Chicago - the Windy City! (and, it's not just our politics!)

Just received two small trees from Klehms - a cornus alternifolia "Golden Shadow" and an amelanchier "Forest Prince" - and planted them yesterday. Today, the wind is gusting to 40 MPH!! The little things were really being buffeted, so I put stakes on them just for the next few days.

Received 5 tiny (one foot) bareroot amelanchier stolonifera shrubs last week from Prairie Moon and those are OK, I think. I surrounded them with a circle of chicken wire staked into the ground so squirrels won't nibble. Although, at this point, there's nothing to nibble at - no leaves! I cut a tiny stem to see if it was green and it is, so maybe they're just slow. It was funny, though - I asked a guy at Pesches Garden Center (one of my favs) if he thought the chicken wire thing would help with mauraders and wind. He looked at me and said, "Well it ain't very classy lookin'!" : ) Hey - just want to protect them for a bit without putting up convoluted staking systems!

But, this wind - my gosh, it's STRONG!!!

The hot, dry wind was terrible yesterday. I haven't been outside yet to see what was wind burned. I'm sure the delicate new leaves on my Dogwood and Japanese Maple got hit. All I could do was look out the window and see my ornamental trees bending to the north. I'm especially worried about my JM, it was new last year. There are lots of maple tree seeds on the sidewalk. I sure don't want those things sprouting up in the yard later on like they did a few years ago. Today is nice and calm, thank goodness. You should keep your new trees staked/protected for a while. We can still get big wind in May.

Well, the nice thing is that the maple seeds blew off when they were still green. Since they're not ripe, they won't germinate like they usually do! (Hopefully . . .)

Yes, and NOAA says it will be "breezy" today. Hah! The bird feeders are clanking around again. I also just got some A. stolonifera from Prairie Moon. They are resting moistened in a sheltered spot. I had planned on planting them this evening so I'm thinking of ways to keep them from blowing over. They are small but stout and have lots of nice buds.

Tornado Warning tonight. Spring is here.

My opinion of the Maple seeds changed some a few years ago after I noticed the squirrels running all over the yard eating as many as they could. They seemed to thoroughly enjoy them.

Oh, almost forgot.

I just ordered a bunch of plants from Bluestone: Columbines, Hydrangeas, Monardas, Lamiums, Heucheras, Hostas, Salvias, Asters, Gaillardias, Dianthus, Daylilies, Spiraea.

I'm now about to head over to Home Depot to see what they have for their perennial sale that started yesterday - 5 for $10.00!

By the way, any of you that live near a Platt Hill - they have a nice selection this Spring of Heucheras & Heucherellas, including the "brand-new-this-year" Sweet Tea Heucherella. (See some of the posts in the various Heuchera threads).

That's funny - I looked out the window just before I sat down at the computer just now and saw a squirrel eating a maple seed! They love them!

Grrrlgeek, your A. stolonifera only has buds, too? I was worried about mine, but the buds on a couple are swelling a bit. I bought 5 and the others don't have too many buds and they're not swelling. The peat was dry when it came, so I called Prairie Moon and they said they'd send me 5 more, but I thought I'd wait a bit. It's been 1 and 1/2 weeks, so I think I'll call about the three that seem dead. I like Prairie Moon though. A few years ago, I got 3 starry solomons plumes from them when I was out of town. Hubby didn't know what to do with them, so he stuck 'em in the garage for a week. They were dry as bone when I got home, but I planted them and now have about 10 in my yard!

Oh - Nuts about nature, this is eerie! I was just about to go to Home Depot to get some forsythia Lynwood Gold I saw there yesterday for - get ready - $4 A POT!!! Never had a real burning passion for forsythia, but there's a long south side of my house that's mighty bare!

Maybe I should saunter over to Home Depot. I did almost grab some 1.25/6 pack annuals at Lowes last week, but it was supposed to get cold and I didn't want to mess with covering/bringing in/whatever. It looks like the lowest temp predicted in the 10 day forecast is 44, so maybe it's safe-ish.

Sherri, I only got 2 A. stolonifera, and didn't really expect them to be leafed out yet. Both have nice buds, and some of them are swelling.

Grab 'em while they still have them. Saturday morning they'll be packed, especially if it pours tonight. It's getting very dark & threatening out, but I'm going anyway.

