q is for quandie

Good morning gardeners!  Today’s ‘Sunday mornings in the garden’ post is going to be a short one because I’m sharing a rather short list of plants today; perennials with long bloom times.

While the upside to perennials is that they come back year after year (so you only have to buy them once to enjoy them for years), the downside is that most of them have a rather short bloom period.

As you know, my absolute favorite perennial flower in the garden is the peony.

And the bloom time for peonies is notoriously short, and made even shorter when we inevitably suffer a spell of hot, humid weather as soon as they open.

As you may remember, last year, in an attempt to extend peony season, I experimented with saving peony buds in the fridge and I had good success with that.  So much so that I did it again this year with even more peony buds.  And … um … well …

I didn’t follow my own instructions!  I wrapped these in a damp paper towel, and then put them in the Ziploc bag.  As you can see, they got moldy.  Last year I just put them directly in the Ziploc, no damp paper towel.  I’ll have to try again next year, with no damp towel!

Another of my favorites, lilacs, also have a pretty short bloom period.

And unfortunately, I don’t know any tricks for saving them for later.  In fact, I haven’t even found any tricks that work for making them last more than 1 or 2 days as cut flowers.  If you know of anything that works, leave a comment and let us know.

Roses are another of my favorites with a short bloom time.

However, I grow very few due to Japanese beetles. Those beetles just love roses!  I never had time for fussing with insect control in the past, so I took a few things out of my garden that the beetles loved including roses, a grape vine and some Virginia creeper.  I do have this one last pink shrub rose that was given to me at least 20 years ago or more.

But wait!  I went off on a tangent, this post is supposed to be about perennials with a long bloom time, not without one.

I’m tempted to start the list with panicle hydrangeas.

They definitely have a longer bloom time than peonies, lilacs and roses.  However, they only just started blooming in mid-August, so while they will continue to look amazing for the rest of the season, they missed most of the summer.

I do have a handful of perennials in my garden that bloom for a good portion of the growing season though, starting as early as May and continuing through the first frost.

Corydalis lutea is one of them.

This is a plant that I purchased at a garage sale not really knowing what it was.  Frankly, I don’t love yellow flowers.  But I let this one do its thing because it’s such a constant bloomer.  Mine starts blooming in late spring and it’s still blooming now.

You do have to be slightly cautious with this one as it self-seeds quite easily and will take over if you let it.  I pull out good sized chunks of it every year, and it is very easy to control that way.  It’s a great companion plant for hostas, and I have it growing in dappled sunlight.

Lamium Aureum is another perennial that blooms from May through frost.

I’ve even seen this one pop up through the snow with some flowers on it!

But I have to admit, I grow this ground cover for its foliage not for its flowers.  I don’t actually like the flowers, but I love the bright lime green leaves.

It’s another great companion for hostas as it will grow in full shade to part sun.

Another long blooming perennial that I purchased at a garage sale is Dicentra ‘Luxuriant’, sometimes called fern-leaf or fringed bleeding heart.

Unlike the more common varieties of bleeding heart that bloom in the spring and have pretty much died back to the ground by now, this variety blooms all summer.  As you can see, the flowers look slightly different (and aren’t as pretty, in my opinion) and so does the foliage.  The foliage is rather fern-like, hence the name.

The plant is much more compact that your typical bleeding heart, and it doesn’t get straggly and unkempt looking in late summer like the others.

This plant will also self-seed, although not quite as readily as the Corydalis, at least not in my garden.  I do have one volunteer plant that popped up in a spot where it doesn’t belong and I haven’t had the heart (pardon the pun) to pull it out yet.

Last on my long-blooming perennial list is Myosotis sylvatica, or Forget-me-not.

This is another ground cover that can lean towards invasive.  However, I have mine interplanted with a number of other ground covers, the Lamium, a varigated vinca vine and a very small sedum.  All of them tend to battle for dominance and so far no single plant has won out.

I do love those pretty little blue flowers.  But ‘little’ is the key word here.

An honorable mention goes to my new Roguchi clematis.

I just planted it back in May of this year, but it hasn’t quit flowering all summer and is still going strong.  I just have this one growing season to go by, but so far it seems to be a winner.  Once again, it’s not the most flamboyant of the clematis varieties, but I love that it has bloomed all summer.  I think the little purple and white bell shaped flowers are super sweet too.

One thing to note about the Roguchi is that it’s a non-vining clematis.  It won’t climb its way up a trellis on its own, but you can train it (which is what I have done).  Or you can let it spill over the sides of a retaining wall, or scramble through your perennial beds.

