After the Swap

I tested Biokovo- I found it more pleasant than 'my' magenta bigroot- Biokovo seemed mildy herbal/ possibly appley/ LOL.

David- the Downy woodmint is in bloom, what cute tufty pompoms of bloom! I planted my seedlings of Monarda (your seed) today, and saw one teeeeeny Heuchera richardsonii sprout.

Coleup/ DonnerSally-- I up potted the Strelitzia today and accented with some of donner's shamrocks. Shamrocks blooming like KuhRazee. The rest of the purple shamrocks went into the pussytoes where they will look so sharp against the cool, fine green and white pussytoes leaves.

That would look good with the pussytoes.

Happy--

I went and looked at PF. There are so many--all have blue, "hood"-like blooms.
I have NO idea! Perhaps "greenthumb" would know. I gave him 3 plants. he already has some.

I can post a picture--if that helps.....I have not had much success with these.
Maybe now that I have dug them up and divided them and replanted some--they may do better....

Gita

Thanks Gita (and Greenthumb in advance!).

whew...looks like I wasn't the only one up at that odd time last nigth (or early this am depending on how you look at it)! LOL I fell asleep at a ridiculous 9 pm...woke up WIDE awake at about 1:30 and thought....hmmm I'll check in to DG..LOL Got up at a decent time and went out to start working on getting the babies in the ground...and than...IT happened. I notice the tree REALLY needed trimmed - it had put on a lot of growth...causing more shade than I wanted in the yard not to mention looking like a big sail waiting for a strong wind and rain to tumble over. So I trimmed it the best I could - using a step stool (go ahead and laugh...it WAS funny) and my loooonnng pruners. Than looked over to my right and thought OMG the rosemary should be name Seymour! Seriously. So I went and trimmed her back (yummy - will be making rosemay/garlic olive oil tomorrow night). Needless to say....some time had passed at this point. Got a few things in the ground - than gave up to the heat and went inside to shower the mud (dirt + sweat = mud) off. Did my stores...than back outside till 9 pm. I WILL get all these babies in the ground. I too - thought of each of you...esp. plants you told me were heirlooms. Just gives one the warm and fuzzies to be surrounded by all these babies so sweetly given by our DG family. Ruby teases about her lambs ear but I think of her and John each year it comes up and my girls love it - 'petting' it. Chloes tells Mariah - these are from Memees plant friends...I met them all when I was just a teeny baby. Thank you so very much!!!

Yup, Jan...and I can share...pussytoes at least. They're well up in their exponential multiplication!

That's so sweet, what Chloe says! I sitll feel bad that we hardly (did not? ) cut your daughters cake, at hart's it was soo pretty!

I can still see Diane after getting everyone fed, making the rounds with shovel in hand, "anyone want pussytoes?" LOL Ric

Finally this year I got a survivor of her favorite Clustered Bellflower to bloom.

Sally---I still do not see any Clustered Bluebells. Have I lost them all?
And--I still do not know what those round-leaved things will be that I shared with several of you--
calling them the Bluebells....I DO forget what I have planted in many places...

The Bluebells SHOULD be under the mess of N.E. Aster--Rose Campions--Evening Primroses, etc.
They are ALL growing like mad--over each other--YES! In my "YUK" bed....

Still will try to dig out my big, old Rosemary. That will be VERY hard!
Gonna root a bunch of branches for future times...Then spend time stripping off the needles to dry.

Chantelle--I have never made Rosemary/Garlic OO--or any other flavor OO.
How do you use it?

Gita

Gita and Happy,

I won't know for sure untill they bloom and I see them in person, but I think that the Monkshoods that Gita shared at the swap are Aconitum napellus.

Had to laugh at Gita's term of YUK bed. So many of ours are currently deserving of the same name. This extra early spring allowed things to get ahead of us and our plant maintenance.

I am enjoying hearing about Aspenhill's new project. Yes, if you can Terri, do a before and after pic for us. I can vividly recall just how lovely the pond looked from your yard. Your home and yarden made a really huge impression on me. It has to be about the closest thing to Eden that I have seen in Virginia.

So much fun hearing about all of your garden exploits. Be very careful Chantell. I know that many of us are guilty of using less than good sense when it comes to getting things done, we want done. I am capable to doing pretty much any thing I set my mind to, but it just doesn't look so pretty getting it done. hahaha i scare even myself at times when having to use chairs or stools to reach high areas. I always imagine myself laying on the floor, broken in several pieces until someone happens to come home and find me. Thankfully, that has only been a vision thus far, and I have had good luck in not damaging myself any further, though many times I deserved it.

Anyway.....wishes of more happy gardening to all.

