After the Swap

Happy, oh nooooooo. What is it with geraniums? They are "supposed" to be so easy to grow, but most of the ones I've ever attempted have not made it. Even when I told Jill my murderous tendency with them, she insisted that I try 'Rozanne' once again LOL - we'll see.........

Happy, I love the sweet woodruff and am getting that established in some other areas, don't really like ajuga that much. What are "big root" geraniums? sounds interesting.

This is the variety I have, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/82930/, plus SallyG gave me some of a different variety at the swap. I started with maybe 10 plants of mine, and put them under an old oak tree maybe 2 years ago. Twice a year I aggressively divide them so as to expand the patch -- I just did it, so they don't look like much right now (or I'd post a photo), but they are covering an area of maybe 10' x 10' (I haven't measured). I'm trying to increase their reach by about 4x that. I try to do it when the weather is cool, ideally right before a few rainy days. They smell wonderfully of apples, and they really block weeds. And in April they are covered with flowers that last a month or so.

Here is someone else singing their praises: http://awaytogarden.com/the-toughest-groundcovers-i-rely-on. According to this blog, my variety is "less rampant" than othres. Maybe you'd want the more rampant one -- or not -- check with Sally in case that is what she has and she can comment on whether it gets out of control. The author of the blog did say they don't like it too wet -- would that be an issue if they are adjacent to your pond?

I had lots of fun all day running around with my flatbed wagon filled with plants, looking for places to put them. I had a great time pulling out the weeds and replacing them with the contents of my wagon. All my swap beauties will help me to crowd out the weeds that I didn't get to pull this spring when I was at my DD's house more than I was home. I just love the variety that I came home with. Some stuff for my beloved perennial gardens and lots of stuff for the "wild" area that I'm trying to beautify. Yes, it's fun to relive the swap each day that I care for these plants!

Glad you had a great day, Teri. Still have plenty to plant here, but not today. Today was the end of the year program for the little preschool that is run as part of the local high school. Little Maggie was in the pm class. It was not just for the little graduates, but also to recognize the high school kids involved. It lasted about 1 1/2 hr. I was impressed with the little kids. They sat on stage for the whole time and were pretty well-behaved. Each little kid had at least 2 high schoolers that were assigned to them. The teacher is retiring after 25 yrs of doing this. Maggie started soon after she turned 4 in Nov , so she will be in this class again in September. It runs 3 days a week for 2 1/2 hours and it's free.

Happy, I don't think that 'Tiny Monster' was rooted very well yet, as I started it a couple weeks later than those 'Biokovo'... I've got another one here that still looks OK and think I'll stick a few more. No biggie, we'll just try it again. LOL

I've got Sally's geranium also, a couple of starts from last fall that have turned into nice little plants already! Love the magenta blooms. Two of my older 'Rozanne' are suddenly enormous this year, so I'll have to try to stick some pieces from it, also. Tuff stuff! I think there are better ideas for that pond bank than lemon balm, for sure. You really want to stick with something that will let you add other things down the line... bigroot geraniums, sweet woodruff... maybe even vinca -- yes, it's a thug, but it will have boundaries, and I'm pretty sure you can plant other things where it's growing (at least plants and shrubs that are tall enough to rise above the ground cover of the vinca... its roots just don't seem that deep.

Creeping Jenny would probably be happy there also and would especially do well in damp areas closer to the water. Come get some of my variegated Vinca major to try there... I also have Vinca minor in the back corner garden and both gold & green creeping jenny. I just came across a web page with some neat landscape photos where creeping jenny was used as a groundcover: http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/1167524/list/Great-Design-Plant--Golden-Creeping-Jenny/

Jill--

The color difference in your Mom's Phlox is, probably, due to my old, crappy camera.
It never captured blues or reds correctly.

I will wit until it blooms again and take better picture with my new camera...

Gita

So excited for the long weekend...time to finish getting everyone in the ground!! VERY appreciative for Mother Natures assistance in keeping all the potted babies watered!!

Chantell, what are you doing up at this hour? Same as me, can't sleep LOL??? I'm getting ready to post pix....

Robin (Catbird) and Sally (Sallyg)

I'm up too -- had to stay up late to pick my daughter and her BF up from the prom. Yawn.