One thing all four of these plants have in common is that they aren’t terribly showy.  Perhaps that’s the trade off here, more subdued flowers in exchange for a much longer bloom time.

How about you?  Do you have any recommendations for perennials that will bloom all summer?  If so, be sure to leave a comment and let us know.

Good morning from the garden!  Today I’m going to share my favorite flowering shrub, hydrangeas.

There are five main types of hydrangeas, so let me first mention the two that I don’t grow.

First up is hydrangea quercifolia or oakleaf hydrangeas.  Although some gardeners do attempt to grow this one in our zone 4b, it’s a tricky one.  They require hot, sunny summers in order to produce blooms and Minnesota doesn’t always provide that.  They also bloom on old wood, so getting them to bloom in our climate is challenging.  I’m not into tricky gardening, I prefer to grow plants that aren’t so finicky.

Next up is hydrangea petiolaris or climbing hydrangeas.  These will grow in zones 4 to 8, but also bloom on old wood.  I don’t really have a good spot for a climbing hydrangea, so I’ve never even attempted one.

Next up is a variety that I do actually grow, but not successfully.  Hydrangea macrophylla or mophead hydrangeas are absolutely gorgeous … when grown in the right climate.  These are those beautiful hydrangeas whose bloom color changes depending on the pH of the soil they are grown in.  When I visited the Jersey shore a few years back I saw lots of these and they were stunning.  Every bush was absolutely loaded with blooms.

Typically these hydrangeas do well in zones 6 – 9.  They bloom on old wood, so in other words if they die back to the ground every winter you’ll never get any flowers.  Ventnor City, New Jersey, where I took that photo, is a zone 7b.

So imagine my excitement when Minnesota’s Bailey Nurseries developed a macrophylla that bloomed on both old and new wood, the Endless Summer hydrangea.  Gardeners all across the north rushed out to buy these hydrangeas, including me and pretty much all of my gardening friends.  I initially planted two of them.  But their performance for me has been pretty sad.  I think 2016 was the best year for them and I got six or seven flowers that year.

And as you can see, the colors on my Endless Summer flowers weren’t nearly as spectacular as those Jersey hydrangeas.

  I pulled one of my Endless Summer plants out a couple of years ago, but I still have one in my back garden.  Last year I didn’t get any blooms at all on it, and so far I don’t see any this year either.  But hope springs eternal and I haven’t dug up that last one quite yet.  I have read that you can grow these in containers, bringing it into a sheltered area for the winter to prevent it from dying down to the ground.  Maybe I’ll dig mine up and try that.

Do any of you grow a macrophylla in zones 4 or 5?  And if so, have you had luck getting it to flower.  Leave a comment and let us know.

Next we have hydrangea aborescens or smooth (or wild) hydrangeas.  The most common, and more old fashioned, of these is the Annabelle hydrangea and I have two of them.  Mine started blooming back in early July (or maybe it was late June).  Here is one of them behind the fresh flowers cart …

The flowers on the aborescens are more rounded in shape than the paniculata (which we’ll talk about next), and they start off white and by this time (mid-August) they have aged to a green color.

They produce tons of flowers each year (they bloom on new wood), and they make great cut flowers.

However, they are less than ideal in the garden.  The stems tend to be weak and thus they flop when loaded down with big blooms.  I have an old brass bed frame supporting the Annabelle by our deck …

but I just allow the ones out back in the cut flower garden to flop away.  They can look quite bedraggled after a rain.

There is a new and improved version of the Annabelle called Incrediball that supposedly has stronger stems.  I have not grown that variety myself, but in a recent video Laura from Garden Answer mentioned that although the Incrediball is an improvement over the Annabelle, it still tends to flop a little.

In my opinion, why bother with that when you can grow my favorite variety, hydrangea paniculata or panicle hydrangeas?

Paniculatas are the most cold hardy of the hydrangeas and can be grown as far north as a zone 3.  They have more of a cone shaped flower (compared to the more rounded flowers of the Annabelle), and they bloom on new wood.  That means that in my zone 4b garden they are absolutely loaded with flowers every year no matter how harsh the winter may have been.

I grow four different varieties of paniculatas; the Limelight, the Little Lime, the Vanilla Strawberry and the Little Quick Fire.

As the names imply, the Little Lime and the Little Quick Fire are dwarf versions of Limelight and Quick Fire.  I put in one Little Quick Fire last summer, and another one this year, and so far, obviously, they are still pretty small at around 2′ tall.

