| Author | Content |
leopoldconnecti
Lexington, KY
February 2, 2009 12:36 PM Post #6082071
| Great idea; it's good to have something that won't shade out iris. Thanks. |
Hemophobic
Kannapolis, NC
February 2, 2009 12:48 PM Post #6082099
| Jill: Think I'll try mixing some of my columbines with my irises. Hadn't thought of that, but it sounds like a good idea and the pictures are inspiring.
Thank you for your article. |
irisMA
South Hamilton, MA
February 2, 2009 1:07 PM Post #6082142
| Luckily our columbine have taken care of sowing on their own. I have to move them up into more shade in order to have more color there. |
critterologist
Frederick, MD (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 3:39 PM Post #6082644
| Columbines do self-sow nicely, but I especially like winter sowing if I just have a little pinch of seed to try, as the protective containers increase the chance of success for any one seed.
I try to keep the columbines at least a foot from the iris clumps when I plant them out, but even where they've grown nearly on top of each other, both plants seem to do fine. |
irisMA
South Hamilton, MA
February 2, 2009 4:06 PM Post #6082795
| The dwarf columbine better as companions? |
critterologist
Frederick, MD (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 4:27 PM Post #6082903
| I've put some dwarf columbine near shorter irises, but with the taller ones I think any columbine works fine. Most of the leaves on columbines are fairly low, and the plant gets "airy" and open as it grows upward... I think the big thing with iris companions is to not plant anything that grows densely around the iris rhizomes (which could hold in too much moisture). |
irisMA
South Hamilton, MA
February 2, 2009 4:30 PM Post #6082919
| If we put a foot away, (good idea) they would be out of the beds. I'm afraid that our companions tend to be pasture grass & weeds. |
critterologist
Frederick, MD (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 4:35 PM Post #6082944
| I try to space my irises two feet apart, although sometimes they get a little closer than that when I'm trying to squeeze one last one into a given area... I just put the columbines in between, and that seems to work out fine (so far!). |
RatherBDigging
Akron, PA (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 7:00 PM Post #6083604
| Great article and so timely. Your photos are just beautiful, too, Jill.
What is the columbine in the last frame of your article? I love the fluffy pink blooms!
Hoping it is one of the columbines that I received see for in the Piggy swap!
RatherB |
claypa
West Pottsgrove, PA (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 7:22 PM Post #6083689
| It's a Clematis-flowered Columbine 'Nora Barlow' - Critter cleverly added captions to the pictures that are visible when you "mouse over" them.
I laughed when I saw the title of this article - when I got here, the only flowers in the front yard were a small bed of iris and columbines. It was beautiful, but way too small!
removed letter "e" from the end of Barlow
This message was edited Feb 2, 2009 7:08 PM |
critterologist
Frederick, MD (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 7:33 PM Post #6083727
| There's a chance you got some seeds for that one, although it only produced a few flowers last year... whatever mix you got, however, almost certainly had seeds from this 'Nora Barlowe Black' columbine.
Click the image for an enlarged view.
|
critterologist
Frederick, MD (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 7:35 PM Post #6083736
| Clay, I think you've meandered through my iris and columbine bed, although it was pretty well dormant at the time... mine started small, but it keeps expanding!
I'm glad you enjoyed the photos, too. Columbine blooms are such elegant subjects! |
cedar18
Lula, GA (Zone 7b)
February 2, 2009 8:08 PM Post #6083859
| claypa- I am not seeing captions when I mouse over the pics...what is the magic to make that happen? Is it a setting I have disabled or something?? |
critterologist
Frederick, MD (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 8:12 PM Post #6083874
| They should just pop up... move the cursor over the image, and let it sit there for a second or two.
What browser are you using? Sometimes the "cute tricks" like this don't work as well for people who aren't using Firefox, which is the browser that works best for DG stuff. |
cedar18
Lula, GA (Zone 7b)
February 2, 2009 8:17 PM Post #6083894
| well, color me pink. I guess I just didn't wait long enough. Thanks! Enjoyed the article.
|
critterologist
Frederick, MD (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 8:20 PM Post #6083912
| I'm glad you got it to work! You can get information similarly by mousing over links.. I may only highlight text for "macrame plant hangers" for example, but mousing over that text would tell you that the link goes to Melody's article on macrame.
Some of the other authors (but not all) also put in mouse-over image titles and link descriptions, so it's worth a quick swipe of the mouse. |
harmony58
Rogers, AR (Zone 7a)
February 2, 2009 9:09 PM Post #6084123
| Great idea. I just lugged container after container of iris and columbine among tons of other plants from South Carolina to Arkansas this past year. Now I at least know what I am going to do with two of my plants! |
critterologist
Frederick, MD (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 9:19 PM Post #6084173
| Wow, that sounds like quite a job! I don't think you're ever sorry though for whatever effort you spent in moving your garden with you. :-) |
Hineni
Paris, TN (Zone 6b)
February 2, 2009 11:40 PM Post #6084878
| As always Jill, I love your articles. And maybe THIS year I will get some columbine plants at least started. Last year all of mine died in their wintersowing pots :(
They only bloom the second year, correct?
I really like the color and style of that McKanna's giant - one day, one day (after all the veggies are planted...LOL!) Can't eat the flowers, well, at least not these!
~Sunny |
Pamgarden
Central, VA (Zone 7b)
February 2, 2009 11:42 PM Post #6084891
| Jill, Your article is so timely. I thought it was too late for me to start winter sowing. Last year was my first time. I started some colombine seeds from a plant at Montecello. I didn't realize that they required stratification, but they seemed to have an almost 100% germination rate. Unfortunately, I didn't pot any, but put them directly in the garden in both sunny and shady locations. The plants in the shade had beautiful blue green foliage last summer, but no flowers. I'm delighted to learn from your article that they may have flowers this year. My only notes on the envelope I stored the seeds in was "lovely pink colombines". From the pictures in your article, I believe they are Barlowe. Thanks again. |
critterologist
Frederick, MD (Zone 6b)
February 3, 2009 1:04 AM Post #6085321
| I was stunned by that first bloom on my McKana's Giant -- just huge, and I think they come in a variety of colors, also.
You should see blooms during their second year, although they'll probably bloom better in subsequent years.
:-) |
RatherBDigging
Akron, PA (Zone 6b)
February 3, 2009 4:17 AM Post #6086107
| Hey, thank you...I didn't know about the mouse over feature, either! I will have to remember that...
I haven't been able to make the time to catalog all my seeds yet, but I am certainly hoping that I did get Nora Barlow...can't wait to check.
I hope to get my seeds started soon.
Enjoy your articles so much, Jill. |
critterologist
Frederick, MD (Zone 6b)
February 3, 2009 1:16 PM Post #6086832
| I'll try to save separate seeds this year, including from 'Nora Barlowe'. If you got a 2008 pack of mixed seed, there might be a few in there, but as I said, there were only a few blooms this year. But I promise I didn't save seeds from any ugly columbines! ;-) |
