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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Heaven: The green blade re-riseth (gardening thread anew)
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Amos
Shipmate
# 44
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Posted
Yish---Ohio. Around June. Let me give it a think.
If it were England I'd offer one of the little oak trees I've got, grown from acorns I picked up by the Berghaus at Kreisau, where the Kreisau Circle met. But you'd never get it past Customs, small as it is.
Ohio is the Buckeye State: Buckeyes, which are in the same family as English horse chestnuts, are rather beautiful spreading shrubs that flower in the early summer. Somebody clever could provide a link to a picture of one. They grow well in Ohio (well, they would, wouldn't they?).
Lilacs and magnolias are also nice, and would grow well. Lilacs come in different shades of purple, lilac (no kidding!), white, and creamy yellow. They are all fragrant and tend to be bone-hardy. They live a long time and tend to sucker, creating a sort of lilac thicket. Magnolia denudata is perhaps the most beautiful spring-flowering magnolia around, with creamy, lemon-scented flowers before the leaves appear. Magnolia soulangiana 'Rustica Rubra' makes a beautifully shaped spreading small tree, with smooth silvery trunks and huge, chalice-shaped wine-coloured flowers in the spring. If you're interested in going for a magnolia, PM me and I can recommend a good specialist nursery in the US.
You might also plant a Dawn Redwood, metasequoia glyptosporoides (or something like that), a most beautiful tree from (literally) the dawn of time.
There are a number of old-fashioned roses which tend to last a lot longer than the houses they're planted next to, of which the Albas (names like 'Celeste' and 'Cuisse de Nymphe' and 'Rosa Alba Maxima' come to mind). There's a little rose called 'Stanwell Perpetual' which is perhaps my favourite these days: it blooms from spring until frost, is fragrant, spreads slowly to about 4' by 8" and thrives on neglect. I tucked a small plant of it into a pocket of soil on the side of a stone wall in the north of England about 15 years ago. I see it every year, utterly neglected, and slowly getting bigger and more beautiful. Absolutely disease free and never needs spraying. It has double flowers in a clean shade of pink, fading to cream, and ferny foliage.
I'm not sure that a chamomile lawn (which is what seems to have been suggested to you) would flourish in Ohio. It would get baked in the summer and frozen in the winter. They are also a pain in the arse to establish, even in the UK.
Do PM me if I can be of any help.
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At the end of the day we face our Maker alongside Jesus--ken
Posts: 7667 | From: Summerisle | Registered: May 2001
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Amos
Shipmate
# 44
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Posted
I should add that the alba roses are thought to be first crosses between rosa canina (which grows wild in northern europe) and the damask rose, which is from south-eastern europe and the mideast. Stanwell perpetual is a first cross between r. pimpinellifolia (also a wild rose, which grows even further north) and a variety of r. damascena that is continuously flowering.
(IIRC!!) They're not exactly wild roses, but they're very ancient and hardy varieties, and, once established, take care of themselves.
Buddleia are lovely, attract butterflies, and withstand drought. They are not always absolutely winter-hardy in the midwest, but do tend to reseed themselves. Look along any English railway line, and you can see buddleias which have been spread by the birds.
I happen to love cotton-wood trees too: they're native to the American midwest: their leaves have a smooth side and a matte side, and are pinched where they join the twig so that, in a breeze the whole tree shimmers. The cottonwood grows into a big handsome well-shaped tree; you can sit in its shade, and birds will nest in it. It turns golden in the autumn.
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At the end of the day we face our Maker alongside Jesus--ken
Posts: 7667 | From: Summerisle | Registered: May 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Rugosa roses are lovely and pretty much disease free. Even if they DO get a spot of blackspot once in a while, it does the rose no harm. We never spray or do anything for ours, and it's quite happy with us. And we live in the worst spot for roses in the US (well, New Orleans might be worse, but not much).
The leaves have a wonderful texture, sort of neatly crinkled like a fan when it's shut, and a gorgeous dark green. "Blanc Double de Coubert" is the purest white I've ever seen. Thorny as all hell, though--which might be a good thing, if you don't want deer, etc. chomping on it. It's hardy in Ohio, as I believe all the rugosas are. There are others in pink, magenta, white, and I think even stripes!
You can run a rugosa over with a lawnmower and it will come up from the roots the following year, no worse for the experience. Don't ask how I know. ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
[ 26. March 2006, 16:22: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Amos
Shipmate
# 44
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Posted
Rugosas are wild roses---in Japan. Probably the most beautiful rugosa, and the one that would look least like a municipal roadside landscaping effort (which is what they're often used for, since they're resistant to salt and don't mind being run over) is rosa rugosa alba, the white form of the species.
