John....I think I may buy "garden/perennial mix" and compost from the same company on the OHIO river.....does that company start with an N ? I really love their compost but haven't been thrilled with the "perennial mix" dirt. BUT, the dirt I was getting before them was 100% Salt River bottoms dirt which was pretty much silt. Are you buying "their" compost or do you get your compost (other than your home made) elswhere ? kim
Clematis chat continued
Kim we are almost neighbors . Yes it does start with an N. I don't get my compost from them although it is ok. I am getting mine from earth first. Here N has a product which they call garden mix. I guess that is the same as perennial mix.
Arlene Theres nothing like a nap is there? I can't sleep because of my back , bu ti do rest. At night I take pills.
John
Naps are wonderful. I even loved them as a child and now maybe more!
Sorry about your back problems. I guess the pills work - I hope so!
I take pills at night to so I can sleep because of the back. Sometime they work wonders and sometimes they dont. If they dont work, then the big dogs come out and they really knock me out.
But I wont give up the gardening yet. It might just take me a little longer to get it done.
I'm with you, Marie. As long as I can get outside, I can get something done.
Marie
I totally agree with you. I too have back problems and I will be in a wheelchair before I give up gardening.....
Same here!
My wonderful former neighbor was the original PIRL and we met when I was 26 and she was 67. She taught me gardening from the roots to the shoots as we would work on her garden between her home and mine.. At 88 she developed arthritis severe enough that she could no longer kneel to work but it didn't stop her. She continued until she was 95 and then the arthritis in her back made it impossible. She died at almost 103. She was my role model from the start and always will be.
The problem with Arthritis is that is you stop it feels and gets worse, so when my spouse says, sit down, stop doing that, he does not understand that after I am sitting or laying too long it is harder to stand up and get moving. Do I hurt?, Hec all the time, so I have Ibruprovin at work, and muscle relaxers at night and I keep moving.
Today or Friday I need to dump EE and canna pots to store bulbs.
Working in tight spaces just annoys me endlessly so I've removed a lot of plants and did a lot more mulching to avoid having to get in those areas to weed. Now, if I could just convince the next door neighbor NOT to use that infernal weed whacker that sends the weeds to my side I'd be happy.
Just getting up from the ground is a battle.
Have you tried Aleve, Marie? It's a great help to my husband who has arthritis in his neck, hips, knees, spine and hands.
Thanks for the reminder to lift canna! I just added it to my to-do list.
Just a note on Aleve, if you have a history of stroke in your family, or at high risk for stroke, they don't recommend Aleve. There is even some push to get it removed from the market due to the increased stroke and heart attack risk. I'm really torn, as I have a history of stroke in my family, but it is the most effective medication for my migraines. I try to limit the use of it to only when I'm really desperate, and my other migraine meds just aren't doing the trick.
Now don't we sound like a healthy bunch...lol Buy you cant keep us down. We will garden to the very end...lol
You're 100% right about Aleve, Booker. There are many warnings on that label and people should ask their doctor about using it. Years ago I tried it for what had been misdiagnosed as TMJ for many years but it was actually Trigeminal Neuralgia. Aleve didn't work and none of the other med's worked. An operation did work!
Not much can stop us, Marie!
Was reading the above posts and wanted to clarify some confusion, both Jackmanii and Jacmanii supurba are true climbers. There are 3 non climber types: Durandii up to 5ft., hercifolia, and integrifolia. I have all 3, durandii the newest (still in a pot); hercifolia, mine is several years old and approx. 4'X4' and 18-24" in height; integrifolia is 10"X10" and 10-12" in height. From several clem books I have they all say : remove the bottom leaves and plant atleast 3 node deep, that way if there is damage above you still have a live plant. I dig the hole deeper (12-18") and add humis or peat and aged manure. Then I clip back the plant to within a few inches of the ground to promote more branching for the future, reguardless if an A,B or C. I have even moved clems numerous time to find the right home or plant combo. One of my favorites was an accidental pairing, most of my clems. were planted next to a path. "Prince Charles" and Gypsophila paiculata, turned out to be a wonderful pairing, pix is below. Clems. also love their feet in the shade, either from plants close by or a large rock over the roots. My hercifolia is ready to be divided or I may try to propagate by rooting cuttings, will see if any green out there after my 12" of snow melts,lol. If not will try next spring to share with others. So those with new plants might want to cut them back this fall for a better show in the years ahead. Kathy.
"Wonderful" doesn't start to compliment your photo. It's fabulous!
