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BS: Gardening, 2009
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 May 09 - 08:45 PM Rain overnight, rain this morning, into the afternoon. It's still a bit drippy and overcast. What does this mean to a gardener? Time to pull weeds! I've been out there for the last hour since it has let up some. I'll go out again in a few minutes. I have to run to the store and get some more beer. I'm seeing a huge population of snails this year, and they eat everything. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 16 May 09 - 05:14 PM Well, other than threatening clouds off and on all day, high humidity, and few sprinkles, no rain. I couldashouldawoulda worked in the yard. But I'm simply too tired. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 16 May 09 - 03:06 PM It may be azalea leaf miners. Still trying to figure it out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 16 May 09 - 02:56 PM I think Shenandoah is a national park instead of national forest, Bobert. Hunting is allowed in national forests but not in national parks. Deer fence is probably the only real defence you have against the creatures there. bobert, can I use insecticidal soap on your azaleas? Something is damaging the Kohmo Shekebu. I thought there was maybe a problem last fall and early this spring, and now can see definite insect damage. Leaves folded under at the tip and held together by a sticky, somewhat spiderweb like substance with a tiny black creature enclosed. Can't find my magnifying glass right now to get a good look at it. Also, brown patches on the leaves where it looks like something has either chewed or sucked almost, but not quite through the leaf. In otherwords, no hole in the leaves, but the leaf is much thinner where it is brown. Does not look fungal or diseased. May be that whatever layed the egg fed first. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 16 May 09 - 01:11 PM Nah, Maggie, that ain't it... The Umbrella Pine is shaped alot like a white pine except its needles are very thick and waxy... Kinda like the needles on a Plum Yew but alot longer... Definately a specimen tree... You don't want or need more than one as they can get to be 50 feet tall... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 May 09 - 11:45 AM Bobert, would that "umbrella" pine also be called the Italian stone pine? I linked to a blog that has some discussion, there are other better photos out there, but these will work. I have several in the yard, in spread out places. Rain overnight. There was lightning at 3am when I shouted at the dogs to quiet down, and now they probably haven't been out for hours (they come and go at will). Darn. I have to take them to local annual shot clinic at the fire hall. We need to go for a rainy walk so they'll take care of business, then I need to put wet dogs that need baths in the pickup truck with me and drive down there. Good thing it's only six blocks and I'll keep the windows open. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 16 May 09 - 08:17 AM Well, well, well... Finally a day off from my 2 full time jobs!!! So, glory be... I'll try to move a few things today before the rain that have been begging to be be moved and maybe plant an umbrella pine that we bought at a great wholesale nursery outside of Richmond called Acer Acres... BTW, Acer Acres is growing over a 100 cultivars of Japanese maples... 3 gallon plants are $30 wholesale for any of them... They also sell the unbrella pines for $35 in 3 gallon pots... They are in the 3-4 foot range... Love them... Also maybe get in some mulch refreshing... We have decided that seein' as the P-Vine is earning money at the plant center that we're going to use a bunch of it to enclose our main garden which is roughly 450 feet long and 100 feet deep into the woods... Yeah, I know it will be a major project but when one lives adjacent to the largest game refuge on the east coast (The Shenandoah Nation Forest) there really isn't any other choice... We have used every product and trick in the book but the deer are the enemy... The fence works!!! We have it around our veggie garden and no deer... Well, better get at it before the rains get here... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 May 09 - 02:10 AM I took a "starter bag" of iris rhizomes to a co-worker, who doesn't have any in his yard yet. It sounds familiar--he described a lot of beds he's working on. Sounds like the classic "work in progress" yard (like mine.) I shared with him the basics of irises (like "they'll still be alive and ready to go, along with cockroaches, at the site of the next A-bomb.") He was so glad to get them. I had enough in this delivery to plant a bed approx. the size of the desktop he was working at. "It'll be a little skimpy looking for the first year, but they'll fill in, and then thin them about every two years." Or never. You know how it is with irises. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 15 May 09 - 11:07 PM Well, the weather doesn't look good for working in the dirt this weekend. But that is ok. We certainly need rain to build up the water tables. Although we have been mostly having a cool May, and next week is also going to be cool, with hights in the mid to upper 60's, it is getting late to transplant in these parts. I hope to leisurely (meaning as I have an extra half hour to spare) work on digging beds and building soil this summer and fall, and to do some planting and transplanting in the fall, which is really the best time to do so here. The problem being that many nurseries, including mail order nurseries, have sold out of what I am interested in by fall. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 May 09 - 12:04 PM How do you think the lemon balm got onto the brick patio to begin with? In a pot. This might work if you never ever let it go to seed. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Jim Martin Date: 15 May 09 - 11:54 AM With the "mint taking over the world" problem, you have to plant it in its pot in the ground to stop the roots spreading. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: GUEST,Jim Martin Date: 15 May 09 - 11:51 AM I've been trying this & it's the first success I've had with any slug killer (& it's safe)!: http://www.theonlinegardener.com/product.asp?prod=1007848 |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 May 09 - 12:30 AM A few days ago I replanted the beans. Last night I put out bowls of beer and drowned a couple dozen more snails. The sprouts are pushing out now. I went out with the flashlight and found one big honker snail oozing that direction and an insidious but just as destructive little snail on the move. I'm afraid there is an uphill battle to get something tough enough over there to resist the snails. I am going to start some in the house and transplant them when they're bigger. Keep a succession of beans going out there. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 13 May 09 - 10:19 AM I've beaten the lemon balm into submission, it's the peppermint that is trying to rule the roost. I wiah my wine-coloured myrtle was as aggressive! or the creeping phlox. or the irish moss. or the black clover. mmario |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 May 09 - 10:15 AM In my yard it is the lemon balm (mint family) trying to take over). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: MMario Date: 13 May 09 - 09:44 AM mint is trying to take over the world. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 May 09 - 11:41 PM I ate some of my onions tonight, not as the big sweet ones we'll have later, but I needed some green ones for a lo mein stir fry, so I stepped outside and thinned them a little. :) I put in more carrot seeds over the weekend. And replanted the beans. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 May 09 - 10:51 PM Well, the idea of a market garden is to make money, and the idea of being a landscaping business is to make money, so either one works - as long as you end up making money. My 3 year stint as a commercial cut flower grower taught me two things. How to grow and care for organically grown cut flowers, and how to lose money irrigating with city water. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 12 May 09 - 09:33 PM Market garden is definately on hold, Janie... Looks as if we have become a landscape and design company by default and doing well with it??? Yeah, bummer to not have the time to put into our own gardens right now... That *will* change... Put in some more lettuce and beets this evening... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 May 09 - 09:12 PM Sorry you don't have the time to work on your own place, Bobert. That must be where you long to be. Tell P-vine that the fall garden season belongs to your own little patch of ground. Last year you were contemplating putting in a market garden. Have you had to put that on hold? Maeve, sounds like you and your mate have your hands full. Laying by time will come soon enough. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 12 May 09 - 08:07 PM There are, Bobert, but I don't have that kind of time or the planful personality to arrange my time and schedule to do it. I need something I can run out the back door and tend as I have a minute here and there. A lot of my gardening these last two years has happened by headlamp and moonlight when the rest of the world is in bed. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 12 May 09 - 07:57 PM Aren't there any community gardens, Janie, where you can get a 10 X 20 plot??? Things are still very cool here on the Blue Ridge so the tomato seedlings are still inside... I use the 55 rule when it comes to them... The nights gotta be 55 or more before I put them out... We're still seeing 40's... No good... Stunts their growth when ya put them in too soon, or that's the latest theory... Wporking like a crazy man on the large landscape job at the Luray train station... It's beginning to take shape... The town folks are so axious to have it finished that they have assitgned me two inmates to help... I'm wearing them out but I buy them a pack of cigarettes everyday so they are happy... The P-Vine's garden center is doing purdy well... Our gardens are, ahhhhhhh, suffering from a lack of time to weed and plant... We have about 35 pots of stuff we have collected since last season that need planting and attention... After the train depot job, thank you... We are also seriously considering using the money that the P-Vine is amking to buy about a thousand feet of deer fencing to surround our 400 foot long ornimental garden... