Mid-Atlantic Musings - Page 3

Oh that is just a lovely pond. You are right RCN come on spring.
orchidfancy, do you have more pictures maybe a link to a thread about your pond I would love to see more. Do you have a heater in that now. I have a heater in mine and I don't like this one at all. We replaced the old heater a couple of years ago when it died. This one is more energy efficient and only keeps a small hole open but it has frozen shut twice this winter and I have found dead fish/frogs.
Bill, LOL I think I may have run into that same truck a time or two myself. I sure hope that it is sunny Fl as my daughter is headed down to Ft. Lauderdale next week for a short winter break.
RCN, Julie is the origination of the Puberty Fairy story.
Ric says the Puberty Fairy comes at night and takes away your sweet little girls and leaves an entirely different child in their place. Good thing is that he comes back later and returns the little girls but now they are lovely young ladies.
Luckly Jen was a whole different story. All my children have different personalities but they are all great people with a love for family,a kind spirit, and willingness to help others.

onewish1... I love that Titmouse! He's a chub!!!

Holly... Tell Ric that if he knows the Puberty fairy, to keep her off for just a bit longer, OK?

I really need to get going this morning but a friend just sent this link to me for a neat idea, intended for bouganvillea but I suppose you could use it for any vine! http://video.pbs.org/video/1372141963/ I didn't make it all the way through the video yet but I'm going back to finish it later - looking at the photos of Meadowbrook Farm is heaven this morning :) My muscles are aching just thinking about bending that rebar but it sure looks interesting!

VWR, Maybe the PF will pass right by your house. LOL I have seen pics of your daughters they are beautiful and your pictures show them as happy and full of wonder.
Oh bending rebar. Got to go look at that. I need some good ideas for the climbing hydrangea I want to plant this spring. It will need something pretty sturdy.

HollyAnns here is another picture of my pond taken later on last summer. The only way to keep the pond from freezing completely and losing the the fish, the frogs etc .. is to keep the pump running all winter. Several years ago my pump died while I was away the person that was supposed to take care of it was not paying attention and I lost all my fish and my frogs that year. A major cleaning mess when the pond thawed. So long as the water circulate it also lets the gases formed at the bottom of the pond to escape everything is fine, otherwise the gases get traped in the water and deplete the pond of oxigen ergo dead critters. I dont use an heater because it is deep enought 4" on one end and 12 on the other. Last week I checked the fish were at the deepest part so they are fine.

hey there Bill.. hope that truck goes away soon!!!

orchidfancy that verry pretty, esp this morning.
That Fairy hits the boys too, makes them stay up late at night with computer games and locks them into a dream sleep till 2 pm in the daytime.

Great bird pics ladies, and the robins, cool! I think all our robins over winter at Longwood Gardens. The day we went there we saw a huge flock of them in spite of the bitter cold.
Orchid, love your pond with the Buddha and naked ladies. We may have lost many of our critters during that bitter cold we had a few weeks ago. I'd been checking our heater and it was working, but it was so cold it was frozen solid under it, thus no vent. Spring will tell.
Debbie, I think that sculpture would be great for a free standing wisteria or trumpet vine in our area. Yes Virginia, there is a puberty fairy! LOL Ric

Orchid! It seems like a while since I've seen posts from you... you've been missed! (and if I was just hanging out on forums where you weren't, well, I was missing you anyway!)

Heading down the street for a play date... gonna make some clay critters. :-)

Sally, Josh was a holy terror. Ric and him did the Alpha Dog dance about once every month. I thought I might have to put them in separate pens. LOL Holly

This message was edited Feb 8, 2010 1:43 PM

WOW RCN that is a neat idea. Ric sent that link to a couple of friends and one to Josh. As a bridge builder he works with rebar all the time. He put a note on the bottom of the e-mail saying Josh your mom wants one of these. Hey Mother's Day is coming up.. Yes?????

Isn't it neat? I know a Bougainvillea is a no-go here but just think of the possibilities! I finally went back and watched the rest of the video and I'm already collecting "ideas" :) For those of you who didn't watch the video, this is what the rebar form looks like - my apologies to the individuals I "borrowed" these photos from! I wouldn't try anything of this magnitude but even on a smaller scale it would be pretty incredible.

A little closer to show how it's held together...Holly, if Josh or Ric beat me to it, I'll want instructions so I can learn from their expertise :)

That is just awesome! I'll be anxious to see what you get out of it, Holly.

A very high powered executive once told me that being the parent of teenage girls was the most humbling experience he ever had, so watch out, VWR!

When they were teenagers, I often told my nieces and nephews how much I missed those cute little trusting people they used to be. I told them how much I loved that they thought I was so cool and fun to be with before they turned into nasty rotten teenagers. I would beg them to bring that darling little person back to play with me. They always got a kick out if it when I would say that. Then, at least for a while, they would try to be more human. Those were definitely tough years, especially with the girls. I watch my sister now with great amusement. She actually thinks her teens are behaving. Her kids tell me the truth.

I know it wouldn't last as long but I wonder if you could do something like that with your black bamboo? Would it bend??? Ric thought it would be a good way to train a wisteria. You know wisteria trunks do eventually get pretty thick. I was thinking about the smaller 8ft one. Josh spent years tying and bending rebar on the bridges before he moved up to a higher position but sometimes he still has to do it. I just love the way they have 3 of them grouped to make a shady spot. Hey those of you looking for more shade for your gardens. RCN you should post that over in the Outdoor living Forum and there is a thread in Garden Talk for arbors and trellises here.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/998886/

Allison & Orchid, those bird shots are fabulous. I especially like that Titmouse.

