odd angle. Tall plants will do ok but only if they're planted at the bottom of the walls but I have a good spot where I can put these. There are high winds that come through and knock down everything exposed.

2 years ago I threw in lots of nasturtium seeds all along the top of the rock wall here and by the end of the summer I got 1 bloom. I tiny yellow flower finally bloomed. They really did not like it here at all. They got morning sun but afternoon shade so I always thought it wasn't sunny enough. I KNOW the ground they were plant in was poor enough so I deduced they must of needed more sun. I never knew they hybridized colour though. I bought "jewel mixed" so am sure I would have gotten quite a range of colour if they'd of grown. I thought they'd look nice trailing down the walls.

Love the photos of the delphs too and Nelly Moser. NICE ones! :):):)
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