Here I am lurking and getting teary-eyed reading your stories. What a wonderful tribute.
Monarda
The sad ending was that her adoring and wonderful son had a stroke and died 25 days after his mother.
To cheer up Tabasco: PIRL had hired a big tree company to spray her trees. She was reading the morning paper about abortion becoming legal - this was back in '73. The tree company arrived, the man came to the door, and when she spotted his truck she said to him, "Oh I know - you're the abortionist" and he politely said, "No, Ma'am, I'm the arborist".
Wow Carla, that is so nice. Nice to see something that you share with some one looking so good. We really look forward to our monardo every year. It does spread fast but that gives me something to dig and share.
My monarda is behaving so far. Thank goodness the modern day ones do NOT get the dreadful, totally devouring, mildew that the real PIRL used to have! She'd have to cut them right down to 2" tall. Left a real dent in an otherwise perfect garden.
P. Funny story about your mentor, PIRL. Both you and the original PIRL have great senses of humor! t.
We've had so much rain this year, all of the stems have powdery mildew on the bottom 8 inches of the plant. Should I chop them down and let them regrow healthy leaves?
You can try cutting back to 2" every other stem. When they begin to grow, hopefully without mildew, then cut the others. I'd wait until the first ones you cut back are a few inches tall.
Try Messenger! Use exactly per directions and don't mix one drop more than you need.
Here is my RED Beebalm...I love it...also have purple and pink. It does spread easily. My purple is the most invasive, and the pink so far has not been a problem.
JanetS
I have the pink and red. Both gifts from DG'ers. They look wonderful and have butterflies all over them!! I want to get the purple and ble too though. Let em spread let em spread let em spread!!!
Tina
The hummers love them! I don't even fill my feeders when they are blooming, they like the flowers so much better. I have plenty of the purple, send me an e-mail and I will send you some for postage.
JanetS
Janet,
Have you posted other pictures of your house and gardens? I would love to see more. From what I can see of your house, it is beautiful!
Terrie
pirl--I am guessing that PIRL felt as blessed to have you for a neighbor as you do for having had her. She must have loved seeing the beautiful results of her mentoring right next door.
kneff: Thank you so much! What a nice way to start my day! Yes, she was pleased but when I moved and her son drove her out here, then she was amazed! When we dedicated our gardens to honor her, for the '98 Southold Historical Society Garden Tour, and sent her the brochure she called and said, "I shed a tear" in her sweet southern voice. She considered it a high tribute to her teaching while I wish it could have been better. She was my teacher but will always be my inspiration.
Thanks kneff! You made my day.
Mine is covered in powdery mildew :( What the best treatment for this? I still have some neem oil left over from last year.
In your experience, which Monarda cultivars are especially mildew-resistant AND showy? And, hopefully, also do ok in a spot that does not get full sun? I know the newer cultivars say they are mildew resistant, but I also find those claims can be exaggerated.
I'm so tired of powdery mildew! I'm about to throw away two phloxes that are covered with it.
This message was edited Aug 2, 2007 12:39 PM
Try cutting it back to 2 or 3" and totally remove every other stem. It won't cure it but will give it more air circulation. So many Monarda cultivars have the problem regardless of the claims.
Trunnels, I am so sorry I didn't answer your post...for some reason this stopped coming up until today..weird huh! lol Anyway, I don't have a place that I posted lots of pictures of my gardens and yard, but I am going to try and update the ones on my page, I think I mainly have pictures of individual flowers over there..it has been quite a while since I look or updated...lol
I just corrected a typo in my post (the one 3 posts up) that made my question unintelligible.
I'm really hoping to know which Monarda cultivars are both truly mildew resistant, and also beautiful.
I'd love to give you an answer other than "The ones in photos in magazines", but that's not the help you want. I let them sprawl from the little patch where I have some, sent to me by a DG person, simply because I love the color. If it gets too bad I just cut it back.
My mother had a beautiful stand of Monarda, but of course I have not a clue what it was that she had!
I realize that this thread and its pictures are two years, but JanetS, love your garden! I also like the glimpse of your house. We are currently talking about adding a porch onto the front of our house. They just make a house look so cozy.
Okay. Back to monarda.
I just love porches!!!!!!
We love our porch! Here are my sweet helpers putting Amaryllis seedlings in pots for me...we had 50 we have grown from seed, and they went into the mini green house on the porch...we enjoy it so much! It is a mess, from all of the planting we have done in the past couple of days, we left the door opened and had a fan blowing cool air out of the house so we could get all of the work done! LOL
Here is my Jacob Cline in June of this year...lol since the other pictures are two years old..lol I do not have the mildew problem with mine...it is in full sun, and comes back with a vengence every year. I cut it back and it will give me another flush of blooms, but nothing like the first one..the hummingbirds just love it!
JanetS,
I can't believe that you are using underage minors to do your dirty work! :)
P.S.: They look very happy.
Yes they are very happy! They planted so many bulbs and transplants for me the pst two days! They were very proud of their work! Carson had put petunia seeds in a pot a couple of weeks ago and had a whole flat to pick out and transplant. He was just tickled to death about them! They start school August 13, and I will miss having them here to help me! My DD is teaching at their school so is with them all day while she is at work, and she has to start a week earlier than they do, so I have a whole week of pure joy to end their Summer vacation! I am just thrilled and blessed!
What cute kids and so good at working with you and with plants.
Thanks Pirl, they are so sweet! Here are a couple of the ones I took when they are actually planting....Carson pricking out his petunias...he is sooo proud of those!!
Madison looking at the Amaryllis "bulb" before placing it in the pot....they were so cute....and so serious too!
They're both so intent on their jobs! It's so great when kids get interested in plants. I did notice the dog and like him/her, as well.
Sassie...girl! Very sweet!