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At the end of the day we face our Maker alongside Jesus--ken
Posts: 7667 | From: Summerisle | Registered: May 2001
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Yish
Shipmate
# 11115
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Posted
Excellent, I'm grateful for the advice. I think roses are definitely towards the top of the present list. Magnolias sound very nice too though, I can't think what they smell like and the smell seems to be important for Al. I'll have a look to see if I can find an image of a Dawn Redwood. I thought the same about the camomile idea but I'm grateful for your expertise. Lilacs might be nice but how do all these flowers go together? Can they be planted next to each other without problems? I'll have to look Buddleia's up too because I've got no idea what they are.
Al will be very grateful to you both. Thanks.
Yish
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http://www.reform.org.il/English/default.htm
Posts: 56 | From: Jerusalem (UK presently) | Registered: Mar 2006
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daisymay
St Elmo's Fire
# 1480
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Posted
Yish,
in my experience a buddleia can overwhelm a rose bush. One got seeded by nature next to our gorgeous yellow rose bush and in a few months it had grown enormous and was massive, the stems turning into thick trunks and the roses being pushed aside. We had to cut it down...
This may be because buddleias flourish wonderfully in London, growing enormous - up to about 20 feet easily at times. I have heard they don't grow so easily elsewhere.
I think that it would need to be planted a decent distance away from the roses....
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London
Flickr fotos
Posts: 11224 | From: London - originally Dundee, Blairgowrie etc... | Registered: Oct 2001
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Amos
Shipmate
# 44
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Posted
Magnolias have a lemony scent (but not like furniture polish!); rugosa roses smell like cloves, very spicy. Lilacs smell like---lilacs. Alba roses smell like very expensive rose perfume--as does the Stanwell Perpetual. Not all roses have scent, so if you're planting roses, make sure you've chosen a variety that is fragrant. Buddleias always smell a bit like honey to me.
Not all of these plants bloom at the same time. In Ohio, the roses won't start blooming before the end of May (and that's only if spring comes early). Lilacs will have finished blooming by then, as will a magnolia (unless you get a summer-flowering variety like magnolia campbellii), though both of these have attractive foliage, so you don't need flowers all year round. Buddleia usually begin flowering later in the summer. The colours buddleia generally come in--deep velvety blue, lavender, pink, white---tend to go well with the sort of colours species roses have. A buddleia in Ohio will not get as big and strong as a buddleia in London. In fact, if you get buddleia alternifolia (which is a really beautiful variety) it may even die down to the ground in a midwestern winter and then come back from the roots in the spring. It's useful when you're choosing plants and planting them to consider how big they're going to get, and then give them enough space that they won't get too crowded when they're full grown. All plants need to be kept from drying up in their first summer so that the roots can get established. After that, if they're hardy, they will take care of themselves. It's also important to dig a big enough hole when planting and to enrich the earth you put back (compost is good, so is well-rotted manure).
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At the end of the day we face our Maker alongside Jesus--ken
Posts: 7667 | From: Summerisle | Registered: May 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Yish:
Excellent, I'm grateful for the advice. I think roses are definitely towards the top of the present list. Magnolias sound very nice too though, I can't think what they smell like and the smell seems to be important for Al. I'll have a look to see if I can find an image of a Dawn Redwood. I thought the same about the camomile idea but I'm grateful for your expertise. Lilacs might be nice but how do all these flowers go together? Can they be planted next to each other without problems? I'll have to look Buddleia's up too because I've got no idea what they are.
Al will be very grateful to you both. Thanks.
Yish
The dawn redwood might be a bit borderline as far as hardiness goes (see this discussion) but more to the point perhaps, the thing is a sequoia, and that means HUGE. I've seen one forty years old which is already so big it takes three people to put their arms around it. Unless you have a really big site with nothing nearby to be dwarfed out or interfered with (think telephone lines, etc.) I'd avoid it. (Probably going to be a bit tough to grow things under, too, like all big trees. The shade and the roots crowd everything else out.)
Buddleias are the same thing as butterfly bushes (their Latin name) which are also sometimes called "summer lilacs." That's because they look very much the same in the way they grow and the way their flowers look. The individual leaves are a bit different, though. They come in white, yellow, lavendar and purple, including one that's very dark.
What about daffodils? Those will come back for fifty years with no care, and nothing but nothing will chew them up. Or peonies--again, a hundred years with little care, and gorgeous. Although some warm, humid places they get fungal disease. I don't know if Ohio is one of those places.
