What kind of gardener are you?

Have you ever tried to figure out the reasons why you plant what you do. Hydrangias do nothing for me. On the other hand I am crazy about peonies. Why one and not the other. I love white dogwoods but pink dogwoods--in the words of the immortal Lina Lamont "I keynt stannem"

I can't believe I ordered more peonies!

How many of you are rational about gardening--you have a space and look for the ideal plant to fill it.
How many are emotion-driven collectors and what are you driven to collect?

Love Lina Lamont! Grew up with only white dogwoods, and think pink is unnatural.
I'll be boringly psychoanalytical and say it's , at the root (ha ha) of it, all about control. But people have all their own interpretations of the right thing to have. My desires have evolved over time. I remember one winter thinking I wanted all the daffodils in the catalog. Now they don't seem that great. Course, now I'm overflowing with progeny of the 6 or 8 kinds I have. As I filled up, I have to be more selective. Sentiment does have a part. I will have things just because of the source, or the name. My dad gave me a yuck-a (sp intentional) sofor him I found a good spot. Trying to keep a rose of sharon, for the name, but don't like the bush much at all.....
I do think it's very interesting how different people have different feelings about flowers, plants etc, even if just based on appearance.

My tastes have definitely changed over the years in that I appreciate more the beauty of plants I thought were awful when I was younger.

But they haven't changed that much. I was looking through the Thompson and Morgan catalog making a mental order last night at mentally adding three flowers to my cart that I had ordered when I made my very first T&M order in 1980. LOL (Those are emelia, love lies bleeding and calendula, if you're curious.)

I have also never liked pink dogwoods. Why tinker with the perfection of a white dogwood bloom? And the pink in most of them doesn't look natural. But I've seen them in others' gardens and if done with the right combination, well darn, they look kind of pretty.

I don't worry about filling up. I have plenty of room here and if a bed fills up, I start another bed or move out the things that haven't done as well to make room for more.

As far as what kind of gardener I am, I guess I'm the greedy, want some of everything I see that's pretty, want to be overflowing with the bounty of blooms kind. LOL Planning? Let's just get some of this or that and plan a bed around them.

Hart just described me to a T. ha-ha. Yep, a greedy gardener and also one that buys a plant and then finds a place for it.

A can also identify with sallyg saying that she bought Rose of Sharon for the name. Same here sally, I am not crazy about the plant but had to buy two of them years back. They are a memorial to a friend that died while we were in Junior High, oops Middle School. I too have had some changes in my taste of plants this past year or so. I always thought that hollyhock were kind of ugly, but have been wanting to grow some very badly this year. Didn't do it this year, but I am ready for next year.

Some of my collection is coming from seeing plants that my mother raised when I was a child. They are bringing good memories to me each time that I see them.

Good topic dayli.

Ruby

Thank you,Ruby.

Pink dogwoods do look unnatural to me also, not what I'm used to,. But I grew up with double pink and white fragrant peonies, and my first thought when I saw a single red and yellow one wasn't, "that looks unnatural" I'd be better off if it had been. Lol!

I'd love to have more land, but by the time we could afford it, I wasn't willing to leave the garden I have.
A limited amount of space enforces discipline. Perhaps a hard heart toward plants that I don't already grow is a form of self protection. That being said, two butterfly bushes appeared in my garden this summer. (I guess that's what people mean when they say invasive) I was going to get rid of them....but I can't do it. Maybe the honeysuckle azalea can wait a while longer.

Ruby, I have a rose of sharon that grows into a tree. I mean a nice little tree maybe 15-20 feet high with a trunk instead of the bushy shrub. If any of you all would like some, I can be sure to dig some and pot them for the swap in the spring.

I have seeds for old timey single hollyhocks if you'd like some. These are perennials, not biennials. Colors are dark pink, dark lavender and a very pale pink that's almost white and you can plant them now. I have seedlings too but it would probably be better to get those in the spring.

Speaking of our mother's plants, I just planted some tiger lilies because they remind me so much of when I was a kid. Mom had them growing all alongside my grandparents' garage. My grandparents lived next door and the side of their garage bordered our yard.

But there is one plant she grew that I still think is hideous. She loved old timey irises. I have oodles of the lavender ones growing here like she had. Who knows when the ones here were planted - the house is over 100 years old. But she also grew this kind of purplish brown one that I have always thought is just about the ugliest flower on earth.