Thanks for the A. stolonifera info, grrrlgeek! I just spoke to Steve at Prairie Moon and he's sending me 5 more because the peat was dry in shipping. I promised I'd pay for the replacements if they woke up and I sure will. I love Prairie Moon!

Well . . . sounds like we're all headed to Home Depot tonight! Happy plant shopping!

We didn't get the predicted storm here last night. It rained and there was lightning east of us, but no wind. So far it's calm outside, but it's only 6:30. Lots of sticks in the yard. Glad to hear the Maple seeds are too green to germinate. They're everywhere.

It rained pretty heavy by us, pastime, but we're North East of you. It started coming in the windows so we closed the windows and actually turned on the air conditioner to get rid of some of the humidity. Wow, it's too early for the air conditioner!

I'm east of both of you and it didn't start raining 'till around 9:00pm and then, not much. Lots of lightning though! I love this weather!

The plants LOVE lightning. Notice how they perk up?

By the way, everyone, how did the various Home Depot shopping trips turn out? The one I went to (we have three in our area) only had a couple types of perennials left. Supposedly getting more on Tuesday or Wednesday. I bought a Heuchera called "Melting Fire". Never heard of it, but it's a very pretty deep reddish-brown. Plant Files listed it & had some pictures. Very definitely worth $2.00!

Well, I bought two ninebark "Midnight Wine" shrubs (love the name!), two dwarf barberry aureo nana gold (I'm sure that's spelled wrong, but I'm too lazy from planting them to look it up), and three of the forsythia "Lynwood Gold" . . . all for $61!! Woo hoo! My Home Depot had the five for $10 sale, but they were all sad lookin' little violets and bugleweed. : ( Bummer. Well . . . tomorrow is the Schaumburg Garden Club's native plant sale at Spring Valley Nature Center. I'll head out there and try not to buy any plants. Just look at the scenery. Really, I will!! : )

WOW sherriseden - that's a great price!! They all sound beautiful, too!

The 5-for-$10.00 plants at my Home Depot were really scraggly, also, but I love Heucheras so I decided to dig through them as long as I was there. I probably found the only good one on the whole rack. I set it outside last night in a large, empty clay flower pot for protection from the weather & by this morning it looked really good & nice a shiny.

I've never been to the Schaumburg Garden Club Native plant sale, but I love the Spring Valley Nature Center. We used to live in Schaumburg and really enjoyed their Maple Syrup Festival. I'd be curious to find out how successful you were with your "window-shopping".





This message was edited May 1, 2010 10:59 PM

Nutsaboutnature, sounds like your little Heuchera knew you were taking care of it and it perked up! Well, I was successful in not buying more plants at the native plant sale . . . because I didn't go! Woke up with a cold and I just didn't want to tromp around in the mud trying to see the plants - it gets really crowded. Oh, well, lots more plant sales to come . . .

Hi sherriseden,
Oh, I'm so sorry you have a cold - it's no fun!! Take care of yourself, there will always be more plants to buy.

There were several native plant sales this weekend I considered going to. There was one not far from me in Barrington yesterday, but I wasn't able to go. Today there was the Schaumburg sale & one in Crystal lake at McHenry College. After spending a little time on their web sites this morning I decided to try to do both - big mistake!

The Crystal lake sale didn't open till noon so I headed to Schaumburg, but left later than I should have. Although all the volunteers were very nice it felt really disorganized with how they were doing the numbers. The lady handing them out had them all mixed up & I heard several people complain about it. Only one of the plants I really wanted was still available & it took over an hour to get it (Cardinal Flower). I did find out that they're still going to take orders for rain barrels, which is something my husband & I would like. He was originally going to build one, but their prices are very good - $50.00 for a recycled polypropylene one complete with a screen top & spout for a hose.

Anyway, by the time I got out of there I got to Crystal Lake just in time to watch them closing down. They were very nice & said I was welcome to look, but I was worn out & decided to just head home.

I stopped at a Menard's because their perennials are on sale (they were $2.50, but they've marked them down to $2.00, probably because of Home Depot's sale). I bought some Veronica Speedwells (giles van hees) & some Dianthus, all in very nice condition.