Sure, you can plant lilacs and buddleias together. But it's a good idea to find out how big you can expect them to grow in the end, or you'll find yourself digging them up and moving them in a couple years (like me ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif) ). A mature lilac is, oh, about the size of a volkswagen? Unless you do lots of pruning. But it takes a few years to get that size.
The biggest butterfly bush I've seen is about eight feet tall and maybe 5 feet in diameter. It has been pruned, so maybe eight by six would be a fairer estimate. Easy to prune--you just take off the ground level branches and anything that whacks you in the face. And the dead flowers at the end of the year, if you mind the way they look. (I don't, really.)
Korean lilacs grow a lot more slowly (in my experience) and bloom later. Beautiful smell. Common purple lilacs (syringa vulgaris) are heaven to the nose. Honeysuckle is awesome too, but it would be a good idea to check and make sure you don't get one that's going to be invasive in your area. Some vine up trellises and arches, and some turn into bushes (big ones again, sorry!)
There are also a lot of annuals that reseed themselves from year to year, so you can throw a handful of seeds out there in the (fairly secure) knowledge that they'll be there for years to come. I've had luck with cosmos, cleome and morning glory.
Violets would do nicely under the bigger plants, either the wild violets (I steal them from neighbors who don't want them--why I ask?) or the cultivated ones you get from catalogues. They come back for years and years, and I believe viola odorata is supposed to smell sweetly. And can't forget wild columbine (aquilegia canadiensis) which gets knee high and has little flowers that look like flame. Comes back year after year and seeds itself around the yard.
[ 26. March 2006, 21:30: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Forgot to say--leaves on butterfly bushes look (and grow) like olive leaves. Some are quite silvery, too.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Amos
Shipmate
# 44
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Posted
Hmm. The metasequoia in the Boston Public Garden is not that huge. I recommended that and the cottonwood because Yish said there was a lot of space, and it seemed to me that one possibility was a big tree that would not reach maturity in Al's lifetime. If, for instance, he were to plant a five to ten foot sapling, he could expect it to grow, at most, a couple of feet a year, and possibly an inch in trunk diameter. In ten years' time, it would thus be at most 30' tall. There's something very moving about planting trees whose maturity one will not live to see. It's a gesture of hope: that's why I like it. It's true that not a lot will grow under a big tree. But quite a lot of things will enjoy its shade for the twenty or thirty some years that it's a sapling, and after that, if you're around, you can marvel at your big tree.
Annuals are good too, but they send quite a different message. The common wild violet seeds itself twice yearly: if it's planted in Ohio it will be invasive and will tend to choke out anything else that's planted. That's why they're so good for ground cover. Peonies, once established do last for about a generation, but they require a certain amount of care and attention in the way of fertilizing and cutting back. They're also a bit lacking in the scent department.
Bulbs are lovely. In the Midwest they're not guaranteed to come up every year and multiply, but some of them will, especially the little ones, some of which do have scent. There's a book called 'The LIttle Bulbs' in which the garden writer Elizabeth Lawrence details her correspondence with a gentleman from Ohio (I think--it might have been Indiana) named Krippendorf (or something like that) who had a most beautiful woodland garden of little bulbs---snowdrops, anemone blanda, the smaller narcissus, species crocus and the like. Another possibility is Lily of the Valley: it blooms once a year in the spring, is fragrant, hardy, and, if it's happy, spreads nearly as much as violets.
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At the end of the day we face our Maker alongside Jesus--ken
Posts: 7667 | From: Summerisle | Registered: May 2001
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
The Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostraboides) probably was a native of Ohio at one time - it was known from the fossil record across most of North America and Greenland, but thought to be extinct until it was discovered in the 1940's in a remote part of China. Unlike the other Redwoods it is deciduous - the needles turn bronze in the autumn and drop off. This may or may not be appropriate, depending whether you want the memorial to signify ever-living or cyclic rebirth.
There is also a variety called 'Gold Rush' with yellow foliage that turns gold in the autumn - ours seems to be taking its time getting established, and doesn't do well in the heat.
The Sierra Redwood (Sequoiadendron Giganteum) has a beautiful shape and grows fairly quickly, though it won't reach full size for a millenium or two. I see many of them planted around the old farms here 50 to 100 years ago.
The common Buddleia variety is considered an invasive species here, but there are others such as Buddleia japonica or Buddleia alternifolia that are better behaved. I'll have to check the hardiness on them when I get a chance.