The Little Quick Fire starts blooming a few weeks earlier than the Limelights, which may be a selling point for those who don’t want to wait until mid-August for some flowers.  But I have to admit that so far I’m not super impressed with this one.  The flowers on mine are rather small and dull compared to the Little Lime.  But maybe I just need to give them some time.  They also are mostly white so far with just a little tinge of pink.  I’m guessing that they don’t turn that ‘fire’ color until fall.

My Little Lime is at least 10 years old (or more) and although they are only supposed to get 4′ tall and wide, mine is easily as tall as I am (that’s 5’10”).

If you love the look of a Limelight, but don’t have space for a shrub that can get to be 8′ tall or more (my Limelights are about 9.5′ tall), a Little Lime is a great option.

We have a Vanilla Strawberry hydrangea out back next to the carriage house.  The flowers on this one start out white, and gradually turn pink.

I do like this one, and it is just as prolific a bloomer as the Limelight, but I haven’t kept up with the pruning and it’s looking a bit leggy.

Just a quick note on that, you should prune your paniculatas in late winter/early spring (it tends to be the very first garden task I tackle each year) by about 1/3 to promote strong new growth and larger flowers.  This is basically the only maintenance required for these plants.

But back to the Vanilla Strawberry, I was hoping for a gorgeous show of pink color on this hydrangea but it doesn’t start out with a bang, but rather slowly turn pink.  There is a new variety out this year called Berry White that I want to get my hands on.  It supposedly has stronger stems and deeper, richer color.

That being said, by early October the Vanilla Strawberry does look pretty spectacular …

I may have to do another Sunday morning post about how the colors of the paniculatas change into fall.  Because truly, if you think they look good now, just wait until October!

Finally we get to the star of the show, and my personal favorite, the Limelight.

There is definitely a reason this plant has become so popular.  It’s easy to grow, requires very little maintenance, is covered with blooms (if you’re giving it enough sun), and is basically a show-stopper.

We planted a pair of them in this spot next to our deck to provide additional privacy around our outdoor dining space and they’ve worked perfectly for that.

I love being able to enjoy my morning coffee with a backdrop of gorgeous flowers this time of year.

Another thing that I love about growing hydrangeas is that I can dry them for use in my winter window boxes.  I’m doing a little experimenting this year to figure out the best way to dry them and I’ll be sharing that soon so be sure to stay tuned!

Good morning from the garden!

This morning I thought I would share my successes, and my failures, in this year’s planters.

In my garden I pretty much plant annuals in pots, and perennials in the ground.  There are a few exceptions to this rule here and there, but for the most part this is how I roll.  I’m working on changing that up a bit and maybe I’ll do more of that in the future, we’ll see.  But really, here in my zone 4b garden, asking perennials to survive the winter in a pot can be dicey.  The rule of thumb is that a plant must be hardy to 2 zones lower than your actual zone to survive the winter in a pot.  So as much as I loved all of those window boxes in Charleston with heuchera growing in them …

as a zone 4 – 9 plant, heuchera won’t survive the winter in a planter here.

And for those of you non-gardeners out there, I don’t mean that zone 2 plants will stay green and growing in a pot throughout the winter here.  They will still die back to the ‘ground’, but they have a better chance of coming back in the spring.

As for annuals in the ground, of course they will grow just as well in the ground here as in a pot.  Annuals only live for one growing season either way.  I just don’t have a lot of space in my garden beds to add in annuals, although this year I did make a couple of exceptions.

But back to the planters, let’s start out with the failures beginning with the planters on either side of the steps to our deck with the Eugenia topiary balls in the center.

It’s time for me to wake up and smell the coffee on this one.  We just don’t have enough sun in this spot for full sun annuals.  I had decided to give them one more try, this time making sure to feed them with a bloom boosting water soluble fertilizer (I used Miracle Grow Bloom Booster) on a regular basis.  However, I still got very few blooms on both the Snowstorm Giant Snowflake bacopa and the Superbena Violet Ice (both from Proven Winners).  They were lush and green and grew like weeds, but got very few flowers.  I did shear them both back a couple of weeks ago, but they still haven’t flushed back with flowers.

The Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo on the other hand gave me lots of blooms in these pots, but didn’t actually fill in at all.  I wasn’t expecting that.  Now granted, this petunia is meant to stay on the smaller side (hence the ‘mini’ part of its name).

I also planted the Mini Vista Indigo in my chicken feeder planter (on left in photo below), and it was the perfect plant for that planter because of its compact size.

There is only room for about 3″ of soil in that thing, so it’s impressive that these did as well as they did.

Now that I understand how the Mini Vista grows, I will plant it more strategically next year in spots where it won’t get crowded out by more vigorous growers.

