Fall orders and planting

I find that also. Lots of the stuff that afflicts your plants down south isn't a problem up here. You temp is like Fairbanks, except the 90 is not too common, and the lows are closer to -25 to -30 on average.

I have been to Paris Tenn in Western Tenn on the kentucky border almost. Pretty 'Southern' in all ways. "Ya'll come see us, ya hear". Except of course if your a yankee. lol. No, they aren't all that way. some awfully nice people down there. but way to hot and humid. I would think NC would be the same. I wonder how Asheville compares to places in Washington or Oregon. Including state tax, sales tax, property tax. We don't have state or sales so it's a hard pill to swallow. Heck, we don't even care much for federal tax. LOL.

Unfortunately, GA does have snakes. I was putting down pine straw and mini pine bark nuggets today, walked away for a sec to get the broom. Came back to clean up the walk way, and started sweeping, turned around and WHOA, Snaaakkkeeeeee!!!!!. I walked away again to get the rake, and took care of it. We seem to have them in our garden beds around my house, which doesn't make me happy. I was just telling my neighbor today( who was working in her yard, and who is very afraid of snakes) that the snakes should be hibernating for the winter since we've had several hard freezes. Well, guess that theory got proven wrong today.

DonnaMack, I agree that North Carolina is a beautiful state. My SIL and her family live in Charotte now and previously in Raleigh. I had a chance to visit Wilson and Asheville last fall, and the drive to Asheville was breathtaking, and the weather gorgeous.

Ok ya'll ;-), i know what knats and fireants are. Still trying to get over the fireant bites from >2 weeks ago, but what the heck is a waterbug? And, will it eat my lilies?

Waterbugs are those large roaches, or in S. Caroline they call them Palmeto bugs. They live under the pine straw and in the trees.

I'm looking seriously at Asheville, so I've done research. It is not the least expensive place in North Carolina, but in terms of housing it is less expensive than Chapel Hill or Charlotte, much to my surprise. One can do even better in Raleigh-Durham.

Of course, I'm living in one of the most expensive states. The sales tax in Cook County is 10.25%, which is why I never buy anything there, and am moving to Kane (7.25%). And our real estate taxes are obscene. $11,000 per annum for 2,000 square feet in Lake County. Very powerful unions that generate lot of pensions. 87% of the tax bill goes for schools. I'm sure you all have heard about the fiscal irresponsibility.

Chicago, when I lived there in the 70's, was a great city. Much less crowded, far more safe, and the people were nicer. You could live within a block of the lakefront for very little money. I did on my first job and could still buy a condo within 3 years.

Asheville, by contrast, is very reasonable if you are coming from this environment. And wow, people all over NC (I pretty much covered the state for both business and pleasure) are the kindest, most gracious people. I've started taking a trip there every year. That drive to Asheville! Yes, glorious!

This message was edited Nov 16, 2011 12:13 PM

We have a 1900sf ranch, 1980 vintage and pay about 5200 a year in tax. And of course I think pretty much everyone knows we live from oil primarily, with help from tourism and the military so no state tax or sales tax. My husband is firmly in favor of a reasonable sales tax. As it is, property owners pretty much bear the major burden in Anchorage.

My FIL is from Chicago. Marco Antonio Stello, later anglisized to Marc Anthony Stella. Rumor has it there were mafioso connections. My pediatrition went to medical school in Chicago and some of the tales he tells me about Mayor Daly and his ilk were hair raising. Unbelievable. Definitely not a place I would want to live in the 30-50's.

Of course I am completely biased, but I don't think Chicago is *that* bad. It is very expensive (though not as expensive as anywhere on the east coast) and some areas are dirty and crime-ridden for sure, but the city still has a lot of charm. You can still find neighborhoods filled with friendly people and safe streets. Now, the public schools here are horrid, the taxes (both sales tax and property tax) are horrid and the lots are tiny, but it is still a much more livable area than, say, New York City.

I recently moved from a condo in a somewhat shady area very close to the lake to a home in a fabulous residential area about a mile away from the lake. However, in order to be able to afford a property with a yard we had to buy a fixer-upper that will eventually need a renovation to make it into what we really want. The yard was also a completely overgrown, weedy, brambly, unplanned mess and I have already spent countless hours cleaning it up, pruning and removing unwanted shrubs and other vegetation. It is amazing what it looks like now compared to before we moved in in September.