With any plant (and especially a larger tree), the important thing will to make sure it gets enough water for the first year or two while the roots are getting established - this is especially important during the heat of summer. For planting in June, you may do better with a plant in a large pot (where the roots are well established) rather than a "B&B" (a root ball wrapped in burlap).
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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babybear
Bear faced and cheeky with it
# 34
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Posted
It is the elder cub's birthday today and Gremlin bought her some flowers. Very striking flowers they are too.
I am looking for some help in identifing them. All Gremlin remembers is that they are from Columbia. The stems of the flowers are about the diameter of a finger, and the flower part itself is about 20cm (8") long and is a lovely soft pink. The petals are all overlapping, rather like this pine cone. The leaves are a rich dark green and is a similar shape to this hosta. However, the leaves are far longer that the hosta, easily 50cm long. One of the leaves is a rich dark purple-y green. It is smaller than the others, so it could be that the leaves start out very dark and then lighten off to a dark green as they grow.
If anyone has got the foggiest what this plant might be I would love to know. Or if anyone knows of a plant identifier that I could use to track down this plant that would also be very helpful.
Posts: 13287 | From: Cottage of the 3 Bears (and The Gremlin) | Registered: May 2001
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babybear
Bear faced and cheeky with it
# 34
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Posted
I have continuted searching and found a picture of the flowers.
I have been hampered in my search because I didn't know that the correct spelling of the country was 'Colombia'. I have been searching on 'Columbia'. Wiki says that Columbia a historic and poetic name for the US. I had never heard of that before.
Posts: 13287 | From: Cottage of the 3 Bears (and The Gremlin) | Registered: May 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
I think it's a bromeliad, probably guzmania. I'm also pretty sure that the leave shown on the image you found are NOT from the same plant as the flowers shown--the leaves are from a peace lily, which is white.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Catrine
Shipmate
# 9811
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Posted
We moved into a new house recently which has a reasonably sized garden that is entirely made of gravel.
Does anyone know of some good online resources to help design a garden. Mr C wants a brick barbeque and some decking. I on the other hand just want some plants to lovingly care for.
We can't really afford a landscape gardener either.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
Posts: 2614 | From: Midlands | Registered: Jul 2005
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Anna B
Shipmate
# 1439
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Posted
Got the blackcurrant bushes (five Ben Lomond and five Hilltop Baldwin) into the ground yesterday and planted an Aromatnaya quince tree and Heritage raspberries earlier this week.
Does anyone have a notion of what to do about rabbits, other than acquiring a dog or a gun? I have seen very large ones hovering about the tool shed and suspect they've got a warren under there. ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
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Bad Christian (TM)
Posts: 3069 | From: near a lot of fish | Registered: Oct 2001
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Rossweisse
High Church Valkyrie
# 2349
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Posted
Most of the Chicago suburbs have animal control departments that will either come and trap the animals themselves or lend you the traps. Most of them take (or tell you to take) the animals a fair distance -- usually to a forest preserve -- and release them. (That strikes me as unfair to the people and animals already in the other places, but nobody asked me. I will note, however, that rabbit is pretty yummy when cooked properly.)
Ross // It's wabbit season!
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I'm not dead yet.
Posts: 15117 | From: Valhalla | Registered: Feb 2002
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Anna B
Shipmate
# 1439
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Posted
Thanks for the tip, Ross.
It is a fine day here; I got my apple tree into the ground. It has five antique varieties grafted onto one rootstock: Pound Sweet, Golden Russet, Roxbury Russet, Summer Rambo and Fameuse (Snow Apple).
The blackcurrants and raspberries look happy in their new home. I don't know about the quince tree. It looks kind of sullen, as if it were harboring fantasies of life in the Caucasus.
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Bad Christian (TM)
Posts: 3069 | From: near a lot of fish | Registered: Oct 2001
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Corpus cani
Ship's Anachronism
# 1663
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Posted
I asked Craddock to clear some beds to put veg in, but to replant anything that looked like it would do well elsewhere.
The hoards of primula have gained a new life - especially the yellow ones for some reason - but the flowering quince completely disappeared. I asked why and, with typical Craddockesque bluntness, was told "'Sdead."
Never mind bunnies - what about bloody grey squirrels ("rats in cute suits" as an American chum calls 'em)? I don't really mind them sharing the bird food, but I do object to them eating the bottom of the bird feeders so that all the nuts fall out and then whizzing away with them. The furry swine can clear 1/2 lb of peanuts in quarter of an hour.
