Comments on: Just how sustainable ARE these May blooms? http://www.sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435 Susan Harris's blog about eco-friendly and urban gardening, plus the adventures of a DC-based garden writer, coach and occasional rabble-rowser. Mon, 24 May 2010 11:12:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Anne http://www.sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435/comment-page-1#comment-3456 Anne Thu, 22 May 2008 14:08:00 +0000 http://sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435#comment-3456 I, too, love my knock out roses for their vigorous nature and long blooming season. I bought mine for 25 cents each--three years ago--off the "I am nearly dead" rack at my local big orange box store. Today they are over three feet tall! They sit in a SW exposure, on either side of the thirteen stairs that lead to my front door, in a straight shot, with one landing. I have lonicera sempervirens (native honeysuckle) growing in and out of the once hideous but now hidden brown wrought iron rail, that guards the stairs, and the red knock out roses growing on either side of the native honeysuckle. An easy and welcoming fix for my entry. I, too, love my knock out roses for their vigorous nature and long blooming season. I bought mine for 25 cents each–three years ago–off the “I am nearly dead” rack at my local big orange box store. Today they are over three feet tall! They sit in a SW exposure, on either side of the thirteen stairs that lead to my front door, in a straight shot, with one landing. I have lonicera sempervirens (native honeysuckle) growing in and out of the once hideous but now hidden brown wrought iron rail, that guards the stairs, and the red knock out roses growing on either side of the native honeysuckle. An easy and welcoming fix for my entry.

]]> By: Frances http://www.sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435/comment-page-1#comment-3439 Frances Thu, 15 May 2008 20:59:38 +0000 http://sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435#comment-3439 Hi Susan, you have done a great service with this post. We planted the rhodies when we first moved here eight years ago, remembering them as performing wonderfully in our northeast TN garden. Something is different now, they die right away or get sorrier each year until they get yanked. We blame walnut trees nearby for some of that, drought too, but there are still large old specimens around town looking fine, for now anyway. The spiderwort is a filler in the woodland garden, the extras just get pulled. I love the blue, some are mauve, it was here when we bought the property. You have the prettiest of the knockouts, I think, but they are overused. It is hard to argue with a rose that performs so well. We have three, the one in the front has been pruned to be a tree rose this year, so far so good. We also have the hemlocks and the new growth is like flowers, so pretty. I check them for insects too, and would buy a product, like you. We have May Night as well, great plant and produces babies if allowed to set seed. Love the color. Hi Susan, you have done a great service with this post. We planted the rhodies when we first moved here eight years ago, remembering them as performing wonderfully in our northeast TN garden. Something is different now, they die right away or get sorrier each year until they get yanked. We blame walnut trees nearby for some of that, drought too, but there are still large old specimens around town looking fine, for now anyway. The spiderwort is a filler in the woodland garden, the extras just get pulled. I love the blue, some are mauve, it was here when we bought the property. You have the prettiest of the knockouts, I think, but they are overused. It is hard to argue with a rose that performs so well. We have three, the one in the front has been pruned to be a tree rose this year, so far so good. We also have the hemlocks and the new growth is like flowers, so pretty. I check them for insects too, and would buy a product, like you. We have May Night as well, great plant and produces babies if allowed to set seed. Love the color.

]]> By: Gail http://www.sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435/comment-page-1#comment-3438 Gail Thu, 15 May 2008 19:11:17 +0000 http://sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435#comment-3438 Spiderwort is all around my woodland garden area and I let it be, except for a haircut after blooming. Rhodos and other plants not suitable or invasive in our garden zone (yours, too) continue to be sold...I was told by one of the gardeners (well probably not a gardener!) at a big box store that it wasn't the responsibility of their store to sell appropriate plants, they were only a retail center not a nursery! That's another post, too! I don't have enough sun for Roses heirloom or otherwise! Forget Hydrangeas they need too much moisture....that is not sustainable to me! Maybe that's why I let Spiderwort have its way in the garden...He's happy, flowers and survives with the annual rainfall! Gail Spiderwort is all around my woodland garden area and I let it be, except for a haircut after blooming.

