Re: [SG] Low Maintenance Gardening
Bobbi - I will try the C. racemosa. As I may have said, my whole front
garden design was built around these contrary buggers (C. ramosa) with Joe Pye
Weed and Clethra surrounding them and Penstemon Red Husker to complement
across the way. So they are a big disappointment.
Thanks for the help
Nancy Shlaes deGrazia
Roberta Diehl wrote:
> Nancy, I bought ONE C. ramosa about 5 years ago and it lingered for 3
> years before finally giving up altogether. Fortunately, I have forgotten
> how much I spent for it but it was expensive--and painful watching its
> decline. I will never get another. A gardening friend grows the plain
> Cimicifuga racemosa (?) and she has a bunch of it--no fuss, no muss,
> attractive, not temperamental or difficult. Doesn't smell as good, true,
> but MUCH cheaper! It's a native, as opposed to ramosa, which comes from
> Tibet or somewhere. As soon as I get around to it, I'm going to get some
> C. racemosa. I am getting more and more into native plants. They seem to
> LIKE my dreadful Lower Midwest growing conditions.
>
> We put in mulch everywhere this spring--except in my hosta garden, where I
> am convinced that mulch near hostas exacerbates the Southern Blight
> problem.
>
> Bobbi Diehl
> Bloomington, IN
> zone 5/6