I've just noticed too that, when they sit on the feeder chomping nuts, they eat three or four, then take the next and bury it in the garden. [So cute!] I'm awaiting the moment when they start growing and I can claim the crown from Jimmy Carter as the peanut growing king of the world!
I love the birds too, but they're no better. Only today, I've covered the peas, beans and veg beds with netting but I'm sure there's nothing left to protect. The Feathered Storm Troopers have already stripped everything I've planted.
Thank God the dog's home to patrol the borders...
Cc
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Bishop Lord Corpus Cani the Tremulous of Buzzing St Helens.
Posts: 4435 | From: Trumpton | Registered: Nov 2001
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Zorro
Shipmate
# 9156
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Posted
I have a shoot of bamboo which I grow in water. It's about 40-50 cms in length, and is very healthy.
The thing is, I'd like to see just how big I can get it in as little time as possible. Can I add anything to it's water? Would it be pointless?
Thanks in advance!
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It is so hard to believe, because it is so hard to obey. Soren Kierkegaard
Well, churches really should be like sluts; take everyone no matter who they are or whether they can pay. Spiffy da wondersheep
Posts: 2568 | From: Baja California (actually the UK but that's where my fans know me from) | Registered: Mar 2005
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Run away run away run away!
Bamboo is the Thing that Ate Tokyo. You do not, repeat DO NOT, want to encourage it. (Unless you're just perverse that way. )
No, seriously, as long as you've got it in a little vase with a security guard watching it 24 hours a day to be sure it doesn't take over the kitchen, you're probably safe. But why take risks?
There are whole cities in California where it's illegal to plant the stuff at all. ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Rossweisse
High Church Valkyrie
# 2349
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Posted
Lamb Chopped speaks the truth.
A friend of mine planted some yellow groove bamboo, after admiring a grove of same at a nearby botanical garden. The thing is, said botanical garden has a full-time staff to keep the stuff in line. My friend finally moved to get away from it, and estimates it's about to take over the far right lane of southbound I-270 any day now.
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I'm not dead yet.
Posts: 15117 | From: Valhalla | Registered: Feb 2002
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
I know that garden (the botanical one, I mean). They MOW for yards and yards in every direction in order to keep their bamboo stand from spreading. Then they invite the local Asian population to come and get free bamboo shoots. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
Wish they were half as willing to give away the lovely tropical fruit in their huge greenhouse.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Zorro
Shipmate
# 9156
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Posted
Well, I'm not in California, and the variety I've got doesn't seem too intent on growing. Is it possible to see how big it can get in as short a space of time?
Would Baby Bio work, for example?
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It is so hard to believe, because it is so hard to obey. Soren Kierkegaard
Well, churches really should be like sluts; take everyone no matter who they are or whether they can pay. Spiffy da wondersheep
Posts: 2568 | From: Baja California (actually the UK but that's where my fans know me from) | Registered: Mar 2005
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
High nitrogen fertilizer will help it to grow, although it may outgrow the ability for the roots to support it.
The thing to remember with bamboo, however, is that when the shoots appear they are already as large in diameter as the resulting stalk will get. Being a grass, they don't grow outward the way trees do. So you might be able to get it to grow a bit longer, but not really any thicker.
Bamboos come in many different sizes. Some will grow to 10 metres while others only get to 10cm. If you have one of the smaller varieties, you can't grow it into a tall one.
Bamboo in the garden can be (mostly) contained by a 70cm/2 foot container, such as a large pot inserted
into the ground with the bottom cut out. The larger types may go down a metre, but for most garden varieties this will keep the surface roots from spreading. Be ever vigilent, however.
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Corpus cani
Ship's Anachronism
# 1663
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Posted
Three simple words - "Ground Elder - Help!"
The wretched stuff has sprung up so quickly and is growing between (and even through) other plants. What's the best way (any way? the only way?) to get rid of it?
I'm guessing weedkiller wouldn't help because of all the other plants. Don't really want to use it anyway - too muchchance of finding Canis cani and the SBs on their backs with their legs in the air!
Corpus
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Bishop Lord Corpus Cani the Tremulous of Buzzing St Helens.
Posts: 4435 | From: Trumpton | Registered: Nov 2001
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daisymay
St Elmo's Fire
# 1480
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Posted
Me too - help!
I've sprayed it in the minigarden where I work with poison I bought from the local Woolworths. It says it is not poisonous to children or animals. You spray the leaves and let it get absorbed into the leaves and then down the roots. It has worked in the past - it gets brown and dry and doesn't continue to prosper, but it may need doing more than once. Yu have to be very careful only to spray the ground elder leaves as it will kill the plants we truly want more easily IMO.
