Friday Problem

Whatever this shrub is, it needs to be pruned back. I have also seen some of these dotting the woods, so it is probably invasive.

Friday Problem Solved

I checked out the book Perennials for Midwestern Gardens by Anthony Kahtz and was pleased to find a solution to a Friday Problem there. Staring at me on page 20 was the name of the flower from 7/11.

To my great surprise it was not a mini carnation like I had thought but a relative to Yarrow. It actual name is Achillea ptarmica "The Pearl".

I never thought I would find a member of the Yarrow family which I enjoy so much. This plant had bloomed all summer. It does tend to flop a little, but I am sure that one could prune it and keep it shorter.

Here are the specs:

Achillea ptarmica
Hardiness: 2b to 9a
Origin: Europe and Western Asia
Mature Height: 18 - 24 inches
Mature Spread: 2 feet
Season of Bloom: Early to Late summer

Friday Problem: Shrub

This is an unknown shrub, growing in front of a utility box to hide it. It kinda looks like a ninebark, but our other ninebark does not have thorns. Is it one, you decide?


A note from Thorny Guy:
Also, at the end of July this shrub had large dark purple berries on it. I'd guess they were about the size of a small marble. Maybe this will help.

Friday Problem: Juniper

Keeping with unidentified plants around the pond, here is the next Friday Problem. These two trees were here when we moved in. They are about 8 feet. Currently they have small round blue berries. What is it?

Friday Problem

Here is a bush that the previous owner planted. It does not look like it is in good shape. I think the deer eat it. Here is a picture of its foliage.

It also had roots ?!? on its branches. Maybe this is like the climbing hydrangea and they are aerial rootlets.
So what is it and more importantly do I want to keep it? What is the best way to tidy it up and make it less ugly (Besides removing the weed)?

Almost a Friday Problem

This was almost a Friday problem from my mom's garden. On Sunday, I was taking cuttings from her garden and came across this plant. I asked her what it was and she did not know so we were going to let it be a Friday Problem.

I secretly (well not anymore) thought it could have been a blackberry lily that I wanted her to buy at the Hennepin Tech Plant Sale with us two years ago. It must have not flowered last year and mom forgot about it. I do remember planting it about four feet from where it is now. Did it move? There also should be a tag somewhere around it, but anyways, it turns out it is just that, a blackberry lily.


Mom's gardens are mostly border gardens. She has a good variety of plants. They are well established, which means they are good for cutting and dividing! :) In other words a good source of plants for me! It is a good thing she does not mind sharing.

Friday Problem: Clematis

We are back to identifying varieties, this time a clematis. In the spring we cut it back and it has taken off. Now it is full of blooms.

I like it so much that I am trying to propagate it with a layering method. I just tore off the leaves and stuck the vine under the dirt in these containers. Hopefully it will root. It would be nice to know the variety when I passed them along to friends. In fact if you identify it and want a plant (if I can get it to root), it is yours!

UPDATE: I think I found it!

Clematis 'Comtesse de Bouchaud'
Zones 4-11, grows 8 to 13 feet
Francisque Morel, France, 1903. AGM. Comtesse has pinkish mauve 4-6" flowers. Hardy, floriferous and compact, this selection is well suited to scramble around in a perennial border or grow it on a traditional trellis. Pruning: 3

Friday Problem Summary

6/13 HYDRANGEA anomala PETIOLARIS
6/20 UNCONFIRMED

Perhaps Snowberry Symphoricarpos albus

6/27 Orange Honeysuckle
7/04 Larkspur - Solved by Joy.

Perhaps Belladonna Larkspur 'Delft Blue'.

7/11 Achillea ptarmica "The Pearl"
7/11 Weed 2 Rock Cress - Solved by Rose

Thony Guy thinks this is Hoary Alyssum, Berteroa incana (L.) DC. not Rock Cress

7/11 Bug 1 Spittle Bugs - Solved by Jan
7/18 Day Lily Varieties UNKNOWN
7/25 Clematis 'Comtesse de Bouchaud'
8/1 UNKNOWN Shrub
8/8 Juniper - Solved by Jamie

Variety unknown perhaps Rocky Mountain Juniper or Common Juniper.

I opened the comment posting up to everyone! So you can post now unless I get spammed then it will go back to only gmail and blogs.

Friday Problem

We have many Day Lilies whose variety I do not know. They were all passed along, moved from MD, or already here at the house. So that is todays problem to identify the varieties.
Day Lily Variety 1:


Day Lily Variety 2:


Day Lily Variety 3:

Day Lily Variety 4:

Day Lily Variety 5:

Day Lily Variety 6:


Day Lily Variety 7:

Friday Problem

It is time for another Friday Problem. So far we are 2 for 4 on identifying mystery plants in my garden. This week there are two plants, both which have small white flowers. I suspect one is actually a weed that I need to pull. The other one maybe a mini carnation? Not sure.

Flower 1 - This is growing in a border bed along the deck. It gets morning sun and afternoon shade. It has small pompom like flowers. The plant is about two feet tall. Is it some kind of carnation?

Flower Weed 2 - I am pretty sure this is a weed but I guess it could be a wild flower. I need to find out before it sets seed if it turns out to be a weed and I need to pull it. This plant is growing throughout the North Garden and even down by the vegetable garden. It is about 2-3 feet tall. It gets full sun at the moment. It has small white flowers (smaller than flower 1). Is it a weed?

Both of these plants were "attacked" by some sort of bug/disease. On the stem there was a foam that appeared. Later the leaves turned brown above the foam. Extra Credit if you can figure out the bug. Sorry I forgot to take pictures of this.

Friday Problem

Last weeks Friday Problem was hard without flowers. I am hoping that this week we will be able to succeed in identifying this flower. It is growing in full sun. It is about four feet tall. The smaller picture is of its leaves.

It has the bluest five petal flowers which have a "tail" off the back. You can see several unopened flowers to the left which resemble a cornucopia basket. Anyone have this flowers name?

Friday Problem

I am guessing that this is some sort of honeysuckle. It's flowers would be a helpful clue, but it has not flowered yet. It looks like the previous owner completely cut it down back and it has come up again this spring. I have been training it on the lattice, although it's stem breaks very easily. It currently has sun in the morning with afternoon shade.

Update 7/18: It is a orange Honeysuckle. See pics

Friday Problem

This is a shrub which is besides our garage. It is about four feet tall, but has been trimmed by the previous owner. It is in full sun. It just stared to get these small pink flowers which may be turning into berries. Click on Pictures to enlarge.



I would not say that I like this shrub. In fact depending on what it turns out to be, it might be chopped down. I guess if it produces berries for the birds, it has a better chance of staying. Any one have an idea of what it is?

The Friday Problem

In the spirit of Wordless Wednesdays, which many of the garden blogs observe, I am proposing "The Friday Problem". Perhaps it should really be called the Friday Mystery, but the previous has more meaning to me.

At my old job, a colleague use to propose a math problem on Fridays which was fun and "easy" to solve. It was a good distraction from earlier work of that week.

So every Friday I am going to try and put a unidentified plant on this blog. This should, in theory, last quite awhile as we have many plants from the previous owner that we have no clue as to what they are.

So here is the first Friday Problem:

We have two of these vines growing under the deck on trellises. They were definitely put there on purpose by the former owner. She even had clothes pins holding the vine in place to train it. They get dappled sun there. I would say that they are a slow growing vine. It is currently about 4 feet up the trellis. The stems are thick and the "bark" peels like seen in the picture. (click to enlarge) One has just started to get little flowers which are white. Anyone have a clue?