Choosing Voluntary Simplicity » Plants in my Gardens

Golden Glow (Rudbeckia laciniata hortensia)

Shirley — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:50:58 +0000

The Golden Glow are in full bloom right now, and they are a really impressive sight with their masses of bright yellow flowers. Normally the clumps will be five or six feet tall... this year with all the rain we've had, they are even taller than usual... probably very close to eight feet. This plant has a tendency to flop over under the weight of its flowers... it's the one thing about it that I don't like, especially since I have too many of them to stake. So far this year though, all my Golden Glow are still standing tall... I'm wondering if all the moisture we've had has perhaps made the stalks more sturdy.

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Sempervivum Flowers & Growing Sempervivum From Seed

Shirley — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:35:01 +0000

If you're new to growing sempervivums (commonly called hens and chickens)... the flowers, and especially the flower stalks, can come as somewhat of a shock. If you know what to look for, it is usually obvious when a rosette is about to flower... first it becomes larger than the surrounding rosettes, then a fleshy stalk starts to grow out of the center of the rosette. Eventually clusters of small buds form at the top of the stalk. Sempervivums are monocarpic, which means that after the flowers open and fade, the original rosette dies.

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Can You Help Me Identify This Hosta?

Shirley — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:02:40 +0000

I received this hosta as a gift several years ago, and for some reason I have never been able to remember its name... which never mattered very much because I could always look it up on the nursery tag stuck into the soil.

Then one day last summer I went to check the name (again) and discovered that the tag was missing.

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Do Hostas Seed Themselves?

Shirley — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:33:05 +0000

Reader question... "I have what I think is a hosta seedling growing in my garden, but it is not near my other two hostas. I have not planted any seeds. Is there any way that one of my hostas seeded itself? Can you tell me how I could positively identify whatever this is? I have never actually seen a hosta seedling, but this does look like a baby hosta (I think). My other question is, is this seedling worth saving?" --Laurie P.

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What Does Bee Balm Look Like in the Spring?

Shirley — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:55:48 +0000

Reader question... "It is spring in New England and I am cleaning my gardens getting ready for everything to 'pop' up. I planted Bee Balm last year and loved it next to my tall Phlox. Everything is coming up nicely but I can't tell if the Bee Balm is coming back up... it seems to have a more vine plant like spreading around it... directly around the old stems (and the only place in the garden this 'weed' is growing if it is indeed a weed). I don't want to 'weed' it up if it is actually the Bee Balm. By any chance can you tell what it looks like in the spring as it is returning? Thanks!" --Sandy H.

Inexpensive “Cold Frames” — Our Solution to Our Short Growing Season

Shirley — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:08:10 +0000

We really have to work around our short growing season here. If we wait to set out seedlings until all danger of frost is past... and this can be as late as the first two weeks of June... we end up with too late a start on the garden because we can also get frosts on the other end of the growing season as early as late August. Covering plants to protect them gets old very quickly, we have found, especially when you have a lot of plants to protect, like we do. Traditional cold frames never seemed like a practical idea for us either. We needed something that offered frost protection on a large scale, could be left in place without having to be adjusted, and most important of all, something that was really inexpensive. Our solution... "cold frames" made with one-by-one supports instead of solid wood and heavy duty woven blue drop cloths instead of glass!