I always plant the clem's with a mix of bone meal, compost, manure and, if it's spring, I add Epsom Salt to the mix. I also add a chunk of cement for the lime factor since our soil leans towards acid. For the last dozen clem's I planted I added reconstituted water crystals to be certain the roots will have water even during a drought.
Adding those crystals is a good idea. I never thought about using them in planting. Where do you get the cement pieces to add to the soil Pirl?
I saved a lot of cement pieces when we had some work done last January (lowering a door from the garage to the dog's pen - now my "garden room" complete with potting bench) but I had always saved pieces from newly installed porch and kitchen steps. I scoured the ground for some of them.
Long time ago when I lived in Delaware, I worked for one old gentleman over 90 years old . I was the cook and housekeeper, he also had a nurse. We used to wheel him out to the garden in the wheelchair. He got donwn from there and he worked all day with the flowers and roses sitting in the dirt, and he was happy. He used to give me two telephone numbers, because I was first to arrive to the house, just in case I find him on the floor. the second number was to call incase I find him dead. He always said any day is a good day when I wake up. He is the one showed me how to eat apple pie with ice cream, I am very glad of it.
warriorswisdomkathy, lovely combo...Don't you love when that happens?
Kiseta, I hope there will be someone to wheel me out to my garden like that when I am 90.
Has any one used those garden benches that flip...you can sit or if you kneel there are handles to help. http://www.gardeners.com/Garden-Kneelers/GardeningTools_LaborSaving,35-662RS,default,cp.html?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=Google&utm_term=garden_kneeler_bench&SC=XNET8019&kwid=28980d31c2aa4c3cb77f3cddbde7467e
There are all kinds of devices, but hard to find ones that would work in an uneven surface...not a paved path.
Etelka - please make sure you're free to come up here and do the same thing for me in 20 years! I love the idea of it!
Yes, banana, we bought it and found it impossible to use. When you're kneeling on it you have no free range of arm movement because the side bars prevent it.
I bought one this fall, but haven't had a ton of opportunity to use it. Used it for planting a bunch of iris, and liked it for that. I'm not sure how I'd like it for projects where I move a lot, like planting the vegetable garden.
It's okay for planting what's directly in front of you but not for digging up plants which requires more arm movement.
Did you buy it to help get up or for the cushion? If it was to help in getting up you could put it to the side and move it over when you want to get up. I use an old bath towel, the huge "sheet" ones, doubled over a few times for my knees and spread out or halved when I'm working over a larger area.
For both. Bad knees. When I get down, it is hard to get back up! I've had the little portable kneeling pads before, but there were still a couple of times I had to holler for my kids to come haul me to me feet, when I stayed on my knees longer than I should have. I actually had to call our home phone from my cell phone once, when I seriously could not get back up. I still have a hard time admitting that someone my age has so much trouble getting up from the ground!
I thought there might be times when I would use it as a seat, too, but once I got it, I couldn't imagine when I would be gardening and not need to be down on the ground.
While I can stay on my knees for a very long time the getting up part gets more and more difficult. Generally I push with my hands because my knees will not obey me when I try to tell them it's time to get up.
That's a good reason to have a cell phone!
There are times where I have had to have my husband come over and help me up. You are right - it isn't getting down onto the ground, it is the getting up that is hard. If DH isn't around, I can always crawl over to the privacy fence to help me up.
I want somebody to wheel me into the garden when I am 90 as well. There is something about feeling the dirt on your hands and the warm smell of the earth and the plants. I also love to go barefoot in the dirt, but it is a bit rough on the feet if I am trying to use a shovel.....
I try to spot something nearby to help me get up before I even get on my knees. A big sturdy barrel does help even if it's empty.
You're right. The joy of gardening shouldn't have age limits.
I'm thankful I haven't gotten to the stage where I need help getting back up. Next, I'll be thankful for having help to get up. After that, I will be thankful I can get out at all.
This message was edited Nov 3, 2011 7:53 AM
Well aren't we an active bunch. Isn"t it nice to have something so intriging in our lives that we are able to keep on keeping on in spite of pain.
It may be an addiciton...My wife keeps saying where are y ou going to put it , and I keep saying I'll find a place. My night time routine is to take an ambien on night one , aflexoril on night two, and a super strength Tylenol on Night three then repeat. The tylenol doesn't work very well and my doctor suggested a narcotic.
I'm not going there.
On my Tylenol nights I usually get little sleep, but I have learned not to be anxious about it.
