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The hardiest flower?

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  • 25-05-2019 5:55pm
    #1
    fryup
    Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭


    Whats the longest lasting hardiest low-maintenance flower out there?

    For an exposed low lying border, next to a driveway.

    Thanks,


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    #2
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,122 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Depending on what part of the country you are in, and the kind of soil you have, heather would suit I think. Any plants are going to need some sort of support especially in the first few years to keep weeds down. Heuchera is another option. Low growing campanulas. Put in some daffodils to pop up in the spring.


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    #3
    Day Lewin
    Registered Users Posts: 4,614 ✭✭✭Day Lewin


    Vinca: white or blue. Sprawling, decorative, virtually indestructible.

    Spready things like Evening Primrose and Stock will scatter seed and reappear year after year, even in tough conditions.

    Bugle is low-lying and reliable in darker areas.

    Many of the Cranesbill family will obligingly spread and look decorative.
    Consider Fuchsia, too.

    And I found this...looks good: (some are shrubs and some are "flowers" but all are tough.
    https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/homes-and-gardens/plants-garden-instant-colour/


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    #4
    macraignil
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭macraignil


    Geum is doing great in my own garden at the moment.
    If you can cope with a bit more height then scotch broom, berberis or pheasant berry might be worth considering.


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    #5
    westsidestory
    Registered Users Posts: 228 ✭✭westsidestory


    macraignil wrote: »
    Geum is doing great in my own garden at the moment.
    If you can cope with a bit more height then scotch broom, berberis or pheasant berry might be worth considering.
    All them plants you mention are IMO problem self seeders bar the broom. Geum is particularly difficult to control as spreads in wild grass. Leycesteria & berberis easier to control as grow into a bush.


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    #6
    Spanish Eyes
    Registered Users Posts: 15,905 ✭✭✭✭Spanish Eyes


    I like perrenial geranium (can't remember the botanical name), little maintenance required and great vivid colours. Can spread a bit, but is quite nice.


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    #7
    macraignil
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭macraignil


    westsidestory wrote: »
    All them plants you mention are IMO problem self seeders bar the broom. Geum is particularly difficult to control as spreads in wild grass. Leycesteria & berberis easier to control as grow into a bush.


    I agree they all self seed. I have even got some of the broom propagated by self seeding and moved them to fill more spaces in the garden.


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    #8
    westsidestory
    Registered Users Posts: 228 ✭✭westsidestory


    macraignil wrote: »
    westsidestory wrote: »
    All them plants you mention are IMO problem self seeders bar the broom. Geum is particularly difficult to control as spreads in wild grass. Leycesteria & berberis easier to control as grow into a bush.


    I agree they all self seed. I have even got some of the broom propagated by self seeding and moved them to fill more spaces in the garden.
    I would never plant a geum in any garden again. Years after putting in a few medium urban gardens still reappears. Put green waste in my own compost heap in field now planted with trees and it has geum self seeding still.


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    #9
    Day Lewin
    Registered Users Posts: 4,614 ✭✭✭Day Lewin


    But Geums are pretty!!

    (Mine died out, they don't like my garden) :-p


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    #10
    macraignil
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭macraignil


    westsidestory wrote: »
    I would never plant a geum in any garden again. Years after putting in a few medium urban gardens still reappears. Put green waste in my own compost heap in field now planted with trees and it has geum self seeding still.


    Good to make people aware of the fact that some of the hardiest flowers will propagate themselves, but I'm a big fan of many of these myself as it means lots of free flowers each year which is great for pollinators which I have decided are going to be one of the priorities in my own garden. The geum definitely seem to be feeding the bees with an increase in the numbers around yesterday with the warmer weather and I've seen my first hummingbird hawk moth of the year yesterday as well. Other plants I have found particularly good for self seeding are:
    forget me not
    poached egg plant,
    red valerian
    pot marigold
    daisy
    chamomile
    evening primrose


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    #11
    lordgoat
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 11,359 Mod ✭✭✭✭lordgoat


    Chamomile or creeping thyme


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    #12
    macraignil
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭macraignil


    lordgoat wrote: »
    Chamomile or creeping thyme


    I tried some creeping thyme seeds just planted on cleared soil and they never got going. Even getting some small creeping thyme plants I found they did not grow very much in their first year and while starting to creep now I think they may be a bit slow to keep pace with the usual weeds we get here. They might be better growing somewhere warmer or with better draining soil. Chamomile I have found growing around the garden fairly freely without having ever planted it so I think it is probably better adapted to growing in my garden. I would have more use for thyme in the kitchen however so maybe it might be worth the extra work to get that going. Depends on your priorities I suppose.


