Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Saving much loved perennials.

PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
in Plants

My garden is too big to water responsibly: a hose running for hours every day would do the trick but farmers are already worrying about vital crops and a ban may come soon, anyway. Spot watering particular plants has kept them alive so far but with little or no rain forecast in the next three weeks, this is becoming impractical as well as taking up most of my day. Do you think there is any mileage in lifting and potting up small pieces of the most valued plants, which I can keep watered and shaded, to propagate and replant in the future?

 It has taken me almost thirty years to make my garden the way I want it - I have worked and raised a family, too, you understand - and my spirits are low, watching it die. I cannot afford to start again if it all goes.

«1

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I can understand that Posy. I'm not sentimental about any plants now as I've moved too many times.
    I reckon it's worth taking cuttings and looking after them. You could keep them together in a sheltered, shadier spot.
    Could you water particular plants, that struggle the most or are your favourites, and then mulch them, and possibly put a bit of shade netting round them, or would that be impossible to do? 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Yes, I have been watering favourites but they tend to be in big clumps so it takes 4 or 5 watering cans per clump. I could divide out a piece and preserve that. Shading a whole plant would be difficult, I think and there are so many! You are right about not getting sentimentaly attached but I'm failing miserably at the moment!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I can understand it Posy. I can only speak for myself re attachment to plants, but I know how hard it is when you've nurtured something over a long period. 
    It's a big job for you though - if you have lots. 
    I'm sure if you lose anything, there'll be members here who may have the same varieties, and they could help out with cuttings etc if you lose any. I know it's not quite the same, but it's an extra option :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    I think it is worthwhile taking some cuttings of your favourites. I have done just in case and I only have a small garden. They have just implemented a watering ban here. It's not just a hosepipe ban but watering cans too. You are not allowed to water ANY garden plants by any method even your own water butt's or waste water between 8am to 8 pm. 
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    That's harsh. Crumbs, that really is going too far.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    Beth Chatto, in her Dry Garden book, recommended cutting back those perennials that were struggling. I've hacked a lot of collapsed geraniums and other clumpers back to base and spoken to them nicely. Might not work for everything but it would for many


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • GrannybeeGrannybee Posts: 332
    I really do sympathise Posy. I am in a similar situation. It has reached the point where I have started to do as nutcutlet suggests: cutting back above ground in the hope that the roots will stay. So far I have done heleniums, geraniums, monarda, some salvia - I love them so much that can't bear to lose them just yet. I think if I lived in Bruges I would be out watering in the middle of the night...
  • PosyPosy Posts: 3,601
    Yes, I think I may try that with some of mine. I have already cut back the geraniums because they are tough enough to cope but I think one type of salvia are already dead and the phlox is just hanging on. My echinacea are tiny and stunted and an actea wilting. The oriental poppies died and I'm losing lots I can't put a name to....It's difficult not to love them and I do know they don't feel pain - I'm the one feeling the pain! I can see lots of others are feeling it, too.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Posy - I have three Acteas here [with the dark foliage] and you'd be more than welcome to have a bit at any time you're ready.
    They do need lots of water and some shade, and even in the border they're in  here [where the ground never dries out ] they have struggled, as the top six inches of soil is dry. I had to water them recently. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    Posy, your Oriental Poppies should be OK, they die back after flowering anyway


    In the sticks near Peterborough
Sign In or Register to comment.