The Hackberry Tree and other stuff...

We started here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/966760/

as a comment thread attached to an article. It grew and grew like Topsy. I am moving it to Garden Talk so that others can join us.

The subject is plants that cause some of us grief, blood, sweat, and tears, and others of us very little to no problem. Some plants are like that.

Do you have a plant that drives you crazy, one you cannot seem to get rid of? Join us with that one, or just join us for fun.

A plant that drives me crazy, but that I don't (now) want to get rid of, is japanese windflower. I love the comment, for the cultivar 'Honorine Jobert', from Sterhill in Atlanta, "can be slowly invasive".
Maintain two very large clumps of apparently Anenome hupehensis. The clumps increase in size, only relatively slowly, by underground runners. The problem is that the runners are quite deep and have a habit of coming up inside ornamental shrubs.
At the same time, japanese windflower is among the most noticeable and showy perennials in the fall garden. I may have heard more praise for them, from non-gardeners viewing the garden, than for any other plant.
Think I'd say: "somewhat invasive, but well worth the work".

Ahhhhh, but they are so beautiful, Sunny, as you well know. One time I considered planting them in containers but the runners found their way down through the tiny holes in the bottoms. Now I keep the few I do have in pots, and they are not nearly as beautiful because they have no room to spread.

I wonder, if we know something is even moderately invasive, why do we keep it?
For the beauty or for the challenge?

Same happens with my American wisteria every year, but I wanted them in tree form, and now I have 2 of them. They are so lovely, I simply take their runners every summer, and wind them around the trunk. It works. The trunk gets wider and the top gets fuller.

Lots of work for two weeks of lush lavender umbrellas.

You have a spectacular wisteria display there Sharran. Love the color.

The picture might have to do for another year too, if we get the freeze that is predicted for tonight. They both are in full bloom again!

Thank you.

Freeze!
Being a northerner, thought everybody somewhat south of us had tropical climates. Just kidding, but didn't realize you have these types of problems too.

No freeze.....bad prediction, thank goodness!
Lots of sunshine and 70+ degrees today. I have been weeding, weeding, weeding, and my wisteria is gorgeous.

I second that emotion Sharran. Its just fantastic. We are going to eliminate a weeping cherry tree.
Long story but the graft bolted and the tree has two weeping branches and twenty that are just plain old cherry.
Mybe DD will go for a wysteria like yours.

Maybe so, GE, and sorry about your weeping cherry that no longer weeps. And you might like wisteria, some do and some don't, and it does take some work keeping up with its runners. It sure would be pretty on that long driveway(?) I think I have seen of yours....maybe across from your new bed?

Dont tempt me.

Along about July, I will have rooted runners.....

now
now
no enabeling.

Noticed 'How to kill wy(i)isteria' on the invasive plants forum. Don't believe it is invasive here. As said we lost ours. Disappointed. Don't know why it died.
Really agree with Sharran's philosophy above. If you have a beautiful plant
that requires a bit more work, it's worth it. Don't like the sound of the Roundup attack in last entry on Invasives Forum.

I love, love, love my wisteria. The beauty of the recent blooms was enough but the aroma was intoxicating. Now the blooms are gone and it is covered in leaves that present dense shade over the deck way into November. Cannot imagine putting on Roundup.....on anything.

I followed you. Not much time to post as we are remodeling house & have a close by deadline. See you more in mid May.

Love the iris LouC, we don't see them until June.

Great iris, Lou...
Mine will be blooming in another couple of weeks, but not yet. Right now it is wisteria and tulips.
And no Roundup for me either. Too many repercussions.

See you, Leaflady....enjoy your remodeling.

hahahah! That was supposed to wisteria. Oh well.

Just went to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a couple of days. Saw this house up for sale with Chionodoxa (blue) all over the place. This was just part of the property. Chionodoxa also ran out to the curb. Is this invasive? Is it just personal taste?

Hi Sunny, the only thing I know for sure is that they naturalize very easily, so maybe if not controlled, they would be invasive. They seem to colonize fairly quickly. I haven't heard or read that they are invasive, and don't have any here at the moment, so can't tell you more than this. Maybe others will be able to.

We are up to 77 today. Just hoping it doesn't get too warm too fast as it sometimes is known to do.

