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The Garden Club |
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Huge, Fragrant Flowers Attract
Butterflies in Late Summer and Early Fall
Everything You Love About Eupatorium in
a Smaller Package! 'Little Joe' is the smallest Joe Pye yet introduced, a size that most people can fit into their gardens. It's mauve purple blooms, over a foot across, and showy from late July into September, are held up on sturdy 3 to 4 foot, purple-shaded stems. Not only beautiful, the blooms have a delightful, intoxicating fragrance that will attract butterflies from miles around!
Because of its shorter stature,
'Little Joe' will work almost anywhere in your garden: in the background of a
perennial border, a specimen planting or along a patio or fence. It will
perform best in rich soils with regular watering, but once established
it is very hardy and quite drought tolerant.
'Little Joe' thrives in
full sun, but will tolerate very light shade. For its beauty, fragrance
and low-maintenance,
'Little Joe' is definitely a keeper!
Prefers full sun. Plant 24 inches apart in rich, moist soil. Water regularly until established. Fertilize with Flower-Tone and Kelp Meal in late fall and early spring.
Hardy in zones 4-8.
From 1-gallon pots Our Garden Worthy Certification means that your satisfaction is guaranteed. |
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Garden Club Frequently Asked
Questions Comment: This past Sunday, I had three customers come into our store with the exact same tale. Grubs were in their lawns and they had gone somewhere and bought something labeled as grub control and it wasn’t working. At this late date the only product that is totally effective against grubs is Dylox. Dylox appears to have no harmful effect on earthworms. It must be watered in and although it is relatively good at penetrating thatch, really heavy thatch will partially impede the Dylox. Grubs are so bad this year, the worst I have ever seen, that many people can literally roll the lawn up like carpet. In some cases patches of lawn have already turned brown. Yet in others the lawn appears to be green and healthy and seems to be several weeks away from browning. I encourage everyone to check their lawn to be sure it is still well rooted and dig a few test holes to be sure the lawn isn’t infested with grubs. A heavy infestation of grubs is not to be ignored; they will chew the roots off the lawn and kill it. Question: I read your article last week about Colchicum 'The Giant'. I bought some from you about ten years ago and I now have a huge patch. I got 'The Giant' because they were the cheapest you had. But you used to carry some other varieties also. Do you just have 'The Giant' this year?Answer: I am glad you are enjoying your Colchicum; they are indeed a great low-maintenance fall flower. We always carry 'The Giant'; it is the least expensive because it is domestically grown. To my knowledge there is only one U.S. grower of Colchicum and he only grows 'The Giant'. Every year we carry a couple of the imported unusual varieties. This year we have the double Water Lily which does indeed look like a water lily and the pure white Colchicum Autumnale Album. Question: I am going to install a flagstone walkway and I was thinking of laying it in sand and putting plants between the flagstones. Is this practical? What plants do you recommend? Answer: If you are going to use square or rectangular pavers, I don’t recommend planting in the joints. To look good the joints have to be too narrow to properly support most plant life. If you make the joints wide enough to support the plants, the walkway becomes impractical for walking and really doesn’t look right. If you are going to make your walkway of irregular flagstones ("crazy pavement"), the planting pockets will vary in size and you can make a really nice planted walkway provided the drainage is good and the walkway is in sun or light shade. How you plant your walkway is somewhat dependant upon the way the walkway is to be used. The plants used are often called "rock garden plants". I prefer clumpy perennials up to a foot tall in the bigger planting pockets along the edges and smaller true crevice plants in the center. The former will not tolerate foot traffic; the latter will. But using tall clumping perennials is practical only for wide pathways, or that are only going to be lightly used and those are more for looking than walking. No matter how nice clumps of perennials blooming in the middle of a walkway may look, they can be a tripping hazard. Consider the plants in the table below:
Question: Can I lime my lawn now or should I wait for the spring? Answer: Lime can be applied anytime the ground is unfrozen, but I prefer the fall. Lime takes several months to be effective and it works into the soil very slowly. The fall rains and the winter snows help the lime to penetrate into the soil. If you apply lime now you have about two months before the end of November lawn fertilization, so you should see some beneficial effect at that time. However, the most significant improvement from the liming will come with the early spring feeding. |
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