Category: Annuals/Biennials and Perennials

Mad for Cranesbill Geraniums: Where to Plant, How to Maintain, Where to Buy

julia erickson1 Comment

My cranesbill geraniums have just begun blooming this week. I love them. As cut flowers, they make great fillers or can be used for posies. Even without any flowers, the leaves themselves are highly ornamental. If you are not familiar with these hardy geraniums, now is the time to think about planting some.
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Where to Plant Cranesbill Geraniums. These little plants are my favorite mixers along the outside of all my borders. Wherever I can put them, I do. Cranesbill geraniums are hardy, easy to grow, and suited to a variety of situations. There are some for the shade garden, others to use as ground cover, and others that are suited to sunny beds and borders.
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How to Maintain Cranesbill Geraniums. Geraniums edge, they weave, they spill over. Most bloom over a very long period of time and will repeat if they are cut back after flowering. Some of the larger geraniums will require mid-season maintenance. To prevent these ones from flopping or splaying open, I cut them back hard after blooming and fertilize. Soon, new fresh leaves appear and the plant remains compact.
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Where to Buy Cranesbill Geraniums. My first geraniums were from Perennial Pleasures Nursery which specializes in heirloom perennials. I also got others from Heronswood before they were sold. Another wonderful source for hardy geraniums is Geraniaceae, a California nursery which also has an online catalog. The selection at Geraniaceae is phenomenal. I am wanting to get some more mourning widow geraniums. Geraniaceae offers 26 different varieties. I don’t know how I will be able to choose. I think this will be a paralysis of choice.
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Spring Ephemerals: Virginia Bluebells Are Spreading Through The Garden

julia erickson5 Comments

This year, my Virginia Bluebells are the best ever. After three seasons, these spring ephemerals are spreading beautifully through the garden. I have wonderful combinations of them with daffodils (pictured) in the Long Border and great surprises as they have shown up in other areas.
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I look forward to their number increasing further. The spring ephemerals are so charming for how they appear when the garden is bare and leave in just enough time to make room for summer perennials as they bulk up.
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In my garden, more bluebells are always welcome. They seem to thrive in areas where the clay soil is on the dry side and in parts where the moisture level is more normal. They have done well in rich and ordinary soil. I have them planted under roses, a tree hydrangea, and in the ‘tree skirts’ that surround my oaks in the back garden.

Gardening on a Hill: Goldberry Hill in Summer – Phlox, Shasta Daisies, and Lamb’s Ear Replace Black Eyed Susans

julia erickson4 Comments

To help me plan for this coming gardening season, I am going through some of my pictures from last year. Here are some of Goldberry Hill from last summer. Goldberry Hill is the name of the garden in the front of my home on the hill between the street and my driveway. Goldberry Hill is made of small trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses.

In the first picture, there are newly planted phlox, shasta daisies, and lamb’s ear. Previously in that space, there were black eyed susans that were prone to a fungus that made the leaves turn black. Because this is right in the front of the house next to the road, I decided to pull them out and replace them. Given that the black eyed susans self-seed, you still see some in the third picture in the middle of the purple cone flowers where no one can see their black leaves.

The heirloom flox are Old Cellar Hole from Perennial Pleasures. The shasta daises are Becky and the lamb’s ear are Big Ears from my local nursery. Unfortunately, the deer started snacking on the flox at the end of the season, so I’ll have to wait and see if they come up again in the spring.

For pictures from last spring, click here: http://heirloomgardener.blogspot.com/2008/01/goldberry-hill-last-spring.html

Something to do with Impatiens at the End of the Season: Bring Them Indoors

julia erickson1 Comment

In the front of my home, I have a small covered porch that I decorate with hanging flowering baskets. Because of their shady location, impatiens are the perfect plants for the baskets. In prior years, I have just added the impatiens to my compost pile at the end of the season.

This year during my autumn cleanup, I took some of the impatiens and re-planted them in pots and brought them indoors. I have done this for several years with other non-hardy plants, such as elephant ears, that I return outdoors in the spring. Placed next to a window, I expected the impatiens to last maybe for a few weeks, or if they did continue to live, to stop flowering. Much to my surprise, they have now been indoors for over three months and they are still going strong. They are not the most beautiful flowers, but they do provide some sign of life during this period between the fresh cut flowers and the forced bulbs and branches. Also, given how leggy they become, I don’t think they will be worth re-planting outdoors.

A word of warning: they drop leaves and flowers almost every day and you constantly have to pick up after them. Because of this, I’m not sure if I’ll do this again next year.