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BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere)
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 25 Apr 04 - 05:32 PM April 25, and it's pretty hot out there today in Edgecliff Village, Texas. In the 80s. Bobert, I'm pleased to tell you that this morning not only did my lawnmower tune-up go quickly, it was also easy. I had to replace the blade instead of sharpening it, because last week out behind the garage I bent the blade badly when I hit the heavy iron rod that had been part of the previous owner's earlier garage door opener. It was buried in the grass out beside the garage. . . "clunk" sudden silence. . . were heard in quick succession when blade met iron. I bought a replacement that actually is meant to bend if it hits something. The premium blade is only a buck more, but better a bent blade than a bent shaft! I poured out the gas (was able to reuse it, minus a little residue that may have come off of the lid) and I drained the oil and changed it. Now I'm in the house cooling off for a few minutes and giving the grackles full access to the field of naked bugs now that their cover is blown. I have my tankard of ice water and I'm heading out to finish the back then go around to the front. Blooming now: salvia, still, greggi and the Victoria variety (blue) plus a pretty white one that looks like a smaller version of Victoria. Iris and daffodils are about finished. Red yucca, lantana, several sorts, verbena, are blooming. Honeysuckle out back on the creek bank smells like heaven. Onions about ready to pick, tomatoes are putting out blossoms. I even put some tomatoes and cages out in the front yard this year. I find vegetable gardening so entertaining that I may well put some eggplant and peppers out there too, just for the looks. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Joybell Date: 26 Apr 04 - 06:44 AM I've got a critter story. Boy have I got a critter story. I put an old folding chair in the possum house so as to spend a bit of comfortable time with our half-grown young possum. She is getting too wild to bring into the house for playtime now. I sat down and suddenly the material seat tore and I found myself folded in half with my legs in the air and no way to elbow myself out. Baby possum gleefully landed on my head and began to tear out my hair, wash my ears out with her tongue, and run up and down my extended legs. Had a fine time! True-love was taking a nap and darkness was falling. What a truly silly way to die I thought! Have you ever tried to breathe while folded in half and squeezed. After about an hour True-love came looking for me. Took us some time to tip me over and remove the chair - but we managed it. Sorry no pictures. Every story tells a picture though as my old Mum would say! Joy |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Bobert Date: 26 Apr 04 - 09:10 AM Well, danged, Joybell. That oughtta teach you not to go gettin' all lovey dovey wid a possum... Them critters is only goood for stews and pies... Awww, jus' funnin'... I loves all them little four legged critters as long as they live above ground... The moles and voles I could do very nicely without... Hey, SRS. What's worse than a lawnmower that won't start? Give up? One that will... Nevermind. Everything is up and happy here in these Wes Ginny mountains. Even got blooms on the paw-paws so I might harvest enough paw-paw fruit to make some jelly. The P-Vine is not doing well with her one-day-a-week-parttime-job at the garden center in that she is spending more than she makes. Even with the 25% discount, we're loosing ground. Yup, me and the Wes Ginny Slide Rule is all over this one. She get's $10 an hour and works 9 hours. Hmmmmm, that's about $75 after taxes. Now lets see what she got fir her $75 this week: 1 Fringe Tree @ $49.99 10 Acuba Japonica @ 39.99/each = $399.99 4 bags of Pine Fines @ 7.99/each = $31.96 2 bags of Permitill @ 8.99/each = $17.98 40 lb's of SuperPhosfate at $34.99 $10 worth of gas for my truck and 4 hours of my time going back yesterday to pick up the acubas and 4 bags of pine fines... Hmmmmm, even with the discount, I'm sure you all can see that the part time job ain't gettin' no extra tators on the table?.... And it seems that every week is just like this one... Now throw in the 2 hours per acuba for digging holes, mixing in the ammendments to the soil to plant one in, planting one, watering one with collected rainwater and mulching them, and poor ol' me has just eaten up a good two hours. Did I mention that she bought TEN of these monsters? Now I know exactly what Robert Johnson meant in his song "Walking Blues" where he says "Lord, I don't mind diein'...". BTW, my gardening friends, I got Turk's cap lillies and Linten Roses going to bed. I'm really going to have to dig some up and give them away... Too bad the garden center won't buy them from us since they are getting' 15.99 a pot for the Linten Roses and 13.99 a pot for the Turk's caps... Bobert |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Apr 04 - 10:27 AM Bobert, Now you know why I will never take a job in bookstore or a garden center. I couldn't afford to work there! I buy trees as small as I can find them, usually in five gallon pots. My strategy is this: I don't have to carry as large a plant, dig as big a hole, carry as much water to it (if it's beyond hose stretch), and after a couple of years in the ground they explode into growth and soon catch up to their larger pot-bound relatives. Spend $100 or $200 for instant gratification of a bigger tree and you bust your ass trying to plant and maintain it, and the big thing is so much more compromised by having been in the pot for that long that they're the ones that are harder to keep alive after transplanting. I'm guessing your shrubs are in the 5 to 10 gallon size pots, what's killing you is the repetition. Planting $400 of anything, whether a one big one or lots of little ones is going to be work! