B&D 'scratch and dent sale'

DonnaMack

Glad you have a rough coated collie nearby... they are four legged hairy paws for sure.

it does pop and I love all the different leave shapes and textures that surround it.

Jan

meadow

I love collies. My mother used to breed them. She would talk for ever about how they would work the sheep in England when she was a little girl. All of her collies were of the old herding type which look way different from the modern collie. When my father brought her over here the first thing she did once they had bought a house was to buy a collie puppy that she named Bonnie. I was born three years later and Bonnie bonded to me the day she brought me home from the hospital. She never left my side till the day she died. Everyone in the neighorhood knew we were a "couple" and would protect me with her life. At every neighborhood barbecue they would tell the story of how when I was two or three I was toddling across the street (country dirt no traffic) and the man across the street (Uncle Claftin) saw me came over and grabbed me and swung me up in the air. Of course I screamed and squealed that's what little girls do. Bonnie grabbed him by the hamstrings with full intent. He limped til the day he died long after I had married and moved away. His wife was a nurse, she actually delivered me, and gave him no pity. No one gave the poor man any pity. There Bonnie and I would be at the barbecue or what ever neighborhood gathering and always some one would look over at him, shake their head look at Bonnie and me and say "why would you be so stupid to grab that child?" Then someone would laugh and off they'd go on how some people just don't have good sense. Poor Uncle Claftin. When Bonnie died we had a huge funeral and the entire neighborhood turned out. Mummy buried her on this little knoll that overlooked our swimming spot in our creek so she would always be there to continue her job of watching over me. We had a wake for her and a combination Penticostal/Jewish funeral. Most of our neighbors were Penticostal . She really had a send off with speeches and everything. She deserved every bit of it.

The good thing about herders is they are trainable. The bad thing about corgis is they can give Machiavelli lessons and probably edited "The Prince".

Another deer deterent I've found by the way is Sweeny's. I wouldn't have had one lily left this summer if it hadn't been for those little things.

Yehudith

The bad thing about corgis is they can give Machiavelli lessons and probably edited "The Prince".

That cracks me up. Neat story about your pup. Sounds like a great place you grew up in also.

Oh, I don't know...we have a corgi here too and we blow kisses at each other all the time. And two adorable children regularly walk by with a whippet, and allow me to pet her. She looks up at me with the most beautiful eyes. I have a theory that dogs know who the dog people are, because our body language cries out.. nice puppy!.. even if the dog is ten.

I grew up with a lovely dog that looked like a brown German shepherd. We got him when I was six and I was lucky that he lived until he was 19, so I could come home from college and walk him. I could never figure out why so much of his fur was brown and why he outlived most German shepherds. He was half collie, half German shepherd! So gorgeous. Lovely temperament.

Next year will be interesting for me plant wise. There is, well, was, a huge Bradford pear in front of my house. Gorgeous in the spring. A branch broke recently, and I brought out a fabulous arborist to have a look. Yep, it had the same weak crotches that make the darned things split. And some rot at the bottom. So I just had it taken out yesterday. I took such good care of it that it produced tons of fruit that got smooshed into the sidewalk. And I would have had to prune it anyway because it was too close to the power lines. And pruning it cost more than removing it!

The replacement? I found a paperbark maple, which was the tree that I had to leave behind that I loved the most. It's coming tomorrow. Ad it's a much smaller tree. So that all the plants in that bed, along with the roses, peonies and lilies, will get more light.

I always like to think of a loss as an opportunity to do something different.

The bloom was spectacular, but see the power lines?

Also, see the structural flaw where the split would emerge?

So, the replacement - a paperbark maple that I had before, except that this one is multistemmed.

Perfect for the site.

What a gorgeous tree. Next door there is a tree with a weak limb. They drove a threaded spike through it and then put metal plates on each side held on with bolts. But if yours needed to be pruned and that is so expensive then not much choice about taking it out. The utility company comes around here and trims off trees as they see fit. Makes for some very funny flat topped evergreens. There are cottonwoods, birch and willows across the road (paved) from us and they are grown up through the telephone wires. I guess they only trim power wires. Periodically the birch break as the limbs reach for the south. Makes a terrible mess and takes out lines sometimes. Last week the power was out on the east side for two days. Not good news in this temp.

