Plans for the future.
May. 19th, 2012 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tsubasahomeI spent today planting my tuberoses in the bare spaces of the garden. I'm not sure if they're alive or not...they haven't bloomed in two years, so I divided them in the fall. If they come up, good. If not...well, they did take up quite a bit of fertilizer!
Lauren and I plotted out the rest of the flower bed at the bottom of the hill. You see, all the everbloomers are on the left side, with Madame Hardy...and the right side is partially shaded, so we decided to order a hybrid musk rose to put on the back of the right border. We're really impressed with the vigor of Aptos, our only hybrid musk rose, and we really wanted a pink one, so I ordered Cornelia from Northland Rosarium. I dunno why they have it listed in the polyantha section, but they have Aptos there as well and the plant tag said "Hybrid Musk", LOL.
I did manage to save a prime spot for my pet peony project Prairie Moon, which will be arriving in the fall. It's been called the most beautiful of the hybrid peonies, but some nursery said that it takes up to four years to get a decent-looking plant. And my response is...how is that different from any other peony? ^^;;; I mean, I can count on one hand the number of peonies(and I have 17) that looked good right after planting. The Duchesse is finally full size and about 6 years old!
Unfortunately, Lorelei got bud blast. The only new peony we planted last year that didn't lose buds was First Arrival. You can't really expect much the first year after planting, I know. Year Two Philomele is still puny with one flower bud, but if it's anything like the Duchesse...one year it had five flowers, the next year 40. I've been feeding them with Neptune's Harvest every 2-3 weeks, per Cricket Hill's instructions(as peonies are very heavy feeders) and it's done a deal of good on the ones that were doing poorly last year...the tree peonies must have loved it, because Blue Butterfly grew 2+ feet and quadrupled the amount of flowers it had this year!
Msr. Jules Elie has a little botrytis this year, as opposed to last year, when it got a LOT of botrytis. The tree peonies, which were pretty much devastated last year, don't have a spot on them. Maybe it's the Actinovate. Maybe it's luck. I know it's inevitable that all peonies will get botrytis by the time fall rolls around...it's just a matter of how soon and how much. But some peony expert once said that these plants have been around for hundreds of years, and a little fungus is not going to kill them. In the case of Coral Charm, it just sets it back so it doesn't bloom for 10 years...ha ha ha...but to be fair, in Year One and Year Two, the UPS man stepped on it. I dug it up to discard it and what do you know...still alive. With one frigging eye! I felt bad and planted it in an inconspicuous place. It'll probably bloom by the time I'm menopausal. =_=
I just can't believe the tree peonies pulled themselves together. I'm partly to blame--even though we had a very wet spring, I have to remind myself that fully established peonies are not like other garden plants--you can only water them every two weeks, or they will get The Funk. I have to make sure to only use the can and not the hose on them, or risk wrecking the foliage.
Speaking of which, I heard p.mlokosewitschii is resistant to The Funk. I'd like to try growing it, but I'll be damned if I'm shelling out $70+ for a plant that might not do well in my yard. Or it might. I'd like to try growing it from seed. Just my luck, I'll grow the plants out for 5 years and they'll bloom pink or something. ^^;;;;;;
Lauren and I plotted out the rest of the flower bed at the bottom of the hill. You see, all the everbloomers are on the left side, with Madame Hardy...and the right side is partially shaded, so we decided to order a hybrid musk rose to put on the back of the right border. We're really impressed with the vigor of Aptos, our only hybrid musk rose, and we really wanted a pink one, so I ordered Cornelia from Northland Rosarium. I dunno why they have it listed in the polyantha section, but they have Aptos there as well and the plant tag said "Hybrid Musk", LOL.
I did manage to save a prime spot for my pet peony project Prairie Moon, which will be arriving in the fall. It's been called the most beautiful of the hybrid peonies, but some nursery said that it takes up to four years to get a decent-looking plant. And my response is...how is that different from any other peony? ^^;;; I mean, I can count on one hand the number of peonies(and I have 17) that looked good right after planting. The Duchesse is finally full size and about 6 years old!
Unfortunately, Lorelei got bud blast. The only new peony we planted last year that didn't lose buds was First Arrival. You can't really expect much the first year after planting, I know. Year Two Philomele is still puny with one flower bud, but if it's anything like the Duchesse...one year it had five flowers, the next year 40. I've been feeding them with Neptune's Harvest every 2-3 weeks, per Cricket Hill's instructions(as peonies are very heavy feeders) and it's done a deal of good on the ones that were doing poorly last year...the tree peonies must have loved it, because Blue Butterfly grew 2+ feet and quadrupled the amount of flowers it had this year!
Msr. Jules Elie has a little botrytis this year, as opposed to last year, when it got a LOT of botrytis. The tree peonies, which were pretty much devastated last year, don't have a spot on them. Maybe it's the Actinovate. Maybe it's luck. I know it's inevitable that all peonies will get botrytis by the time fall rolls around...it's just a matter of how soon and how much. But some peony expert once said that these plants have been around for hundreds of years, and a little fungus is not going to kill them. In the case of Coral Charm, it just sets it back so it doesn't bloom for 10 years...ha ha ha...but to be fair, in Year One and Year Two, the UPS man stepped on it. I dug it up to discard it and what do you know...still alive. With one frigging eye! I felt bad and planted it in an inconspicuous place. It'll probably bloom by the time I'm menopausal. =_=
I just can't believe the tree peonies pulled themselves together. I'm partly to blame--even though we had a very wet spring, I have to remind myself that fully established peonies are not like other garden plants--you can only water them every two weeks, or they will get The Funk. I have to make sure to only use the can and not the hose on them, or risk wrecking the foliage.
Speaking of which, I heard p.mlokosewitschii is resistant to The Funk. I'd like to try growing it, but I'll be damned if I'm shelling out $70+ for a plant that might not do well in my yard. Or it might. I'd like to try growing it from seed. Just my luck, I'll grow the plants out for 5 years and they'll bloom pink or something. ^^;;;;;;