My doctor suggested a narcotic as well. I have it on my nightstand, but I don't take them. I don't want to end up as a 60 year old addict.
I do still do my physical therapy excercises they gave me the last time I was in PT - that was about 3-4 years ago. I have to say, the exercise does help. Another thing I do is I take the concentrated tart cherry juice - my next door neighbor turned me on to it and truthfully, it does help.....
Jack used to ask where I'd put more plants but he's learned I really do find places. Next will be a montana clematis for "his" shed.
When I was reluctant to get out of bed this morning I stretched out my legs - huge mistake! The leg still feels awful. At a certain age I guess a full, long stretch is not such a good thing.
No narcotic pills for me either. While I had the TN I was on 26 pain killers a day and it didn't stop the pain. I never had any withdrawal symptoms but I'm sure it's because the drugs didn't help me. Back then a glass of wine was more relaxing than all those pills.
Carolyn, when I moved down to Ga from Delaware, I liked to walk barefoot on the ground . I was hanging clothes on the line and stept into a fire ant mound, you learn quick that was a ban idea. I had at least 40 bites, it takes a long time to get over that.
This message was edited Nov 4, 2011 8:45 PM
Kiseta, what part of Delaware did you live? I use to live there and some of my family are still there. I worked in the Dover Mall at Gordon's jewelers.
I want to see if I got this straight,, if they bloomed in the spring I trim them now, if they bloomed later I trim them in the spring? If they are a new planting this fall I trim them now? I always get so confused about this.
marie... If newly planted this year or just planting this fall, cut back to leave a few nodes. (above ground), this will put the winter growth into deveolping roots and in spring new branching. (reguardless of A,Bor C) Next year can refer to reg. prunning for type A,B or C. This helps to bring about more branching so growth is fuller sooner than not doing such. Pix above is a great example. I did cut back after planting and in 3 years looked great. Several of those that were not cut back only had 1 or 2 stems. Also the trick of planting several nodes deep further help braching at a young age. Hope that helps. Kathy.
Mary, I have lived in Wilmington, between 1970-1980, It is a nice state, but to many bad memories.
Oh I got a few bad ones from their too, that is why I wound up in NJ. But I lived there after those times. But we use to travel from MD(my home state) to go there and shop for years.
Just got back from a training class for work in Glasgow, DE. Ate at the best Indian restaurant! Didn't have time to shop, but I love that there is no sales tax there.
I think it was on the daylily forum, that members there were chatting about "pole dancing". They take a pole outside with them when they garden (like a broom stick or rake handle) and use it to help them get back up after they have been digging in the dirt. I am not at that point, but it seems like a great idea. ~Jan
Oh Jan, I think that is a good idea too.... I will have to remember that one....
Tree men were here yesterday taking down trees in the back yard. Well it looks so much more open, I will be getting a hole lot more sunlight now. But, I looked and saw that they decided to,I am sure hubby told them too, haul the logs over to the woods behind my flower bed. In the process they stomped down parts of my baby hydrangea,ripped out my trellis with Nelly Moser on it and walked all over her. I am not pleased. I hope they did not kill her and that the little hydrangea will be ok. MEN! UGH.
marie. I hope your Nelly Moser is ok. Surely they saw the trellis? I don't get it. I was outside planting my irises, and I noticed that the landscape guys whacked my Crystal Fountain to 6in. tall. I couldn't believe it!!!! They also keep cutting the new growth off of my clematis durandii. Wonder if I'll see any blooms next spring.
Kiseta, I feel your pain about the fire ants. I was putting composted manure around my peony Torch Song, and put my hand down in the pinestraw. I looked down when I felt the first bite, only to find my had and lower arm covered in ants. Thank goodness I had on gloves and a long sleeved shirt. I only got two bites on my forearm, where a small portion of skin was exposed, and I hopped up like I was crazy, slapping at my arm and hand. It was an America's Funniest Videos moment. LOL.
BTW, has anyone heard how GREENSIDEUP did with the second cataract surgery" Haven't seem any post here from LSM lately. Annette
Have not heard from Lee - hoping everything is well. Lee please post when you can to let us all know.
I would have thought the gardeners would have seen the trellis as well. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? I do think the NM and Durandii will be fine. Clems love to be cut back. My Durandii dies all the way back to the ground every winter.
Etelka - makes me think of the times I have had ants - not fire ants thankfully, climb up my pants while I am gardening. It is all I can to do get into the house fast enough to get my pants off.....