That said, even though I am very happy here, I sometimes long for something simpler and quieter. I was raised on a farm and I very much miss life in a rural area and being so close to nature.

I toured Alaska earlier this past summer and I fell in love with it. It is such a special place. I also know Asheville and think it is a wonderful town.

Ah, then these locations will mean something to you.

When I lived on Wrightwood I loved it!

Then I bought on Gordon Terrace, half a block from the park, and that was great.

Then I was in a four unit condo in Sheridan Park on a wide one way street lined with trees - the 4500 block of Dover Street., in a four flat condo that was a gut rehab, and that was great too, except that the people changed, and that was the hardest part. People next door wouldn't speak to you when you greeted them. They threw loud screaming parties till 4 in the morning. They didn't want to hire maintenance staff but they didn't want to perform maintenance duties. My husband and I ended up doing much of the work although we had the smallest unit. Our neighbors were all newcomers to the city.

It is much more livable than NYC, but I think NYC is unlivable. And it concerns me that neighborhoods that were once very safe (I grew up a block from Obama's home) now have problems with muggings, vandalism and other woes, in a place with $1,000,000 plus homes. Senator Carol Moseley Braun was mugged and punched there. My sister was struck in the face emerging from lovely Madison Park - the man wanted her purse, and he couldn't just snatch it and go. The neighbors responded to her screams. She was traumatized by the experience, since we had lived there safely since the end of 1959. The glorious neighborhood of my childhood. People are being attacked in areas where I once got off the 22 Clark bus at 1:00 a.m. and walked safely down the street.

It's sad.

It is sad, Donna. I have only been in the city for about 9 years having moved here from Michigan. But even in that short time period I have seen a lot of changes. Some areas have declined and are now ridden with crime, while others are becoming progressively more elevated and hoity-toity highbrow. My older brother also lives in the city and he was mugged and attacked several years ago in his neighborhood (Edgewater). It is a truly scary experience.

I was living in Uptown before now, an area frequently viewed as up and coming but it never really seems to go up except in noise pollution and amount of litter and trash found on the streets. Before that I was in Bucktown and before that I started out in Hyde Park. Now I am in Graceland West and I have to say it is the friendliest area of any I have lived in here in the city. It is probably the closest to a small town feeling I have had in Chicago, with a very active crime watch and lots of community involvement and participation.

Oh, you chose well!

Uptown has been up and coming FOREVER, at least since the 70's, but it never seems to get there. One problem was the former alderman, Helen Schiller, who littered it with a large concentration of SRO's. We went to look at a spectacular condo, and when we looked out the back porch, we could see the eyes of people staring back at us from a single room occupancy a couple of blocks away. It was unnerving. It also made you realize that dozens of people could watch your comings and goings.

The hilarious thing about Chicago is that they keep renaming areas to encourage development. Without moving, I lived in Uptown (which used to start at Irving Park) to Lakeview. Sheridan Park used to be in Uptown. The great thing about Sheridan Park is that older buildings were renovated, so we lived in an incredible brick building that had been four units when built, had gotten divided into 32 units (Uptown syndrome) and was restored to four units. All that fabulous brick on the outside, gut rehabbed. Top price for the largest 1,600 square foot unit - $134,000. But Clark Street, not that far away, was still dicey. You could see evidence of, shall we say, sexual activity in and near our carport.

One funny sad thing is that I went out one morning to find a quite thin man in the carport sleeping between the cars. I tried to rouse him, and he appeared dead. I ran inside and called 911, and the police and ambulance came. It turned out that he was just sleeping. VERY deeply. Everyone was so kind and gentle to him - it was uplifting. I apologized for calling the police. He was actually very sweet. They got juice and a little breakfast for him, and made sure he could stand up with no difficulty. And you know what he said? It seemed like a quiet place to sleep! And you wake up to six people standing over you. We all laughed. Funny, but also quite sad.

He was fortunate Donna that it was your car port. And it is nice to know that the first responders were caring not horribly jaded by where they live.