Another failure for me this year was the lobelia that I planted at the end of May.  I purchased four of the Laguna Sky Blue lobelia (also Proven Winners) because it’s just so pretty.  I had given up on planting lobelia in the past because it has always died on me around mid-summer.  But theoretically this newer variety of lobelia is supposed to be “much more heat tolerant than past plants” (taken straight from the Proven Winners website).  But mine was all dead or nearly dead by the end of June.  Definitely no more lobelia for me.

As it died off I replaced it with other things, one of which I ended up really loving, and that was the gomphrena (the bright pink balls).

I’ve never grown this one before because I always thought it was kind of small and boring.  But now I’m realizing that it looks great mixed with other things.

I also think it could look kind of fab mixed in a garden bed around perennials to provide summer long color.

Another plant that replaced some of the lobelia was the Supertunia Vista Jazzberry.

It’s a gorgeous, bright, cool pink.  You’ll notice that it doesn’t have the name ‘mini’ in it, this plant grew much faster and larger than the mini vista.

I also used the Jazzberry to replace some failures in our mailbox planter.  We share a mailbox post with our neighbor, nnK, and she added planters to either side of the mailboxes a while back.  I replaced the one on my side with … what else? … a rusty old toolbox, although you can barely see it right now.

We started out the season with the lemon coral sedum (left), a bright pink new guinea impatien, a small dahlia, and the purple scaevola on the end.  As you can see, the impatien and the dahlia didn’t make it.  Well, actually, I pulled out the dahlia to put in the Jazzberry.  The impatien is still in there but it has been totally overtaken by the Jazzberry.

Aside from the mailbox, in general all of my pots with flowering annuals in them look kind of scraggly at this point.  I probably should have been shearing them all back on a more regular basis.

I’m not going to feel at all bad about pulling all of these out and replacing them with some fall flowers in September.

But this brings me to the real successes of 2022, the non-flowering annuals that I grow for their colorful foliage like coleus, caladium, oxalis, and sweet potato vine.

I shared my guest bed planter with you guys recently, and that was only planted up back at the end of July so maybe it’s not a great example of how these plants look great all season.

And in fact, I did have a bit of a fail with the caladium at first.  It doesn’t like the cold, and we had some cold nights in late spring.  They weren’t below freezing, but they were in the 40’s and the caladium I had already put out in pots died back to the ground.  It came back eventually, but it took a 4 to 6 weeks before it looked good.

But it looks fantastic now …

That’s one of my favorite combinations; it’s Molten Lava oxalis with a red caladium (sorry, didn’t retain a name on that one).

I also had planted this pretty pink and white caladium surrounded by pale pink impatiens.

Although that caladium initially died back, it came back strong and now this is one of my favorite combos.

I have one more caladium planter that I planted later in the season after the pansies that were in this urn started looking really pathetic.

Hopefully I have learned my lesson about waiting until warmer weather to plant caladium.  By the way, for those of you who suffer from deer problems, caladium is deer resistant.

Coleus can also be susceptible to cold weather, but not quite as bad as the caladium, and it’s also deer resistant.  I filled my front window box with several varieties of coleus this year including Colorblaze Velveteen, Colorblaze Strawberry Drop and Wasabi.

The Wasabi totally tried to take over.  I’ve pinched it back hard several times this summer.

I’ve combined the coleus with some black sweet potato vine, some more of that lemon coral sedum, some Shadow Dancers ‘Marcia’ fuchsia, and some Charmed Wine oxalis.

That oxalis is really fighting for some space (the dark one on the right end).

You know, when you can get constant, consistent color like this out of a plant that requires almost no work (except for pinching it back a few times), it’s hard to argue with it.

I also had superb results with sweet potato vines this year.

When the Japanese beetles became abundant in our area about a decade ago, they were devouring these.  I had quit planting them for a few years.  But I’ve gradually added them back and now the beetles seem to leave them alone.  I’m not sure if that’s the result of improvements made in the plant varieties, or because I seem to have fewer of the beetles lately (although they did a number on my ferns again this year).

One other planter success worth mentioning is my herb garden.

It was definitely as success as far as growing the herbs, but a little bit of a fail in that I rarely remember to actually cook with them!

I’m planning to take a stab at attempting to save some of my annuals over the winter this year including the caladium, the oxalis and the Eugenia topiary balls … and maybe even some of those herb plants.  Now that I’m retired, I should be able to find the time to care for them.  I’ll try to remember to share some ‘Sunday mornings in the garden’ posts about that process.

So, how about you?  Did you have any failures or success stories from your planters this year?  Or do you have any tips on overwintering some of these annuals?  If so, be sure to share them in a comment!