Our utility companies absolutely butcher trees. There is no effort to do anything aesthetic, so they end up looking awful. I once had a tree on the parkway that was removed 20 plus years ago. I am filling the parkway with peonies and roses, because I really don't want a tree that I can't choose. If I could put in anything it would be a katsura, but if the tree is on the parkway they want to give you a "list". This spring I was out running on a regular basis and was mystified to see at least 30 japanese tree lilacs within two miles or so. Then I realized that all of them were on parkways. It's an OK tree, until the "lilac flowers" turn a dirty brown.

They put three single stemmed allegheny serviceberries on a parkway across the street. If they had put in multistemmed ones it would have worked. But those single stems are growing into the powerlines. So they'll be butchered soon.

The other good reason not to have a tree is that some of my neighbors' guests don't understand that there is an etiquette to parking. You park in front of the house you are visiting, or in the drive way of the house you are visiting. I have a neighbor down the street with large shade trees, and people will park half a block from their destination to park their cars in the shade of his trees - a charming view out his windows..

I put nice, thorny roses on my parkway. They are aimed away from the sidewalk and toward the street. Do people want to climb out of their car and say hello to my thorny roses? No. So they park elsewhere.

Oh Donna. I so much love your logic. As my father would say "Silent but Deadly"

Oh, I like that!

:)

Donnamack thanks for sharing your collie story, that is close to mine love affair with collies.

I so love paper bark maples... great trees, but you do have to watch the splits. Can't be a Y.

I love german shepard/collie mixes, the best of both breeds.

I once during a power outage in Oh why they didn't have all the power lines buried, so they wouldn't have to come out during the terrible weather and try and get power restored.... The money to pull ALL power lines in the ground would not come close to the overtime that is paid.. and the wonderful benefit of not deforming trees.

Thorny roses, love it.

Jan

In air, the power lines is more expensive. In Fairbanks, Alaska the ground is frozen. No way to find the problems. Better in the air. So says the engineer

makes sense, as being from the south, I still can't get use to thinking that the ground freezes...LOL

Jan

Well, heck, neither can I, and it happens every year!

Alright now DonnaMack....lol

The lilies have arrived!!! Of course I'm stuck working like a dog on a treadmill for the next few days then I'm going to be locked up in a certification class from can to can't for the next week then I bet the ground will be frozen solid for six months. I'm just going to have to stop at Home Depot and pick up a bunch of pottingsoil and pot them up to plant in the spring. They said they held up shipping because they needed to verify my card because the name was different on the card and my e-mail account or some such. With all the hackers and thieves around I appreciate the sentiment but on the other hand a couple weeks ago would have fit in much nicer.

Oh, I'm torn between how wonderful! and what a drag! If there were not so many there would still be time to get them in. I have ten final allium karataviense I want to put under the paperbark maple, but it's been horribly cold here (20 degrees).

I am going to take spring delivery on 5 viburnums (just exchanged more lengthy emails with Gary Ladham of Classic Viburnums). He's intrigued because I requested a viburnum no on seems to want, Viburnum dentatum 'Chicago Lustre'. I had two at home. It's one of those big, handsome viburnums that birds adore, and it has lovely shiny leaves, a billion berries and nice fall color, but it doesn't "pop" like a carlesi or a doublefile (I've had both). He was intrigued by my thought that every plant doesn't have to be a star, that some are wonderful supporting players, and form handsome, changing backdrops, unlike evergreens. So I have fooled him into thinking I'm a really interesting person, as opposed to a simply obsessed one.

This year I put far too many lilies in semi shady areas and they didn't perform. So I grabbed them put of the ground, put them in pots in the sun for the rest of the season, and then when I put them in I marked them with chopsticks. So I know where every single one is. Now that the pear is gone I want to load up the parkway with more lilies, and I can probably put in a couple more peonies. Adelman is kindly replacing peonies that I ordered from they many years ago that didn't perform - Moonstone, Tourangelle (so I'll have two) and Paul M.Wild. I asked to get them next year. I know that with more light some bulbs I put in that "disappeared will come to light. But since the lilies I put in pots were non blooming, I'm not sure what I have. I am hoping that Emerald Temple and Amethyst Temple, both out of commerce, survived.

I learned an interesting lesson, which I should have figured out earlier. I had a huge crop of regales at my former home, and as they started budding out I realized that I did not have to leave the new owners 20 of them (originally 5 from Brent and Becky years ago - for $5.00!), so I took them and put them in semishade. And they bloomed beautifully. This year, they came up, formed buds and aborted, and I realized they had bloomed on the previous year's exposure. So into pots and into the sun they went, and now they are in a full sun spot.

