Pacific Northwest Garden Forum: I Love/Hate this flower

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bakingbarb
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Joined: Jul-02-2004
Location: Washington, Western
Posts: 366

Topic: I Love/Hate this flower
Posted: Apr-29-2008 at 10:21am

I love borage but just wish it wouldn't come up all over the garden.
Last summer I planted the white and blue but barely saw the white. I see it now!

I see it coming up all over the garden, along with the blue too of course. I will till them in and use it for green fertilizer though.
Its such a pretty flower, I love the way the plant smells like cucumber or something. Candied the flowers are beautiful, the bees love them. Other then self seeding is there anything wrong with this plant?

I know some of you dislike the forget me nots for coming up all over the place but I like them all over the place. They seem to fill in where they are needed and then they die off and something else takes their place for the summer.

~BakingBarb

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Genko
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Joined: Aug-08-2007
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posts: 229

Posted: Apr-29-2008 at 12:40pm

I like forget-me-nots as well. They do seem susceptible to powdery mildew. Fortunately there are enough of them to yank the ones that succumb without having to pull them all.

I also have calendulas and nigella that volunteer in my garden, and I just pull them where they are in the way.

And English daisies in my lawn.

Genko

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greenmann
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Joined: Jan-13-2006
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posts: 534

Posted: Apr-29-2008 at 4:44pm

If that is the kind of thing you like, you should look for candyflower/miner's lettuce (Montia sibirica, syn.- Claytonia sibirica). Its a native, self seeding annual that acts much like the forget-me-not, with little white to pink simple five petalled flowers all spring. You can even cut it back once it is full of seed, and get it to regenerate and flower again.

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JeanneK
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Joined: Jul-28-2003
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posts: 2067

Posted: Apr-30-2008 at 9:56am

I love our native Bleeding heart, dicentra formosa, but sometimes it puts itself in the worst places. I just pull it out but it's just one more thing to do!

Jeanne

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Poppy
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Joined: Jun-25-2005
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posts: 120

Posted: Apr-30-2008 at 7:13pm

Okay, I gotta go with daylillies. My daughter loves them, so I do have a soft spot for them. At the same time, it drives me crazy they way they multiply, as well as all the dead little flowers always hanging around. (Okay, I'm neurotic...)

Edited by Poppy - May-01-2008 at 9:56pm

Far west of Metro--at the entrance to the Tillamook Forest.

With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy.
Lope de Vega

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bakingbarb
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Joined: Jul-02-2004
Location: Washington, Western
Posts: 366

Posted: May-02-2008 at 9:10pm

The candyflower/miner's lettuce and native Bleeding heart sound like something I need to find! LOL Glutton for punishment!
I'm with you on the daylillies, if you need a spot filled in then they are great but the dead hanging flower ugh. What are the lillies, not day and not fragrant, they come in all colors and multiply well also. I had those in Mi but don't have any here, I do have the tall fragrant ones (Oriental?). Geesh sometimes I feel like I know nothing about flowers.

~BakingBarb

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Genko
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Joined: Aug-08-2007
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posts: 229

Posted: May-02-2008 at 9:18pm

Are you thinking of tiger lilies?

Genko

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Briarwood
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Joined: Apr-01-2007
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Island
Posts: 43

Posted: May-03-2008 at 7:50am

I love forget-me-nots, but have chosen to ruthlessly eradicate them from my actual beds so they don't choke out things that I value more. However, we let them freely multiply around the compost bins and the brush piles, and I love seeing huge swathes of them in the empty lot behind us. Such a great blue. For a similar, clear blue in the beds themselves, we opt for Brunnera 'Jack Frost,' which has the added advantages of long bloom season and beautiful foliage that doesn't get eaten by anything in our garden.

We love both nigella and opium poppies and have about 10,000 seedlings emerging right now that need to be thinned out.

And we nearly always leave the self-sown foxgloves be because we love how statuesque they are and hey - they're free.

Haven't really met a flower I hate yet - which doesn't mean I welcome them to the garden! We have ripped out over-rambunctious campanulas and recently decided to remove Macleaya cordata because it starting popping up 20 feet from the mother plant (in the neighbor's lawn, actually).