Orchid, your pond is just lovely. Now I see what you mean about your shade garden. It is very beautiful and I love all of your nicely placed garden objects. More great fodder for our thread!!

Holly, you should read up on climbing Hydrangea. It's not easy to find the right type of supports for them to climb. I considered a number of things before deciding on a tree.

Bill, NOLA definitely needed and deserved that win! Good for them. Years ago I had a young guy say to me, that's a beautiful hangover you've got there. How much did it cost??? Haven't had one since.,

I want to plant the Climbing Hydrangea against the side of the house where you walk though the clipped yew. But it can't grow on the siding unfortunately there is no beautiful brick wall. We will have to come up with some type of trellis that can stand away from the side of the house and still support it. Don't think I would use those rebar trees there for that purpose but maybe somewhere else. I was thinking you could stagger a line of them and make something like an Allee.

It wopuld look breautiful growing on the Yew. Do you think you could rig supports inside the yew?

thanks Stormy.. I record Victory Garden... Randy and I saw that episode.. his first reaction was good luck getting every piece the same.. I would imagine it wouldn't be that easy

No Stormy not on the yew. I don't plant anything very close to the yew. We would like to make a small formal garden over there and I was thinking about some type of formal espalier against the side of the house. Ric and I have been doing some talking about it for years. Looks like we may make a little headway over there this summer. Topic for another project thread. You know how much I love doing project threads. LOL

Step away from my yews! When I prune this spring, I'm thinking of adding a garland in the top 18"s or so and see if I can maintain it. I've been in growth mode for 20+ years, they should be ready for sculpting by now, if the snow hasn't done too much damage. I also want to build an iron gate to put in the arch, more decorative than obstructive. Just possibly I can put to use some of the fifty year collection of blacksmith tools from the barn. Some were my Granddad's, he retired after 50 years as a blacksmith for the Cumberland Valley/Pennsylvania Rail Road back in the 60's. Other smithing tools were acquired by DS, Jamie, who has an affinity for handcrafted works. Time will tell. Ric
This example of topiary garland is from our 2009 visit to La Dew.

The yews are the entry for our secret garden, for which I have many plans, I'd like to share them, but it's a secret. Ric
I started this project from rooted cuttings I got from a friend!

This message was edited Feb 8, 2010 10:37 PM

wow that looks like a lot of work

This is what it looks like from the backside. I'm 6' and don't stoop to walk through. Ric

I sent the wrong pic, Dah! Check out my next post for the corrected version!

This message was edited Feb 8, 2010 10:44 PM

Sorry, wrong pic!! Ric

A garland design would look fabulous... I'd have to spray it out with landscape chalk or something to keep it spaced right as I worked, and who knows how long that would take to wear off LOL.

Holly, That's going to be a fabulous project Can't wait to see it in the making.

Yakety Yack. I'm sure glad I started these threads. We have absolutely no problem keeping them going. LOL

I was actually thinking of using an old piece of garlandorsomething, tied to the surface to guide me in my attempts. Ric

ROFL! That garland design from Ladew is beautiful :) Hanging a "garlandorsomething" might work, or just a piece of rope? Can't wait to see the project photos when you get started :)

Holly, thanks for the link - I can't believe I totally missed ALL three threads! Just finished reading through all of them and I've asked Zuzu to start #4 because #3 was up to 300 posts! I'm sure I can find a few photos to share :)

Allison, I think I'd be lucky if I could just bend the rebar! I guess I'd just hope that whatever I planted on the trellis would cover my mistakes :) We've got plenty of pieces of rebar hanging around here from when Rick tore down the old cattle fences but most of them are only 3' long - maybe I could try a miniature one? LOL

After I finished watching the video I started searching for more rebar ideas! How cool are these? http://www.home.earthlink.net/~rebartrees/ I've been trying to decide what to do with the west side of the house. It's so big and BARE! For some reason we've neglected this area of the gardens for years and it's ready for a makeover :( The large bare wall really needs something to break it up and I had been looking for ideas for some type of trellis or espalier - maybe this would be the perfect spot for a "rebar tree"? LOL (FYI, this picture was taken before we painted the house!)

maybe you can wire wrap the short pieces together???

RCN, I like those rebar trees.

Great ideas!

So...Holly, any thoughts on adding one of these to your "Mother's Day list"? Rick absolutely thinks I've gone off the deep end - "you know how heavy one of those would be? and how the heck do you think you'd get it up there?" Where there's a will there's ALWAYS a way *grin*

"Wire wrap" - that would definitely be my solution because after my fiasco with trying my hand at soldering I won't be picking up a torch any time soon :(

I told Holly, with our torturous weather it would bee better to weld the joints rather than just tie them. I'm actually considering one of these and thinking "Grape Ape". LOL Ric
Debbie, a welder (person) could turn those 3' pieces into 12'ers pretty easily!

I want Randy to teach me to solder!!!

RCN, I was thinking that a mini one of those would be really cool. You could also stand it on a tall inverted pot, or a great "driftwood" tree stump.

I'm still cracking up about Holly putting Rick & Josh in seperate pens.. LOL

I was waiting for a comment on that one. LOL
I was thinking that we have several places that those flat trees might look really nice. RCN I can see Rick looking down and shaking his head right now. But he must admit that your projects always look wonderful. Holly

I don't think that Rick had any idea of what he was in for when he said "I Do" to RCN. That gal is a force of nature!!! LOL