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A rosey future?
Jun. 15th, 2012 08:24 pmAnother garden update, yay!
Silver Shadows is monstrous. Both of them. They've outpaced the more finicky Distant Drums, Golden Princess and Enchanted Autumn. One of them(the potted one) has five flower buds for the next flush, the one in the ground that died back halfway over the winter('cuz we thought it was Quietness and protected it as such) had a whopping 12 flower buds until I pinched it down to six. It retaliated by popping out two more. Both of them are also shooting out a lot of new growth. The ground one had a little BS but I removed the infected leaves and sprayed it once with Actinovate and it hasn't come back. Wish I could say the same for Moondance!
From perusing the internets, I've come to the conclusion that 1)Both Silver Shadows and Blue Skies do better on their own roots, as the people who had the same experiences as me were growing own-root plants 2)It possibly does not like climates where it doesn't get a winter chill, as the people who love it live in places like Chicago and Kansas and possibly 3)maybe it's an acid-lover? Maybe it's like the hybrid perpetual Reine de Violettes, that hates alkaline soil and is also purple. Our soil here is very rocky, varies in drainage from poor to excellent in various places around the yard(mostly excellent), and has a ph varying from 5.5 to 6.5.
I'll still winter-protect the hell out of it, but I'm getting the idea that Silver Shadows likes us. At this point it has better than average vigor, bloom count, and time between flushes, only has a minor susceptibility to disease and the only real weakness I can see is lack of cold-hardiness. I would say that Silver Shadows can be grown in Zone 5b with winter protection, as it suffered about as much dieback as the average buddleia in our climate.
I pinched the first bud on Distant Drums, as it appeared to be balling. It has a second one, so I can't be too heartbroken. Iobelle seems like it will be a good bloomer. Enchanted Autumn, at this point, does not appear to be a strong grower or bloomer, but I'll give it time before I judge it.
Jude the Obscure is going to bloom in the next few weeks, I think. Evelyn is actually growing. We planted Duchesse de Montebello yesterday. Polareis looks much better now, and appears to have taken offense at my harsh words. Heirloom is very large but doesn't seem to want to flower. Honeysweet continues to impress me with its vigor. Prairie Sunrise seems perfectly happy in a pot.
Silver Shadows is monstrous. Both of them. They've outpaced the more finicky Distant Drums, Golden Princess and Enchanted Autumn. One of them(the potted one) has five flower buds for the next flush, the one in the ground that died back halfway over the winter('cuz we thought it was Quietness and protected it as such) had a whopping 12 flower buds until I pinched it down to six. It retaliated by popping out two more. Both of them are also shooting out a lot of new growth. The ground one had a little BS but I removed the infected leaves and sprayed it once with Actinovate and it hasn't come back. Wish I could say the same for Moondance!
From perusing the internets, I've come to the conclusion that 1)Both Silver Shadows and Blue Skies do better on their own roots, as the people who had the same experiences as me were growing own-root plants 2)It possibly does not like climates where it doesn't get a winter chill, as the people who love it live in places like Chicago and Kansas and possibly 3)maybe it's an acid-lover? Maybe it's like the hybrid perpetual Reine de Violettes, that hates alkaline soil and is also purple. Our soil here is very rocky, varies in drainage from poor to excellent in various places around the yard(mostly excellent), and has a ph varying from 5.5 to 6.5.
I'll still winter-protect the hell out of it, but I'm getting the idea that Silver Shadows likes us. At this point it has better than average vigor, bloom count, and time between flushes, only has a minor susceptibility to disease and the only real weakness I can see is lack of cold-hardiness. I would say that Silver Shadows can be grown in Zone 5b with winter protection, as it suffered about as much dieback as the average buddleia in our climate.
I pinched the first bud on Distant Drums, as it appeared to be balling. It has a second one, so I can't be too heartbroken. Iobelle seems like it will be a good bloomer. Enchanted Autumn, at this point, does not appear to be a strong grower or bloomer, but I'll give it time before I judge it.
Jude the Obscure is going to bloom in the next few weeks, I think. Evelyn is actually growing. We planted Duchesse de Montebello yesterday. Polareis looks much better now, and appears to have taken offense at my harsh words. Heirloom is very large but doesn't seem to want to flower. Honeysweet continues to impress me with its vigor. Prairie Sunrise seems perfectly happy in a pot.