David (greenthumb99) and Pat (ecnalg)

Happy, too funny - we are just wild and crazy party animals on a Friday night!

Ric (wonderful host), Jill (critterologist)

Judy (coleup), Gita (gitagal)

Betty (pippi), Terri (ssgardener)

Chantell (chantell), Becky (bec_no_va) - aka tweedle dee and tweedle dum...

Sally (sallyg) - great pix of you Sally!

Holly's parents and Ruby (rubyw), John and Cheryl (my neighbor friend), Becky (bec_no_va) Ric and John

Larry the grill meister

The bamboo queens - Gita (gitagal), Jill (critterologist), Jan23

FlowAJen loading up the loot

And a few final shots of Ric and Holly's beautiful gardens

terrific photos!!

Critter, thanks for the tomato names =) and thanks again for the tomatoes! hope to get them in the garden this weekend.

lol Was this really all just seven days ago?!!!

Wow, there sure were a lot of big plants there! It looks like it was a lot of fun. I see now why people drive several hours to get there. I hope I can make it next year.

you would most likely enjoy it .. as I had!!!.. worth the drive!!!

BTW (as my daughter would say), someone left a bucket of what Critterologist described as horsemint. I took a handful. Which of you folks left that bucket? Thanks!

Aspenhill, I would love to share some Creeping Jenny with you at some point. Also have more Sweet Woodruff, thanks to Happy Mc to share also. Just let me know. Please, please, please let me shower you with some Lambs Ear, which I loved some years back until it too proved invasive here and I have now grown to almost hate. Sedum Sarmentosan would also take off and cover a lot of ground too. Shoot girl, one trip here, or even a mail shipment from here, would keep you busy and get a good start to the area beside the pond. Let me know.....I can help, I believe.

Much the same as Roses, I too have been happily recalling the fun of last Saturday, any time I have tended any of the loot we came home with. Donner, I will try taking another picture of the plant, but feel as though you have hit the nail on the head.....this cup of whatever was in a box of other goodies you gave John, so most likely it came from you.

Thanks Pat for identifying the Liatris. Will get it planted pronto.....when there is a cool time in the next few days.

John had to go shopping yesterday to buy a tent canopy to erect over a table full of house plants that we didn't have last year. Last year everything fit on the screen porch, but way too many to fit this go round. When looking around our yarden, it does almost seem like there is a nursery here. I especially enjoyed working with the Freydek and the Banana Plant and Elephant Ears that I received from Coleup. That is how I spent yesterday morning before the heat arrived and sent me scampering indoors for the rest of the day. We too have had a couple of afternoons of showers, which delighted the plants. A few of the pots without drainage holes came out looking very messy and way too wet. They have since been moved indoors where I can control the water they get.

Anyway......you folks are the very best. Thank you again to each and every one who sent plants home with us. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and try to stay cool all.

Ruby

I couldn't agree with you more, Ruby about everyone being the best. As my Mother's uncle would say, bettern a llll the rest.

He also would say, "you're pretty in two ways. Pretty ugly and pretty apt to stay that way". Needless to say he was a character. He also liked to get sugar from the ladies. He died just shy of his 104th birthday.

It is very hot and humid here and no rain here. It skirts all around us. Trying to keep everything going.

We have been fortunate so far, rain wise. Our area is known for droughts later in the summer, and thinking of that really makes me sad. It is so sad to see things wither and die. I know how frustrating it is to need rain, and it keeps passing you by. That too happens here on occasion.

Anyway......I was outdoors earlier, but hopefully will be able to stay indoors therest of the day where it is cool. Have lots of chores, indoors and out, so I won't run out of things to do. No big holiday plans here, but I hope that any of you celebrating will have a safe and fun time.

Ruby

Ditto that!

