OT: Lantana and primroses

[nancy]

Yes, I want to go down the primrose path. Preferably with lantana as a background.

 

I know there are good gardeners out there, and I need advice.

 

I have a small lantana that was dug up and sold to me at a yard sale - spur of the moment. It's about 3 feet high and has about 5 little branches off a little stalk. We had some nice flowers for about a month before it (along with all the established ones around the area) finished for the year. I have been told to prune it back to just inches. Is that OK with something this small? All I'll have left is something between a toothpick and a wooden skewer. It's in the one sunny spot in the yard - the mailbox garden.

 

I just bought two 4" pots of primrose acaulis (I think that's the spelling) because I love seeing them on doorsteps and in front gardens all over Yorkshire. Can I plant them outside? I have them on a tea cart in front of a window. I can't really say what our weather is. Although most years we have at least one snow or ice storm, today I have daffodils blooming. It does get hot and humid, but with little or no rain, in the summer.

[Jack & Co.]

Nancy, I looked up lantana in my Southern Living Garden Book and here's what I found:

 

Prune hard in spring to remove dead wood and prevent woodiness. Feed lightly. Too much water and fertilizer cuts down on bloom.

 

One of my neighbors has lantana at her mailbox and she never feeds or waters them even in our blistering summers. They are always magnificent. She does have to keep them snipped away around the box so our mail lady has access.

 

My gardening buddy has primroses outside in a garden that receives morning sun and afternoon shade and they do very well. They belonged to her mother so I think it must be a pass along-type plant that is very hardy. I think store-bought primroses should probably be considered as annuals, even though I think they are technically perennials. Who knows, when Lowe's puts them on clearance, buy some and try outside.

 

I highly recommend Southern Living's entire series on gardening and landscaping. It is written for our area and I couldn't garden without them. I bought mine on eBay after I kept checking them out at the library over and over.

[nancy]

Thanks. My gardening book says the same about pruning in spring. But all my neighbors seem to to it at the start of winter. In spring I could see what is and isn't dead wood - by the buds. That much I'm up to. I just worry because this plant is so small - only the one stem.

 

I may try putting the primroses out when I feel it's safe from frost. Most of my yard is at least partial shade - and the back is damp even in a drought. But it's quite acidic because we have mostly pines. The azaleas, rosemary, and blueberries love it.

 

I'll check the library for the Southern Living book. My basic landscaping is to encourage whatever is willing to grow: mostly pines and English ivy, with patches of daffodils and rue. Otherwise, I stick to a few veggies - tomatoes, peas, beans, and lettuce - and herbs - rosemary, basil, and oregano.

 

Where are you in NC? We're in southern Durham, on the doorstep of RTP.

[lrayburn]

Nancy,

Primroses should do fine in your area. They overwinter in a garden up here in the mountains of western NC. As long as they don't get a prolonged freeze I think they should survive just fine. You might want to provide some protection from full afternoon sun in your area.

 

The lantana can survive severe pruning and is usually the better for it. Just trim yours back to 2-3 inches.

 

Most plants that are pruned during their dormant period can be pruned anytime after going dormant and before new growth pushes in the spring. In areas with hard winters, prune in late winter or early spring to remove winter-death and to protect the plant (the dead wood protects the plant and the exposed wound is prone to freezing injury). You don't tend to have hard winters where you are so people probably prune in early winter for aesthetic reasons.

 

Lisa

[Jack & Co.]

Nancy, you should try Lenten rose (hellebores) in your yard. They really ask nothing of you and tolerate lots of different conditions. They bloom now so it's fun to have something to look at when everything else is so ugly.

 

I'm in Cabarrus County and we had multiple years of water restriction because of the drought so I changed the way I gardened. I do lots of black-eyed Susans, coneflower, Brazilian sage, and other things that don't require much attention.

 

Another book I love is "Passalong Plants" by Felder Rushing and Steve Bender. Lots of great old-fashioned plants, practical gardening tips, and humorous writing. In my neighborhood, it is "dangerous" to copy other homeowners' gardening habits. Right now, the neighborhood pastime is hacking crepe myrtles down to branchless poles. Come summer, they are puzzled why suddenly there are a million shoots coming out of the base. Duh.....

[nancy]

Yeah, as a D**n Yankee, I'm astounded by that method of pruning - the norm here. I prune as taught by the landscape guy on Ask This Old House: selectively down to the base to open a shrub to the sunlight.

 

Brown Thumb that I am, I have managed to transform those Japanese Holly puffballs (crust of tiny leaves on the outside, empty on the inside) into viable shrubs.

 

That's one reason I shudder at lopping about everything off the little lantana. It reminds me of crepe myrtles.

[bailey44]

I think the lantana and primrose will be beautiful! I know one "master gardener" who ripped out her beautiful hydrangeas every year before winter because she didn't want those "ugly sticks" in her yard. She thought they were annuals and had more money than sense. I patiently explained that those sticks would bloom every year if she let them be...

 

I've always tried to nurture pink and yellow primrose in my garden because they really are sturdy, beautiful little plants. We have had such a mild winter in West Virginia that I spent all day yesterday doing sketches of the garden for our new house--We've only lived here a year and I can't wait to tear into this yard! Charlene

[Jack & Co.]

Bailey44, there's nothing like stupid people who garden. That's how I get lots of my plants---I ride around and help myself to their yard trash pile. I've gotten mums, Easter lilies, hosta, nandinas, etc., etc.

[Tassie]

I'm smiling when I read about the lantana. We're allowed to grow it in gardens down herein Tasmania, because in our cooler climate it doesn't become rampant, but from about Sydney north, it's a declared noxious weed. It goes absolutely feral, and takes over rainforest and bush, and is apparently a real headache to remove. So it's very much horses for courses, isn't it.

[muddy bob]

I'm wondering if you will need to harden off those prims before you get them in the ground.

It will be spring again someday so I am told. Here's a piccie of some blossoms from last year. Pictures help fill the void until the ground is workable again.

 

muddy

[nancy]

Well, I got the Southern Living book of annuals and perenials. The only primrose in there is Japaneese and nothing like the ones I love. I'll keep looking. And I think I'll plant mine in March or early April. The back yard is rather shaded, with only morning direct sun, especially when there are leaves on the understory of deciduous trees. And it's always rather damp there. The primroses would be nice in the garden just beyond the screened porch.

 

I think I may wait until there are buds to prune the lantana. That way I'll know what is and isn't dead wood. Or bet brave and decide I can always beg a replacement from the lady at church.

 

You folks are great. People laugh when I tell them the things we discuss on a border collie board. Smart people prefer smart dogs. Or is it the other way around?

[Jack & Co.]

I'm not familiar with SL's book of annuals and perennials. The Garden Book lists 8 different varieties; I think you have (and love) the English primroses. Maybe Lisa will stop in again and talk plants with us!