It’s been a week of mixed weather but Thursday and Friday were glorious autumn days, warm sunshine, no rain and no wind. A lot of clearing up was done, plants were lifted, divided, re-potted and real gardening was finally achieved. I felt so much better, the garden looked much better and then it all went back to normal this morning! More rain……
Another year has been and gone and I still don’t know the identity of this plant! It is a toss-up between Carex morrowii ‘Silver Sceptre’ and Liriope spicata ‘Gyn-ryu’ or ‘Silver Dragon’. It is driving me mad not knowing, so I am appealing to those who know about these things to cast your opinion please. As you can see, I have just split the mother plant into 9 divisions for a plant sale next year but I don’t know what to write on the labels!
Another plant which was bursting out of it’s pot, but needing to be contained, is Persicaria microcephala ‘Red Dragon’ which is now neatly divided into 6 new plants for next year’s charity sale. It will come with a warning label not to let it loose, it is a real spreader!
A quick Sweet Pea update for those following progress. Six weeks since sowing on 7th October. Seedlings now all pinched out, separated into their own pots and producing side shoots as planned. I discovered a slug hiding under one of the pots so ferric phosphate pellets applied just in case!
I find most people think this is Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ but, in fact, it is Senecio viravira or Dusty Miller. In summer it is topped with beautiful clusters of pale lemon daisy flowers but these are insignificant compared to the year round silver grey foliage which always looks fresh, even in winter. Easy to grow and maintain, just a haircut in spring and away it goes for another year.
Despite the time of year and significant drop in temperature, Clematis ‘Madame Julia Correvon’ is still going strong and producing more flowers. Such an attractive and well behaved climber deserves a place in every garden.
Possibly the most popular shrubby Salvia, and for very good reason, is the ubiquitous ‘Hot Lips’, which is still flowering her face off in my shrub border. Sometimes red, sometimes white and sometimes red & white, the flowers respond to temperature and change colour accordingly. Pruning them seems to be the most asked question I get and I am pretty brutal in spring, cutting them back hard to new growth lower down. Probably more than 50% of the top growth goes. I also ‘layer’ a lower stem by pegging it down to the soil and ‘hey presto’, it roots! The shrubby salvias don’t last forever, 10 years if you are lucky, so a couple of younger plants waiting in the wings to be separated and grown on is a good insurance policy.
Finally, the first Narcissus poking their heads up!
Davids Garden Diary 
I like your rooting tips. Sorry, I can’t help with the plant identity. Ask Jim.
I wonder whether yours is Persicaria Red Dragon, mine is much redder, and does not spread, but comes only from one central area and needs to be propagated by lifting the whole plant and dividing or else by cuttings? https://noellemace.blogspot.com/search?q=Persicaria+red+dragon. My plant came from Cathy from ‘Rambling in the Garden’, and as it is highly admired, many rooted cuttings have also been shared out from my garden
Hi Noelle
I think you may be right! It arrived with a label saying ‘Red Dragon’ but you have prompted me to research the plant more thoroughly and it is not the same at all. My plant stays relatively green all year and is constantly making a bid for freedom by sending out long underground runners from which new shoots constantly appeared all round the edge of the large 40 litre pot it was in until recently, when I split it up. Thank you for pointing this out to me. I must assume it is the species plant and not a cultivar as I was led to believe!
I can’t help with identifying the first plants, sorry! I didn’t know that about salvia “Hot Lips”, that’s really interesting.
Hard to be certain from a picture but I’d say Liriope. I think the Carex has a more clearly defined white edge to the leaf and that it arches over more, making for a lower plant. I think I’d expect more of a brown sheath at the base of Carex. Would Carex have a finely serrate edge to the leaf I wonder, the sort that you feel if you rub it the wrong way? Liriope would be completely smooth. I have Liriope in the garden but none of that type of sedge so I have nothing to compare it with. I’ll have a close look next time I’m in a garden centre.
Thanks Jim. I tend to agree but for one thing, it has never flowered! This makes me think it is more of a grass but it has never produced seedheads either! I will take it along to my next Plant Heritage meeting and see if some of the experienced growers there agree with you.
Hi David
I’m trying to move all my emails over to my new address but this post is still to the old one.
Can you change my email address please to
yvonnegregory03@gmail.com
Thanks
Yvonne
Also on anything else you send to me please
Hi Yvonne. I have changed your email address in my contacts and I have deleted you as a subscriber to my blog under your old email address. If you wish to keep receiving updates from me, you will have to re-subscribe with your new email address. I hope you do!
Think I’d go for Liriope too but that’s on the balance of probability!
I will try to nail it soon and will let you know!