What are these plants called?

[james_tigerwoods]

I've been doing some garden clearing and instead of hacking and digging up everything in sight, I want to try to keep some of the more established plants.

To that end, I've got these two plants and one (A) I've cut back pretty hard and there's new growth there so I want to know what it is and the other (B) I want to know what it is and how to cut it back as, as you can see, it's pretty overgrown.

(A)



(B)




What I want to know is what they're called and how to look after them....

Thanks

JTW


PistonHeads - Horticulture matters.

[Green Fly]

Elephant's ears. Bergenia cordifolia is the plant in the lower photos.

[james_tigerwoods]

Green Fly said:

Elephant's ears. Bergenia cordifolia is the plant in the lower photos.

Thanks And the other?

[Green Fly]

[JulesV]

I think the other one may be this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder...

Well worth keeping if I am correct, interesting leaves and the flowers attract loads of bees etc.

[james_tigerwoods]

JulesV said:

I think the other one may be this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder...

Well worth keeping if I am correct, interesting leaves and the flowers attract loads of bees etc.

I dunno that doesn't look familiar... Shame I've not got any photos of it really

[Simpo Two]

JulesV said:

I think the other one may be this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/plants/plant_finder...

Well worth keeping if I am correct, interesting leaves and the flowers attract loads of bees etc.

I think you may be right. I lost all mine to vine weevil a few years ago. They looked fine - until you touched them and they fell over - no roots!

I also have the other plant but can't remember the name, doh. Himalayan poppy?

[Planet Claire]

Yes, the first one is Sedum. Flowers in late summer, bees love it.

[james_tigerwoods]

Cheers.

Gutted about the Vine Weevil - it's a real PITA.

Have I cut the Ice Plant too far back? It had dried/died and I cut away the dead/dry stalks and what you see is what was left and I decided to see if it came back.

I did, however, look through old photos - and found some distant blurry pink flowers which make the ice plant look like a likely contender.

[Johnnytheboy]

Can confirm both Sedum and Bergenia. Nice easy plants to look after, remember to leave plenty of room for the Sedum to do their thing late summer.

You have done exactly the right thing with the Sedum, each year's growth just dies off, and you can clearly see the new growth coming through already.

Edited by Johnnytheboy on Monday 8th March 21:35

[Planet Claire]

No, it looks fine. Last year's growth dies back and, as you can see in your photo, it starts sprouting again. It might need some support as it grows as it sometimes gets a bit top heavy.

[racing green]

A couple of points about these perennials
1 the Sedum is easy, needs full sun, is attractive to Bees and if vine weevil strikes it will re root if lifted and put into a pot of compost. It is also easy to divide and split into new plants. Cut back hard in early Spring (ie now).
2 The Bergenia is also easy to break up and create new plants but shouldn't be cut back especially now as its about to flower. Just cut of the dead leaves to tidy it up and dead head after flowering.
All nice easy stuff.

[james_tigerwoods]

Thanks everyone

All I have to do now is decide what to put just further along:

[pic]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_dhNvt8h5OeE/S46Sd154DgI/AAAAAAAACek/Ms4z1Al5s4Q/s800/CIMG0124.jpg[/piv]

[Simpo Two]

james_tigerwoods said:

All I have to do now is decide what to put just further along

That's what my mother would call a 'horse's grave'

[jet_noise]

Dear jamestigerwoods,

V8 water feature?

regards,
Jet

ETA speeling. Why won't my fingers type r-e-g-a-r-d-s, I type it often enough

Edited by jet_noise on Tuesday 9th March 10:41

[james_tigerwoods]

Simpo Two said:

james_tigerwoods said:

All I have to do now is decide what to put just further along

That's what my mother would call a 'horse's grave'

There was a big, dead, ugly tree there that was causing our conservatory a bunch of dead leaf problems which is why it went. Now I have that Horses Grave and no idea what to put in it...

[Simpo Two]

james_tigerwoods said:

Now I have that Horses Grave and no idea what to put in it...

You could get rid of it - it's not very pretty IMHO and the wooden fences will be rotting behind it.