A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 periwinkle and lily of the valley

Hi, these may be common plants, but as they came with the house when purchased, I don't know what they are.
plant 1: the bush with little pink flowers
plant 2: the grassy mound with stalks (when I moved into the house the stalks were green and topped by purple puffs of flowers)
thanks to anyone who can help!
ok here goes, I'm going to try to add the link to the webshots page:
http://community.webshots.com/album/114574936CmDqGr?534

plant #1.... out of control Periwinkle???

Do a Yahoo search...periwinkle plant... and look at the resemblance!!! What do you think?

Wait for others to roll through and give their ideas!!!

THANKS! looks a lot like a periwinkle, you may be right, so now how do i get it back under control??? and make it thrive. the little flowers are quiet pretty when the whole bush blooms.

Does periwinkle turn into a bush??

Mine here is just a creeping ground cover..

Does it turn into a bush type with a
warmer zone/??

The picture looks like it's a bush????



Weezie

well, weezie, you're right, i did some reading, and periwinkle is described as a vine/subbush. mine is definately a bush. it's not creeping or climbing on anything. it is now about- oh- 2ft tall. the flowers are little- like one inch across. i'm VERY new to gardening, so I honestly don't have a clue what it is or how to classify it.

Hi Rellie,

The second plant is probably an allium, a member of the onion family and blooms from a bulb. Take a look here. You can click on the pictures for a larger view.

Brent and Becky\'s


Newt

I just made shorter link to Newt's site Weezie

2nd pix looks more like a lily of the nile. We have a lot of these in Calif. There are other varieties as well. I have quite a few here at this place....a common planting! When the top is dead like in your pix you can either go in deep and clip it out or wait till it will pull out on its own. There will be lots of seeds...(if this is a lily of the nile) and you can just sprinkle them on top of the ground, rake your foot across the soil and wha la more plants next year!!!
You can click on the side pix to enlarge
http://plantsdatabase.com/go/139/

What do you think???
Catlover

the second plant does look more like lilly of the valley than the allium. When I moved in there were flowers, but they didn't last long. from what i remember they were similar to the lilly. However, in the pictures the lilly of the valley seems big and the leaves seem stiff. my plant is small, maybe 5 or 6 inches across the base, and the "leaves" are grassy. (they fall over, they don't stand up at all.) could it be a young lilly of the valley, or a variety of it? thanks ya'll

I'll have to go out and look at mine!!! I know I have some like that as well!!!

Anybody out there know anymore about this 2nd plant????? I'm just a newbie here!!!! Where is everybody when you need them.

I'll keep doing some research on both plants!!!

How about Agapanthus!!!

http://www.normansnurseryinc.com/plant_pictures/Agapanthus%20africanus.htm

What do you think????

My two cents... I'm pretty sure plant 2 is a sad lily of the Nile. They are all over the place around Ca. In the spring they will have large heads of purple or white flowers. They are very popular and easy to take care of once they get going. And it looks to me like plant 1 may be an overgrown vinca. They can get quite shrub like, I believe. I'll see if I can't find some pictures...

I think you've got it Catlover. We were posting at the same time. Agapanthus is the same as lily of the Nile!

Oh shoot that is another name for lily of the nile....but the leaves in the last pix are smaller.

Just read yours....we are posting at darn near the same time!!!

I think its just a baby or it possibly didn't get much love before Rellie moved in.

Mine are planted more in the sun than it looks like hers are getting???? I have some in both shade/sun and full sun!!! I was walking around outside and "bam" that word agapanthus went ding, ding in my head!!! Thought I was up to something clever. :p ROFL

Okay I'm an idiot what can I say! I'm still laughing at myself.

These mysteries are soo much fun!

Catlover, you're too funny...

I've looked at plant 1 a little more and I'm pretty sure its in the vinca/periwinkle family. We have one right outside our door at work and its at least 2.5 feet tall. Here's more info...

vinca

Have you seen them prune it gardengal?

No expert here Rellie but when mine started getting stemy (but they were no where near that size and maybe a different type than I had) I waited for some new growth at the base and trimmed down the that point. Forced it to leave out lower! But don't go by what I say Rellie....I don't want to be responsible for killing your plant!!!!

Rellie you wrote;
Not a lily of the valley.......

Could it be some kind of Day lily???

Although, I'd like a picture of the stem
of the dried flower a little closer...
If it's got several stems for the flower head,
I'd go with the agapanthus!!!! Not a daylily?....

It could be what Newt said, a test would be
to take one of the leaves, and squwish it, pinch it, poke it with your fingernail, something to see if it smells like an onion smell........


Weezie

Your test worked Weezie. I'm pretty sure its a lily of the Nile/ Agapanthus.

Nope, I've never seen anybody do anything to our vinca out front but she's a beauty. Gets mostly shade too, a little bit of afternoon sun, not much. It looks like Rellie's just got a little leggy. I would suggest trimming it and it will probably produce even more little flowers.

Kristen,
I wanted to shorten that URL down, they go off the page, so, I condensed it....

**Just a note,
When posting a URL go through the option on the
bottom, that way, it keeps the http shorter, and you can give a name to where you're going......


Those pictures are so hard,
I'm from the North, where my vinca's never would turn into a shrub, but with out being a full~fledged gardener with horticulture background, you know what I mean, you can't be sure, one plant may act a certain way in a Northern cold freezing climate, and act a totally different way in a Southern, never freezing, hot climate, It adds growth on to it that a Northern regular gardener would never see.....

Does that make sense???

Weezie

wow! thanks so much!
Weezie, I meant Lilly of the nile... I mistyped....

Ok, My yard gets full morning sun, the house faces due east. i think perhaps the homeowners planted them just before selling the house and this may be why they are so young?

I see what you're up to now Weezie. Thanks for making it better. I use the URL button just because its easier, didn't realize that's why the pages were getting all screwy. You're the best!

Rellie,
roses want full sun, that much I know. lily of the Nile prefers full sun I believe to get all big and bushy. Vincas, I don't know, I've had them grow anywhere, pretty easy plant. I don't have any bird of paradise, but I usually see them in full sun when I'm out and about. You're lily of the Nile can get pretty big and as Catlover said, they do drop seeds and spread. I think vincas look pretty mixed with impaitens myself. We're lucky to have a mild climate. For great fragance I would suggest a geranium, easy to take care of and their leaves smell so neat. If you have a nice some what shady spot, fuschias work well here too. Just protect them from the strong summer sun and you'll get blooms in the winter.

Are your fushchias planted in the ground gardengal?

My lily of the nile are in full sun/ part shade. My parents BOP/and others I have seen around here are all in full sun....the root structure can get massive....I suggest if you are EVEN thinking about moving it (not to say you are going to) I would move it when it is small.

I suck at dimensions so.........if you stretch your arms out (twice) that is only the width of one of my parents BOP!!!But they were approx. 33 yrs old. Eventually the ground will lift a little with the roots!!! Trim out any dead birds as far down as you can go!!! Later on the dead pieces can be pulled out!

Drive around the neighborhood and you can see what others have done!!!

Here is a page Bill has here!
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/strelitzia.htm

I have three fuschias planted in the ground along my south wall. They get mostly shade in the summer, a bit of morning sun. In the spring and fall they explode into bloom. They are so delicate looking, I just love them.