Ruby

Gita, I'm sure you'll have plenty of rosemary for drying, but try freezing some too. I do it the same way I do many herbs, mince it (food processor works well!) and add a little olive oil. With rosemary, you don't generally want a whole lot in something, so I don't do it in big cubes in an ice tray... I've used one of those mini-ice-cube trays that hold about 1/4 teaspoon or so, but I think the easiest way is to put a "glob" into a sandwich bag, close, and flatten it pretty thin before freezing. You can stack a bunch of little baggies of it inside a quart size freezer bag... when you want some to add to stew or whatnot, just grab a baggie and break off part of the sheet!

Good tips, Critter

LOL - I hear ya Ruby...I was very aware of my limitations...as I have a great respect (read: FEAR) of heights to begin with.

Gita - as to the flavored oils (vinegars too) - I use them for salad dressings or bread dips etc. Rosemary oils great sprinkled over red potatoes and roasting them!! My fav mix so far is the rosemary/garlic oil. I fill a mason jar with the soft tips and the rest is the rosemary 'petals' removed from the branches - than add fresh sliced garlic (lots - maybe 5 cloves or more)...filled with Olive Oil. Use chop sticks to push it all down - than cap it. Give a daily gentle shake...after 6 weeks whaa laaa...flavored oil everyone loves.

Great idea Jill!! I was looking at that huge bucket and thinking...there's not enough mason jars in VA to tackle that - nor do I have the room for that much oil to sit on my counter...LOL

Jill and Chantelle---

Thank you for all your great ideas....

My Spanish neighbor, Olga, has a HUGE clump (bush) of Rosemary growing just under her house overhang
in the back yard. If i EVER would run out of it--I can just go and gather hers.

I am not anywhere near digging mine up yet. However--I have a small pot of some Lychnis waiting
to find its new home there. I may need to pot it up to a bigger pot--as i do not know how soon i will be able to
dig up my Rosemary. I see it as an extremely difficult job. How deep do their roots run????

YEAH!!!!! I saw TWO clustered Blue Bells blooming today among the mess of all the other plants....
Will take a picture tomorrow...I should mark their stems so I know which ones are them...
G.

I'd dig around it a little and see if you even need to dig it up -- I'm guessing you could just cut down the rosemary and plant around where it was... you may be able to pull up enough of the root or just work around it... i've never taken one out on purpose, but I've lost a couple of pretty large ones and pulled them out... it's not likely to have a solid fibrous root system, not like trying to plant around the stump of a maple tree. :-)

Chantell, as delicious as that oil sounds... please read this info about making infused oils, especially with garlic... http://www.ext.colostate.edu/safefood/newsltr/v2n4s08.html I know a lot of people will tell you they've been making flavored oils for years without anybody getting sick... but with something as potentially deadly as botulism, I'd rather not take chances, even if it's not a high-percentage chance.

If you put a little olive oil & garlic in a skillet and then add some fresh-frozen rosemary from the freezer, you'll also get a wonderful infused oil that you can use right then & there. We love rosemary & garlic on oven-roasted chunks of potato, and I also use it with a pan of green beans...

Well pooh! And a thank you, Jill! Guess I'll be adding the garlic right before serving and thanking the Lord that no one got sick on that entire mason jar full of that mixture. Been using it for months...sheesh.

as it says, though, just make sure to add vinegar or lemon juice to the mix to kill off the bacteria, need to have that acidifying agent

wonder what effect it would have on the taste???? Anyone with exp with this?

Colorado extension service suggested... acidify, keep refrigerated, and still use within 3 weeks. You can do the infusion quickly by heating the oil (the garlic can get toasty brown, just don't burn it), then strain out the bits.

Oh, and if you like the flavored oils for salad dressings... just make flavored vinegars instead. http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/111/

Jill--

The freezing idea sounds best to me. Freezinf is always safer--and lasts long-term.

How much OO do you add to a snack-baggie of chopped Rosemary?
Just enough to coat the pieces or more--like you, would, actually have OO it was 'floating" in??

I won't tackle this project until everything is planted and I have re-claimed my patio to relax in.

Thanks, Gita

I do frozen herbs (including rosemary) just like pesto -- chop in the food processor and add enough oil to make a thick paste, something that mounds up on a spoon rather than spreading into a puddle. So you don't need to add much olive oil, not more two tablespoons in a cup of minced herbs. Some people freeze herb leaves "naked," but I think coating them with oil (whether they're whole or minced) lets them keep more of their fresh flavors... and they seem to be fine for 2-3 years in the freezer (if they last that long).

Thank you, Jill.....I also came across you article on preserving your Herbs.

Gita

Since I don't have a food processor, can I just chop it up finely?

I need help with Miss Kim's lilac I got at the swap!

I have it in really good potting soil and in the shade for now. The sunny area where this plant is headed isn't ready yet, and may not be ready until the fall.

The leaves are looking shriveled, like it's dry, but the soil is moist.