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 26 Apr 04 - 11:15 AM Joybell, what an experience! That one is sure to become a family legend. Now Bobert---just think of what all that would have cost without the 25% discount! P-vine is a woman after my own heart. It is dry, dry, dry. Nothing is dying yet, but nothing is thriving, either. The peonies and roses are in bud, but the bud-count looks low this year because of the dry spring. My scarlet phlox drummundii are blooming but are covered with powdery mildew, as are the pulmonaria. The yarrow is beginning to send up buds, but the heads are small. I broke down and irrigated the border where most of my lilies are planted, but I am steeling myself to let many things die if this turns into a season of drought. It is 'spose to rain today. I've left the windows down on the car to encourage it. Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: GUEST,MMario Date: 26 Apr 04 - 11:18 AM wish we could ship weather around and even things out. we are deep into mud season here - wet, wet, rain, wet, rain, mud, mud and mud. |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Apr 04 - 12:59 PM Janie, get some baking soda or potassium bicarbonate in water and a little (teaspoon) dish soap and spray that regularly over the stuff with powdery mildew. From the Dirt Doctor Site
Mix 4 teaspoons (about 1 rounded tablespoon) of potassium bicarbonate into one gallon of water. Spray lightly on foliage of plants afflicted with black spot, powdery mildew, brown patch and other fungal diseases. Potassium bicarbonate is a good substitute for baking soda. There are commercial EPA registered as well as generic products available. (To look around for more of these kinds of recipes, visit the "Information Center" link on the site and then search alphabetically.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: JenEllen Date: 26 Apr 04 - 02:01 PM Gorgeous day here. I've thoroughly enjoyed reading these notes. I had to laugh at SRS's lawnmower blues. Reminds me of my own "FRANKENMOWER" (broken and cobbled together so many times I don't think any parts are stock except maybe the little lever with the turtle and bunny on it). P-Vine is a gal after mine, too. I went to the garden center this weekend with the STRICT intent that I wouldn't plant anything in the garden until after mother's day (to avoid late freeze). Came out with a truckload of plants and dirts--to wedge into the truckload of books I had just bought at the library book sale--- and spent the cool of last evening trying to plant and work out drip-lines. Irrigation is for crap this year, but with the cost of veggies in the stores? It's worth the shot. Y'all say a prayer for lots of tomatoes, okay? |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 26 Apr 04 - 02:21 PM SRS, What a great site! I have not found the baking soda very effective on black spot on my roses, but I'll give it another shot on powdery mildew. I was going to try neem oil when I got around to it, but this is more benign so I'll try it first. Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Apr 04 - 07:09 PM Powdery mildew is a fungus--neem is to repel bugs. You can also use a spray made from corn meal for the mildew (check out the dirt doctor site for that--you soak corn meal for a while then spray the liquid and it's great against mildew and also has great fertilizer qualities). Here's what Garrett says about Neem: April 24, 2003 By Howard Garrett Neem is the extract of a tree native to India and other warm climate areas. It's kin to our chinaberry. Neem doesn't kill insects but works as a repellant. It works on a wide range of insects and is quite effective. Neem is a botanical insecticide extracted from the seed of a tropical neem tree from India. Neem works by preventing molting, suppressing feeding or repelling the bugs depending on the insect. It does not harm humans, birds, plants, earthworms, or beneficial insects and is registered for use against aphids, whiteflies, thrips, hornworms, mealybugs, leafminers, gypsy moths, weevils, webworms and loopers and probably lots of other bugs. Tests conducted by the USDA showed neem extracts repel cucumber beetles for up to 6 weeks. Neem is most effective against insects that have a complete metamorphosis - eggs, larvae, pupae and adults. I love these products because they don't hurt our firends, the birds, bats, frogs, lizards, snakes, and other beneficials. We have a great little nursery in west Arlington called Hare's