Projects 16

brought back a nice load of flat stone with character for cairn building and a nice milky rose quartz post.

also was able to free a very large crystal white quartz boulder - that will come home next year - will be quite a project getting it out of the woods, up a very steep hill and into the car. worth the effort.

The boulder is probably shaking in anticipation.

How do you prevent someone else from taking your boulder?

Write name on it in colored chalk.

I like the sound of the rose quartz post!

it is more milky than rose - when I get it "planted" pictures will follow.

Super!

This is the first time since I left on June 10 to check lots of threads. Wow! You all have been busy.


As we crossed Canada there were many places alongside the road that had many rocks. It was cool, because it seemed that every time there was a flat space on the tallish rock banks that there would be rock towers that people made. This went on for many miles. Many, many miles and it made me think of wha.

rock towers are the 'in' things? There is one a couple houses away from us on the opposite side of the street. I don't know if the new people or the former residents built it. there has been some real estate activity.

Cairns are popular here, too...Hope your journey is going well, Jan....keep us informed.

Cairns, that is the word I was trying to remember. Many were in the form of inukshuks , if that is the correct word.

We are at my son's house in Oregon now until the 20th. Our plans changed a bit. We did not go on the ferry, cuz it turns out our friend was NOT going to be in town after all cuz they were moving out of their Montana house. Glad we didn't have reservations. So we did go to Seward and the Kenai Fiords nat'l park and did a boat tour. THAT was awesome!!! After that we meandered back down through Canada. By then the 'call' of family was hitting us hard, so we were able to meet them on the Fourth of July at their property east of Mt. Hood.

What a fun trip! Had you been in Alaska before? It's like a different planet in some places! And to hook up with family for the 4 the is perfect!

jan thanks for thinking of me!

Hooked up with family about a week earlier than planned. The trip has been awesome!!!

Wha, I thought of you A LOT!!!! And it was usually in the context....wha's cairns look better than those!!!

Since we're on the projects thread, does anyone have any experience with what mildew cleaners to prepare to paint the house might hurt plants? I was firm that we should not allow Chlorine bleach, but am moving pots away from the house. Lots of green cleaners on the market that advertise they are harmless, and we tentatively approved Chlorox Green. Three years ago all my loved foundation shrubs got ratty or died and the replaced hollies are just starting to look good again, so the reason why has dawned on me.

sorry, no knowledge.

No.....the painters last year used regular chlorox, never thought of my plants, but all the plants around the house look fine....no damage that I could see........

Maybe it also depends on how careful they are, how much they drip and spill? What a shame to lose so many shrubs!

I spoke to folks at the Lyman estate greenhouse today at lunch time. They work under the umbrella of the New England Antiquarian Society. Apparently a few years ago the Gropius House in Lincoln lost all its shrubs by the house because of chlorox bleach. They recommend a product with an amnonia base but DH doesn't think that's so good either. It might work better as an insecticide.

It may also depend upon how much mildew the house suffers. The painter has a power wash system so it must spray all over.

This message was edited Jul 23, 2014 9:55 PM

Our house was power washed a year ago May. Only big shrub near the house was the rhododendron. No problem with it or the peonies.

my next project is to bring an early demise to a groundhog that has been eating my veggy garden. any suggestion on what to put in the trap for bait?

this is a BIG groundhog - hope it is not a pregnant female with soon to be hungry kids.

right now there are a bunch of veggy scraps in there.

I don't recommend setting off cherry bombs like our neighbor. Animal control might direct you to some traps so they can be released in a woods elsewhere. We've done that at times. My solution has been to plant extra parsley to feed the critter and to install a small fence, now the dog annoys them enough so they amble to another property. Next veggie garden will be rather high off the ground.

We have no sympathy for the wasps that nest on the window frame. DH learned that wasps are attracted to light so he's trying to devise a lighted stick to get the poison up there. My dad always tended the bees with a pith helmet and netting, and my gf took off his shirt and just walked in and claimed he was never stung. Seems there are many ways to treat the beasties.

Wasps here as well......I think chucks like tomatoes...they ate mine!

No doubt. We have had squabbles over parsley.

Wasps are gone. The pole with a light at the end and a long lever to release the fumigant spray worked like a charm. Thousands of dead paper wasps. Easily achieved at night with clean up today. Now if i can only get the pole back with its saw attached...

Work progresses. I planted a good sized Montgomery spruce while DH is finishing a very big log rack with a roof. Walnut Glen spruce, the last prunus Hally joviette, hosta and several golden chams are next. By far my favorite golden cham is Vintage Gold from Lazy S nursery a few years ago. Just a pleasing shade of yellow, sun tolerant and nice next to Lemon Threader which is less yellow. The area is to be finished with yellow centered and margined hostas well in front of Shasta viburnum. C. p. Gold Fern is clearly less sun tolerant so it replaces one of the Vintage Golds elsewhere. Someday a home will be found to justify a Golden Spreader but it clearly needs its own place since it is truly golden-colored in semi-shade. Although Cham Gold Mop is fine, I figure it is not able to add enough to include it in a very visible spot.

About a dozen assorted fir species and cultivars from mini to intermediate in ten years are going to wait for spring planting in the shadier zones. So are the hollies, but I.O. Maryland Dwarf sent up a new shoot, proving it is not dead! Boy, landscape design is not simple!

That's why I haven't tried 'design'. However with our 'woods' we are not planting trees. My favorite hosta is medium leaved Hosta sanguinea.

Funny it doesn't seem to be in the Plant files. My favorite hosta is anything the slugs don't devour. Paul's Glory, very pretty when I bought it is now a piece of lace. I know I know I should get those slugs but can't do everything at once. So the place of honor at eye level goes once again to Sum and Substance.

Pea gravel surrounding the base of the plant? Might be a help.

Thanks for the idea. I have to plant it first though. Gravel will work once I get the area next to it excavated and finished with patio and wall --- they will be devoured this year at least.

There's plenty to do while working around a bigger project. Since we have so many things going on, and I also have a restorative facial neuro-surgery at the end of the month which will put me out for a week or two, I'm glad we didn't tackle the stonework project this year.

Quite a lot of damage on my hostas this year......usually, not too much.....

Interesting how it changes from year to year. It's not even consistently the same hostas at my house. They usually love Strip Tease but they must have liked others better this time around.

Bill, i see "Chuckie" has arrived safely from our garden. In a moment of desperation, I yelled, "Why can't you just go to Bill's garden?! It is awesome compared with mine!! ". It is so amazing that they obviously understand. English! Please don't return the favor! 👹

Naughty people. they are supposed to be good eating.

Woodchuck stew?

not funny louise - this garden is in shambles

Oh, no...that bad? You need a fence......

UGH!!! They are awful.

Fence or information on control from the county agricultural people.

We're deep into house projects--building up planting areas (see the baby prunus?, a baby Montgomery blue spruce?) painting, replacing a window, and this--DH built a lean-to to dry and store wood. The whole thing is over ten feet of log space. We'll be warm this winter burning our old mulberry trees.

Good job!!!

Blue spruce are a favorite with me. We had one in WI & I miss it. Making do with cedar tree. DH took down the vine which was strangling it 20 yrs ago & it really took off.