Comments on: garden tip: first, make things worse

By: Kathy M

Kathy M — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 22:04:21 +0000

Thanks for the reminder about deadheading. Sometimes it is a hard thing to do when the plants still look kinda good, but I have found if I keep after my Nepeta , Balloon flowers and Scabiosa, I can have flushes of rebloom up till October some years. One of my favorite activities is going out early on a summer morning before the heat and humidity set in and with clippers in hand snipping things back in my perennial border. Unfortunately this year Bambi and friends have been trying to help me. They don’t seem to realize that there is no rebloom for daylilies or asiatic lilies. if they touch my Zinnias i will take up hunting!
Thanks Margaret for all your great advice. Enjoyed the visit on the Martha Stewart Show so much I watched it twice! You really do look much more relaxed and at peace. I think even Martha was a bit envious.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 10:45:02 +0000

Welcome, Evi, from so far away. Good point. I have had the same experience with some euphorbias — some (like the polychroma types) respond well, but not all. Yes, the Latin names are best — and often I don’t even know a common name (like I know that euphorbias are “spurges” but I never hear anyone talk about them as such!). See you soon.

By: Evi

Evi — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:40:08 +0000

Hi Margaret,thanks a lot for your wonderful blog and your book. It was a pleasure to read. My garden is in the south of Germany near the Alps , a windy site with a not too long growing season. Concerning cutting back nepetea varieties, I`d like to comment that I was very successful with my nepeta fassenii varieties but not so with nepeta sibirica or nepeta nervosa ( nomen est omen??) . They did not die but did not respond nicely. By the way – please continue to youse the latin names the are the same all over the world.