Mine is a little shocky also... doing just as you did and keeping it sheltered/shaded until it recovers.

Just finished weeding one area of the garden and was so happy with Gita's Digitalis and Brazilian Plume Flower looking soooo good in my one little shade garden right off the front porch where we sit during the afternoon. Holly's Pink Octopus and Donner's great looking Raspberry Bushes were looking in the area just outside my dining room window. Of course I'm keeping an eye on all the lovely "invasive" plants that I'm hoping will tame my very wild tree line area. Allison's agastache are keeping my own seedlings good company and I just love the Freydek from Coleup. Tomorrow I'll go to other areas and report on my other adoptions. This is really such fun. Better than checking on the mail order and perennial nursery plants which are so pretty but have no swap stories behind them.

Hey Roses, the raspberry was from me! :-)

My Miss Kim is in dire straits too -- it's a shame the weather is so hot. I've talked to her, tried to buck her up.

ssgardener,

The Miss Kim came from me and was a challenge to dig out. It is possible it will not survive unless you detect good roots (or some roots?). If it fails completely let me know so that I will plan to dig one earlier before the next swap and pot it up. It was dug the afternoon before the swap and immediately wrapped in wet paper and then placed in plastic in the shade. You are wise to keep it in the shade or partial shade for the moment. I am not familiar with lilac diggings. Maybe they will form new leaves, I really don't know. I apologize for giving you one that might not make it. Perhaps others have suggestions on what to feed the root system to help it along. First check if the roots are still intact! Let's hope for the best!

Jessica

Roses---

The Brazilian Plume Flower will need to come in for the winter. It is NOT a hardy plant.

Sounds like you planted it in a bed. Right??? I would dig it up and put it in a10" pot.

You can always sink the pot back into the bed for temperature control--but it will have to come in sooner or later...

I keep mine on a table outside all summer. I have never planted it in the ground.

Just FYI........Gita

There was a good deal of cross posting while I was writing my post. I do hope Miss Kim survives. She did not like being dug and fought valiantly! There were small roots on all of them but this heat is definitely a killer. I don't know how well lilacs do with rooting! This was the first time I dug any for a Swap. I feel bad that they are all suffering.

Jessica

Gardadore -- good heavens, please don't apologize because a plant doesn't make it! Otherwise, these boards would be diverted to apologies and mea culpas! Of course some plants won't make it. But I love the fun of trying. And to be honest, I know all the steps to give a newly rooting plant the very best home (grow-lights and rooting hormone and anti-fungals and the like), but sometimes it is nice to just give it the old college try (a pot in the shade with a cover to create humidity), which almost always works without all the fuss and bother.

I was thrilled to try a Miss Kim, and maybe at the next swap I can try again and I'll better anticipate that she needs a bit more TLC. Speaking for myself, please don't go to any more trouble on your end, and thank you very much for bringing me the Miss Kim, even if she doesn't make it!

yes, what Happy said!

Those little lilac shoots can do well even if they have no more than a scrap of root when you dig them. I have a couple of pots of tip cuttings from Aunt Erna's Lilac that have had wilted looking leaves for I think 5 weeks now... but the leaves are hanging on... and just the other day I noticed that 2 of the cuttings now had perked up with normal looking leaves! The only "trick" I know with them is to keep the soil moist while they're trying to grow roots... I gave Miss Kim a drink of willow tea, too (chopped willow branches into a bucket of water and let it "steep" in the sun; willow bark = rooting hormone).

Sorry, SS. I remembered your face, but not your name. I do love the raspberries that I'm keeping undisturbed in the pot because they already have berries on them!!

Gita, the Plume Flower is already in a pot in a nice shady pot very near to where I put in your digitalis.

Boris, our cat would like to thank Catbird for the two catnip plants from the swap. Here he is hanging out and guarding the one we planted in an expansion garden. (Notice how rocky our soil is.)

Jessica - you were beyond gracious what you offered and as you can see (and might have guessed already) we MAG's are a good bunch and very appreciative of the generousity of fellow gardeners. You blessed most of us with a whole slew of plants and it was much appreciated!!! Hugs!!

LOL Boris looks like he wishes to be left alone with his plants....

This message was edited May 30, 2012 8:22 AM

David, I once bought a catnip for my cat and he ate all the leaves before I had a chance to plant it. Then the neighbor's cats came at night and finished the rest of the plant. When I got up the next morning, there was a one inch stalk in the pot. That was it.

I went back to the garden center to buy another one. The lady there told me to put a hanging basket upside down over the plant so that cats could only get to what was growing through the basket. So the second catnip lived, although I did once find my cat running around in the garden like mad with the busket stuck around his neck.

This message was edited May 30, 2012 12:49 PM

My rain gauge shows 3 1/2"s and there were flash flood advisories, but I didn't hear of any flooding. Ric