Hi Sharon,
Will move in five or ten years. If I don't plant all the things I say I won't, in new garden, there won't be anything in it!
I know too high a temperature here will shorten bloom time of the daffodils.
Is that sort of thing the problem with your potential temperatures?
Sunny

Too late for daffs here now, they have already bloomed and gone, but my tulips are blooming, and they don't like heat very much. I have been watching one that is 2 weeks old now, and it is still beautiful, but if it gets much warmer, it and the others will soon be gone. Doesn't seem to bother the iris, which is next, or the daylilies that will follow, but it wreaks havoc on bleeding hearts and columbine, too. Everything in its own time, of course, but sometimes the heat shortens the time.

I doubt that any garden of yours would be bare for very long. You wouldn't let it be!

Enjoy your weekend.

Very interesting. Using the plants you mention.
Had warm weather for a week. Crocus, species tulips and Chionodoxa 'Giant Pink' at end of front garden! It's alive!
Good weekend yourself.

Beautiful! Don't see any muscari. And our crocus is long gone, but was pretty for awhile about six weeks ago. Nice that yours all bloom at similar times.

Tends to go: snowdrops, species crocus, hybrid crocus, species tulips, --- ,
but this is an early spring for us. Sunny spots first. Like muscari. Stays in clumps. Have a fair bit of it, but it flowers somewhat later.
Like yellow crocus, in part, because you can see it from a distance. Yellow mammoth crocus is an ochre yellow. Gertrude Jekyll apparently said that a perennial bed should have a bit of lemon? yellow to highlight other colors. Would go farther and say yellow is a very cheerful color, especially to greet you in spring.
Have a problem with hybrid crocus bulbs. Have planted them in groups of a single color, but working the soil through the growing season tends to mix the colors up. Mice (voles), picking them off, also doesn't help. Now need to either plant new single color groups each fall or use mixed color groups.
Was reading on-line what a meticulous gardener Monet was. Renoir was apparently much more casual and believed you shouldn't over-weed a garden! Think I'm a Monet rather than a Renoir gardener. But it's fun.

Parameters, you think?

Monet's gardens were wonderful, very inspiring. I have tried to find his blue iris, and think I have come close, but somehow fall far short of his overall look. I am currently fighting an influx of dandelions right now. I don't think Monet included them in his gardens or his paintings.

And then for accent, there's always Ms. Jekyll's yellow....

Last year for both, of course, since mine have yet to bloom this season, but soon!

Not one for parameters, except in stats.
Thanks for the iris images. Beautiful. Love german irises. My very knowledgeable and experienced perennial gardening friend here complains the blooms don't last long enough. Still, I think they put on a wonderful show. Have just started using rebloomers (as below).
Actually, one reason went to Niagara-on-the-Lake was to identify an iris I purchased there last April. Was supposed to be 'Again and Again', but turned out to be a slightly irridescent fragrant violetty blue iris. They agreed that it was 'Feedback'. Love it. After communicating with the grower and the retailer it seems that the confusion was in rhyzomes purchased by the grower.
I must admit Gertrude Jekyll drives me up the wall for hating magenta in the garden. We have nice falls here and blocks of magenta new england aster (Alma Pötschke) are quite spectacular.

Lots of magenta these days. I have an unnamed daylily that is about as magenta as it can get. If it gets any magenta-er it will explode, I think. And with all the magenta comes a deep bright orange throat. It was a gift, so I love it anyway.

Now if only I can find a photo....Ms. Gertrude would truly have a conniption fit.

This is not a great photo, but you get the idea.

Actually that photo does not do the color justice, so you'll have to use your imagination. Sunglasses come to mind.

Looks and sounds great.
magenta-orange - very interesting color combination.

A very 'LOUD' color combo!

Started gardening today!
Own garden - mostly edging.
First two perennial plants started flowering: a lungbane (Pulmonaria rubra) and a primrose (Primula polyantha), both in sunnier spots. Am seeing leaves beginnings on columbines and Jacob's ladders. Just beginning to see white in some of expanding magnolia buds (star magnolia).
Sorry to hear about the dandelions. How are you handling them? A friend demonstrated a mechanical device on a long handle that seemed to work.

