Laurie's Garden Tour 2

No leaf miners in Montana. We rarely have any insects, slugs, or catepillars. (Aphids and white flies of course) but I grow a large amount of wasps.

James - another pet hate, forsthysia - removed 4 of them the first summer we moved in. Loved taking them out, great grunt work! So satisfying. I am sure you will go to plant heavan for sparing all the rhodies and moving them to new homes. I on the other hand... oh, well that is after-plant life. I am sure I will get a few points in my favour for removing the forsthysia.

Hoosier, great bat story. Our bats are horseshoe bats - and they just love zooming us - I like walking in the field at night, kicking up bugs - they really do come in close to get them. Quite exciting. Having just looked up Horned Owls, I will have to put them on the wish list: first, wish they were in England, and second, that we had a pair. the tawny owls are hooting away, which is very nice, but the one drawback to the Barn owl is it screeches - not quite so soothing.

Yes, Great Horned Owls have a marvelous hooting routine. It's especially great on cold winter nights as the sound seems to carry for miles. Once, I heard one hooting in the middle of the night, right outside our bedroom deck (second floor), so stepped outside to see if I could get a glimpse. Well, the owl flew so close I could touch it if I'd had any warning. What was really something though was that it made absolutely NO sound as it flew by me. I "sensed" it rather than saw it, although I could just make out a dark "shadow" in front of me. Pretty freaky! The wing feathers are "frayed" along the edges and tips so owls' wings make absolutely no sound when they flap. Interestingly, the only owl in the world that makes any sound when flying is the African (or Asian?) Fishing Owl, which hunts by day and has no need for silence. Isn't that just remarkable?!

Beautiful Rhodies everyone. All the colors are so vivid! I have them all around my yard. One truly neglected one that is white with lavender that I’ve been trying to coax back into shape.

Steve what do you feed your Columbines. Mine are struggling, but seem to get better with time.

A colony of bats!!! What fun! I would love to see that. And an absence of mosquitos would be an added pleasure. Like Laurie I would find bats zooming in exciting.

Laurie…I hope you get your wish and the Barn Owl sticks around. It would be nice to hear a hoot on a late summer evening. I’ve heard one behind our house a couple of times, but could never find it. We have a rescue for wildlife here and unfortunately those are the only owls I get to see. Magnificent birds.

I've heard an owl hooting in the woods near my house, I hope that means it is coming on silent stealth raids of the voles I have been trying to catch. it would be really nice to have some biological pest control of these voracious creatures that nibble on my pumpkins and eat my lilies.

I've only heard one owl in the 5 years I've been here. It came from the 5 acres of woods to the west of me. The sound conjured up memories of watching cowboys and indians movies in the 60's as a child. I just couldn't resist responding with "he HOO; he Hoo," just in case it was one of my home boys trying to make contact. LOL

I have heard screeching late at night and wondered what animal was being garroted. My neighbor suggested that it was a screech owl. I can certainly do without that adrenaline-initiating sound coming out of the dark.

Owls do get a bad rap in many children's stories. They are often cast as the malevolent predator threatening the safety of the protagonists, who happen to be endearing, innocent and brave mice. Personally, I am finding the rodent types to be the bad ones.

We have several screech owls visit us at our house. The first one I heard I thought a mountain lion was walking thorough the neighborhood and I followed it with a flash light and my hand gun. It turned out to be a screech owl and I knew because the screech went from right next to me to a location 100 yards away. I rested then knowing that my dogs weren't at risk.
Sally I have spent years building up soil with tons of compost and many tons of manure (cow and horse). I always compost the manure for at least 2 years. Makes a wonderful top dress and no I don't have trouble with seeds or weeds. I think the fact that they do well is they are made for the weather we have. Lots of sun and lots of rain in the spring.

Thanks Steve, I thought that might be the case. My soil is awful, mostly clay, I've worked on it, but not that long. Usually I think we have enough sun and rain, but not the last couple of years.

Laurie you should have a few things popping about in your woodlands. Have you anything to share or are you still in the house planning?

Sofer, I am rarely in the house planning - we are still working on the hard landscaping, and getting a new bed layered in. Sowing some seeds, and planting out seedlings that I had sown in the autumn. And shredding, loads and loads of shredding - we cut down a badly overgrown hedge of hazel and holly, setting it up so it will reshoot in the spring. (And, she whispers, ripping out the last of the old lady rhododendrens!)