Richard, Briarwood Garden
-----------------------------
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"
-Mary Oliver

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greenmann
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Joined: Jan-13-2006
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posts: 534

Posted: May-03-2008 at 8:49pm

Foxgloves are becoming so invasive in the woods that I can't bring myself to let them be in the garden, even though I secretly like the flowers...

One of the species daylilies, I think its Hemerocallis flava?, the Lemon Lily, is nicely fragrant and not so rampant. I moved mine one too many times and it finally died on me, lol. It blooms earlier than the big hybrids, and the hummers actually like it too. I think it might be native somewhere in the midwest, but not sure. There are a number of hybrids like 'Hyperion' that are fragrant, but for the most part, I'm not that fond of their perfume. The lemon lily is nice cause its a light not overpowering fragrance, and does kinda smell like lemon blossoms.

Aster subpicatus, the native Douglas aster, is another one that can be a bit of a garden thug, but is really nice in the right spot. It spreads really aggressively, and by August can reach 3 feet in height, more in moist soil, but will reward you with almost half of that in flower since it branches low. The pale lilac to lavender blue flowers are small compared to the hybrids, but with so many on so much of the stem are excellent for large boquets of late summer and fall flowers. I like them with other garden thugs like Solidago canadensis, Stachys cooleyae, the above mentioned Montia and maybe even a little fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium). Its an aggressive mix, but I don't have to weed where these guys take over :P

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Fern
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Joined: Mar-11-2005
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posts: 1346

Posted: May-04-2008 at 8:50pm

I actually recommended the borage to a customer at work the other day, because he wanted a bee plant in a mostly shaded location, and I figured it would grow anywhere! It seems like the plants that bees like best are mostly sun plants. I did warn him about it. I planted it once but got rid out it because it spread too much. My yard would be all native Bleeding Heart if it had it's way, but I still keep patches around anyway, it's so pretty. The Lemon lily Daylily is one of the few plants came with our older house so I cherish it, it's a heirloom variety and different than the modern ones, the smell is great, and the foliage stays nice, so it gives me that grassy look with the bonus of flowers in the late spring.

Fern

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bakingbarb
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Joined: Jul-02-2004
Location: Washington, Western
Posts: 366

Posted: May-14-2008 at 8:27pm

Campanulas are the most annoying plant in my yard actually. I don't love this one but for maybe a day or two. It is tall and has white flowers, so when they first come into full bloom its beautiful. As the flowers die or it rains, UGH and I cannot deadhead fast enough to keep the seeds at bay, hundreds of thousands of millions of seeds. Seems worse then foxglove in my yard because there are more flower stalks to become seeds.

~BakingBarb

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Garden Spider
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Joined: Jul-27-2003
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posts: 1139

Posted: May-16-2008 at 8:34pm

I still have a love/hate relationship with the Aquifolium millefolium, AKA as Yarrow, AKA as That @#!*!! Yarrow. I like the flowers, bees and butterflies like it, but good grief, we have it coming up in cracks in the driveway. It is coming up among the Oregon Grape garden, clear on the other end of the yard and around the corner of the house where it was originally planted. If it weren't so easy to pull out, I'd have gone after it with a flame thrower by now.

Barb

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Poppy
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Joined: Jun-25-2005
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posts: 120

Posted: May-17-2008 at 12:21am

Flame thrower! Aaah...sounds like a good candidate for the favorite tool list

Far west of Metro--at the entrance to the Tillamook Forest.

With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy.
Lope de Vega

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bakingbarb
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Joined: Jul-02-2004
Location: Washington, Western
Posts: 366

Posted: May-26-2008 at 7:54pm

Something I am going to try is leaving some of the borage next to the artichoke plants. Hoping that the flowers will bring in wasps to eat the bug that eats my artichokes.

