My parents grow a lot of columbines--they are the state flower of Colorado. I'll try and remember to ask them if they have any tips about them to pass on.
Mom says to buy more columbines for sure, for cross-pollination. She also says to keep the soil around them on the dry side, that it might be too damp for them here since they usually grow at altitude in semi-arrid climates. Hope that helps!
MA does have native columbines, so I'm sure they're fine here (and dampness is not my soil's problem, fer sure). But the cross-pollination thing makes sense! Thanks!
Be wary of Morning Glories. It's not a short term commitment. We sewed them along our fence as well. It's great, they come back every year. All up and down the fence, growing from cracks in the side walk, and making inroads into the rhubarb. Also they grow and bloom late, which is fine if you time things, but for us it means we have a fence with dead fines till halfway through summer.
A different thing you might consider for your perennial garden is hollyhock. One grew in our garden last year out of nowhere. Took us half the year to work out what it was. But they grow very, very tall. (Ours reached 6'!) So they are great to put at the back to frame things. The one from last year is coming back and is nice and bushy already. I saved several hundred seeds from it last year and planted them all. If you are interested I'll let you know how many/if any come up.
Comments 6
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
A different thing you might consider for your perennial garden is hollyhock. One grew in our garden last year out of nowhere. Took us half the year to work out what it was. But they grow very, very tall. (Ours reached 6'!) So they are great to put at the back to frame things. The one from last year is coming back and is nice and bushy already. I saved several hundred seeds from it last year and planted them all. If you are interested I'll let you know how many/if any come up.
Reply
Hollyhocks are pretty! Maybe I'll give those a try.
Reply
Leave a comment