And she grew those old irises because her mother and grandmother grew them and they reminded her of her childhood. LOL

I think my love of peonies goes back to my grandmother's garden. I remember when I was small just loving those big, fluffy, heavenly scented pink blooms.

peonies, not that crazy about them, but I do want to plant a Festiva Maxima since my mother had a very large one planted at the entrance to the yard. Loved that plant!

I am into lilies, oriental, day & Asiatic. And fragrent flowers!

If I see a plant I like I'll buy it and find a place for it when I get home, It might take a few weeks to get it planted but finding the right spot can be a big job.

I have some shady spots in the yard so Hostas has been a blessing and I am very happy with Pulmonaria Mrs. Moon so next year I want to get Raspberry splash.

I guess I'm a impulsive plant collector : )

Here is Mrs. Moon

Mrs. Moon is lovely. My mother gave me a pulmonaria and hellebore and camellia seedlings. I do have plants from her garden but the ferns and toad lillies and jacks in the pulpit and solomon's seal, I could never develop any enthusiasm for. My great grandmother grew peonies but her garden fell into ruins when she became ill and no one saved the flowers.
Festiva Maxima is still my favorite peony. But the rockii tree peony is a close second.

hart- I know that iris- it's the only one my mom had when I was a kid!!! I thought it was impressive then, but now, gee, what odd colors. still I probably have a few sprouts of it, giving it benign neglect instead of outright yanking. Maybe that was the only iris people could get their hands on easily, before big box and big nurseries. Speaking of odd colors, I had to have tiger lilies from my dad, but had totally forgotten the neon orange they are.
My preferred site for a rose of sharon would be out in the (big) yard where it could get big and I would mow all around to get the seedlings. I think there are some new better hybrids that don't self sow, or as much.
lady- Love the pulmonaria! new plant to me. And I think there's sweet woodruff there too, and they look really happy right next to an old maple? ? what tricks do you know that I don't, that you can get them established there?
I'm too cheap to be too impulsive, but do have several things that are on their 3rd or 4th site, trying to find the right place in the yard.

I love some of these topics. It gives us a chance to better know our board-mates. Hart, I would love to have some of the hollyhock seeds. Lavender, and the two pinks sound really lovely. I will d-mail my mailing address to you and will have to owe you postage or possibly swap some seed with you. Tell me your hearts desire and I will check and see if I have any for you. I am almost embarrassed to tell you how much I spent on just seeds from mail order.........I believe that I spent about $40 at one place and that doesn't count the ones that I had previously bought and never planted.

I am hoping to wintersow. I am also hoping that some of you on the mid-atlantic board have experience with wintersowing in case I have questions. i am also glad that there is a winter sowing forum for questions too. Aren't we lucky to have this website?

Take care all and have a good weekend.

Ruby

well, I can be impulsive on clearance-- I was hating going to the Giant on a day like this, but they just put the bulb packs at$2 each. Got snowdrops, because I have had them and needed more; crocus, mix of white, lav and pruple, ditto; tulips 'oullioules', a darwin type, which I read was a good type for long life; allium purple sensation , good comments in plantfiles; allium mediterranean bells, so-so in PF. nothing spectacular, but did OK for me

Sallyg.. Another name for the pulmonaria is Lungwort. And you are right about the sweet woodruff. That it a very old pine tree that was limbed-up, the tree is very high, no much sun gets there, just early morning in the spring before the large maples across the street leaf off I mounded some soil and compost in that area when I was making that garden, no grass would grow in that spot and my husband would sclap the pine roots with the riding lawn mower, so I decided to turn it into a shade garden.

Here is another picture with the Columbines blooming.

Chris

Well done, Sally. Way to score!

Chris, that's just flat out beautiful.

I probably didn't give the new plant enough of a start- I would just hack out a hole big enough to fit it in and no bigger, so I think the tree roots would overtake the new plant. Hardy cyclamen and crocus tommasinianus are two things that did take in my tree roots.
Chris- followup on that picture- do your columbines self sow? I have two plants but not much self sowing. What kind of surface is there, as in, is it mulched, or has a layer of good dirt....
I went and looked at my rose of sharons again. OK so the seedlings aren't THAT much of a big deal. I have a ground cover around them which seems to suppress it some. In a mulched bed you might get more.

Sally, the columbines do selfsow. They have been growing at the house since before we bought it in 1972. It takes a year of just growing before they flower. I have them growing all over the place. Sometimes I will cut off the old flower stalks when the seeds are ripe and sprinkle the seeds like fairy dust from the end of a magic wand. Ok, I'm really loosing it. LOL

I do use a lot of compost. I'm a firm beliver of it, I also like to sprinkle dry time released fertilizer in my beds, a few time during the growing season. Hate mixing up fertilizer in wateringcans, I like to keep things easy.