Rhodos and other plants not suitable or invasive in our garden zone (yours, too) continue to be sold…I was told by one of the gardeners (well probably not a gardener!) at a big box store that it wasn’t the responsibility of their store to sell appropriate plants, they were only a retail center not a nursery! That’s another post, too!

I don’t have enough sun for Roses heirloom or otherwise! Forget Hydrangeas they need too much moisture….that is not sustainable to me! Maybe that’s why I let Spiderwort have its way in the garden…He’s happy, flowers and survives with the annual rainfall!

Gail

]]> By: Nancy http://www.sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435/comment-page-1#comment-3437 Nancy Thu, 15 May 2008 13:15:09 +0000 http://sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435#comment-3437 Spiderwort volunteered in my garden as well (Zone 7B, coastal plain, NC), and it does spread, but I would put it in the manageable department; I, too, cut it back after first bloom. When I first saw Knockout roses a few years ago, I loved 'em, but now in our area they are EVERYWHERE! All the landscaping companies put them in--in the shade, in the sun, under pine tress--and they are all that almost glow-in-the-dark reddish-pink. They put them wherever they used to put azaleas. I am on the verge of being sick of them. Plant some heirloom roses that are equally carefree & give the world a little variety. And don't plant roses in the shade. PS: The Knockouts are next to the Endless Summer hydrangeas, another over-hyped plant. As other bloggers have noted--the Endless Summer hydrangeas are not living up to their hype. Spiderwort volunteered in my garden as well (Zone 7B, coastal plain, NC), and it does spread, but I would put it in the manageable department; I, too, cut it back after first bloom.
When I first saw Knockout roses a few years ago, I loved ‘em, but now in our area they are EVERYWHERE! All the landscaping companies put them in–in the shade, in the sun, under pine tress–and they are all that almost glow-in-the-dark reddish-pink. They put them wherever they used to put azaleas. I am on the verge of being sick of them. Plant some heirloom roses that are equally carefree & give the world a little variety. And don’t plant roses in the shade. PS: The Knockouts are next to the Endless Summer hydrangeas, another over-hyped plant. As other bloggers have noted–the Endless Summer hydrangeas are not living up to their hype.

]]> By: Muum http://www.sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435/comment-page-1#comment-3436 Muum Thu, 15 May 2008 12:10:00 +0000 http://sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435#comment-3436 Ah, I have spiderwort, and it does NOT spread like crazy in my yard, so I love it! I think I will cut mine back, too, and see how that improves things. Haven't yet tried the low maintenance roses, I think I really should! Ah, I have spiderwort, and it does NOT spread like crazy in my yard, so I love it! I think I will cut mine back, too, and see how that improves things. Haven’t yet tried the low maintenance roses, I think I really should!

]]> By: Carol, May Dreams Gardens http://www.sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435/comment-page-1#comment-3432 Carol, May Dreams Gardens Thu, 15 May 2008 11:27:07 +0000 http://sustainablegardeningblog.com/archives/435#comment-3432 Susan, great post about some flowers that really do well in the garden and some that don't. They sell rhododendrons around here but they should mark them as annuals in my opinion because they never last long in our alkaline soils. And spiderwort, I actually planted it in my garden, remembering that my grandmother had some in hers. But I wasn't old enough, I suppose, for her to tell me that they could be a bit 'aggressive' in the garden. Now I know so I am vigilant in weeding out all their seedlings in the spring. Susan, great post about some flowers that really do well in the garden and some that don’t. They sell rhododendrons around here but they should mark them as annuals in my opinion because they never last long in our alkaline soils. And spiderwort, I actually planted it in my garden, remembering that my grandmother had some in hers. But I wasn’t old enough, I suppose, for her to tell me that they could be a bit ‘aggressive’ in the garden. Now I know so I am vigilant in weeding out all their seedlings in the spring.

]]>