Hope you're feeling better real soon. Sorry you missed the sale, but it's probably just as well. You probably would have been standing around for a long time. I think in the future if I want to go I'll use their online "pre-ordering" to guarantee I get what I want as I think they run out of popular items quickly.

it's windy again today.

i'm out back with my 'notes' ... i'm chasing papers, plant markers [plastic ones] and the china marker all over the yard. tried weighting them down, that didnt work either. eventually brought them back inside.

I'm taking a break from planting until the sun starts going down... quite warm out there - then the added stress of being planted.

then i HOPE for some rain tonight, or at least tomorrow like forecasted.

TCS, they SAY rain, but it looks gorgeous . . . so we can only hope!

nutsaboutnature, I'm so sorry about the fiasco at Schaumburg - I should have warned you! But I only alluded to the crowds and yes, it is quite disorganized unless you order ahead. They're nice people, but . . .

I can say, though, that I planted two gorgeous aronia melancarpa shrubs I got from them 5 years ago, and they're gorgeous. It really just has to do with ordering ahead.

For those in this neck of the woods, there are native plant sales this weekend at Prairie Crossing and at the Lake County Forest Preserve (at Independence Grove). Should be interesting.

Wow, how about those storms last night!.......Wait a minute..........we never had any storms last night.............oh well, who believes the weatherman, anyway!

sherriseden, sorry if it sounded like I was complaining about the Schaumburg sale. I didn't mean it to. I really am thrilled that I got the Lobelia Cardinalis, which is one of the plants I wanted to add to my, "I-have-way-too-much-shade", Hummingbird Garden. We're in an area with mature trees everywhere & though I wouldn't want to change that one bit - it's the reason we have so many birds & other wildlife - I'm always looking for new plants that will work well in the shady areas, particularly an area in the back of the property that gets very wet after spring thaw.

grrrlgeek, thanks for the info on the native plant sales this weekend. It might be worth making a little drive. With the popularity of native plants on the rise (really nice to see) these sales have been drawing big crowds. They told me at the Crystal Lake sale that there was an hour wait as soon as the doors opened!

Take a drive down to St. Charles sometime and check out The Natural Garden. www.thenaturalgardeninc.com

They have lots of native plants.

Thanks pastime!
I bet several of us would enjoy "The Natural Garden". I believe I've seen their ad in "Chicagoland Gardening", but then forgot about it.

I just clicked on the link you posted & they look like a great place for natives as well as other types of plants. Apparently, they're changing to an "order-and-pick-up" system for retail customers, but that's o.k. - If you know what you want in advance (& do your research on DG) It's like mail order, but with no shipping charges.

Also, their new system would be great for those of us that are too far away to go there on a regular basis. It allows you to plan what you want & then make one trip for everything.

I grew up in St. Charles and the Natural Gardens was one of my main stops with my mother. It started many, many years ago with one man who had too many Iris. He started it as a "dig-your-own" place. I still have some of the plants I dug up there in the 70's. If Mr. Stephens were alive today, he'd be amazed at how it's changed. If you come out this way, you might as well stop at Planter's Palette in Wheaton on Rt. 38 too. It's not as picturesque as the Natural Gardens, but it's huge and they have tons of plants. They are a little on the expensive side though. If you're really in the mood for a road trip, there's Bleumen Gardens in Sycamore. they have a great selection of prairie plants and hostas, and all sorts of unique, antique cast iron garden pieces. I don't know where he gets all that stuff. He must hit a lot of estate auctions. There's also The Growing Place in Naperville too. I haven't been there, but my DD says it's really nice.

That's my two cents worth of places to visit in the far west burbs.

Diana

Thanks Diana,
Great info. I especially like the story about how the Nature Gardens got started.

Hi Everyone,

I've been to the places mentioned except for Bleumen Gardens, I think my neighbor and I will have to go there sometime this summer, sounds like a fun place to go. I'm glad I popped in on this thread! We stopped at Natural Gardens when we took the "scenic route" home from Galena, it is truly a different and unique place and I'm glad you gave the history, I always find that kind of stuff interesting. I too think that Planter's Palette is pricey but they do have really nice stuff there, however I always look but never buy! Right now I'm looking for Cimicifuga Pike Spike and of course they had it but they wanted close to $50 each and I want two!! They were nice sized plants but $50 - yikes! I think my favorite place is The Growing Place for their all their plants and garden decor and Pesche's (that you mentioned Sherri) for their organics and advice.

