Re: Hesperis Matronalis

Couple more observations...

I find some (not all) Hesperis act like a short-lived perennial in my
garden.  I have had the same plant survive for up to three years.  Where I
want them, but not too many, I cut them back hard after bloom.  Dunno if
this has anything to do with it.  I also let some self seeding go on to
replenish the lot.

If you deadhead them religiously, they will continue to bloom with smaller
flower heads all season.

I've always had only the white flowered variety, but I notice this year a
few light pink flowered plants...interesting, guess some of the seeds are
reverting??  I've been growing this strain for nearly 15 years and this is
the first occurrence of pink flowers.  I've never actually seen the normal
pink flowered ones.  Are they a light pink or dark?  I'm curious as to why,
all of a sudden, some are showing up pink??  Any thoughts on this from any
one?  My garden is not near any other gardens at all, let alone ones
growing Hesperis and I have never noticed this naturalized in my area.

After years of growing them, I just discovered this spring that they last
well in water as a cut flower...pulled a couple of plants that were taking
up too much space and hated to just heave the flowers so I stuck them in a
vase and they've done quite well.  I was surprised!

They have the strangest seed pods, look like dried bits of stem and are
really slow and picky to harvest and clean :-)  Learned this by
volunteering seed to some people.  I just throw the pods and all where I
want some to grow...so had never actually "cleaned" the seed before.

Wouldn't be spring without them and Lunaria IMHO.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
http://www.suite101.com/frontpage/frontpage.cfm?topicID=222
Gardening Topic Index for Suite101:
http://www.suite101.com/userfiles/79/gardening.html


----------
> From: pat-mitchell@juno.com
> Date: Thursday, May 14, 1998 8:08 PM
> 
> Can anyone tell me about the above?  I also know it as Dame's Rocket or
> Sweet Rocket.  
> 
> I seeded a garden with a *shade mixture* from a can and this year these
> things have taken off!! (Last year they came up but didn't bloom)  They
> are quite lovely, but when I had it identified by the local *plant
> doctor*, she looked down her nose at it and called it a weed.
> 
> Opinions?
> 
> Pat
> Pat-Mitchell@juno.com
> 
> _____________________________________________________________________
> You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
> Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
> Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index