that I pass on my way home from work if I take back roads. I stopped and spent $18 today buying a flat of salvia, peppers, squash, watermelon, verbena and lantana. (I also picked up two 1-gallon penstemons that will be gorgeous out front, along with some big purple bell peppers.) I've already put in the squash and watermelon. The other stuff will go in the ground over the next couple of days. The soil is good for digging now--we had five inches of rain over the weekend. I'm going to put in another layer of flower garden out in the front and stick in some red, white, and blue verbena. No flags for me, but I'll be in great shape by July 4th. :) SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Joybell Date: 26 Apr 04 - 07:19 PM Today I'll begin this year's revegetation planting in the West paddock. My little kitchen garden needs some work too and True-love will harvest the last of the tomatoes soon. There is a pumpkin rambling all over the vegie patch and we'll have to play hide-and-seek with it to collect it's fruit. A few passion fruits are dangling on the vine I planted just last year. In the wild part of our place the tall Banksia marginatas are blooming. They have flowers at all stages at the moment - bottle-brushy yellow flower stems full of honey, green seed cones and dry brown ones. The Honey Eaters flit about sipping the nectar and soon the Yellow-tailed Black Cockies will raid the old seed cones. They'll fly in from their home on the nearby volcano screaming with excitment, bringing their nagging youngsters. They sound rather like un-oiled door hinges - the sort of rusty hinges you'd find on castle doors. When they leave there'll be half-empty seed cones and torn blossums scattered everywhere. Joy |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Bobert Date: 26 Apr 04 - 08:30 PM Fir mildew, use "Immunox". Most flox in this area, other than the natives will develope mildew if they are not spayed. Spray when they first come up fir best results. Contains myclobutanil and pernethin and kills off bugs and mildew... If ya spray them early and maybe once in June, that's it. Also, a little "Liquid Fence" and not deer eating 'um either... Flox will make a grand showin'... Bobert |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 Apr 04 - 08:52 PM Bobert, the suggestions I posted are organic solutions to stuff like powdery mildew. Since I don't find matches for any of the ingredients in Immunox or the name itself, something tells me this is the nasty stuff Dr. Garrett is encouraging people to avoid. I also bet that baking soda and soap in water is a heckuva lot cheaper! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 26 Apr 04 - 11:36 PM The phlox drummondii is native (I think). During good years the mildew isn't much of a problem with them, but years like this spring, when the plants are water-stressed, anything that ever has problems with powdery mildew does. I made the problem worse by planting zinnias in the same beds for three years when my cut flower business was bigger. I garden organically so the Immunox is out. SRS--The neem is also used to treat and prevent powdery mildew and black spot. I've had moderate success using it to treat my roses. Since it is an oil, it may just protect the foliage from the fungus spores. 'Course my biggest problem with spraying ANYTHING is keeping up with it. I have a lot of garden--both veggie and flower--and am your typical way too busy working mom. Since my son started playing sports it has knocked a huge hole in my weekend gardening time. My husband is selling at a local farmers market on Saturdays so all the Saturday sports stuff falls on me. I had to cut way back on my flower business, but I haven't yet brought myself to cut way back on my gardens. I have switched back to predominantly perennials that are well adapted to my area, but I do love all those masses of pretty blooms on a lot of the annuals. I have started using row cover in the veggie garden to protect against insects and it is a huge time saver. By the time the row cover has to be removed when the plants start blooming, they are usually big enough to withstand some insect damage. Joybell--you paint wonderful word pictures. We have gotten a few showers today. Hope it keeps up overnight. Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Bobert Date: 27 Apr 04 - 09:11 AM SRS, I'll check on the Immunox and have bookmarked that link for the P-Vine to check out. She generally is into organic gardening so I'd be surprised if we're using anything nasty... But, hey, if baking soda works, great... We got 1.2 inches of slow rain over the last 36 hours and today the sun is out so I'm expecting a lot of growth. We've had some damage allready to several hostas which the deer ate the tops out of as they were coming up so those will be slightly deformed this year. I've sprayed everything with Liquid Fence (organic) so the deer will leave them alone until we have accumulated 5 inches worth of rain when I'll have to repeat. Our azaleas are popping out which is real nice. We are members of the Northern Virginia Azalea Society since there isn't one in this part of Wes Ginny and have several yet-to-be-named plants from the hybridizers who are members of the Society