Hi Eileen. It is a trouble free plant and a nice colour but there is a hint of mauve in it, looks great when in full flower. While we are in touch ref the shrub pics I took some of what are still "seeable" and will put them on the Trees and Shrubs topic when I can without double posting. Regards. Syd.
Syd-- you mention gentians....here is a gentian I have grown for many years. It is actually a wild flower. My mother dug it up from the family farm ?23 years ago? Gentiana andrewsii ( photo / image / picture from Cayuga Morning's Garden ) Can you see the bee fighting its way in? ( photo / image / picture from Cayuga Morning's Garden ) Still trying.... ( photo / image / picture from Cayuga Morning's Garden ) Success! ( photo / image / picture from Cayuga Morning's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Cayuga Morning's Garden )
Hi CM. What lovely pics and such a determined Bee, good that it succeeded. The plants look so healthy I am indeed envious. I tried a few times to make a go of them including septemfida, acaulis, lagodechiana and asclepidea but they just would not have it in spite of my very sincere attempts (as with all my plants) to please them. That raises an interesting point and conversation piece, I would love to hear what others thoughts are about this. It is that some plants even in spite of oneself taking into account their growing needs and reproducing these as far as it is possible to do just do not like you and will not grow for you, always also allowing that one gets failures whatever. There's many pros, cons and "did you's" here involved but one gets the feeling that in spite of all efforts "they just don't like me". Probably makes me sound a right crank but has it happened with others?. I have experienced this quite a few times but as always hopefully common sense prevails and one moves just move on. Syd.
Thanks for your thoughts Syd. I would like to try beer traps but I have 2 dogs are very partial to a drop of it and I'm afraid that their attempts to get to any traps would incur more damage than that down by the slugs/snails I rely mainly on close inspection and have cleared lots of both away this year by having tracked down where they congregate and where the "nurseries" are. I think I'll try extra vaseline next year and perhaps move them away from overhanging grasses. Cayuga morning,I'm going to check our the DE option too,thanks for the tip.
Those are lovely CM. I discovered a large patch of those Closed Gentian's by chance in the back field at work. I was afraid to dig any up for fear of disturbing the rest. Maybe I will go and dig a few in the spring now that I know they transplant OK. Syd, I DO have a few plants that I don't have luck with! I can't keep Cactus alive and Orchids hate me!
Netty, That is great about the bottle nosed gentians. Mine have slowly reproduced over the years & I have given many babies away. I like to think I am helping to spread the plant. They are indeed very transplantable. Syd & Netty---I can't grow orchids for the life of me! They just die a very s-l-o-w death!
Hi Karin -Netty - CM. Karin. Glad to help and wish I could have done better. The vaseline and sharp awkward surface all help but searching them out is a very good positive method though a bit time consuming. Do try the torchlight approach also, give them a chance to get out and about first. This surface I put on my containers is 1/2 to 3/4 inch shingle which is all irregular stones with edges and does not pack down so flat as small grit, they do not find it so easy to slide over with the irregular surface. Move the pots away from "hideyholes" and also perhaps stand them on a layer of the same shingle - make it doubly awkward for them. Good luck. Netty - CM. Good news this that others have the same feeling that certain plants they have tried in spite of all efforts "just do not seem to like them". Have a laugh with me at this but at times when some little treasure (like old double Primroses) has looking sickly I have patted it and talked to it - something like "come on little plant - perk up" - its harmless and is based on love for them. I have read that lots of folk talk to their plants. Gentians do have a name for not being the easiest plants to grow but it has also happened to me with quite "every day" ones - Monarda is a plant I really like but a season or two with me and even then not looking happy and it has gone . Gave up on it years ago. The variegated Brunnera is another. Madonna Lilys a third (even allowing for that dreadful beetle) just would not. Thanks for the contact - always nice to talk with you. Syd.