[ 14. April 2006, 18:12: Message edited by: daisymay ]
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London
Flickr fotos
Posts: 11224 | From: London - originally Dundee, Blairgowrie etc... | Registered: Oct 2001
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Yangtze
Shipmate
# 4965
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Corpus cani:
Three simple words - "Ground Elder - Help!"
...
Eat it. Well according to this site the leaves can be used as a spring leafy green similar to spinach.
So don't try and get rid of it, just tell yourself and everyone else that it's one of your foodcrops - at least you know the birds aren't going to take all of it.
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Arthur & Henry Ethical Shirts for Men
organic cotton, fair trade cotton, linen
Sometimes I wonder What's for Afters?
Posts: 2022 | From: the smallest town in England | Registered: Sep 2003
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Corpus cani
Ship's Anachronism
# 1663
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Posted
Oh! - meant to add that I've found a temporary solution to the Squirrel Peril. Coated the pole of the bird feeder with olive oil. You should see the buggers jump up then slide down again. Most fulfilling!
I'll have a go with the weedkiller if it's safe - thanks. Not sure about eating it though!
Cc
[ 14. April 2006, 19:31: Message edited by: Corpus cani ]
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Bishop Lord Corpus Cani the Tremulous of Buzzing St Helens.
Posts: 4435 | From: Trumpton | Registered: Nov 2001
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Zorro
Shipmate
# 9156
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Posted
Thanks, Carex, I'll get right onto it.
3 weeks, and many metres of new bamboo later ![[Snigger]](graemlins/snigger.gif)
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It is so hard to believe, because it is so hard to obey. Soren Kierkegaard
Well, churches really should be like sluts; take everyone no matter who they are or whether they can pay. Spiffy da wondersheep
Posts: 2568 | From: Baja California (actually the UK but that's where my fans know me from) | Registered: Mar 2005
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Poppy
Ship's dancing cat
# 2000
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Posted
Ground elder is the spawn of Satan. Don't try and dig it up as every tiny bit that breaks off and is left in the soil will come back 7 fold.
What you need to do is get some glyphosphate in in the 'paint on' variety rather than the spray. Carefully apply the glyphosphate to a couple of leaves on every plant. It sounds tedious but this stuff is liquid death so you can imagine that the leaf is a pupil, the DfES, governors, OFSTED or whatever.
If you can't be bothered to take this approach then put some pea sticks in the ground near to the ground elder. It will grow up the pea sticks and provides a better target to spray with the weedkiller. Just be careful that you protect the other plants.
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At the still point of the turning world - there the dance is...
Posts: 1406 | From: mostly on the edge | Registered: Dec 2001
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daisymay
St Elmo's Fire
# 1480
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Posted
I agree about avoiding every bit of a plant we want to keep alive. the poison goes down through the leaf to the roots.
I was doing the spraying very, very carefully and neatly, about an inch away from them at the most, on the leaves, which have just suddenly whizzed up - ground elder obviously recognises the time when the weather is just right ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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London
Flickr fotos
Posts: 11224 | From: London - originally Dundee, Blairgowrie etc... | Registered: Oct 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
This may be a myth, but I have heard some story about roots interconnecting and people losing good plants to the poison placed on bad ones. Hopefully not, but.... anyone know?
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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daisymay
St Elmo's Fire
# 1480
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Posted
That's what I'm worried about... I planted some new plants and bulbs and I don't want them hurt... but the earth is just full of the roots from the ground elder and we've got to deal with it, ot let it grow mad and produce those lovely big creamy flowers from wild places. No good in a garden the size of a small room....
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London
Flickr fotos
Posts: 11224 | From: London - originally Dundee, Blairgowrie etc... | Registered: Oct 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
I'd suggest trying it on, say, half the area and then waiting a week to see what happens. If no problems, then you're in luck! If problems (which I really doubt,though) then at least you haven't lost the whole thing.
Alternately (shudder) dig up EVERYTHING and sift all the dirt, keeping the bulbs and discarding the elder.
(Or.... Say loudly, right in front of the ground elder, how happy you are that it's living there, and how you really hope it will flourish because a) it's pretty b) it's edible c) you plan to sell it or d) all of the above. That should ensure it dies off in a week.)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Rossweisse
High Church Valkyrie
# 2349
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Zorro:
Well, I'm not in California, and the variety I've got doesn't seem too intent on growing. Is it possible to see how big it can get in as short a space of time?