Chris

Alright Chris - With every pic that you post, I see just how great a flower gardener you are. You have some gorgeous beds in your yard. I am in no way doing as good a job as you are. Let's remember though, that last summer was really my first year of serious gardening, so I suppose I am doing pretty well for a newby.

I love the colors of your columbine. My hubby just planted three bare root columbines for me this morning. Can't remember the name and not sure what he did with the package they were in. I would love, love, love it if they turned out being the same color as some of yours. This purple, blue and lavender mix has to be my all time favorite in terms of colors. Just gorgeous work you do gal.

You wouldn't happen to have a few seeds from your columbine that you would like to share, would you? If not, please save some for me next year. I promise that I will think good thoughts of you each time that I eye it after it grows. ha-ha.

Well, I have done just about all the damage that I can do inside this morning. Time to get out and gather dead plants to mix in with other compost. I also have a pork roast that I plan to bake later today. Yum, yum. There is also a long list of things that I have been making for two weeks that need to be purchased at one of our Dollar Trees. I guess that is the one that can safely wait until another day. I have a feeling that I might be a bit tired after cleaning up outside.

Oh yeah, gorgeous weather here for three days in a row. It was almost 80 degrees during mid afternoon yesterday. I did a bit of tidying up dead veggie garden yesterday and might have over done things. I began having an unusual type of head ache for me. It was at the lower back of my head only. I usually have them all over the head. And then....last night about 7 o'clock after I had eaten dinner, I ended up hugging the commode. I was sick, sick, sick. Came and went pretty quickly thankfully. I hope that is not what I will face today. So far, so good though.

I will attempt later today or tomorrow maybe to post some of my most recent pics. I took a couple yesterday of my new window. I jumped the gun and was already taking pictures while they were still installing it. ha-ha. It is in now, but still needs to have trim work and stuff done. That will be the pic, I will share.

Have a great weekend friends.

Ruby

Ruby- Take it easy today. Hopefully you just had a shortterm virus type thing. I was kind of underthe weather Wed but nobody else in the family, just wasn't really great til today and when I went outside I would feel better(of course) but after awhile ran out of steam, I'm guessing it was some odd virus.
Columbine alert~~ There are some good books about natives by William Cullina/ the New England Wildflower Society, and I remember that columbines need several warm cool cycles to sprout, so they advise to (not word for word but) let them dry on the stem, then hit them with the back of your hand "how dare you, sir!" to sprinkle them around in the summer or fall, and then they'll be on the ground thru the winter to get those conditions. So Ruby, you should get them now, maybe make a nice bed and sprinkle them. I saved mine in a bag and I'm going to add some compost and prepare the area a bit, a la Chris' and them put them down, and maybe a light sprinkle of pine needles.

I have some seeds I collected a few years ago, don't know how viable they are. But I'll be glad to send you gals some. They will take a year or two to bloom so you should get familar with the leaves and what the baby plants look like.

And the Hummingbirds will love you for growing these.

I don't know what colors I have even in my own garden. Here is a white one that I had blooming last May. Reminds me of those ruffled petticoats the southern bells wore.

Chris

Thanks sally and chris. I had one columbine that bloomed last year. As I have just learned today, it does not bloom the first year. I liked the looks of it even without blooms. I can remember two summers ago wondering what that unusual and very healthy plant was. I was very surprised when it bloomed and I then saw a pic somewhere and learned it was a columbine.

So, Chris if you don't mind, please send me a few of your old seeds. I am willing to try.

I might have ordered some too. Will have to look through my seeds and see. I wouldn't mind having loads of them, they are so unusual. Ane yes Chris, those white blooms do look like petticoats.

I have just come in from planting some bulbs that I had in my refrigerator for about the last month or so. I wouldn't doubt that when I undress that I have some sun. It is really warm and sunny out there. I am feeling a whole lot better today. I was thinking that I had a bug of some sorts too. Hope that John and Tucker don't get it.

I was quite surprised a while ago when digging the holes to put the bulbs in. I ran across a good number of earth worms. I was feeling bad during the summer, that I hardly ever saw them here. Was thinking that I had really poor quality soil, but it looks as though I was wrong. I still have same plans for amending though, can't hurt.

Ya'll take car now, ya hear?

