Viewing comments posted by Vals_Garden

This plant grows like a very beautiful weed - in my 4b garden - so don't be deterred by the lower zone limit shown here. I couldn't be without it in the sunnier, dryer parts of my garden, although it's not limited to those areas.

As this plant produces new flowers from the tips of each branch and does not flower from the tip to the root end in succession, removing spent flowers will also prevent new flowers from those branches!
The bonus of this plant, apart from the very long bloom season, is that each branch gets longer and longer, ending up as gorgeous waving wands usually with bees bouncing up and down with them LOL

I purchased seeds of Linaria triornithophora 'Pink Budgies' early last year (2022) started them inside and planted good size plants early Summer. While they turned out to be all purple and not pink, they easily survived last winter here (Zone 4b) and since Spring I have been battling an aggressive invasion of this plant everywhere! Do I have some other linaria variety or perhaps the Zone recommendations here should be changed to include Zone 4 or less.

Just discovered that for the third year running, my plant has lost all its buds to frost; I have to wonder if anyone else has trouble with hardiness or susceptibility to frost in general with this cultivar. I will of course be moving it this Fall!

I purchased this cultivar a year or so after it hit the market (has to have been about 20 years ago) and it reverted to solid green foliage in its third year here.

OMG - this plant, in its second blooming year here (third since planting), was absolutely stunning this week. When I've picked myself up and sorted pics I will post some.

Would be interesting to find out the origin of this cultivar. Years ago I found an all gold seedling near my 3 Cornus a. Golden Shadows. It is now nearly 7 feet tall and gorgeous and I have 13 younger all gold seedlings growing on (don't worry - 13 is my lucky number) My cultivar is Cornus a. Gold Strike.

Our clumps of narcissus pseudonarcissus continue to confound us by emerging very early in the Spring from deep below the water of a spring-fed pond that fills further with snow melt. Sometimes the clumps have even bloomed under the water. With less snow each winter, I suspect I have missed the opportunity to photograph this phenomenon.

Although I have had it here for over 20 years now, its protected spot soon became too shady so it started running everywhere but still not blooming again. Two years ago I moved a piece to full sun but totally unprotected and now it's back to blooming again! Or is it all because of climate change????

Am I the last to discover that Lady in Red smells of chocolate OMG?

Indeed this can be a noxious weed, and we remove any plants we see in the pastures. However, as I grew Verbascum bombyciferum 'Polar Summer' at least 15 years ago I have been seeing various interesting crosses around the garden perimeter. I usually select the one/s with the best foliage and either move them to a 'safe' place in the garden or enjoy them where they are. Last year's seedling that I moved is looking to be a nice one.

Now that I am looking for more Lilium michiganense, I'm noticing that where pictures are provided the flowers have a very variable quantity of spots. The one I was given only has spots from the inner two thirds - the rest of the petal is that lovely unspotted red/orange. I'm wondering if the wild populations of this lily are as variable.

In my 4b garden I found this cultivar to be VERY invasive with long reaching runners

For years now, many nurseries, especially on-line, have been selling Jewelled Crown and calling it Contrast In Style. I would suggest anyone who is interested in having the correct cultivar visit the actual iris registry of each of these cultivars and note closely the two descriptions and the two sets of pictures. One screaming difference is that Contrast in Styles has "light milky blue style arms" which Jewelled Crown certainly does not.