Nor am I; I'm in the Midwest. But if you really want to live dangerously, you could ask at your local garden center. I know there are potions to put in hydroponic gardens that should help.
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I'm not dead yet.
Posts: 15117 | From: Valhalla | Registered: Feb 2002
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
I'm glad to see you're in Baja. It'll give my Orange Country relatives a few extra minutes to start running.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Mamacita
Lakefront liberal
# 3659
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Posted
My forsythias need help! There are four large ones along my back border and they have become horribly overgrown and spindly, with branches almost strangling one another. They have not been cut back for several years. I cut out quite a bit of deadwood earlier this week (casualties of our dry late summer and weird winter) but I left the flowering branches alone for now. I think it must need a really radical pruning, but I'm not sure when (i.e., can I do it once the flowering is done, or must I wait until the end of the summer) or how far back (cut it down to about 3 feet high?). Suggestions welcome!!
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Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
Posts: 20761 | From: where the purple line ends | Registered: Dec 2002
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
I would like some advice on what to plant in the planters at either end of my deck. One of them gets sunlight for about four hours a day; the other gets virtually no sunlight.
I had thought of impatiens, but I intend to put impatiens in the hanging basket on my porch and in a narrow strip of ground beside the porch door. I love impatiens, but a little variety would be nice.
I want to plant the same flowers in both deck containers, and I would like to plant something that will bloom all summer.
I would be very glad for any suggestions.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Moo, try caladiums (caladia?). They're leaves, but more colorful than most flowers, and if the other only gets four hours of sun, it will probably be as happy as the one in shade.
Mamacita, take this with a wee pinch of salt, but this is what I know about pruning. You can do it as soon as the flowering stops. (Heck, you can do it sooner, but you'll lose the flowers.)
It's best not to just take a hedge trimmer to the thing and whack it all down to three feet out (unless you like the gumdrop shape). What I've been doing to my lilacs, honesuckle, etc. is taking out the worst or oldest branches from the bottom--that is, trace them all the way back into the stump, and cut them there, where they first come out. Don't just whack a branch halfway along its total length. That looks weird and tends to result in funky new branches coming out at weird angles.
First get the deadwood out, if any; then anything that looks diseased, spindly and weak, oddly shaped and unattractive, reaching out to slap people in the face, or growing back in toward the center of the bush. Also, if you have two branches crossing and rubbing against each other, take one out. This will probably leave you with a much cleaner, open-er bush.
Then, if it still needs more trimming in your eyes, start taking out the longest branches, again, working from the base. That way the whole bush appears to magically shrink, and no one knows why. It just looks younger and smaller.
I probably wouldn't take out more than 1/3 of the total mass of the bush in one year--deadwood and sick branches don't count. You could probably go safely as high as 1/2, but I'm being conservative, since they're your bushes and not mine.
If you want to get ambitious, you can shape the things through pruning, too. My honeysuckles have long branches that tend to grow up and then gracefully trail down, right where they slap me in the face. I don't like that. But I don't just want to take them out. So what I do is to follow the upward arch of the branch out to the top, locate a bud or young branch that is heading upward from that point, and then take off the rest of the main branch just past that bud. That way all the energy goes into the new bud/branch, which is still heading upward, and when it finally gets long enough itself to start weeping over, it will be safely above face level. ![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif)
Good luck! LC
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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babybear
Bear faced and cheeky with it
# 34
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Posted
I was given a seedling Seville orange tree for Christmas. It is growing and now has 13 leaves. It is a healthy little thingy, and I want to keep it that way.
Should I be thinking about re-potting the slightly-bigger-than-seedling? It is as tall as the pot is deep, and the pot is 10cm internal diameter. I haven't been feeding it through the winter, but I reckon I should now be looking into feeding the thing.
I have never had an orange tree before, and I have been waiting for the soil to get quite dry before giving a good soaking and draining. Does this sound about right?
Posts: 13287 | From: Cottage of the 3 Bears (and The Gremlin) | Registered: May 2001
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Moth
Shipmate
# 2589
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Mamacita:
My forsythias need help! There are four large ones along my back border and they have become horribly overgrown and spindly, with branches almost strangling one another. They have not been cut back for several years. I cut out quite a bit of deadwood earlier this week (casualties of our dry late summer and weird winter) but I left the flowering branches alone for now. I think it must need a really radical pruning, but I'm not sure when (i.e., can I do it once the flowering is done, or must I wait until the end of the summer) or how far back (cut it down to about 3 feet high?). Suggestions welcome!!