that just have nubers on the tags. Kinda like mystery, pot luck plants... Camillias are in full bloom... Question: We have an Empire Apple tree which has never made any apples. We have a Courtland which we thought would polinate the Empire but that hasn't happened. Will any other apple tree polinate it. If so, can I go to the nearest orchard, shake some polin into an envelope and shake it onto the blooms on my Empire? Bobert |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: black walnut Date: 28 Apr 04 - 07:11 AM Toronto: It's currently Minus 3 degrees Celcius. That's COLD!!!!! My whole yard is 'garden' - no grass to mow - but they took down our Giant Rotting Maple Tree a few weeks ago, and are putting up new fences, so my plants and bushes have been totally trampled, except for a wee bed right outside the back living room bay window. Thank heavens for those serviceberries which have buds eager to bloom. Meanwhile....BRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 28 Apr 04 - 11:55 AM BW, And we are feeling (gloriously) chilly at 60%F! Bet most of those trampled plants make a spectacular comeback. We have to have some major grading and drain work done because our basement floods everytime it rains. The guy came yesterday and told my hubby that a large perennial bed that I have (approximately 50'x 12') is going to have to be lifted to protect the plants while he works, and then replanted. This is NOT the best time of year to do that to my perennials. Not to mention that I don't really have the time--but what the heck--maybe I'll use this as an opportunity to do a little redigning.... We are having an unusual and absolutely lovely cool spell, with daytime highs in the 60's. Wish I was outside. Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Apr 04 - 02:24 PM I have planted things over the last couple of years according the the size information on the tags, only to have them grow much larger than expected. And some things I just accidentally planted too close. Either way, this year I'm once again moving some stuff. Salvia greggi is very happy in my front yard, and transplants pretty easily. It's crowding out the day lilies, so a couple are moving out to a bed by the curb. I have some rosemary to move there also. Iris grew so big and lush all around the yard that they're crowding other stuff, so once their blooms have completely withered I'll move some of them to new beds and take a few to friends. It isn't the best time of year to transplant, but it's not like our 100 degree July days when it pretty well fries stuff you dig up. I would eventually like to end up like BlackWalnut with little grass and mostly garden. Right now it's still mostly grass, but after every rain I get out and dig up a bit more turf. I've also been experimenting with No Till gardening--the jury is still out on that. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 28 Apr 04 - 02:42 PM SRS, I will be very interested in your assessment of the no-till gardening, especially since you also have a yard full of the dreaded and dreadful Bermunda grass. Be sure to keep us (me) posted on that. I absolutely love reading about all of your gardens and gardening activities. Music and good dirt---nothing feeds the soul so well! Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Apr 04 - 05:34 PM So far the "No Till" method translates to "Mulch now, 'til[l] later" (when you struggle to dig it all out). The result, and perhaps this is because I didn't use enough paper or deep enough mulch (though it was several inches deep!) was that over winter and in the early spring the bermuda grass under the mulch grew up through it, and put out a new set of roots in the mulch. That meant when I wanted to plant in the bed I had to dig out a double layer of roots. Geez, but that's not convenient! I'm going to try spraying several times with vinegar in the sun then putting down paper and mulch. I want to kill off the green a couple of times before I try burying the roots and hoping they rot. I did find in one side of the no till bed that some of the roots were doing what they were supposed to, rotting and composting, and the area worked nicely. So I think there is a trick I must have missed the first time I tried this. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 28 Apr 04 - 07:06 PM SRS, 4 or 5 years ago, when I installed most of the beds in my front yard, I tilled it up(or rather my hubby and Dani's hubby did), and then raked out as many of the clods of sod and roots as I could. I put down layers of cardboard until I ran out, and then used newspaper for some of the beds. I bought a couple of dumptruck loads of topsoil (the frontyard was mostly a shallow layer of red clay over hardpan) to put on top of the cardboard/newspaper, and then mulched heavily with shredded bark. Boy, did I have the arm muscles that year! Within a year the Bermuda grass had come up through the newspaper. Until this spring the beds where I used large sheets of cardboard were pretty clear of the grass. Where I had smaller sheets, and therefore more overlapping pieces of cardboard, the grass wended its way pretty successfully up through the overlapping layers after two years. I also have trouble excluding it at the edges