Yardening June 2015

If you are cutting open a box--how could you exert any pressure on the knife
if you are cutting AWAY from yourself???? Scissors? maybe,,,,

I always have a box cutter in my apron pocket--but I better not be caught using it!
Basically---if I were to seriously injure myself while using the box cutter--
they would NOT cover any expenses associated with it. NO medical!
NO Workman's comp! Nada!

The orange safety knives we are issued--they do not always cur through very thick
cardboard. The blade end only sticks out 1/4" and has a dull end.
Some cardboard boxes are thicker than 1/4"---if no one is around--I pull out my
box cutter and cut through it in one sweep.
I used the box-cutter for EVERYTHING when i worked at "Franks". NO biggie!
I can keep it in the palm of my hand and do other things. Very used to it!

OH, well! I better go by the rules.

http://www.grainger.com/product/3Q021?gclid=CLWZ0pPig8YCFVMXHwodqBEAmQ&cm_mmc=PPC:GOOGLEPLAC-_-Hand%20Tools-_-Cutting%20Tools-_-3Q021&ef_id=U@AE-QAAAIf5W9Bz:20150609232952:s

I finally got around to spreading some Sluggo. I was reminded this morning when I came across a snail that was dangling from my patio table by a thread of slime. Yuck! I caught it as it landed on my aloe underneath. I hate slugs so much!

My other yardening chore was to finally start a plant database over at ATP. I was encouraged after seeing aspnehill's list there. And I don't want to buy something I already have.

Agreed, SSG... I can't stand anything that leaves a slimy trail behind it. I'll leave jokes about my ex wife out of this.

Here is what is happening in my Sister's garden in Homer AK.
It is NOT a big garden--so she has to be careful.
The cloth covers the fence around her vegetable garden.
Maybe hoping that "Out of sight--out of mind" may work.

Moose that are close to giving birth tend to get closer to civilization
to keep the predators (like bears) from eating the helpless young.
Yes--they usually have twins.

Too cute! My sister is staying inside so as not to alarm the mama.
She can get very protective of her young.

Thought you may want to see this.....Gita

Aspen, what a bummer to have stitches when you need to plant things! Next time, make sure you stab your left hand so you can plant with your right : - )

Gita, those are great photos; thanks for sharing.

Two of my tall lilies have fallen over. Any ideas on what could cause this?

I'm going to stake them tomorrow.

Cool pics, Gita.. wow. :)

SSG... I'm guessing all the rain, and if they are budding, the weight of the buds ? I would bet then pick up on the next couple of days, no more rain coming for a while.

ha ha Cam, that little jab did not just slide by...

cool pictures Gita!

there were tree trimmers on our street yesterday. The truck says Free Chips on the side. But I can't see them driving those big dump trucks all the way back in my yard, anywhere else they dump would be very inconvenient, and I don't want to, and can't, deal with a dump load at once anyway...

SS--
HD, and others, I am sure, sell these wire stakes with a loop at the top.
You insert the growing stem into the loop (there is an opening) and it will
hold your plant up and not be even visible. 98 cents each.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Garden-Zone-18-in-Plant-Prop-611872/100584404

I stick them by all my tall DL--and I have some humdingers coming up.
Like...3' tall with a bunch of buds...They will pop soon--and i will take a picture.
G.

I've never had to stake these lilies before. They get about 4 feet tall but have very thick, strong stems that don't flop. That's why I thought it was strange that two of them fell over.

This morning I noticed that the stems were rotted at the soil line. The rest of the plant looks fine, as far as I can tell.

I've been looking up basal rot and fusarium. I think it might be fusarium.

Can dogwoods get fusarium? The redtwig dogwood next to the lilies are also looking like it's affected by some fungus.

Sigh. Rots, wilts, and fungi love my soil.

That's too bad, ssg. Maybe the soil stays a little wetter where those 2 are.

bummer, ssg. I guess I would try to stake them, maybe that won't really help, but doesn't look so sad in short term.