GOlly you people, I miss one night...
"My bigroot geranium' is magenta-esque pink as critter said, like the one posted by Victorgardener in that link of happy's of 'ingversons' Maybe ingversons is supposed to be the lighter pink. And 'my' bigroot is evergreen for me, with fall color on the leaves, absolutely pest free, spreads slowly on its own or quickly with minimal help and can survive a vole condo underneath it. Easy to move, or remove, does not leave spreadable bits like a mint would. . geez I wonder if I brought all my pots or there might still be a couple left behind the shed and totally forgotten. ONly thing bad I can say is, the foliage on mine has a weird pungent smell, not appley, if you brush it.
I would nominate this geranium over woodruff for your bank aspenhill, because the woodruff goes bare in winter and the geranium I think would keep some foliage. I LOVE my woodruff, but notice that any wet winter leaves stuck in it will cause delays in leafing up (temporary holes)

Sally: I love the smell of the leaves of my 'Ingversons.'

Oh- Jill's Biokovo seem equally nice or better! I planted Tiny Monster next to it.. actually I think I sunk the pot, being not sure if it was a geranium, so that sounds perfect.
.I'll continue to have enough of my bigroot to plaster the world, or the forum, as desired. Oh aspenhill, let's put some old blue Siberian irises on the bank too!!! Did I give you any? They'd ve love the moisture and sun,, would sort of self mulch with tough dry leaves and would have tough persistent roots over winter to hold the dirt.

happy I may put an ingversons request on the next swap list! I have to go smell Biokovo.

Sally -- those iris are a perfect idea for Aspen's bank!

You gave me some of your bigroots at the swap, so I'll do a smell test later today!!! I'll do a blind test on my family...

Oh, that reminds me -- Terri! -- I have one more plant left over that's yours... big bucket of siberian iris, probably from Sally! Keeping it moist, and it looks fine. :-)

Somebody did call it "horsemint," but I don't remember who said that... I think the person who brought it said it was "Apple Mint" but couldn't tell you now who that was... ok, somebody, fess up! LOL I like its pettable leaves.

I don't love the scent of 'Biokovo' either, but it doesn't seem to get eaten up by voles or anything... not sure if other geraniums have that weird pungent scent or not as I haven't pulled cuttings from them. 'Tiny Monster' has smaller leaves and little bright magenta blooms but definitely isn't short-short... when I got it, I think it was described as only 6 inches tall, and mine has formed a loose rambling mound more like 12-15 inches tall. It's open enough to work well with TB irises or as "shoes & socks" next to some lilies... I want to spread it around here...

Aspen/Terri, we can definitely pot up some flats of creeping jenny and sweet woodruff for you from my place... Happy gave me a nice box of sweet woodruff several years ago, and I've kept taking pieces, potting into flats, and planting out again until it's pretty well all through my daff & DL island bed in back... I really love it!

I think I am officially exhausted. I have been outside since 7:00 this morning - sometimes in the sun, but mostly in the shade. What a difference in how uncomforable it is working in the sunny areas compared to how comfortable it is working in the shady areas. Gotta love that shade LOL!

The chocolate mint and the lemon balm are safely potted up in containers now vs the potential running rampant in the ground. I have six fairly large size pots sitting on the stone retaining wall in the parking area. In a third container I put the thai siam queen (basil?) from Jill and the greek oregano from Sally. Remaining three containers were potted up with Home Depot herbs - apple mint, orange mint, and sweet basil. John and Ruby, that lemon balm smells absolutely wonderful.

I like the ideas you guys have for my pond bank. Combination of siberian iris, big root geranium, and creeping jenny sounds great. Jill, I think that siberian iris that you have for me is from Jan23. I did one more record keeping walk-about right before I came in, and I think that is the only thing unaccounted for.

Ruby, the only thing that I have been really successful at growing from seed is lamb's ear. It is coming up in all sorts of unexpected places now LOL, but thanks for the offer!

David and Pat - there was a hummingbird that kept coming to get the nectar from the pink blossoms of the silene armeria that you gave me. I saw him multiple times while I was out working on the hillside shade garden today. Too cool...

We've all been saying it, but I'll say it again - I love being in the gardens and surrounded by all the plants that I have received from each and every one of you. Constant reminders of good friends and good times.


This message was edited May 26, 2012 5:57 PM

Yes, the 'Siam Queen' is Thai basil. Made some Thai red curry last week and added tops from the basil seedlings... yummm!

Aspen: We can't wait to see picture of your bank! We are cheering you on!

Gita: I know you aren't big on Latin names, but any chance you know what Monkshood you gifted me? There seem to be several different plants that are called Monkshood. Thanks!