General Discussion & Chat: Spring chat 2016, 1 by Cville_Gardener

Cville_Gardener wrote:
Morning everybody. Great looking dogs, Debra! I had a similar Clematis at one time. It was in a large pot. I know I\'ve had \'Nelly Moser\' and \'Niobe\'. Perennials are my favorite too and I plant very few annuals. I get a \'Giant Marconi\' pepper plant every year to put in a large pot on the deck and a couple of varieties of sunflower seeds. I have some organic Arugula seeds to plant. Also some Malabar spinach seeds.

Thanks, Linda. You\'re so right about the lily bugs. :( So far I\'ve been free of lily viruses. I do have a little of the lily leaf streak on some of the common ditch lilies. But those things are so hardy and I\'m not growing them to win any awards so I\'m leaving well enough alone. I love them because the crowd out so many weeds.

I worked outside for awhile yesterday and did get a little pink from the sun but not burned. The worst thing was that I found a tick crawling on me last night. Ugh! Hate those things. It reminded me that it was time for the cats\' flea and tick drops so I treated them both his morning. Frankly, those two cats get better treatment than I do. ;-) There is some bamboo coming up so I cut that back again. I\'ve treated some spots with sodium chlorate. It kills everything. It\'s the worst invasive I have here ... that and the wild grape. The fella who originally owned the house let it grow along a fence line and even planted some by the deck steps. I\'ve eradicated most of that but a little of it still comes up in spots along the fence. The neighbors aren\'t the best about edging along our common fence lines and that makes it difficult for me to keep things killed off.

Around here honeysuckle is considered an invasive. I do have Alabama Crimson honeysuckle but I like that one and it is more well-mannered. I know there is Japanese honeysuckle (that\'s the invasive) in the back woods and also Winter Creeper, however I like that one even if I do have to have it cut back from time to time. Fortunately. I have no kudzu that I can see. That plant can be a nightmare in the South. Check out this photo. But even kudzu has some benefits. It controls erosion of large, steep areas and goats love it. People are even renting out goats now to come eat your kudzu.

It\'s really about planting things in the right location.

Kudzu