Lilies, peonies and roses. Love 'em.

Agreed. And you ARE knowledgeable about all sorts of stuff. You rattle off those Latin names like no body's business. I can go for tree, lilac, maple and that is about the extent of it. You new yard must be beautiful. You plan it out so carefully. I am getting better. I had an order just set up to go to Hidden Springs Flower Farm for three peonies and my screen timed out so I don't think it went. Sent off a note to ask if they got it so I won't double the order. With any luck I will work up resistance by then and not reset the order. lol

It's Catholic school. 4 years of obligatory Latin. I wanted to take French. And I was a geek.
The useful thing about it is that you know EXACTLY what you are ordering.

I ws thrilled to see on the peony thread that you gave in. The issue with peonies is that when you are no longer 15 you need to get them into a new garden quickly to give them time to knock your socks off.

Another geek. I took French in the 8th, Latin in the 7th, then four years and one summer school of Latin; Catholic school of couse. But it wasn't obligatory

Lillies, more lillies and daffodils oh my! Thanks to my wonderful 18 year old who was home for Chanuka break all of my bulbs are in!!! Sunday morning I got him outside with his father's drill, my bulb auger and about 1,000.00 bulbs. The ground was frozen down about 2-3 inches but he had enough upper body strength to break thorough and we got nice holes. I did end up potting up about 25 pots of lillies simply because it got late and I was also running out of room. They're all in my extra fridge in the garage. Now I'm debating digging up and moving the stocks I planted this spring. I thought they were only anuals but found out they're really perennials and they're just packed in way too close. I also didn't know they were going to grow to be so BIG. Can you believe they are still blooming? Its December and they're still blooming!!!!!!

I'm thinking of ordering some sambucas and calicarpas to go in next spring. It means I have to start up a whole new bed but that's fine, its a good excuse to rip out more grass.

Does anyone know of a daphne that can take full sun and is low growing? I want to plant one under my living room window.

Geeks unite!

I have read that daphne odora (not sure of the size) and daphne cneorum (three feet wide, one foot high) can take full sun. It would probably be good to check several references because anyone who wants to sell you one will almost certainly fudge on the sun tolerance.

Do be careful about sambucus 'Black Lace' that is being heavily promoted by Proven Winners. On All Experts I have been getting lots of inquiries about why it seems to be inexplicably dying. Some of their plants are truly wonderful (Abelia 'Lynn' Pinky Bells abelia has knocked my socks off) but other can be unpredictable.

We had two days of 50 plus weather (after several days with highs under 20, and I was able to get the last of the alliums in. Now it's 18 again, but they are in. And I managed to empty the lawn mower by taking the balance of leaves I hadn't gotten rid of, and mowing them into the lawn.

Did anyone catch Old House Gardens' evil tempting 10% discount for fall bulbs on December 1? The bad part is the charge you now, but what is really bad is that I ordered everything that I had resisted from his sale. Three lilium candidum (I've been trying to grow the for years but moving them twice as I moved has them in suspended animation for the third year in a row), three auratum platyphyllum, and three White Henryi. I'm probably feeling guilty because I ordered 5 lilium martagon album at 40% off ($38, including shipping) and he sent me EIGHT! Surely I had to make amends for getting such a ridiculous bargain.

You just had to mention That Sale didn't you! I'm going through it now.

Where should I be.... Let's see, maybe infront of my work computer typing up patient notes, taking my shower, starting up dinner for the Sabbath, how about making something for my daughter to wear? Where am I, going through another plant sale trying to decide between giant and regular galanthus. What's wrong with this picture? By the way, anyone know who has colchicum bulbs. I had the worst time finding them this year.

I chastise my self for mentioning the sale.

I would personally recommend the giant galanthus. The regular ones are unbelievably tiny, and you would have to buy a lot to make any impact at all.

Brent and Becky's bulbs has an amazing selection of colchicum bulbs - the best I have ever seen. They are, unfortunately, sold out for the year. But here is the link so you can dream for next year:

https://store.brentandbeckysbulbs.com/spring/genus.php?genusid=11

Always happy to enable. I went absolutely nuts this year, and I need company/

I thought the Sabbath was Saturday?

Mary

Sabbath goes from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. This time of year it starts around 4 p.m.. That means I have to have all the cooking for tonight and all day tomorrow, cleaning etc. done by 2 o'clock if I don't want to have a breakdown.

that's right. I forgot about the prohibitions on Shabbat. Talk about having to plan ahead.