~BakingBarb

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Oldest Archived Posts 4 ( Forum Locked)
Pacific Northwest Garden Forum : The Archives : Oldest Archived Posts 4

Author	Message
bakingbarb none Joined: Jul-02-2004 Location: Washington, Western Posts: 366	Topic: I Love/Hate this flower Posted: Apr-29-2008 at 10:21am
	I love borage but just wish it wouldn't come up all over the garden. Last summer I planted the white and blue but barely saw the white. I see it now! I see it coming up all over the garden, along with the blue too of course. I will till them in and use it for green fertilizer though. Its such a pretty flower, I love the way the plant smells like cucumber or something. Candied the flowers are beautiful, the bees love them. Other then self seeding is there anything wrong with this plant? I know some of you dislike the forget me nots for coming up all over the place but I like them all over the place. They seem to fill in where they are needed and then they die off and something else takes their place for the summer.
	~BakingBarb

	IP Logged

Genko none Joined: Aug-08-2007 Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor Posts: 229	Posted: Apr-29-2008 at 12:40pm
	I like forget-me-nots as well. They do seem susceptible to powdery mildew. Fortunately there are enough of them to yank the ones that succumb without having to pull them all. I also have calendulas and nigella that volunteer in my garden, and I just pull them where they are in the way. And English daisies in my lawn.
	Genko
	IP Logged

greenmann none Joined: Jan-13-2006 Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor Posts: 534	Posted: Apr-29-2008 at 4:44pm
	If that is the kind of thing you like, you should look for candyflower/miner's lettuce (Montia sibirica, syn.- Claytonia sibirica). Its a native, self seeding annual that acts much like the forget-me-not, with little white to pink simple five petalled flowers all spring. You can even cut it back once it is full of seed, and get it to regenerate and flower again.
	IP Logged

JeanneK none Joined: Jul-28-2003 Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro Posts: 2067	Posted: Apr-30-2008 at 9:56am
	I love our native Bleeding heart, dicentra formosa, but sometimes it puts itself in the worst places. I just pull it out but it's just one more thing to do!
	Jeanne
	IP Logged

Poppy none Joined: Jun-25-2005 Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro Posts: 120	Posted: Apr-30-2008 at 7:13pm
	Okay, I gotta go with daylillies. My daughter loves them, so I do have a soft spot for them. At the same time, it drives me crazy they way they multiply, as well as all the dead little flowers always hanging around. (Okay, I'm neurotic...) Edited by Poppy - May-01-2008 at 9:56pm
	Far west of Metro--at the entrance to the Tillamook Forest. With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy. Lope de Vega
	IP Logged

bakingbarb none Joined: Jul-02-2004 Location: Washington, Western Posts: 366	Posted: May-02-2008 at 9:10pm
	The candyflower/miner's lettuce and native Bleeding heart sound like something I need to find! LOL Glutton for punishment! I'm with you on the daylillies, if you need a spot filled in then they are great but the dead hanging flower ugh. What are the lillies, not day and not fragrant, they come in all colors and multiply well also. I had those in Mi but don't have any here, I do have the tall fragrant ones (Oriental?). Geesh sometimes I feel like I know nothing about flowers.
	~BakingBarb
	IP Logged

Genko none Joined: Aug-08-2007 Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor Posts: 229	Posted: May-02-2008 at 9:18pm
	Are you thinking of tiger lilies?
	Genko
	IP Logged

Briarwood none Joined: Apr-01-2007 Location: Washington, Puget Sound Island Posts: 43	Posted: May-03-2008 at 7:50am
	I love forget-me-nots, but have chosen to ruthlessly eradicate them from my actual beds so they don't choke out things that I value more. However, we let them freely multiply around the compost bins and the brush piles, and I love seeing huge swathes of them in the empty lot behind us. Such a great blue. For a similar, clear blue in the beds themselves, we opt for Brunnera 'Jack Frost,' which has the added advantages of long bloom season and beautiful foliage that doesn't get eaten by anything in our garden. We love both nigella and opium poppies and have about 10,000 seedlings emerging right now that need to be thinned out. And we nearly always leave the self-sown foxgloves be because we love how statuesque they are and hey - they're free. Haven't really met a flower I hate yet - which doesn't mean I welcome them to the garden! We have ripped out over-rambunctious campanulas and recently decided to remove Macleaya cordata because it starting popping up 20 feet from the mother plant (in the neighbor's lawn, actually).
	Richard, Briarwood Garden ----------------------------- "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" -Mary Oliver
	IP Logged