I was in an odd funk after dinner despite a truly lovely evening. Gita posted about her tropical hibiscus, so I went and repotted mine. There is new growth around the base, and I pruned off a couple bare stems with buds and leaves at the tip. (Stuck the prunings in soil. No idea whether they have a chance...) The roots were really spindly for the size thing, maybe that's why it has only had a couple blooms per summer. Maybe with fresh soil it will fill out. And I mulched a little more around some new plants, and replanted some Topolino narcissus I had dug up. Pruned stupid weedy barberries in a fence line. Good garden therapy. And tomorrow morning off, for more therapy. YAY

What's strange is that these lilies are in the high end of the backyard where rot hasn't been an issue in the past. I did stake them since they weren't completely rotted through.

Garden therapy! Yes, I'll be doing some of that tomorrow morning as soon as I get up, before the heat gets too bad. My neighbors' Virginia creeper's starting to take over the fence line.

Garden therapy!!! Better than alcoholism. I took the day off Friday to garden. The last 3 weekends being spent on that landscaping job have backed me up on doing stuff at my own house. I need to go through the Honeylocust bed and cut down all the spend FMN flowers and I'll scatter them about the garden and in other places around the yard. I have a Ranunculus hispidus in that bed and it's starting to get mega long runners that are trying to take over the world. I'm going to lay the smack down on that one. Some of the runners are 3 feet long! I didn't realize it would spread like it does when I planted it. I know it has buttercup in it's ancestry but I thought this one would be different for some reason.

FMN? From my neighbor?

Forget-me-not :-)

How to cure a 'funk"? Go play with your plants....

I did not re-pot my Hibiscus this spring--as I re-potted it when I bought it.
I just pruned it back when I brought it out.

I "swear" the Hibiscus with the thick, bumpy leaves are more hardy
vs. the ones with 'regular" leaves. The blooms are more spectacular too.
Pretty colors--maybe double and ruffly as well.

Yesterday--I tried to find places for all my unplanted seedlings, purchased plants, etc.
Spent a lot of time walking around--plants in hand--searching for an appropriate
space...somewhere...This is totally ridiculous!
But, maybe, if and when they all grow and bloom--they will look perfect where they are.

My company arrives this evening. Been fussing about my rooms and trying to clean
and straighten up a bit. No "stuff" laying around everywhere...Beds are ready...

They will be departing early tomorrow--like maybe 9 or 10AM. I am just a B&B.

Gonna be in the 90's the next 3 days. Bummer! I don't work until Sunday.
Glad I have AC. G.

Jeff--

Here is what i did with my FMN,s.

I carefully pulled them all up and cut off all the bloomed out stems over a plastic tub.
When they are all dry in there, I will gently crunch and shake them so all the seeds
& Chaff fall off.
After the larger stems and leaves have been removed, I will sift the remainder
through a colander. This will get rid of most of the bigger stuff.

Then I will sift the rest through a small mesh, wire strainer. Bump,,,bump...gently
with my hand. The result should be a bunch of clean (?) seeds.

Why am I not following this thread, must have gotten lost from the group. LOL

Gita, are you saying that you literally pull the plants out of the soil?

with the type of FMN that Gita shared with me, yes, Biennial or annual.

BUT with Brunnera FMN that donner shares, NO. Brunnera is perennial

Oh boy, I knew chocolate eupatorium were aggressive seeders, but I had no idea how bad it could be. I just spent half the morning weeding the seedlings, which had formed a dense carpet within 10 feet radius of the mother plant.

I also have a couple of blackberry plants that I can't seem to kill. There are only two stems that pop up every year, but they keep returning no matter how often I cut them off at the soil line. I don't want to use herbicides because this area is very tightly packed with other perennials.

So after the FMNs flower, there's no chance of them coming back?

I do realize that the brunnera are perennial.

Seqouia, if they are the FMNs I gave you (I think I gave you some at the 2014 Spring or Fall Swap), they are perennial and evergreen in my zone. I think they are Myosotis sylvatica. They bloom every year and readily self-seed.

I am talking about the regular Forget-me-Nots which come up all over
once you have them as they do drop a load of seeds. The seeds are pretty small.

The original plant dies off--like Sally said. That is why I pull them up before it
deposits 99 thousand seeds all over that will come up all over next year.