I prune mine as soon as flowering is finished. I cut them back pretty hard, and prune again in late summer if they still look too big. They haven't died yet under such treatment, but don't sue me!
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"There are governments that burn books, and then there are those that sell the libraries and shut the universities to anyone who can't pay for a key." Laurie Penny.
Posts: 3446 | From: England | Registered: Apr 2002
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by babybear:
I was given a seedling Seville orange tree for Christmas....
Should I be thinking about re-potting the slightly-bigger-than-seedling?
The key is when it gets rootbound - when the roots take up most of the available space in the pot. If the seedling wiggles in the pot, it hasn't filled out
yet, so leave it there a while longer. If it has been recently potted and the roots haven't grown out to fill the pot, you can lose a lot of dirt from around the roots when you transplant it.
Ideally you would transplant the tree when it has filled the pot enough that you can turn it upside down and slip the pot off without any of the dirt dropping off as well, but not to the point where the roots have wrapped several times around the pot and there isn't enough dirt left to hold water.
Eventually you will certainly want it in a larger pot - perhaps as large as 20 litres once it gets larger. Some slow-release fertilizer will be good to mix in with the potting soil, but try to avoid shocking it with sudden applications of highly-soluable fertilizer.
I was surprised to find that citrus were very popular houseplants in eastern Russia.
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
No, if they really are spiders they are a Good Thing for the plant.
All spiders without exception are carnivores. The more spiders you have the less insects you get. Tiny spiders will eat the tiny insects you don't notice but your plant will.
Of course if they are not really spiders but in fact mites then they might well be a Bad Thing for the plant. So you must look at them closely to be sure!
A real web is a dead giveaway - nothing but spiders spin webs. But some other multilegged thingies use superficially similar silk to make other sorts of sticky structures.
Ticks won't harm plants but, unlike spiders, they might harm you. But these won't be ticks.
Basically spiders in the house are good for you and good for plants. Ticks are bad for you and irrelevant to plants. Mites can be either, but most are so small you won't see them unless you go around with a binocular microscope.
Other spiderlike things are mostly harmless. Opiliones can be cute, Solifugids are really really Not Cute, but you probably don't have them unless you live in some Evil Hot Place. Scorpions? - well, you wouldn't be asking about them here
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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PhilA
shipocaster
# 8792
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Posted
I want to start this post by saying that I hate gardening. I'm not interested in it and I don't like it. Its not fun, its not interesting - its boring.
However, I have a garden and neighbours who frown when walking past and kids who complain that they can't play in it. I decided to re-do the front lawn as it was basically moss with bits of grass in it. So, I rotivated (sp?) it, raked it, planted the grass seed, raked it again, flattened it all down and left it, watering it when God didn't.
This was last week. So far nothing. Not a sausage. Not a single blade of grass - nadda.
Please tell me, oh green fingered ones what can grow stuff, tell me what to do.
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To err is human. To arr takes a pirate.
Posts: 3121 | From: Sofa | Registered: Nov 2004
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by PhilA:
Please tell me, oh green fingered ones what can grow stuff, tell me what to do.
Wait for the seeds to sprout.
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Mrs. Candle
Shipmate
# 9422
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Posted
You might want to try a thyme lawn. There are xeric varieties that only need to be watered until they are established and some kinds can be walked on quite a bit without too much damage. The other advantage is-no mowing!
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Je suis le président de Burundi.
Posts: 869 | From: CO elev. 4960 ft. | Registered: Apr 2005
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PhilA
shipocaster
# 8792
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Carex:
quote:
Originally posted by PhilA:
Please tell me, oh green fingered ones what can grow stuff, tell me what to do.
Wait for the seeds to sprout.
But how long does this take? It said on the seed packet 7 days. It has now been 8 days and I still have a large area of mud with nothing else growing on it.
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To err is human. To arr takes a pirate.
Posts: 3121 | From: Sofa | Registered: Nov 2004
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babybear
Bear faced and cheeky with it
# 34
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Posted
What do you mean 'mud'? Are you meaning real mud, or just plain earth? The seeds aren't going to be too happy about mud, but earth should be fine. If the seeds get too wet they will start to rot instead of germinating.
Does that patch get much sun? If it is in shade then the ground might not yet be warn enough to help with the germination. Have a little patience. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
If these seeds don't take, then do have another go. You will not have to do it all again. There would be no need to rotivate.
Did you get your seed fresh this year? Old seed can have problems germinating.
Posts: 13287 | From: Cottage of the 3 Bears (and The Gremlin) | Registered: May 2001
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