I didn't plant hardly any lilies this fall. I did plant about a dozen Lady Alice, and some nice ones from a friend. But what I did do was plant daffodils all around my lilies.

Back in 1994 I got the book Tasha Tudors Garden, written by Tovah Martin. In it, Tasha describes how she plants daffs and crocuses around everything to repel the 'chipee hackies', speaking of chipmunks. But since then I have read how it repels moles and voles. I tried it and it worked great. So this year I did a big planting of daffs.

On to more lilies in the spring!

Guess I better take stock next spring of where the daffy's are and plant more in the back yard. I will be going out soon with a shovel to dig some test ditches in the snow to see if I have any mouse tunnels like last year. Never occurred to me that they tunnel in the snow to get to trees, bushes and plants to eat all winter. I will set traps at junctures of the tunnels, or at least bait. Hope my squirrels stay clear. They don't hurt my plants, just bury peanuts and such in my pots and garden for winter storage.

I think the daffodils are a great idea. Easy to plant, they look good, and what could be more environmentally correct.

I haven't lost a single lily or tulip since I started doing this. I recommended WP Milner because it is small, and was amused to find that this year, for the first time, it's sold out everywhere. It's particularly good for people who don't care for daffs (yes, they do exist!!)

I no longer use Volblok/Permatil, Milorganite for this purpose.

I do use freshly ground black pepper to keep squirrels out of my pots. Squirrels, in my experience, are much tougher than voles or rabbits. I just stand over the pots and operate the pepper grinder. I used to use cayenne pepper but it didn't work, which seems odd to me. The black pepper is great because it is invisible to the eye and does not form a crust the way cayenne pepper does.. I just reapply it every few days.

No more fear in the spring! No more losing 50 lilies, 75 tulips! I've been there.

There are people who don't care for daffs!!! How can that be?

I must admit that King Alfred daffs don't appeal to me, and that is the image of the daffodil, which is why I didn't have them for many years. I think they look great naturalized and from a distance, but I am not a person who likes a lot of bright yellow.

I adore Mrs. Backhouse.

Vie en Rose (a much bigger pink and white) Mrs. Backhouse, to the right of the picture, is tiny by comparison.

And Mount Hood. Of course I am sure there are people who find my choices bland. I rarely see white daffs, and that's probably the reason. They certainly are not as cheerful as the yellows.

Isn't it great that there is something for every one?!

Donna, beautiful photo as always. Mrs. Backhouse looks so refined and delicate. Isn't she considered to be the first of the "pink" daffodils? I was eyeing this one earlier this fall in the Old House Gardens catalogue, but my budget ran out before I had the chance to order it.

I used to not like bright yellow in the garden either, but I find lately that sometimes I am drawn to it. Two of my favorite garden daffodils are the miniature cyclamineus hybrid 'Tete-a-tete', though it be but a commoner, as well as the very rare and expensive but common-looking species Narcissus pseudonarcissus, which reminds me of a more wildflowery version of Kind Alfred (which it is). And I love the bright yellow flowers of winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis. If a more perfect late winter-early spring flower exists (other than snowdrops), I would eat my hat.

I suppose I could generalize my overall garden aesthetic as "gaudy bulbs and somewhat more refined perennials", LOL!

Oh my, I love that photo of the 'Mount Hood' daffs! The white ones truly make my heart flutter.

Beautiful daffs, Donna! Not bland at all. I don't think I even have a King Alfred, and it probably wouldn't be my favorite, but it would be nice in the house in spring.

I've been buying daffs in bulk for years, but I just started getting a collection of some of the fancier ones. Did you know some of those new ones can go upwards of 70.00 each!!! I don't like them that much.

And here I was expecting to be chastised. Thank you!

Mrs. Backhouse is indeed the first "pink". It's more like apricot. A lot of the "pinks" are orange.I got it from Old House Gardens, in a clump of five. I just love this tough old girl.

I also got Mt Hood from OHG. What you can't see from the photos is how much these two have multiplied.The original 5 Mt. Hoods must be 30. Wonderfil daff!