Hey Syd--I found a video you might like. It is by Margaret Roach 'A Way to Garden' & it is her recommendations for ground covers. Check it out! http://awaytogarden.com/the-toughest-gr ... -i-rely-on
Hi CM. Ref Ground cover plants. Hope you are well and thanks - have had a look at your suggested site - as you said most interesting. Have grown quite a variety of different ones over the years and have had good results generally but some I wish I had never "let in the gate" - groundcover in their case being a great understatement -ground swampers might be better. Of those mentioned I have always been a great fan of the True Geranium family and over the years have and still do grow quite a number - amongst so many good varieties my favourite is G.psilostemon - some can be a bit troublesome and quite the worst of these to me was a sweet little shocking pink thing with mottled foliage I bought as G.stapfianum roseum - roots made up of hundreds of small nodules which got about everywhere. The Epimediums I also love and they grow in really poor conditions like under trees as stated. Another favourite which for me thrived (and spread like steamo) in these conditions was Ceratostigma plumbaginoides with wiry stems and pure blue (to me) flowers and darkish green foliage some of which turned deep red with the flowers in Autumn - needs watching but great - I allowed it to spread in the dry soil between two conifers. I love the Bugles (Ajuga) in variety in damper soil- lots more but we all have our own likes and dislikes. Thanks again. Syd.
Galium odoratum (Sweet Woodruff) with hellebores is one of my favorite beds. Nice flowers for my shady areas. Slugs are a problem for me too. Blue Vision (hosta) is a pretty slug resistant variety and I think Sum and Substance and Elegance held up well too. I use cedar bark that deters slugs but has to be disturb or reapplied because eventually they get their slug trails expanded over its roughness. I read about a slug destroyer last year that I will have to start trying. You use diluted ammonia 1:9 and spray it all around the plant. It is supposed to be good for getting the little slugs you can't see. Spray the ground well all around the plant in the afternoon when the slugs are hiding. Can also spray on the plant? That I am going to experiment with.
Hi jewell - all. Thanks for that and will investigate - ref the Slugs the battles of us Hosta (and other vulnerable) plant lovers against them continues. Looking forward so very very much to seeing those first tough little shoots appearing above ground, not only on the Hosta's but all the others of our good friends who have been tucked up for the winter and sensing Spring is about to happen will begin to push up to the daylight. Magical moments indeed for us all because its a fact I know for certain after many years that between we keen gardeners/plant lovers and our plants there is a very positive love develops - sounds a bit corny that but who will gainsay it??. Speaking of shoots pushing through happy to say I have Snowdrops and Crocus showing already as well as a container full of Polyanthus in full bloom - also flowers on Helleborus orientalis. Bless it all - - lets preserve it. Syd.
Hi jewell - CM. Thanks from me also and will give the diluted Ammonia a try - any percentages ref water for mixing it at all please?. A mention if I may ref the Alpines I bought before Xmas and are to be grown in the cold Greenhouse. They were beginning to look a little "uncomfortable" in their transit pots so I have taken a chance and very carefully gone up a pot size or two for them and given the bottom of the root balls a small spray of water whilst doing so. I have grown them before both indoors and out but I can claim no real knowledge or expertise so I am feeling my way with them. A few pics to follow. Syd. ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden )
Hi CM. They are looking a lot more comfortable at the moment I am happy to say - I am really feeling my way with them but whilst growing a selection many years ago I had a satisfactory result. Above all so I read they must have a suitable very well drained gritty mixture to grow in and any dampness around their "collars - necks" is to be avoided at all costs - this particularly applies during winter when they are dormant/semi dormant. Those that I have growing outdoors in the raised bed I set up have a stout poly-tunnel over them until Spring. These new plants are mostly Saxifragas but there is a miniature (herbaceous) Trollius amongst them which I look forward to see flowering and also an Androsace. I will place another order for a selection of different ones with more foliage and form/height for Spring and I note in the Nurseries lists a miniature Solomons Seal which I must get. If it has the same characteristics as its larger brethren and flowers in the same way it should be something to see for sure - oh the excitements of this gardening thing. Syd.
