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PostPosted: Thu Mar 11, 2004 9:48 pm 
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Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 4:33 pm
Posts: 526
Location: parker county, texas
Kay, sorry, but I didn't notice you had directed a question to me. Most of my list of favorites are grown in partial shade with about six hours of sun daily max, less in the Summer. I haven't had any problems with legginess that I've noticed. I just let all my rosemary plants do their own thing. I've never pruned any of them.


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PostPosted: Sun Mar 14, 2004 4:12 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 21, 2003 5:33 pm
Posts: 829
Location: Dallas,TX
Sounds like you have the "annual" or "biennial" dianthus. I have some that I've had for years. In an organic program they just live on. The gray/green foliage kind is supposed to the the perennial. I've never had much luck with the pink either.

Rosemary at my house gets cut on a regular basis for cooking, soaps, etc. so yes, it grows back all the time too. I've never had a problem with that. That's why we have more than one bush! So these worries about pruning a rosemary bush leave me mystified.

Artemesia looks and grows better if you cut off anything that gets brown or dead-looking. Mine bushes out and grows more each year. I had some little 4" pots last year that I planted at a new location and ended up with two huge, 4' by 4' bushes by the end of the summer. They LOVED the foliar feeding.

I cut my butterfly bushes the same as I do everything else; depending on which way I want it to grow, whether stems were rubbing, etc. If it's getting plenty of sun and still leggy, give it some fertilizer and a little extra water for a while. It should bush out. Make sure it's not planted too deeply. They don't like that. I just dug out one at my house that the previous owners planted too deeply and without loosening the roots. I've never seen such a knotted up, self-destroying mess.

Hope that helps!
Isn't this fun?
:wink: :D 8)
Kathe


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 Post subject: Best Performing Plants
PostPosted: Mon Mar 15, 2004 10:12 am 
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Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 10:54 am
Posts: 133
Location: Dallas,TX
Kathe,
The type of pruning I'm talking about for the rosemaries is the severe type, not the culinary type. It's an effort to try to solve the problem of having healthy looking growth on the top 2/3 of the plant, but ugly, dead looking leaves on the bottom third of each "frond". I have the exact same issue with my potted spanish lavender. I don't know whether cutting both plants back to the ground would encourage lush new growth or kill them.

One more question on rosemary: does yours bloom? I thought the culinary pruning was keeping mine from blooming, but I've got a couple of plants I haven't trimmed and they haven't bloomed either.

Thanks for all your input,
K


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 Post subject: Sick babies...
PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 12:00 am 
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Joined: Wed May 21, 2003 5:33 pm
Posts: 829
Location: Dallas,TX
Kay,
You need to get some cornmeal into the soil around your lavender and rosemary. They sound like they are suffering from wet feet, poor air circulation at the base and/or a lack of good soil fungus population. The cornmeal should heal them. Take about a cup per foot of plant height, no more than 3 cups total. Rough up the soil at the foot of the plant, water in the cornmeal and cover with mulch. They will get better really fast. I had that happen in the past but I always put cornmeal in the soil when I plant anything and have eliminated that problem.

Yes, I have cut back rosemary pretty harshly, into the larger woody stems. But only when it is cool outside, just like with most large woody plants, so I don't negate the new growth for the growing season. If you have to cut it back due to crowding just cut a bit at a time, but wait for the major stuff until next year. We had a couple of plants at my daughter's school that were oversized and this worked nicely on them.

Mine do bloom. I just cut off the blooms and use them too. That means lavender and rosemary!

Kathe


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Mar 16, 2004 8:37 pm 
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Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 4:33 pm
Posts: 526
Location: parker county, texas
I don't avoid pruning rosemary, I just like to let it do it's own thing. I haven't found it to be unruly or unsightly if left alone. I have decided that some rosemary plants bloom and others do not, although this is just my observation and not scientific at all. I have an old one that is about 10 years old now, and have been waiting patiently for it to bloom, and it never has. I also have one that is now about three years old, and it bloomed last Fall, then I noticed new blooms on it last week.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:34 pm 
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Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 10:54 am
Posts: 133
Location: Dallas,TX
Dragonfly,
Do you know the variety of your new, blooming rosemary?
K


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:13 pm 
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Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 4:33 pm
Posts: 526
Location: parker county, texas
I don't remember right off hand, but will see if I can find out.


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 Post subject: check out Redenta's
PostPosted: Sat May 29, 2004 9:43 pm 
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Joined: Sat May 29, 2004 2:39 pm
Posts: 2
Location: DFW
This is my first year to really do much planting, but so far my favorites are the passionflower vine, copper canyon daisy, mexican oregano, and mexican marigold mint, which tastes great in tea. For me, the best place to get ideas about what to plant has been Redenta's in Colleyville. There are a couple of other locations, but I'm not sure exactly where. They have a large garden and if you go there once every few weeks, you can see what the plants will look like when they're full grown, in bloom, or whatever. And I've found the staff there to be pretty honest. If there are problems with a plant, they'll tell you. Hope that helps.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 3:05 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 11:48 am
Posts: 60
Location: Irving,TX
I have the following plants growing in the exact conditions you describe:

Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina Domestica)
Daisy Gardenia
Japanese Barberry
Rock Rose
Lace Cap Hydrangea

The last three on the list I lightly prune to shape in late winter.