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 May 09 - 11:16 PM But my tomatoes are coming along nicely--most of them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 May 09 - 11:15 PM Sunshine is not lacking here. I'm still working on shade. I drives me NUTS when you two talk about all of those beautiful understory plants. All you need to do is start naming little forest orchids and I'll go round the bend. . . I grew up in green, moist, temperate Washington, remember? Calypso orchids, pipsissewa, Indian pipe, trillium, ginger root. . . . |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 May 09 - 10:01 PM Yeh, but the potted tomatoes ain't doin' sh*t so far, and no hope of a mess of snap beans. Oh, the tomatoes look real healthy, but they are not getting enough sun to bloom. I'm going to move them around a bit to try to get a little more sun - I'm not trying for enough tomatoes to preserve and it won't take many for this household of 1 1/2 to have fresh tomatoes for the summer. But I'm not sure I am even going to manage that. Don't get me wrong. I'm going to enjoy learning about shade gardening, appreciate the benefits of shade to comfort and frugal utility bills in our hot summers, and love the calm, cool, green-ness of these tall trees. But I also think being able to grow food is important. Both me and my nearest neighbors would have to cut down most of our trees for me to get 6 hours of sun on any patch of ground. Not quite true. I could probably take out an additional two big, healthy oaks on the north property boundary as well as a few dogwoods and choke cherries on the property line and get a small veggie garden space. If Sister Annie ever makes it down to cut down one big but diseased dogwood, that would help some, though until it comes down, I can't really tell if it would let in enough light for a small summer veggie garden for fresh eating or not. And I don't want to sacrifice trees for a small garden plot that probably wouldn't supply all my fresh veggie needs for the summer and would definitely not supply any preserved veggies for the winter months. The over-all environmental cost/benefit ratio doesn't justify it, even if I were to consider only my own immediate self-interests and not the over-all environmental impact. This is not a whine, by the way. It is simply me talking out loud as I think through and come to terms with a number of realities. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 11 May 09 - 08:42 PM Janie, Welcome to shade gardening... Lots of stuff will grown much better where you are now than where you were... Solomon's Seal is one of those plants that will not only thrive but spread... And spread... And spread... Ferns will love it there, too... Cone flower will love it... Hellibores of all varietie4s will thrive... Keep away fro Euphorbia because it will love it so mush that it will become invasive... For real... Pulminaria will spread, too, but it's a lot nicer than euphorbia... Plus, it flowers... Mahonias will grow, too... Every wild flower in the North Carolina Wild Flower book will also do nicely... Do you have any pines??? I know you have oaks which is "oak-kay" but pines are wonderfull to plant under... But back to the oaks... Beach trees grown well under them and then you have their golden leaves all winter to look at... Very nice understory tree... Hollies will grow under oaks, too...... Rhodos, too... And, of course, azaleas... They'd rather grown under a pine but an oak will do just fine... Back to the hockey game... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 May 09 - 08:30 PM Donuel, Are you looking for annuals or perennials, and how much watering and/or deadheading are you willing to do? Also, formal? Informal? Cottage gardenish? Insect/bird/small mammal habitat? How large is the area? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 May 09 - 08:26 PM Bobert, the Solomon's Seal you gave me looks to be much happier where I have it planted here than it ever was in Hillsborough. The only shade I had there was very deep, year round shade under an old gigantic Burford Holly. Here it gets a little morning sun, and then is in bright shade the rest of the day. I can already tell I planted the Japanese Painted Fern too close the the hellebores. I really don't have the hellebores where I want them they would probably do better where they get winter sun or a little morning sun. I didn't want to keep them pots any longer though, and haven't otherwise figured out where to put them, much less prepare a bed. UNC-Chapel Hill has a small and absolutely delightful arboretum along one side of the main campus. In a large raised bed, they have a mass planting of white hellebores under a high canapy of trees that is wonderful year round. (Haven't looked up close in a long time so don't know what species or cultivar they might be.) If they weren't so expensive so that buying a bunch of them wasn't prohibitive, and so slow to grow from seed, I would like to do the same here. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 11 May 09 - 08:02 PM As for a source of Ebony Spleenwort we have found it growing in potted nursery plants... Seems that some nursermen are growing their stuff in very moist environments and the stuff can frequently be found in their pots under the plant that you are purchasing... So if ya' want the precious little plant ya' gotta look inunder the plants at yer local nursery... Then ya' gotta be real kind to it and duplicate where is is happy... Ol' me has spent the entire day laying out plants where they I will plant them at the Luray Train Depot... Arms a re tired from carryin' them around... Looks like not quite 200 3 gallon pots but I lost count... We're having to have the police department to keep an eye on them tonight and the next few nights as just about anything not nailed down is getting stolen these days... 16.9% unemployment in the county has brought out the worst in some folks... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 11 May 09 - 07:49 PM Maggie, the other glove, and it is my slight favorite, is Boss Guard. I said it was synthetic, but the palm is pigskin. They wash well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 May 09 - 10:55 AM I have a friend in high desert in West Texas who has had to build a double-wire fencing barrier to keep deer from eating his iris. What's amazing is that those iris came out of my yard (elevation about 600, prairie soil and climate) and they're doing just as well at 7,000 in a dry high desert thin volcanic soil. They even bloom at the same time as mine down here. This morning I evicted a few snails from the beans again. I think I'll have to start any more in the house and once they're big enough to be tough then I'll put them out. This seeding them directly outside just provides a snail banquet. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Donuel Date: 11 May 09 - 10:00 AM I am looking for dynamic blue and white summer blooming plants. The spot is 8 hrs full sun and dry. I think iris is my only good choice. Of the 20 iris roots I planted I only got half of them to survive. I guess the deer ate them. I have since put in an invisible deer fence (thin black nylon 2 inch mesh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 11 May 09 - 12:51 AM Ebony spleenwort is a pretty little fern! I envy you the climate and shade where ferns can grow. My house, as I've mentioned many times before, had an ugly hedge along the front and nothing but Bermuda grass all around when I moved in. On one side, near where the garage is now, the woman who rented this house with her family for 10 years had put in a few iris. Yellow bearded, a few blue bearded, and some of the Louisiana varieties. That was it. (In homage to that attempt at adding something to the yard, I've divided and planted those same iris all around the yard, and they're the best thing going for this yard in the early spring.) The rest was grass, dead fruit trees, one vicious wild rose (I didn't do a good job and it died after transplanting), and tons of hackberries. I'm working on layers of shade and open area in the front, and will do the same in the back soon. I need to think about putting a wall back there, so haven't done much. Anyway, I'll know I've established some good micro-zones when I can put in a few ferns under some of the (finally) more established trees and in areas that are now heavily shaded enough for things like Oregon grape, etc. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 10 May 09 - 11:46 PM One of the two is "Firm Grip" All Purpose gloves. Lowes and Home Depot both usually carry them. I'll have to fetch a pair of the other brand out of the shed during daylight hours, I can't remember the brand of them right now. Neither are leather - they are synthetics - but both are machine washable and priced right. I find them pretty easy to work in. I don't find the cotton work gloves very useful for most gardening tasks. I've spoted a few ferns that are just kind of hanging on up close the foundation in the rear of the house. I think they might be ebony spleenwort. Possibly Christmas fern that is doing extremely poorly, but right now my money is on the former. I hope to dig them up and relocate them to a better site sometime this week. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 May 09 - 11:29 PM Janie, let me know the brand. I have a variety of gloves around here for various tasks. A bunch of soft brown cotton ones for simple protection, but if there is something leather that will fit close enough so I can get a grip when I'm weeding, it would be worth the price. My hands are a mess right now, especially the insides of my thumbs. I'm making progress in the garden. I'm finding things that need transplanting because they came back in the wrong place. The veggie bed isn't to the full extension yet, as I planned it, but the existing portion is being filled in and mulched as I get it dug and amended. The front yard is mowed and trimmed, and tomorrow I'll mow the back. The trichogramma wasps have been put out and I'll spray beneficial nematodes this week. I picked up both of these a few weeks ago and they've been in my fridge since. I haven't have the occasion to put them out because the weather has been unusual this year, or at least, the timing on the calendar hasn't let me get out and work. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 10 May 09 - 08:43 PM A few years ago I finally started working mostly with garden gloves because the hands were getting so beat up it was interfering with me being able to garden. I finally found a couple of good brands that are tough and fit well enough to work in that my local hardware store carries. They aren't real expensive, which is good because I go through several pairs a season. They not only protect the skin, but also seem to offer some protection for my joints. I also notice that my hands don't get as tired with them. The hydrangea buds get larger by the day, and the little culinary herb garden is doing well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 10 May 09 - 07:51 PM The iris cannot be killed... You don't have to plant them... You can dig them up and throw them on the compost pile or out in the street and they will thrive in either place... I think that these medical researchers outta check out the DNA in them things and maybe extract some of that DNA to put in sick humans... Serious... Keep on working, Maggie, until ya; get them callouses so tough that you can't even cut thru them with a chainsaw... We're way behind in our ornimental gardening... The P-Vine taking on the job running the palnt center at the local coop has definately taken it's toll on our gardens... Then drafting me to install plants has given me a 2nd full time job... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 10 May 09 - 06:49 PM I had a bunch of iris roots that had little green leaves (some as little as a quarter or half inch) in a bag over the winter. Back in about February I decided I didn't want them to die, but it was late, so I had a bed that I simply poked them in and figured I'd have pretty leaves this year. Darned if they haven't started to bloom! They're a bunch of the beautiful blue ones my neighbor gave me. My hands look like a war zone. What do some of you do for those callouses that aren't quite callouses? The ones that bleed a little and accumulate dirt when you work? I won't be modeling rings for Tiffany or Zales or even Walmart any time soon! :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 May 09 - 10:20 AM Our Purple Gem rhododendrons are glorious with Purple Prince tulips nearby, and besides the many other mid-spring daffodils, my favorite Thalia and Nearly Rose are in full bloom across from one another. I have to decide which of the 2 thousand bulbs I've been cooling down cellar can still be forced in time to sell on the farm stand when we set it up, and which I should just plant in a nursery bed or in one of the flower gardens. All of them should have been potted up a couple of months ago and on the stand now. Aglo rhody is just coming into bloom, and the cheerful Quail daffodills nearby will still be pretty in early June. Lots of work to do when a gardener is playing catch-up. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: maeve Date: 10 May 09 - 07:10 AM Our treasured double bloodroot is in bloom, a week after the singles have begun to make pearly white seeds in long,green pods. Plum blossoms are a fragrant cloud of white beside the new shed, with Yakima the only variety that has not yet bloomed. Pears are about to bloom, and the 2 huge bouquets of apple blossoms from our pruning are poised on the brink of opening to perfume the kitchen doorstep. Red, pink and blue violets mingle in the bright green grass while Canada violets blush with plum on the petal backs, and slender yellow violets linger by the toad trillium. My dad's miniature hostas, species tulips, and other treasures nestle beside the warm pink blooms of fringed bleeding heart. It's a day to rejoice and to mourn those who have left this life. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 05 May 09 - 07:35 PM Acubas can grow with partital sun, Janie... There are alot of varieties... Check out a few... There are not like boxwood however in that they have big leaves and not as disciplined... Now the azeala can be pruned into whatever you wnat them to look like... There are quite a few cutlivars that the box stores carry that are cheap... The Encore will give you two to three bloom cycles per season... The fall blooming camellias (sassanqua) can do with partial shade... Some pulmanarias bloom well into deep summer but not fall... Good woodsy plant... Foam flower... Kohosh... JoPie are summer/fall bloomers... There isn't much that is going to give you alot of color... Actually, impatients will bloom in semi shade right up until the first frost... The New Gueni is purdy nice and if you dig it up, bring it in, you can over winter them in the house... The hydrangeas will also blooom im partial sun... Endless Summer is kinda common but Pia is also a nice plant and well disciplined and not too big... B |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 May 09 - 06:11 PM I took out at least a couple dozen snails overnight. I didn't dump the beer out yet, though it doesn't usually work more than one night. We've had a small toad on the porch, learning the trick of catching June bugs that have bounced into the house after being attracted by the porch light. They're huge bugs this year, almost too big for that little toad. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 May 09 - 01:48 AM Not native, but certainly thrives there: kudzu. :) I saw several snails dipping their toes in the brew when I took the trash (and a flashlight) out this evening. Yes! Self marination! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 05 May 09 - 12:17 AM Native to the southeast USA. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 05 May 09 - 12:10 AM Native to North Carolina? Virginia? Where are you, exactly? Mountain laurel grows back there. Vitex grows here in Texas. Rhododendrons grow in Washington state. You'll have to go cruise yards in your county and buttonhole gardeners. All it takes is driving by slowly, seeing the gardener in their yard, and complimenting them on their work. Guaranteed you'll have a conversation and tips in no time flat. Well, my beans were coming up and the snails discovered a taste for bean sprouts. They even bored down into the ground beside them and left pencil-sized holes where most of the sprouts had been! I had two short rows and have only about three plants left! I caught several of them red stomach-footed, and those suckers are smashed in the driveway. The rest, well, they're in for a little beer party tonight. And I'll replant that bed in a day or two, and keep more beer handy for when they sprout. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 04 May 09 - 11:32 PM Oh yeh. Regarding the shrubs - and are preferably native. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Janie Date: 04 May 09 - 11:19 PM I love the azalea, Bobert! The Kohmo Shekebu looks much happier in the ground. In fact, so far it seems to be thrilled with the place where I planted it. Finally, rain that has been promised for the past 4 days. And so far, a nice, gentle, soaking rain and not the hard thunderstorms we were supposed to get - though they could still materialize tonight or tomorrow. The poppies are in bloom at the old house. Here, they are still seedling size. They went in so late that I may only get tiny little short flowers. But as long as I get seed pods, I can sow more in the fall. The shrubbery in front of the house is a mess and makes the place look bad. The plantings were poorly laid out to begin with, and all are in bad shape, or way too tall and lanky. Mostly boxwoods, with some forcythia that doesn't get nearly enough sun, fuchsia azaleas that are too dark, and old nandinas hugging the foundation that I may break down and use round-up on. I'm afraid they may have penetrated the foundation so don't want to try to dig them out - plus, they are too old and big to dig. (There is a dead stump of one growing up between two bricks on the front stoop, which is a good 5 feet above ground level.) I'm trying to decide whether to dispose of everything and start over, or to heavily prune the boxwoods, slice around them now to stimulate new root growth, and then try to dig them up in the fall and incorporate them into an entirely redone border. It would be the least work to simply cut them down to the ground, but would save a lot of money if I could use at least some of them in a redesigned garden. I dug out two small boxwoods on either side of the driveway a few weeks ago. They weren't that hard to dig out, but I wasn't strong enough to get them out with the root systems sufficiently intact to consider transplanting. Somebody name some shrubs with a neat growth habit that like shade that bloom in summer and fall, or that have really nice evergreen foliage and that don't get big real fast. I've never acquired a taste for cannas. Maybe because I have rarely seen them well-grown. (Not that I have the right conditions for them here.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Bobert Date: 04 May 09 - 04:13 PM We brought our cannas outta the barn before last week... We just keep them in decorative containers... That way we can ove them around... That is what we are doing with hostas as well... The voles have become such a problem that that is about the only way to have them without them getting eaten from uderneath... The metal hardward cloth/mesh work but makes dividing them a nighgmare... BTW, we are home from the azalea convention... The car is still packed to the gills as we bought as many plants as we could possibly stuff in the poor thing... Still raining here with no end in sight... I can live with that... Irises can be expensive but there are som many reasonably priced full-sized and dwarfs that unless you are a hyridizer there's no reason to spend alot on $$$ on them... We bought a native iris crestada for the plant sale at the convention but found one that has a sport... Guess where that one is??? Yup, we have it and we'll see... Maybe something special... It does happen occasionally when the DNA get's a little mixed up... BTW, I met Buddy Lee, the guy who hybridized the Encore Azalea, at the convention... He's alot younger than I thought but super nice guy... B~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: Stilly River Sage Date: 04 May 09 - 10:42 AM Last year a co-worker gave me her old catalog from a company in Oregon, I think, that sells some of these. They can be $40 or $50 for a single plant! You don't want to lose track of that one out in the iris bed! I found a gorgeous dwarf canna yesterday, the last of it's kind (at least, at that Home Depot) and no price in sight. The clerk accommodatingly searched screen after screen of red colored cannas in their computer and found one that rings up at $2.99 and put that SKU on the pot. Works for me! It'll start a new bright corner of cannas. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Gardening, 2009 From: pdq Date: 04 May 09 - 10:31 AM For M.Mario (et al) who are fans of the bearded iris... Hillside Iris Most of his business is done by mail. Note: the newest varieties cost more than the older ones, which has little to do with their beauty. This is a one-man operation but he still can supply an amazing number of named varieties. |