If you promise to not laugh, this is my dandelion tool: I taped a very dull, very long butcher knife on to the end of a broom handle. Also glued it before I taped it. When I see a dandelion, I push the knife into the ground at an angle around the perimeter of the dandelion. The entire dandelion lifts right out. I just shake the dirt loose and toss the dandelion in a black trash bag. If it hasn't flowered, I'll toss it on the compost heap, but not very often, because I don't want it to spread a single seed. This works for me, but it is a neverending battle that I won't win, I know. I have not seen anything else that works any better, so until then, I'll keep my butcher knifed broom handle.

I just noticed today that my first columbine is blooming. I'll get a photo tomorrow, it was a little rainy today. I am glad you are getting some perennial blooms up your way.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Excellent device, but doesn't sound like you'll be patenting it. Probably not a good idea to take it with you when you go to the bank. When I see the friend next weekend will ask about their contraption, though yours sounds more efficient.
Have some osteoarthritus myself, so getting back up from kneeling isn't always automatic. Find the leverage from a long-handed trowel comes in handy in getting up. Like the idea of the long handle. Find a spade a very comfortable tool to use.
Was digging out (blue) chionodoxa and puschkinia myself. I know. Don't think there will ever be a clear winner, at least while I'm still gardening.

OK, I don't know puschkinia. On a mission to look it up.

Funny about taking my device to the bank, I will have to remember that. And yes, I have trouble getting to my feet, too, seems more and more each passing year, so whatever works.

Second day of gardening. Not got out our own garden yet. Lovely weather,
not too hot or cold.
Told wife about your dandelion knife-stick. She said be careful (e.g. hitting a stone). Took the liberty of assuring her you are. Also, your description does include the words 'very dull'!
Funny about Puschkinia libanotica and Chionodoxa forbesii (C. lucilae: maybe the same plant). Comments on Dave's seem quite positive. Guess it all depends on the intended use. They really had spread in our back and front gardens, including into the lawn and just beginning, onto a neighbour's lawn.
The problem is that they spread by seed and they produce a lot of it. Added a note on Dave's: they seem to go from seed to flowering small bulb in two years. They're not always that easy to remove. I wonder if one should call a plant invasive if it spreads from your garden to your neighbour's, uninvited. Probably most people don't notice and don't care.
Heard at a lecture that lenten rose is replacing trillium in some American woods south of us. Confirmed this with lecturer. Think lenten rose has such a high profile among some gardeners that they'd rather not know.
Need to take computer in, probably tomorrow. Believe should get it back within a few days. Think could get it done faster, if it was not a Mac.

I have a Mac, too, luckily it is new and I have had no problems with it.

It is interesting what is invasive in some areas, or rather what some consider invasive. I tend to consider them more aggravating than invasive.

Interesting about Lenten rose. I didn't know that, but I hate to think the trillium would ever be replaced. I love Lenten rose, too, though...and would be happy to have both. It is a little hot here for the wild trillium, which is my preference. It does grow in the area 'Land Between the Lakes'....I live about 6 or 7 miles from that acreage so I can see them in the wild quite often. (Something for you to google!) I do have Lenten rose in my garden.

Thank your wife for me....I am very careful. It is so dull, the only thing it will cut is dirt, I think. i have been using it for years!

Very interesting to see your area, the history (technology - the lakes - and civil war) and the wildlife and scenery. Had read that both Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were born in Kentucky. Park and historical interpretation are quite good here now, but we were always amazed when visiting, to see how advanced they were in the States.
Trilliums don't transplant well (Sorry: not suggesting you're off to dig them up). Apparently woodland plants tend to be very site specific. Better, for us, to try by getting trilliums raised horticulturally from seed.
We live in an area (southern Ontario and continuing East) which was once almost all woodland, but was disturbed by native farmers and then, of course, by immigrant loggers, farmers, etc. That means that almost all the plants which are native here, are adapted to go through their life cycles before the forest canopy closes over. Consequently native plants tend to be spring bloomers. Think shade plants, in general, tend to be spring bloomers, maybe for the same reason. Am a sunshine gardener because the big herbaceous flowers of summer and fall need sun.
(second edit: spelling!)
This message was edited Apr 20, 2009 1:07 AM

This message was edited Apr 20, 2009 1:25 AM

Sunny.....when you have time, I'd like you to read one of my articles. You might like it:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/973/

I grew up in the mountains of Southeast Kentucky, part of the Appalachians, so the vernacular will be a little different to you. I think you will enjoy it.