I think I complained about the black and blue not coming up but it has started in all three places..I am so excited..Some years it has come up in a circle all around the original plant so I just dig up sections and spread around..This year it has only begun so not sure if that will happen for this summer..Anyway nice to know they can be dug up..

My big disappointment is the rabbits ate my Black Eyed Susan vines to the ground last night. We always seem to have to deal with one darn rabbit each spring and this time I am really bummed because I doubt I can find anymore. Is there any chance those would come back if I leave them????

I believe Black Eyed Susan vines will grow back if they've been cut back or chewed on by a critter. you may even get a second blooming. ive never had one but that's what ive always read.

Betty, I got my Emerald Mist brunnera locally several years. I can no longer find it anywhere in the Twin Cities, and it's scarce online as well. I would like to get more, and mine do fine but aren't ready for division. Maybe Tangletown or Mickman might have them...I have looked many other places. If you do find any, I would like to know.
Karen, Bachman's has black eyed susan vines! And Repellex tablets are the only thing I have found that keeps those wascally wabbits from eating stuff.

Thanks, Jason and Jeanie. If I wasn't so far from Bachmans I would run right down in the morning

Jeanie if I find some I will let you know.

Where can I buy the Repellex? I am getting desperate!

You can get Repellex online. I prefer the tablets over the granules but I'm sure either would work. You put the stuff in the ground under your plant. It takes a couple of weeks, but the plant takes it up systemically and then tastes bad. It lasts for one year. It isn't realistic to do it for every plant--I put it under my Asiatic lilies and coneflowers because that's what they bother the most. It seems expensive but it actually costs less than other methods that you have to keep reapplying.

A shotgun works too and is really inexpensive, lol.

One of our resident rabbits tried to make a nest within an inch of a clematis. Thankfully, she went to the hostas and didn't like that either. Then she went under some Asiatic lilies. I did a close inspection and she didn't harm a single bulb: whew!

The worst thing about the rabbits here is they just nip things off and leave them lay. Maybe if they ate a few things, I would feel sorry for them thinking the were starving. NOT!!!
Hosta leaves are just snipped off and left to lay. Asiatics are chewed up one side or the whole stem snipped off at the ground. AND THE WORST OF ALL!! My Black Eyed Susan vines which were starting to climb, laying in a heap on the ground. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

When I wait a whole year to see something, I don't take it lightly when it gets destroyed, lol. Last year for the first time, we had a deer problem. I went out to see the blooms on the lilies, and 25 of them had been eaten to the ground. I sat right down in the garden and cried mostly from anger than anything else. I will let you know how it goes this year, lol.

Jason,
Well, even if the old plants do return, there's nothing wrong with having more 'Black & Blue'! (and the hummingbirds agree, I'm sure!)

Chelle, it will be fun to see how those seedlings progress!

Veronica, Glad your 'Black & Blue' returned after all! You are so right about the new growth sometimes coming up in a circle around the old plant; mine has done that, too! It reminds me of a mushroom "fairy ring." Perhaps, in the case of the Salvia, it should be called a "hummingbird ring" since those are the magical, winged creatures that like to frolic about them.

Karen, I'm sorry about your Black-Eyed Susan vines. They are actually perennials where they are native so I'd think they'd have the ability to regenerate from the roots. Since the rabbits left the stems, another thing you may want to try is rooting cuttings of them. Some of the "special" cultivars are propagated this way. I imagine they are pretty wilted by now, but you can try immersing them in a bucket of water and leaving them there until they rehydrate. Then, when they have perked up, you can make some stem cuttings. If it works, then you'll have even more Black-Eyed Susan vines than before. Gotta make lemonade, you know! (or maybe rabbit stew! )

I vote for rabbit stew and venison steaks.

I really love wildlife but I wish it would stay away from my garden. We spend money, time and effort on our gardens and it is truly disappointing when things are just sheared off and left lying there. It's like vandalism...I just don't see the purpose of it.

Somebody needs to teach those varmints some manners!

Jeanie, have you ever been out to see Carol Enmerichs gardens in Jordan?

I have lived here since 1962 and this is the first time my plants have been severely threatened by rabbits...They breed under my garden shed and I have always seen a few but this year they haven eaten both of my stands of Asiatic lilies that have been there for at least 8 years. Very small plants seem especially attractive but sometimes something bigger is attacked. I am constantly moving my covers for them to survive to adulthood!!! We have always had a few but they are everywhere. Going to call in a lot of hunters this winter and we will learn to eat rabbits like we used to........Wanting feral cats.

Karen, no I haven't. My daughter lives in Jordan so I go there fairly often. Where is it?
Have you seen Larry and Marion Fischer's in Waseca?
Veronica, besides using Repellex I have started putting up wire mesh cylinders around some of my lilies. While the Repellex keeps them from eating the lilies, they still occasionally shave them off. I make the cylinders from a roll of chicken wire. They don't even have to be very tall or buried in the ground...just so the lilies don't get snapped off at the base. I also put clumps of dog and cat hair around in old nylon stockings (very attractive!). When I used to let my cats out, I had no pest problems at all! And I don't have a fenced yard, so I can't let the dog out to chase the varmints either.
Deer are a whole other issue that I thankfully do not have.

I have not been there, Jeanie. Look up Springwood Gardens and you will be amazed at their place and the work that Carol has done. I am hoping to get out there one day soon.

I am wondering how it works on ATP if you want to buy a plant from someone that lists them as For Sale in their listing. Do you just send them a TreeMail? I have contacted two people about buying plants and have not received an answer. They are active on here, so I am wondering what I am missing in trying to buy plants.

Karen people that have a plant list does not mean they are selling plants. I have never looked at the plant lists, I think it is for people to keep track of their own plants. I recently saw this thread about the subject. The thread "Angst over people requesting plants" in Site Talk forum

There is the classifieds for those wanting to sell plants. I have purchased plants from those listing on the classifieds where plants are for sale.

I have one brunnera that looks healthy and happy. Several others have either not come back at all, or just show a leaf! I guess I'm not the only one, since I've read that others are disappointed with theirs, too. And I just bought 7 Alexander the Great brunnera! I'll just assume that they will be annuals too!

Some people do have these following choices displayed under their "status" for certain plants but if they don't, then they aren't selling or trading. I'm assuming that Karen saw a listing that had a "sell" status displayed.
-Trade as plant
-Trade as cutting
-Sell as plant
-Sell as cutting
-Available to Trade

As for my disappointing plant, that has to be the two Pink Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) that I purchased last year. I know it's a wonderful native plant that should be easy to grow but I lost them. Luckily, they were purchased at Lowe's so I took advantage of the plant guarantee. I suspect there may have been something wrong with them when I bought them because they died rather quickly.