On a different note - If any of you use store bought compost for mulching or amending, I'm singing - no make that shouting - the praises of Back to Nature Cotton Burr Compost. I've been mulching and using it to amend my flower beds (I have horrible soil) and the stuff is really amazing! They have regular cotton burr compost, a Perennial/Rose Bed Amendment (same stuff but bagged differently), and Natures Blend with humate. I use the regular stuff for amending and mulching - it's a coarse mulch. The Rose Bed for Roses and Clematis planting and mulching, and the Nature's Blend to fill in "doggy spots" on the lawn and sprinkle around the lawn (these both are very finely textured products). They sell it at nurseries but I've found it at a place called Meinke's on Touhy in Niles. He's about $1 less per bag there and I've bought alot so it pays. Well, there's my two cents on that if anyone's interested - and really - I don't work for the company!!! Here's a link

http://www.backtonaturecompost.com/faq.html

Cheryl

Medinac - Meinkes is one of the best kept gardening secrets in the northwest burbs! The only reason I know about it is because I used to work across the street at the old ABDick building (now a shopping complex). They are great - don't advertise too much, which I think is how they keep their prices down. Good people, too.

Hi medinac,
Thank you so much for the info on "Back to Nature" Cotton Burr Compost!!

I looked at Cotton Burr Compost a couple of years ago at a nursery (probably another brand) and they actually steered me away from it, recommending instead, Mushroom Compost.

After your testimonial about "Back to Nature's", I can't wait to try some! There are so many areas of our yard that can use help, including the lawn. I'll probably try it a little at a time since we have a very large yard, concentrating first on flower beds, a couple of young trees, & just parts of the lawn.

I hope other Chicago area gardeners read your post because I'm sure most of us have some sort of soil issues.

Ooo, and I see a couple of garden centers listed on the back to nature site that I must visit. Someday when it gets a little warmer.

(I know, i know, in 6 weeks or so I'll be kvetching about the heat.)

I was on their website also. Pretty cool.

By the way grrrlgeek, Countryside nursery in Crystal Lake carries the regular Cotton Burr Compost. It's $6.99 for 2 cu. ft. If you're thinking about buying some, their price seems to be very good (based on a bunch of phone calls so far) & they might be a little closer to you than Meinke's.

Medinac, do you remember what you've been paying at Meinke's. I called twice since I forgot to ask them a question & one person quoted the price for the regular Cotton Burr Compost at $7.25 for 2 cu. ft. & the other said it was $6.75. I might want to go there since I believe they also have the Nature's Blend. It was hard to tell cause the guy I talked to called it "Alfalfa". Thanks!

I'm so glad I could get you all interested in the cotton burr compost. My MIL belongs to the local garden club and they had the owner of Pure Prairie Organics (PurePrairieOrganics.com) and he says to NEVER use mushroom compost - which I've used for years and years - because it contains very high levels of salts that will accumulate over time in your soil and will enventually be detrimental to your plants. Between my heavy clay soil and years of using mushroom compost I think that's the reason why my plants never seem to thrive and eventually decline and die. I used the cotton burr compost tilled into one bed in October of '08 and planted a bunch of Heuchera there and they've thrived. I've only lost 2. If any of you plant Heuchera, you know they can be tempermental...

I never knew about Meinkes until a neighbor down the street told me about them. I haven't bought any annuals there but last time I went for compost I saw someone come out with beautiful seed geraniums. They also carry perennials, roses and some shrubs. And I agree, they ARE good people there! The elderly man (owner I guess) told us that he has a hard time convincing people of the value of cotton burr. The only problem there is the parking - it gets crazy in their small parking lot off Touhy and then the side street gets packed with cars and then the factory traffic. I try to go first thing in the morning.

I think $6.99 a bag is a good price at Countryside! At Meinke's I paid $6.75 for the 2 cu. ft. bag of Cotton Burr. The Rose Amendment and Nature's Blend with Alfalfa and Humate (thus the reason calling it "alfalfa") is $7.50 for a 1 cu. ft. bag. They have a wooden chart inside the greenhouse where checkout is with all the prices of their bagged materials. The owner did refer to it when he rang me up.