I thought so (that you were working). When does the woodlands begin to bloom in that glorious country of yours? I heard that about the rhododendrens. I always will change my garden so why can't you change the one your ancestors planted.

Laurie, I am completely envious of your owls! I do love owls! We have a pair of great horned owls in the neighborhood and we hear them at nesting season. Come to think of it, I should be hearing them about now! I put an owl box in the wooded area, but no one has been interested yet. But I love knowing they are there. Now about the bats, we have lots of bats. They swoop in and out of the yard catching insects, so they live around here. They roost in the fir trees. We have seen them leaving one fir tree in particular at dusk, just across the street. They just have not roosted yet in my bat box. When we were in Australia we saw the biggest bats I can even imagine. They were called flying foxes and were absolutely huge! Probably had a wingspan of 2-3 feet. I'm talking HUGE! We saw them swooping out of a park in Sydney right at dusk and I almost wrecked the car trying to get a look at them. Then we went to a restaurant and at the top of a building next to us there was a large light. You could see them circling and swooping in the light, catching insects. I asked the waitress what they were and she told me they were seagulls!! LOL!! I think she must have thought if I knew they were bats I would scream or something. Silly woman.

James, you showed me yours, so here is mine! I am a fan of buttery yellow rhodies. We have an 'island' of them in my yard. Looks like your house and mine were built in about the same era so I'll bet some of your rhododendrons are about the same age as mine. We should get them together for play dates! LOL! This isn't a great shot of these rhodies. They are a real presence in the yard in the spring. There are 4 of them together and they are about 10 feet high. I live down the street from Lakewold Gardens and they have a beautiful rhododendron collection and beautiful shade/woodland gardens. They have a tangerine colored one that is simply stunning. I am working on moving more of mine into the wooded area and also getting more species rhodies.

Laurie, it's too bad you don't like them, but, of course, you have excellent talent in the garden so I can only think you are making the correct decision in getting rid of the rhodies. I will say a prayer for them as you rip them heartlessly out of the ground! Also, yours and Jame's expressing your true feelings about forsythia gives me courage to consider taking mine out. I discovered this shrub struggling to survive being overgrown by ivy, blackberries, etc when we moved into this house. I have nursed it along and it is a splendid specimen now, but to what avail I ask you?? A brief show in the spring and then nothing more. I'm considering calling it good and putting in something more interesting. You give me courage.

James, if and when you decide to find homes for some of your rhodies, I may be able to help if you need homes. My sister is on 5 acres in Gig Harbor, some of it old growth forest. She is looking for large rhododendrons to place at the edges of her woods. I'm donating some, which gives me the freedom to take out the ones I've been struggling with, now that I know they will have a good home.

I miss the beautiful spring Rhodys. But they don't make it here in Montana.

We'll just have to remember to post pics for you Steve.

They miss you too, Steve.

No they don't! They have no heart - icky.

I'd be happy happy to send the big purple old ladies to gig harbour. Saves me shreading them. And if we were lucky, the plant police would arrest them.

At least keep a cutting and preserve those ancient genetics. How sad for a life long long long parent to be decimated in a "Fargo" machine. Booo Hoooo, uhhhh, Boooooooooo Hooooooo.

Laurie the rhodys here are so beautiful! And they look like they have kind hearts....

They aren't that old, Sofer - possibly 30-35 years. I'm sure their wicked hearted offspring are still easily available in the grumpy garden centre that specializes in resincast suffering-children garden ornaments and potpourri.

portland, I am absolutely convinced that Rhodos on your side of the atlantic are sweet, loving, big hearted, gorgeous plants - and I am just so happy they live there. Some how, once they cross the atlantic they become wicked witch of the west (Oh - hey that's perfect!) and become rampant, vapid purple old smelly dowagers who use too much powder and lipstick, and rarely wash. (This is fun! Vitriol is heady stuff).

Laurie dear, now, you really need to tell us how you feel, and not hold anything back. LOL

I remember the first time I ever saw a rhododendron. I was 12 and traveling in Britain with my aunt, uncle and cousin. We were driving along a country road in Scotland and there were these amazingly huge shrub-trees blooming all by themselves in the middle of nowhere. I was astounded.

Of course, this is from a little girl from Fairbanks, Alaska, which is severaly limited in the kinds of plants that will grow there. When you're coming from that perspective, it's not hard to be impressed.

I first saw a rhodie here on Hood Canal when I was 8-10 and tried to read the sign. I ended up with rooten noodies. ^_^ I only have about 35 different ones.