Ruby

Ruby The seeds will be on their way by Monday Evening, I'll get them ready this weekend and drop the envelope in the mail along with the office mail Monday after work.

Lucky you have sun today. I have slow soaking rain. I am starting to feel like doing some things again! Last week I made stuffed peppers for the office for lunch. I guess the radiation took more out of me then I thought. If this keeps up I'll be really ready to garden next spring.

Daves Garden has started a new Forum called "Cottage Garden" go check it out. Lots of nice pictures.

I'll pop out now and get a link....Then edit this post.
I'm back! http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/cottage/all/

This message was edited Nov 11, 2006 1:14 PM

This message was edited Nov 11, 2006 1:22 PM

Ruby, I can just send you the seeds or we can do a trade if you want. I love trading. I have some other seeds too but no columbine. It doesn't do well here. I'll send you a dmail.

Oh yeah, now I see. I will accept any and all seeds. ha-ha. Hart, I am hoping to get some hollyhock from you and Chris, some columbine from you. Okay, you both have to think of some things that you haven't been able to find and let me go through my seeds and see if I can accommodate you.

And Chris, next time you fix stuffed green peppers, let me know. I love stuffed green peppers and will travel. ha-ha. Actually, I made some a couple of weeks ago and was really dissappointed. My taste buds have been changing for a year or so. Some times I will prepare a meal as I have been doing for over 30 years and it comes out and I cannot eat it. Strange huh? Another thing along those lines is that I can no longer tolerate salsa. It burns my mouth up. One night last week I put ketchup on something and couldn't eat it because it was too spicy. It was Hunt's brand, so I bought Del Monte yesterday to try and see if it does the same thing. Haven't done it yet.

Oh yeah, along these lines too........I am steady losing weight. I needed to, so am not complaining, but am a bit concerned since weight loss is one of the things they tell you to look out for when having cancer. I am now wondering if I am having cancer somewhere else in my body. I will definitely give my doctor a call next week and ask that question. Well actually, I have an appointment with my primary care physician on Monday. I called and got an appointment because my back has been hurting and my posture is being affected. I will keep you kind folks updated. Am hoping it is nothing!!!!!!

Anyway, I just put my roast and potatoes in oven. Gotta hop in the shower. Talk with you good folks later on.

Ruby

Ruby... Check your D-mail!

Hart, I quit growing Hollyhocks, they suffered from rust so bad that they were not worth growing. I have one volunteer that I have left growing but it looses its leaves. next spring if it is still there I'll pull it out.

Ruby, you are welcome anytime for stuffed peppers. I know what you mean about the taste buds.. when I was on chemo I could not eat red meats, tasted like chewing on a penny. So I ate chicken all the time. Nothing tasted like anything, but I kept eating hoping to find something I could taste. It was a while before things go back to normal! My husband was so happy when I could finally eat beef. (he did not want to cook it just for himself).

I have never had any sign of rust on these or any other disease or insect problems. I think the old fashioned varieties are usually a lot more immune than newer varieties. Be glad to send you some seeds if you'd like to try these.

Hart, that would be wonderful, I'm in the address exchange. I'm planning on starting seeds in my basement this next spring. I'll make room for some hollyhocks.

I have tried some newer columbines but they never took, so I know about old varieties v. new. Also I have a lot of purple echinacea, and have trouble growing the white. Finally got a white to take hold but I don't expect it to last.

I have a few seeds for the white echinacea too. I'll send you some.

The hollyhocks can just be scattered where you want them to grow this fall. They need light for germination, so don't cover them. (So does the columbine.)

Hey there Lady, Yesterday I found something that had my tongue knocking my eyeballs out. ha-ha My ex used to use that comment describing food that he liked.

Our little town has a Domino's pizza that just opened. I ordered their side of brownies. Along with ten, hot, bite size brownies, they sent a little tub of chocolate dipping sauce. I ended up eating most of them myself. They were like melted butter, I tell you, melted butter. ha-ha

See you ladies later on.

Ruby

so much for the weight loss, eh?? hee hee, surprisingly, my kids didn't scarf up the dominos brownies either. they were a little crusty on the surface but almost melted inside, like Ruby says. the sauce was great!

Beware Domino pizza delivery gays, Ruby and Sally are on the loose.....LOL

Does anyone else want columbine seeds? I have quite a few left after sending out Ruby's . Just D-Mail me, no trade necessary. Glad to share.

Chris

Chris and Ruby, I should be able to get your things mailed out tomorrow.