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    #13
    Day Lewin
    Registered Users Posts: 4,614 ✭✭✭Day Lewin


    macraignil wrote: »
    I tried some creeping thyme seeds just planted on cleared soil and they never got going. Even getting some small creeping thyme plants I found they did not grow very much in their first year and while starting to creep now I think they may be a bit slow to keep pace with the usual weeds we get here. They might be better growing somewhere warmer or with better draining soil. Chamomile I have found growing around the garden fairly freely without having ever planted it so I think it is probably better adapted to growing in my garden. I would have more use for thyme in the kitchen however so maybe it might be worth the extra work to get that going. Depends on your priorities I suppose.

    Yes, you are spot-on, macraignil: both of those would be better off as smallish, cherished plants in a dry, sunny location - preferably someplace where you can check them lovingly every day, and pick out weeds.
    A planter on a sunny terrace, perhaps: or adjoining such, among rocks.
    Neither is likely to get going really well in a long, unattended border.
    I refer to creeping chamomile, or Anthemis Nobilis: often recommended as ground cover but it isn't easy to do much of it. There are other, much hardier types to be found.


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    #14
    fryup
    Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    how about montbretia? is that classed as a flower?


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    #15
    macraignil
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭macraignil


    fryup wrote: »
    how about montbretia? is that classed as a flower?

    Yes it is a very hardy flower. Some say it is a problem because it can be difficult to get rid of. It tends to die back in winter but the bulbs send up new shoots in spring for summer flowers.


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    #16
    pwurple
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,449 ✭✭✭✭pwurple


    Look at landscaping plants. What do you see on roundabouts and verges near you?

    There is a good bit of nepeta (cat mint) around here.it looks like lavender, blue bushy low plant.

    Anything herby will take a lot of abuse.
    Bronze fennel, much taller but colorful.

    Rosemary is tough as old boots, beautiful blue flowers, evergreen, good for bees and you can eat it.


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    #17
    Day Lewin
    Registered Users Posts: 4,614 ✭✭✭Day Lewin


    Montbretia is persistent and can be invasive: yes, it's pretty - but if it takes a liking to the spot, you may regret the invitation!

    On the other hand, it is a bright, colourful note in the hot days of late summer when there's not so much in flower. And it needs virtually no care, very robust. And good to cut for vases.


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    #18
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,122 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    There are some montbretias that are not as invasive as the common orange one - I had a very nice yellow one that was vigorous but didn't spread in the abandoned way that the orange ones do. It made a slowly growing clump.


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    #19
    Graces7
    Registered Users Posts: 32,634 ✭✭✭✭Graces7


    This my first real growing year out here have been delighted by great clumps of forgetmenot, from old seed scattered last autumn, and calendula that had survived the winter, as I wait for perennials to grow in from seed.


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    #20
    fryup
    Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    how about rock cress and creeping thyme are they low maintenance? and colour?


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    #21
    macraignil
    Registered Users Posts: 3,376 ✭✭✭macraignil


    fryup wrote: »
    how about rock cress and creeping thyme are they low maintenance? and colour?


    Aubrieta/rock cress is growing fine in a rocky spot in my own garden but it is fairly low growing so it might need a bit of weeding to stop the taller weeds from growing through it and taking over. It can also look a bit ragged at times. I have a couple of creeping thyme plants in the same area and they are fairly slow growing and one has even been overgrown by the aubrieta that was planted fairly close. I just moved away some of the aubrieta and found the creeping thyme was still there looking healthy enough underneath. Something a bit stronger growing might be a bit lower maintenance.


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