What I hope to have, after pulling these up and carefully sifting out the seeds,
are seeds I can share, and then anyone can sprinkle them wherever THEY choose.
Just do it around this time of year.

Gita

Interesting about the FMNs. I just didn't think all the plants died completely.

Jeff--

Same as with Foxgloves and Rose Campions--and the FMN's--so many seeds
drop down right below the plant itself--which germinate the next year and come up and bloom.

Often, people think it is the same plant coming back. Biennials can fool you.
I have noticed this with Rose Campions especially.

G.

Sequoia, if your FMNs still look nice, leave them; that means they're probably the perennial kind. The foliage on mine looks good all year. If you don't dead-head them, you might end up with a lot of seedlings, but they're easy to pull up.

My rose campion survived the winter and is currently blooming. I know for sure this was the same exact plant I planted too.

Third pic on the second row = my FMNs in February: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1386324/#post_10019321

All my pink FMN's have originated from a single quart sized plant purchased in 2012. Last year I deadheaded and sprinkled some in the Honeylocust garden and some a few other places. I'm hoping to establish them in many areas because they are just so beautiful. I was thinking the if the plant was dead, pulling it up would be easier than trimming all the spent flowers off. I guess we'll see. I'll probably do that tomorrow as I took the day off.

Lol..we have to stop this cross posting Muddy.

Jeff---

We are still talking apples and oranges....
The ones I pull up are the biennial, regular FMN's. NOT the perennial Brunneras.
I have 2 nice, big Brunneras-The bigger one is Jack Frost.

1--Here's a clump of them still thriving in my WS bed. See all the seedy stems all over?

2--Same clump but full of all new growth. Not sure where this is coming from?
Can't be from seed--they would not grow that fast. Could be last year's seed ?

3--Here is the seed-filled thingies on the stems. This is what I cut off and dry.
Wondering IF I did not pull the plant up would there be similar new growth from the base??

4-A clump of FMN in full bloom.

5--Jack Frost brunnera in bloom--which looks very similar. AKA--perennial FMN.

Ok, thanks G. How long does it usually take the seeds to dry out?

Not long--as the stems are very thin--and the 'seed pods" are so small.

I put the whole bunch of them in a plastic tub--and then put that in the shed.
It is very warm in there--so I bet they are all beyond dry now.
It can be a bit of a chore to get to the final product (seeds)--and there won't be
all that much of them--but something to do when I am not busy.
This is just the same as collecting seeds from the Dwarf red Coreopsis.
These are very pretty in a border...have you had any of these?
I DO have seeds of this one too--and they too will seed and spread.

Are you interested in some of the seed from either? I will mail you some... ???
Sprinkle it now--wherever you want a sea of blue next year.
These FMN's are usually planted amid spring bulbs so that when the bulb leaves
start to wither--the pretty blue FMN's will hide them to some extent.

G.

I have some blue from Muddy but mostly I have pink. I would be interested in some of those dwarf red coreopsis if they are hardy in my zone.

Last year I just cut off the FMN spent flowers and shook them around different places I wanted them to be. It worked decent.

Spent the last hour and a half putting together this trellis for the two Zephirine Drouhin climbing roses I have shipping to me soon. Came shipped to me in about 40 pieces, assembly was tricky with just two hands. I think the climbing roses will look great behind those hostas and on the brown brick. And this bed is very close to the dogwood/birdbath/bird feeder I just put in. Should make the tiny back yard have a lot more life.

I love trellises, arbors, pergolas, etc... I think they add so much to the garden. I only have a few small trellises, but arbors, pergolas and more trellises are always on my want list. The one you got is very pretty, and I think you'll be happy with the choice of Zephirine Drouhin. Where did you order them from?

Another cultivar I had a hard time finding locally or even on the internet. Not many websites out there for them and most of them were out of stock. I ended up getting them from Direct Gardening. They're in Illinois. Never used them before, hope the specimens I get are healthy.

Yes, I have only used a trellis once before for a very nasty and agressive Pyracantha. You might say this one is a 180 degree turn. :) I got this very wide trellis to plant two climbing roses, can't wait to see it once they cover most of the trellis.