My hanging baskets are looking pretty sad and several look ugly. I water them (but I have to admit I’m not good at adding fertilizer) and they look awful. Isn’t it early in the summer season to give up on them? What’s your advice in this case?
It’s hard for me to know their condition, but I think you might rejuvenate them, since we still have a nice long season ahead of us before fall rains destroy annual baskets.
If they were mine, I would peruse the garden centers for colorful ideas. Garden centers have been so accommodating these last few years by stocking young freshly grown annuals and even some 4- and 6-inch perennials. I’ll think about the exposure where I re-hang them. Check the selection offered, then see what’s appropriate. Also there are probably some plants in each basket worth saving. If so, go for it; if not start over. Should there be some survivors that look healthy, give them a good grooming, add some fresh soil, then add the new plants and water well. Watch for new growth then fertilize every watering, using half the recommended dose. There are some good growth months left in this growing season. Daughter Jen came up with an idea I like: she suggested I add a spoonful of dry fertilizer to clean gallon milk jugs, leave them empty, then fill only as needed, and not have buckets and other containers of liquid sitting around in the garden, attracting young children, and pets.
Works well for me.
I’ve noticed it in literature that there is a spirea that grows wild here in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve lived here for some time now, and am active in the outdoor scene, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything that looks like spirea to me. Where do you think I’d be likely to see it?
Our native is “Spriea douglassii” and it’s all around us, and blooming at this time of year. It’s not a beautiful plant in the way its ornamental cousins are (maybe in my opinion only). A native plant here in the Northwest and often called “hard hack,” it’s usually seen in moist, sunny locations, where it can become aggressive. Pink panicle blooms in midsummer form thickets in waste areas and along roadsides. If it stays in that type location it’s usually not regarded as a noxious plant; in fact we’ve noticed that its use is becoming more popular in gardens where folks value native plantings as food for birds, butterflies and other wildlife. The plant favors acid soil, and is commonly found west of the Rocky Mountains.
I have a bed of irises that was replanted last fall. I want to plant a perennial between them that will bloom all summer. I am thinking of golden sundrops. Do you think they will work out OK there?
The common names listed in Sunset Western Garden Book for Heliopsis scabra, or golden sundrops, are “Ox-Eye Sunflower” or “False Sunflower” but my favorite is “Loraine Sunshine.” Most of these mentioned grow about 36 inches tall and 24 inches wide. The difference is that Loraine’s leaves are white with green veins, a variegated look. I’ve never seen this variety offered in a garden center, but have sent for it from the Forest Farm Catalog, www.forestfarm.com. From midsummer into fall this plant produces a seemingly never-ending supply of yellow, semi-double flowers. The 3-inch flowers are on long stems good for cutting. Since the plant doesn’t really begin growing until after the irises are up, it should not stop your irises from blooming or overcrowd the bed. By the time your irises are finished blooming, the Heliopsis should just be beginning to spread. Although I’ve not tried this, I would put them both in the same bed, and give each enough room to spread out so I can enjoy the blooms on both.
Celeste Lindsay is a WSU-certified master gardener. Send questions to mslindsay8@gmail.com.