of the beds, even with an edging barrier that goes about 3 inches deep. because my yard slopes but I raised the beds up to be nearly level, the depth of the topsoil I brought in varies from 6 to 18 inches. I have noticed that the deeper the topsoil, the less the bermuda grass has made it up through the cardboard or newspaper layers. The first bed (and the smallest) I installed from scratch was about 8 years ago. It did not have fill-dirt in that spot and though the topsoil was heavy clay, the hardpan was down 9 to 12 inches. I lifted the top 5 inches of sod and soil, double-dug the area, hauled in topsoil and compost, and edged it with a barrier to 6 inches deep. Every year I lay down a few layers of newspaper and shredded bark. That has worked the best, but it was by far the most work to install. The large bed that I have to lift for the grading was there when we bought the house, but had been untended for many years. It had good dirt. I tilled it up and enriched it with compost. After I replanted it I laid down 3 layers of newspaper and 4 inches of shredded bark. It took 3 years for the bermuda grass to extensively reinvade that area. I think I have concluded that however I create the beds, mulching yearly with several layers of newspaper covered with shredded bark is what will do the best job of controlling the bermuda grass. As I get older, and my back gets more fragile, I am thinking about goats:-). Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Joybell Date: 28 Apr 04 - 07:22 PM I've got rid of a few acres of Kikyu grass. (I'm not sure of the spelling) but it sounds like your Bermuda grass in habit - deep long runners for roots. Repeated spraying is fairly sucessful. Mulching works to a degree but sends some roots further down. The easiest method was thick black plastic over patches of grass under the hot sun. I move the plastic on after about 6 weeks and plant the area up with local plants. I have to time it all fairly carefully so as to plant at the ideal time but plastic, then mulch, then planting seems to work quite well. I always have to pull up some resistant runners for a time. We don't have lawn either just native grass mostly in clumps. We still have three paddocks of introduced pasture grass to reclaim outside the house garden. 2 acres down 2 to go or there-abouts. Joy |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Bobert Date: 28 Apr 04 - 07:23 PM Native azaleas in full bloom tonight. One we scavenged from the mountain about 4 years ago has finally bloomed for the first time and it is a hot pink! And beautiful, indeed. Another savenged on4e is a ligt pink and is absolutely loaded with blooms. The hydrangas are swelling and the oak leaf up about 6 feet tall. The ostich fern has sent up 4 babies and they have come up right in the middle of a righteous stand of yellow bell. Several serious stands of Solomon's Seal (both real and false) are coming up along the paths in the woods along with Jack-in-the-Pulpits coming up everywhere. The larkspur has beautiful little blueish purple blooms. Bleeding Hearts (both white and pink) in full bloom. Hypatica mounding like crazy. Trillium in full bloom. We have the native maroon and the rarer native yellow plus some white, which I think has sported or mutated, that we ordered from a wild flower nursery in N. Caroline. Govenor Muton Rhodo, who is purdy danged tough to please, is going to bless us with two of his maroonish blooms any day now. The foam flower that we planted 2 years along the run odd creek has made so many babies its unreal and now lines a 20 foot section of the creek as does this dwarf iris and behind it lots and lots of black kohosh that I've been finding in the woods and moving into that area... My euphorbia bed is kicking some butt and I'm going to let it go this year since it is a new bed but will deadhead it next year since it is somewhat invasive... My mahonias aren't doing well at all. This is their third year and I'm loosing lots of leaves during the winter. We cut on almost to the ground as an experiement. It's alive so we'll just have to wait it out and see if thet may be the way to go. We lost one Cady Tuff to voles and bought one to replace it. The other two have mounded to about 2 feet wide with lots and lots of white flowers... Oh, I love spring... Gonna get potatos planted in the next couple of days. Have lettuce in but taht's all so far in the veggie department.... Oh, I love spring... Bobert |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Apr 04 - 07:34 PM Bobert, it sounds like you have a wonderful shade/forest kind of yard. Many of those plants are also in the Northwest, or they have close cousins there. Not many of them will grow happily down here in Tejas. Whoever invents a way to kill Bermuda grass without nuking the rest of the garden will be a Billionaire within about six months. I hate the stuff! SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Joybell Date: 28 Apr 04 - 07:39 PM Does anyone have lighting bugs yet? Tell us about lighting bugs. We don't have them here and I love to hear about them. Joy |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 28 Apr 04 - 08:48 PM Oh Bobert, It sounds so glorious, it makes me homesick. We used to camp a good