If you get time, check out Pure Prairie's website. He's just got some good gardening tips on there I thought.

I will make a separate post on the UMW forum about the compost. Thanks!

Countryside is on my list to check out too. Thanks for the info on the prices, saves me some time since I was going to do that too. Somewhere I read that someone was using alfalfa with their Clems and they loved it, so I wonder if the Nature's Blend would be good for them. And I just noticed that they have acidified compost, which would be really useful for me.

grrrlgeek - Oh you're welcome about the prices. I go to Meinkes because all the other places want $1.00 more per bag on the regular cotton burr and I think I've bought about 35 bags so it pays even with the price of gas. Now if this rain would just quit long enough for things to dry out I could get back to work! I bet the Natures Blend would be good for the clems. I use the Rose Amend. and they love it but yeah, the Natures Blend may be even better with the alfalfa in it. Good point! I was thinking of using the Acidified but then from what I've read on the Hydrangea forum is that our soil reverts back to the alkaline side when amending it with Alum Sulfate or Sulfur to get hydrangeas to go blue so I wonder if that would be the case with the acidified? I guess I could get a couple bags and try it out on a couple of my Hydrangea and see if it makes a difference. Ideally I'd like to get purplish colored Hydrangea!

One thing about the compost though is if the bags get wet - look out! It stinks to high heaven! Of course none of these places cover their pallets of product so you'll get those top bags that are wet from the rain. I've driven home with the windows down because the smell is so bad. But when I've gone to use it and opened the bag and the air hits it, that smell goes away so you can rest assured you won't have a manure smelling yard.

I've used cotton burr compost the last two years and agree that it does great things for loosening up the heavy clay soil as well as feeding the plants! I also use peat moss which helps acidify and break up the clay as well.

Last year I got the acidified cotton burr at Pesche's in Des Plaines, (it was the only kind they had) for $7 something and this year I got really lucky and happened to stop by Knupper's in Palatine in early spring and they were having a sale on it that weekend for 40% off! So I got it for less than $5/ bag! That was the regular non-acidified kind.

From what I understand from reading about growing roses in particular, bringing down the pH of alkaline soil is a never ending job, since it will always revert back as the alkaline minerals leach back into the area you've treated. So for my roses and one azalea I put an iron/sulfur additive down around them twice a year, in spring and fall, to keep working on making the soil around them more neutral.

I've never noticed that the cotton burr is exceptionally stinky when wet, but the one time I used mushroom compost my yard stank for days so I never used it again!! Sounds like it's just as well!

Midwest - Thanks for adding your comments about the compost. I'm glad you agree it's good stuff. $5 a bag - what a great deal! Knuppers - that's the one on Rt. 12? If you ever see it again at that price and you remember, please let me (us) know. I had one bag of the regular cotton burr that smelled so much like cow manure it was unbelieveable, that was the one and only bag that REALLY reeked when I opened and used it.

Ok, so roses, azaleas, and hydrangea are treated about the same when trying to acidify our soil. I always have good intentions about using the sulfur around the hydrangea but never seem to get around to it. Do you mix the stuff with water and drench the soil?

Yep, Knupper's in on Rte 12 (Rand Rd.). And if I ever come across it for sale again I will be certain to post here!

There are sulfur drenches, but I use a granular product that's labeled as an iron amendment, but when you look at the label it actually contains more sulfur than iron - not surprising since from what I understand the main problem with alkaline soil is that it makes it hard for the plants to take up iron, so adding extra iron plus sulfur to adjust the pH makes sense. Afraid I don't remember the brand name right now, but can check later. There's lots of iron supplement/ sulfur acidfier products out there and I'm sure they would all work fine.

Hi midwest_tyro,
What an incredible price on the compost!! Yes, please post it if you see it priced like that again. In fact, we should all think about posting it if we happen to see it on sale someplace. A price like that would be worth a drive.

If you get a chance, check out the thread that medinac just started on the Back to Nature Cotton Burr Composts. It could be great cause other DG members that have used the compost, but aren't from this area, may not even look at this thread.

I just heard that Geimer's - just around the corner from Knuppers, on Hicks is closing this year. Maybe they'll have some great deals!