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 Post subject: Best Performing Plants
PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 10:07 am 
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Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 10:54 am
Posts: 133
Location: Dallas,TX
Suzan,
I am familiar with all your plants except the daisy gardenia. What is that? Also, I just found a good place for a lacecap hydrangea, and planted it, so we'll see how it does. I thought about planting the pavonia (rock rose) but I believe it needs full, all day sun? Does it get a bit large and scrappy looking? Maybe yours is kept in check with the late winter pruning. Which Japanese barberry do you grow? I have the cultivars "Rose Glow" and "Crimson Velvet". The first has been in the ground 3 years and the second, almost two. Both are looking really good now, with the Crimson Velvet being the larger, and larger leafed of the two. We have planted it with Anthony Waterer spireas. Both plants have an arching character, and the branches are intertwining in a very charming way. (Because of the arching character, I don't prune them).

I wish I had room for Martha Gonzales roses, and for at least one Mutabilis rose. I'm at the point now, if a plant doesn't "earn its keep", it's out of here to make room for something else.

I must ammend my original "best plants" list and remove the Belinda's Dream rose. I know it was the first rose designated both Earthkind and Texas Superstar, but I am having lots of trouble with it--in a fully organic garden, for goodness sake! It has a recurring blackspot problem and thrips problem, even with cornmeal, modified Cornell formula (potassium bicarbonate, etc.) beneficial nematode and neem applications. I'll probably give it another year, but that's it. As an aside, a couple of weeks ago, I was at the Blue Moon nursery in Edom. They said blackspot had been a bigger problem this year than ever. Also, out of 6 Belinda's Dream roses, one had a recurring, virulent case of blackspot. They couldn't explain it.

The only other rose I have a problem with is the Zephrin Drouhin. I read on GardenWeb that people have said it is a blackspot magnet. I am going to cut it back right away and see what happens with the new growth, and if it is still bad, I will either move it or remove it.

In case you think I might have a soil, ammendment, fertilizing, placement, or other basic problem, I must add that my Marie Pavie, New Dawn, Eutin, and Valentine roses are doing famously.

Thanks to all of you for contributing your lists of best performing plants.
K


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 Post subject: best plants
PostPosted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 8:06 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jun 02, 2004 8:24 pm
Posts: 8
Location: San Angelo, Texas
I have had great luck with plumbago, daylilies, phlox, echinacea, coreopsis, turk's cap, morning glory, fall aster, salvia greggi and lantana. We have a very hot, sunny yard so most of my plants have to take a lot of heat. I planted a purple columbine, white lantana, dusty miller and a Texas sage bush this year and they all seem to be doing well. I also have a hibiscus in a pot but was interested in putting it in the ground, any advice on that?


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Jun 04, 2004 1:23 pm 
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Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 10:54 am
Posts: 133
Location: Dallas,TX
I wish I had your yard. I would rather have a mostly sunny yard or a mostly dappled shade yard than one that is a little of both--too sunny for shade, but not sunny enough for plants needing full sun. As far as the hibiscus, if it is a tropical hibiscus (with glossy, dark green leaves), and you want to plant it in the ground, that would be fine if you just consider it an annual. I usually keep mine in pots, then I overwinter them out of the weather.

In Dallas I plant the perennial hibiscus in the ground, and it survives all year long. I cut it back to about 3'' of woody stumps in winter and it comes back in the late spring/early summer. I've had to move mine around to find a spot that gets as much sun as it wants. We'll see how it does this year. My cultivar is Moy (not muy) Grande, and it has 10-12" medium pink flowers. You can find information about it on the Texas A&M website under Texas Superstars.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Jun 04, 2004 8:28 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 11:48 am
Posts: 60
Location: Irving,TX
Hi Kay,

I wish I could tell you which Japanese barberry I have but, I have had it far too long and can't recall. I dug it up from my backyard and brought it with me when I moved to this house (3 yrs). It is a real trooper. I, too, love the arching branches and delicate foliage.

As far as the rock rose goes, you are right...it does prefer more sun. This is another plant I brought with me and it used to be in a sunnier location where it often got burned-up in the mid summer afternoon sun. It can get a bit lanky but, I now have many growing side-by-side so they fill in for each other. I have the room so aside from a once a year pruning, I let them do what they want.

I hope your lacecap hydrangea does as well as mine. I cannot tell you how many compliments I get on that plant! It's my baby. It is huge and the flowers are so delicate and beautiful. The only drawback I have found is that it does require a bit more watering than you might think.

Daisy gardenia (gardenia angusta) has flowers that look like daisys. I loved the look so I bought one about five years ago. Then, I bought two more 2 years ago. Mine are very low growing and kind of fan out. They don't have as many flowers as a traditional looking gardenia but, the flower shape makes up for it. Here is a link to some photos I found:

http://plantsdatabase.com/go/53226

Happy planting :D


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jun 05, 2004 9:16 am 
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Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2003 10:54 am
Posts: 133
Location: Dallas,TX
Suzan,
Thanks for the link. The daisy gardenia is a totally new plant to me. I see on the link that it is a tropical, or tender perennial. Do you have to do anything special in the winter? I also saw in the link that PH is a big issue. Do you add lots of greensand? How much sun do your plants get? And did you buy them in the Dallas area?
Thx,
K


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sat Jun 05, 2004 4:48 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2003 11:48 am
Posts: 60
Location: Irving,TX
I have never done anything special in the winter. But, I do have an oak tree that drops its leaves there in the winter and I don't bother to pick them up until spring. I would say my gardenias get between 2-3 hours of sun per day. One of them gets less and doesn't produce as many blooms. When I first planted the bed I added greensand but, haven't since.

I bought all of my gardenias at Calloway's. The first one was specifically labeled Daisy Gardenia. The other two are identical to the first but were labeled Kleim's Hardy Gardenia. All threee are from Monrovia. I still have the label and it says it is a dwarf evergreen with cold hardiness 0 - 10 degrees (zone 7-11), slow-growing to only 1 -2 ft. tall and wide, full to partial sun and flowers late spring into summer.

I have never had any problems with these plants. I highly recommend them.


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