Funny what you say, Polly. Vie on Rose cost several times what the others did, but it doesn't stick around. I purchased it because I love trumpets and it was supposedly the first new pink and white trumpet in years, at least according to White Flower Farm (it;s a Grant Mitsch creation). Not only does it not persist, but it's not a trumpet! Brent and Becky's bulb catalogue says it was "reclassified". And they stopped carrying it years ago. So I bought 5 more Mrs. B and filled in the space.

The expensive new hybrids don't do much for me either. They seem a little too elaborate. And will they persist? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice.....

Funny, in Plant Files there are only two pictures of Vie en Rose. Think I'll skedaddle over there, load some pics and let people know it doesn't persist.

I bought 2 sets of them - one to replace the other. Each set $19 for 10, They look phenomenal for about three years, then POOF! Gone!

Do you divide your daffs, Donna? I think next year I may divide some. I need to keep better track of where they are. I seem to occasionally plant on top of others.

My heirloom ones reproduce so quickly that I dug them up and spread them around, rather than dividing them. The missing Vie en Roses were filled in with the rather promiscuous Mrs. Backhouses. And the Mount Hoods (which multiply even faster) were moved to the other side of the bed. I find that by spreading them out I don't have to divide them. I don't think I started out with as many as most people. My 5 Mt. Hood's became 30, but I only started with 15 daffs.

Oh, just a note. I started out trying to plant Triandrus daffodils. I started with Thalia. They didn't come back. Then Tresamble. They didn't come back. Then Silk Shot. Ditto. I got them all from OHG. I think that it is just possible that triandrus daffs don't do well in my zone. All 20 are gone (I put in Thalia twice). Silk Shot never came up.

I mentioned this in another thread and people kept insisting to me that Thalia did well for them. If I were an inexperienced gardener I would just accept that I did something wrong. But 20?

I'd steer clear in zone 5a (I should add that some purveryers recommend Thalia for zones no colder than 5b).

I have a question. I found some oriental lilies that I didn't get planted in the fall. They were bare and in a paper sack. They look to have dried out, but wondered if they would sprout or if they are dead? I went ahead and put them in the ground yesterday when it was 70* here, figured might as well try, eh???

Can anyone answer this question? I look forward to this thread heating up and joining in.

Thanks!
Patti

Thanks. The dirt was pretty moist, then I watered them well. Some were pretty light, but the interior of them looked like they were not dry, just the outside scales. Guess I'll just have to wait until spring and see.

bleek has started his lily co-op. Yippee!!!! I got great lily bulbs from him last year. I'm placing my order now.

Love this time of year.

I happened to run across Brent and Becky's Summer Clearance sale (50% off all summer stuff) this weekend. Catalog lists items at full price but discount is shown when your cart shows up on the screen.

I'm just getting back into lilies and want some of the things I don't see offered much. I'm hoping that will keep me from buying volume when I don't really have the space--I'll spend more on one bulb but know that I really want that one and I do have space for a single:lol: Yeah, I know...probably won't work:)

Its amazing how crazy lilies cam make you. I went nuts 3 years ago when I realized how small a hole will hold 3 bulbs and they look great in part shade with hostas.

LOL! I realized the same thing when I had to put in 71 lilies in the last three weeks. I went nuts too. I didn't realize that you can get instant bouquets. It's funny when you somehow go from having so few that you spread them out to having so many that you put 3-4 in a hole.

I had so many bulbs ordered 3 years ago I had to do somethin,
By the way. Everyone knows about the wierd spring we have had. I noticed many of my lilies arent as tall as last year. Martagons are half the height as last year.2 have no buds,

Mine are mostly short with just a few exceptions. I've never bought any small or tiny lilies but spotted one today at just a few inches tall. Should be some sight when it blooms.

I lost a lot of my lilies in last years heat (one day was 114* in the shade!) and need to replace them! Does anyone know of a coop or discount ordering that I could contact?

I don't have time to read through all the posts right now.

What do you do after the lillies bloom away, do you cut them down . Thanks. Etelka

Crit: If you are interested in many bulbs in one variety try Van Engelen

kiseta: DONT cut down the lilies. I remove the tops where the blooms are gone.
The stalk and leaves need to remaine in order to make food for the bulb for the next season. Give a bit of fert ( BulbTone ) after the blooms are gone.

Thank you very much. Etelka