James may be able to find an ID on his at Whitney's, up by Brinnon on the canal. I have a whole row of yellow ones and I think his matches one of them. Hotei,Horizon Monarch, Horizon Dawn are the most lemon yellow. info@whitneygardens.com or
whitneygardens.com

Okay, "rooten noodies" it is.! I like that. ^_^

Thanks Willow, I'll definitely check out Whitney's. Out of all the Rhodies I inherited with this place, I only know the cultivar for sure, on three of them. I guess I need to do my homework.

I agree with Judi, my Rhodies have kind hearts, too. Well, maybe with one exception. One little, low-slung, sprawling one, which can only be described as "titty pink", seems to be a bit of a hussy...

Perhaps a kind-hearted hussy, all the same. :-)

Only a guy could call a flower titty pink. Low-slung and sprawling sounds to me like a James Dean type.

Perhaps it is a guy thing.....but can you come up with a more apt description?

I thought it most appropriate, James.
Please do this more often - needing visual chuckles, here!

Oh James please stop the suggestion of a low lying "t.... pink" rhodo lying with minimal expression. My garden only has masculine images as I walk about. Lol

This message was edited Feb 24, 2009 10:22 PM

Then your gardens would truly appreciate Rhody 'Titty Pink'.

Okay you guys! I am laughing my head off until the dg police show up and slap our hands because of your boy humor. You know the rules here, inane as they are. And boy, are they inane.

Here are my very innocent ideas for that lovely, pure pink rhody: Kitten Pink, Pink Belly Pink, Puget Sunset, Maiden's Blush, Lipstick . There. Now I'm playing nicenice.

Laurie, you are surely the wicked queen and you are completely enjoying it! I had no idea you had it in you. Yes, I agree with Jan: tell us how you really feel! LOL! I can just see you gleefully ripping the poor souls out by their very roots and loving every moment of it. Do take all your frustrations out on those poor trees!
I adore purple rhodies! Imagine them with my new 'must have' tree: Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia'. A black locust with heady chartreuse leaves. You know how I love that chartreuse color with those deep purples and roses. Week knees in the garden all around. Put a climbing clematis in clear lavender to climb into the rhodies and get that nice purple/chartreuse color longer into the season. Sigh. And yet another thing: to a British citizen who lives on an excellent historic property, I guess 35 years does not seem very old in a plant. But around here it is definitely at least middle aged! My house was built in 1964 and I'm thinking all my rhodies were planted about that time. I'm sure someone here can do the math on that. Well, enjoy your ripping! We'll probably hear the screams all the way across continents. But do post a photo so we can know who is meeting its bitter end. And do tell who is moving into the neighborhood they are vacating??

The only cultivar I know I have from the original rhodies is Vulcan. Not exactly my favorite, but it's okay in its place. Here's a photo that shows the setting for that 'forest red' as I call it. But we better be careful posting rhody photos on this thread now that we know Laurie's real feelings about the matter.

By the way, Laurie, you do know, don't you, that when you sacrifice a plant, regardless of the reason, you really owe it to yourself to do so with kindness after thanking the plant for its excellent service, even if you hated it? Because if you don't do this, your fairies will know it and you will be very, very sorry. Very sorry. I speak only partially tongue in cheek. You really don't want to mess with fairies. Stay on their good side. Word to the wise.

Somewhere back i had read about Viburnum bodnantense blossoms described as "cold-flesh pink", which was an apt description, especially for the time of year they bloom.
I do believe James' nickname works for the brazen hussy in question.
There have been casualties for those who remove plants, Laurie. Can't say whether or not it's the work of Faeries. or, whether it applies to native plants only. Are Rhodies native to your area? If not, you're good to go. Otherwise, you're toast...

Oh my!!!

Aye moight tink that there moight be a wee leprechan ooo aunts the ravages of onkept thoughts of replaacn such moiadens of yon highlands. Wee highlanders opp to such grrraand specimens of ourr earthly oonders.

Ooh, that's good Steve. You shold talk/type like that always.

Have you read the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon. Takes place in Scotland during the Battle Culloden. Lots of fun stuff - I think there are about 6 500+page books in the series.

Kathy - he's morphing...

Hee hee.

Yikes!, Steve....even I'm not that daring.....the neighbors would be talking even more than they probably are.... (BTW, love the green bow...what's the significance?)

Green bow? I had to go back and take another look. That is a garden one could only wish for.