bit over in the eastern mountains not too far from where you are (near Frost, WV) and I so remember those beautiful native azaleas. I would love to see all of your spring ephemerals blooming right now. Joybell, I had forgotten this, but my one shady bed where I can grow a few of the plants Bobert just described was made from the sod I raked out of the front yard. I piled it up under a huge old Burford Holly and covered with black plastic for 2 years. THAT killed the *(&%##@ Bermuda grass! Lightning bugs are still several weeks away from emerging where I live. I love catching them with my little boy. We put them a mesh bee cage overnight in his bedroom, and then turn them loose in the mornings. The lightning bugs over in the North Carolina mountains are a different species from what we have here in the Piedmont, and to me, because of their strangeness, they are even more magical. They are smaller, they light-up white, and they move in cloud-like drifts. It is awesome to camp up in the mountains in summer and have them come drifting in around you in the dark. Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 28 Apr 04 - 08:50 PM Anybody know any songs about lightning bugs? Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Apr 04 - 09:04 PM It's a bit soon for fire flies here in Texas, also. We didn't have them in the Northwest, so they were a pleasant surprise when I lived in New York City, and other parts of the east and southeast and now Texas. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 28 Apr 04 - 09:08 PM * but any day now we'll get those goddammed Junebugs! Stoooopidest bugs around, bouncing off of walls, doors, lights, people, cats, floors. . . |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Bobert Date: 28 Apr 04 - 10:32 PM Wierd but I had a lighnin' bug land on the pole for the prch umbrella just yesterday but it wasn't in the mood to light up??? Don't ask be> I ain't no bugologist, 'er nuthin'.... But we got a couple o' Monarks hanging around. I got a butterfly house est up but I don't know fir sure if they moved in 'er what but they are hangin' close... Got a lot5 of juvinile birds at the feeders... Can't wai fir the gold finch kids. They are a hoot when they first arrive... Talk about adolescence, them gold finches are somehting else... Bobert |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 28 Apr 04 - 11:18 PM Didja ever "fly" Junebugs as a kid? We'd tie a thread to their legs and fly 'em in circles. Never a thought for the Junebug--just the thrill of flight and control. Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: greg stephens Date: 29 Apr 04 - 05:39 AM WEll, we've had seven kinds of butterfly so far this year, which isnt bad for April in the middle of an industrial city (Stoke,UK). Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell, peacock, Speckled Wood, cabbage White, Small Blue and Orange Tip. No Commas yet, which is a bit surprising as they are normally early. Today we have a fine Aoril display of flowers in the wild bit: bluebells, wild garlic and the apple blossom are fully out, and looking gorgeous. The cowslips look great (bit of a cheat, I bought a plant and put it in to see how it takes). The celandines and daffodils are finished now bit looked great a few weeks back. The best colour is a whole drift of forget-me-nots which have just appeared from nowhere. We hacked back the damson trees last year, and that let some light onto a patch of ground that was only growing brambles. And now there is a dense mass of forget-me-nots there. A wonderful sight. How they got there I dont know. Maybe the seeds have been there dormant for a while perhaps? One theory is that there is quite a lot of birdshit around where the flowers are. Perhaps some roosting bird in previous years had a taste for chewing on foget-me-not heads and excreting the seeds? |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Bobert Date: 29 Apr 04 - 12:45 PM Hey, Gregster, good to hear from ya... Man, You'd love to be sittin' on the back deck now smoking one of yer hand-rolled's, drinkin' beer and seeing everything in bloom... Since you were here we have palnted easily as much new stuff as was here when you last saw it. Hey to Kate... Bobert |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 29 Apr 04 - 12:56 PM I don't know what the source was of the Queen Anne lace that is in our lawn, because I don't remember seeing any go to seed last fall, but my lawn on one side of the house looks like solid carrot tops. Not so pleasant an aspect as a big cluster of forget-me-nots! Now that it has been mowed a couple of times they've spread out flat, and look like they're here for the duration. I go out after each rain and spend a few minutes pulling all I see in various patches, just to see what happens. I'm probably clearing the way for the next batch. |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 29 Apr 04 - 02:00 PM I may be nuts, but I love QAL and let it come up where-ever it wants. Drives the kid who mows my grass nuts trying to dodge it. Forget-me-nots---what a neat surprise! Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: GUEST,MMario Date: 30 Apr 04 - 12:33 PM we have Queen Anne's lace and goldenrod in huge drifts on our property - (not at the moment of course) |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: black walnut Date: 30 Apr 04 - 01:32 PM Sounds beautiful MM'o. Two of my favourites, where there's room. I have less room, so I like my black-eyed susans, purple coneflowers and white obedients to wander. My new fences are looking great. 75% finished. Much trampling on perennials and flowering currant bushes. Ugh. Where the giant maple towered last year, covering 4 back yards, we'll replace with paper birch, hackberry and a yet undetermined evergreen. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 30 Apr 04 - 04:07 PM You're going to plant a hackberry on purpose? I can't mow and chop and dig and prune fast enough to keep them contained. There's a big one in the middle of the back yard that the renters before I bought let grow there, and there are hackberries ringing my fence, growing over the cyclone fencing and pushing through the stockade fences. There's a huge one in my next door neighbor's back corner that shades out a bunch of the back of my yard and is going to collapse one of these days. They spring up in the lawn and flower beds. Might as well plant kudzu. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Joybell Date: 30 Apr 04 - 07:05 PM Thank you for the fire-fly tales. True-love took me to the Midwest on a trip to visit his home country and these stories, all of them on this thread, remind me of the wonders we saw. There is a poem by Thomas Moore about Dismal swamp which features, along with doomed lovers, a Fire-fly lamp. I fancy I've heard True-love sing a little piece of a song about them too. I'll ask when he wakes up. It's the time of moths here now. Big Granny moths, soft brown with big eyespots of irridescent green on their wings and tiny pale moths that fly against our windows and get pounced on by Tree Frogs. The annual pilgrimage of Bogong moths will start soon. They fly over us on their way to the High Plains. Since the Dreamtime they have made this migration, steering their course by the stars. Now, sadly, the lights of our cities distract millions of them so that fewer make it to their breeding place on Mount Bogong. If only we could persuade people to turn off the lights for a couple of nights a year. Sigh!. Joy |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: MMario Date: 01 May 04 - 12:31 AM The first of the magnolia blossoms out in our side yard today - the ones both front and back are slower - for some reason the north side tree blossoms first. Also the first azalea blossoms. The wine coloured myrtle is a-blooming - it's ahead of the regular blue. And a few lonely blossoms on the forsythia - where the deer left any... |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: greg stephens Date: 01 May 04 - 05:18 AM Bobert: less of the "sitting in the garden smoking hand rolled cigs" if you please. I gave up on Oct 22, and I'm still going strong. I just sit drinking coffee or tea and look at the bluebells now! |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: black walnut Date: 01 May 04 - 08:26 AM S.R.S. - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! We've read many gardening books that said that hackberries are great for wildlife - but I didn't realize that they had a wild life of their very own!!!!!! Any problems with Kentucky Coffee trees???? ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 May 04 - 11:44 AM black walnut, where are you? I don't know the answer to the coffee tree query. The question isn't so much "any problems with X tree," but "how will this tree do in this climate, part of the garden, with this level of water, cold, etc." It might be GREAT in Kentucky but a weed tree in Mississippi and a stragler in New York. (This is a wild example, I don't know anything about that tree). Don't go to the commercial nursery to ask that question--they have trees they want to push, regardless of their quality. Ask the local forester in your city park department or find a local organic gardening group. You could also go to your state's agriculture university and poke through their plant recommendations. They're bound to have some descriptions of the habits of trees in your area. We have a local commercial nursery that prides itself on well-adapted ornamentals and as many natives as they can manage to propagate. It's called Weston Gardens In Bloom, but their information is pretty specific to this North Central Texas growing region. Who knows, maybe hackberry isn't so bad where you live. But since it's a prolific native here, it isn't something anyone has to plant volunatily. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 May 04 - 11:45 AM Typos typos. Arrgh, this head cold seems to make them worse. "Voluntarily." I saw it the moment I hit the Send button. |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: MMario Date: 01 May 04 - 11:53 AM lloking in a garden catolog last night GOLDENROD @ 8 bucks apiece - bare root!!!! I've got a fortune in my back yard! |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: black walnut Date: 01 May 04 - 02:00 PM S.R.S. - I'm in Toronto, Zone 6a. Hackberries are one of our native trees and it's on the list of trees that the city will plant in one's front yard for free. So it can't be all bad! I think that things do grow a bit slower up here, what with the snow falling all year and all. (kidding - we don't have snow on July 1 - that's why we celebrate Canada Day). The Humber catalogue (the gardener's bible for Southern Ontario imho) says that the hackberry grows in "poor, wet or dry soil...Tolerates wind and pollution and glows in the dark". One reason I like the 176 page Humber catalogue (they no longer print them so if you do own one, don't give it away!) is that they mark all native plants and trees with a maple leaf. I do look in books and websites for more information, but it's a pretty reliable little manual and you can check out the price and availability of a product right away. Kentucky Coffee Trees are also native here. They don't say much about them in the Humber ("A handsome tree...") but everything else I read about them sounds good ("a tree for future generations"). I certainly think I'd rather brush the fallen pods of a coffee tree off my furniture and patio, than sit down in smushed berry juice from a Hackberry Tree. They sound a bit sloppy to me. I'm going to plant a Redbud too. I already have 3 Saskatoon Serviceberries, and the Redbud would be a nice contrast at the other end of the garden. Also 3 river birches, I think. My rhubarb was on the readjusted fence line. It's toast. ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 May 04 - 10:00 PM Hackberry trees don't have berries you eat. They're not like mulberries, they're hard little round things. Hackberry falls within the elm portion of the oak family, so they are subject to parasites like mistletoe. They also have lots of galls on the leaves. The trees seem to survive all of this stuff. Cold and rainy and windy today, but supposed to be nice tomorrow. I made myself go out a couple of times today and I rounded up some cypress bark mulch, plus some topsoil and manure. Along with my compost and soil ammendments I'm gradually building up the soil here. But with this darned cold I have so little energy that I had to take naps between trips. [sigh] Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, but I'll limit myself to putting plants in the beds that were already dug, and putting down the mulch. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 01 May 04 - 11:23 PM Assuming we are all calling the same tree hackberry, it is a nice, though not real sturdy tree here in North Carolina that is not invasive at all. It makes a nice shade tree here, but once large, it does not stand up well to the severe winds we get with summer storms and hurricanes. We have one in the back yard. The most problematic tree I have is my Pecan. The squirrels bury the nuts, and they sprout up everywhere, quickly sinking taproots that make them difficult to pull out. Nip the seedlings at ground level and they just resprout. My old garden roses are starting to bloom now. The poliantha roses won't be far behind, and the peonies will burst open any day. The bearded iris are just past prime, while the dutch iris are nearly finished, and the siberian are in bud. Aphids nearly killed my columbine before I looked closely enough to see what the problem was. (One problem with a big garden and little time is that some plants can kind of get lost and neglected.) The buds are swelling on the peach-leaf bellflower, which is one of my absolutely favorite flowers. Yarrow "Moonbeam" is starting to color up, but it is by far my earliest yarrow. The coreopsis "Early Sunrise" will bloom tomorrow or the next day. I love the way it pops up here and there each year in different places. The bleeding hearts are finished, as are the last of the tulips and late season daffodils. The larkspur is elongating but the buds are just starting to set. The oriental poppies are getting tallo, but there are no signs yet of buds. About half of my dahlias have emerged. Leo, 4 years ago in the middle of January I rescued what I was told was an aster from the garden of a friend's mother who had died. The house was going to be sold and razed. I transpanted 2 plants. Only two. Well. Turns out it was a wild goldenrod. They can be so difficult to key out that I haven't tried to identify it yet--someday--. In the fall it is lovely with tartarian asters, but it is the most invasive creature I have ever had rampage through a garden. These things do well in poor fields. Imagine how it took to my lovingly prepared garden soil. Now it is invading my neighbors lawn, though she doesn't know it yet. I have created a monster! We do have 10 acres of what used to be a farm about 15 miles from here. It has some goldenrod but not alot. Maybe I should move some of this out to there? Help! Here it coooomes....Wake up, Janie. Wake up. Still spring so it isn't actually chasing me yet. What kind of magnolia ya got, Leo? Janie |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: black walnut Date: 02 May 04 - 12:22 PM Serviceberries are JUST ABOUT MAYBE ALMOST going to blossom soon (Toronto). ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: BS: The Spring Garden (N. Hemisphere) From: Janie Date: 02 May 04 - 07:20 PM Rain, rain rain. Yes! Two days of good rain coming down at a rate that the ground can absorb it. Whoopee!!! Janie |