greenmann none Joined: Jan-13-2006 Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor Posts: 534	Posted: May-03-2008 at 8:49pm
	Foxgloves are becoming so invasive in the woods that I can't bring myself to let them be in the garden, even though I secretly like the flowers... One of the species daylilies, I think its Hemerocallis flava?, the Lemon Lily, is nicely fragrant and not so rampant. I moved mine one too many times and it finally died on me, lol. It blooms earlier than the big hybrids, and the hummers actually like it too. I think it might be native somewhere in the midwest, but not sure. There are a number of hybrids like 'Hyperion' that are fragrant, but for the most part, I'm not that fond of their perfume. The lemon lily is nice cause its a light not overpowering fragrance, and does kinda smell like lemon blossoms. Aster subpicatus, the native Douglas aster, is another one that can be a bit of a garden thug, but is really nice in the right spot. It spreads really aggressively, and by August can reach 3 feet in height, more in moist soil, but will reward you with almost half of that in flower since it branches low. The pale lilac to lavender blue flowers are small compared to the hybrids, but with so many on so much of the stem are excellent for large boquets of late summer and fall flowers. I like them with other garden thugs like Solidago canadensis, Stachys cooleyae, the above mentioned Montia and maybe even a little fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium). Its an aggressive mix, but I don't have to weed where these guys take over :P
	IP Logged

Fern none Joined: Mar-11-2005 Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills Posts: 1346	Posted: May-04-2008 at 8:50pm
	I actually recommended the borage to a customer at work the other day, because he wanted a bee plant in a mostly shaded location, and I figured it would grow anywhere! It seems like the plants that bees like best are mostly sun plants. I did warn him about it. I planted it once but got rid out it because it spread too much. My yard would be all native Bleeding Heart if it had it's way, but I still keep patches around anyway, it's so pretty. The Lemon lily Daylily is one of the few plants came with our older house so I cherish it, it's a heirloom variety and different than the modern ones, the smell is great, and the foliage stays nice, so it gives me that grassy look with the bonus of flowers in the late spring.
	Fern
	IP Logged

bakingbarb none Joined: Jul-02-2004 Location: Washington, Western Posts: 366	Posted: May-14-2008 at 8:27pm
	Campanulas are the most annoying plant in my yard actually. I don't love this one but for maybe a day or two. It is tall and has white flowers, so when they first come into full bloom its beautiful. As the flowers die or it rains, UGH and I cannot deadhead fast enough to keep the seeds at bay, hundreds of thousands of millions of seeds. Seems worse then foxglove in my yard because there are more flower stalks to become seeds.
	~BakingBarb
	IP Logged

Garden Spider none Joined: Jul-27-2003 Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor Posts: 1139	Posted: May-16-2008 at 8:34pm
	I still have a love/hate relationship with the Aquifolium millefolium, AKA as Yarrow, AKA as That @#!*!! Yarrow. I like the flowers, bees and butterflies like it, but good grief, we have it coming up in cracks in the driveway. It is coming up among the Oregon Grape garden, clear on the other end of the yard and around the corner of the house where it was originally planted. If it weren't so easy to pull out, I'd have gone after it with a flame thrower by now.
	Barb
	IP Logged

Poppy none Joined: Jun-25-2005 Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro Posts: 120	Posted: May-17-2008 at 12:21am
	Flame thrower! Aaah...sounds like a good candidate for the favorite tool list
	Far west of Metro--at the entrance to the Tillamook Forest. With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy. Lope de Vega
	IP Logged

bakingbarb none Joined: Jul-02-2004 Location: Washington, Western Posts: 366	Posted: May-26-2008 at 7:54pm
	Something I am going to try is leaving some of the borage next to the artichoke plants. Hoping that the flowers will bring in wasps to eat the bug that eats my artichokes.
	~BakingBarb
	IP Logged

Topic: I Love/Hate this flower( Topic Closed)