Yardening 8 April 2014 "Better late than never"

Spring is about to take off! Many things emerging like this Monarda bradburiana, picture from last year, I bet it was taken in Feb last year. What's happening in your garden?
came from
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1353384/

This message was edited Apr 2, 2014 6:37 PM

yehudith said:
I'm so tickled. The boxes have started coming. So far I've gotten my lilies from B&D. I've got Elisive, Casabblanca, Blck eauty
Speciosum Uchida
Spec. Album
Holland Beauty
Amarossi
Scherheraade
Lesotho
Anastasia
Conca D'or
Levern Friemann
Prince Promise

All the ones I got last fall and potted up are out on the porch and have started sticking their noses up. They are super big and husky. Most of them multiplied over the winter in the garage and have up to four noses each. Yep I'm a happy camper alright.

Yehudith

anybody going to want Sedum Blue Spruce? I will have lots to rip out just to keep mine in check.

So nice to see things coming back to life.
The sedums are quite beautiful right now. The gorgeous little rosettes! Seeing peony and hosta eyes peeking out finally.
It looks like my hydrangeas all died back to the ground. Not sure if I'll have any blooms this year at all on the mop heads. I think my lacehead blooms on new growth. Can't remember.
I think my giant prostrate rosemary also may have died. Beautiful plant but I'm okay that it may be gone.
1. Sedum 'Fuldaglut'
2. Sedum 'Dazzleberry'
3. Agastache from Donner
4. Blackhart Barley seedlings

I have a question for you all----

In my shop--I have, totally dried up in their pots and dormant:

--the 3 pots of the small, pink Cannas
--a pot with my dark purple calla Lily--is it even alive????
--A couple small pots of the corms (IF they are alive) of those begonias I had
on my front steps--the red one and the yellow one.
--One small border dahlia that is trying to sprout

Should I start to water these slightly to "wake them up"?

Thanks, Gita

I would water them, especially since you can bring them back inside if it gets cold again.

Yehudith, Conca D'or is such a beautiful lily! I might get 10 more if we do another group buy. :)

Sally, yes, I'd love some more Blue Spruce! I'll take as much as you want to pull out and save. I'm planting a Blue Spruce/Angelina combo in a dry half-shade spot where grass doesn't grow.

Typ, I think sedums are the prettiest -- and fastest growing -- this time of the year. They seem to go into dormancy when it gets too hot out. In fact, I need to transplant some Angelinas this weekend.

Nice list of plants Yehudith, hopefully you can get them in before the passover madness!

Since I had mulched over our front perennial bed several weeks ago, it seems like things are taking longer to break dormancy. It's fun to check it day to day though to see what, if anything, new comes up. It's like taking roll call.

I'll be looking for broken off pieces of the Blue Spruce at work.

I think the is how Sally got hers??? Right?? Wrong???
They DO grow fast.

Gita,

I would start to wake them up as well. Slowly though with the water.

Getting a bit of garden work done. I'd like to come home to a couple things in the garden. I planted snow peas, onions, chard, and sewed a bit of lettuce in my one raised bed. Then it's back to packing.

Here's what the GH looks like since we finished our transplanting, a tad crowded. Someone gave me a bunch of mini amaryllis last year, I think Gita. Well they are going to flower while we are away, and the next to final shot is one of my rex begonias that got frost bite in December.

very cute Karen. I hope my Dazzleberry is OK.
Ric wow look at that Begonia!
Gita I ditto, a little water. And my gawd, if you could see the masses of Blue Spruce I am going to cut out you would not bother with fallen bits. (but you probably would anyway) I got Blue Spruce by planting a packet of Mixed Sedum seed from Park years ago. Blue Spruce is the very most aggressive grower of them at least in sun. Some of it is coming out to keep it from swallowing others. It'll all be for you ssg unless somebody else pipes up.
I dug out some rooted rosamery branches the other day but they may be drying out. If it's nice enough tomorrow I'll see if any can be salvaged.

Sally I would take a bit more of the Blue Spruce sedum, too. Yes I am so pleased to see that begonia coming back around. It was one of the plants that we hoped to show at the York Flower Show, but couldn't because of the damage from the GH incident.

Ric---

I don't think I ever had any "Baby Amaryllis"---must have been someone else...
All my Amaryllis are quite old...

Was it some other plant I had babies to share? I do not remember...
my favorite phrase nowadays....G.

It is so great to see things coming up! Some of the new perennials I planted last year are showing signs of life: Cardinal Flower, New England Aster, Bigleaf Aster, Great Blue Lobelia, Hubricht's Amsonia and Shooting Star (dodecatheon meadia.)

I accomplished my goal for the day: pulling up the preformed garden pond I never wanted in the first place but was talked into getting, re-digging the hole, putting it back in and getting it level. As I thought about how difficult the next step would be - redoing the equally-artificial stream running into it - I had a brainstorm and decided to just get rid of the stream. I gained 24 square feet of prime growing area for plants that need part-shade and moist soil - just the place for the Chelone glabra/turtleheads I'll be getting from North Creek!

I am pretty sure it came from the HGHA Raffle Table

Muddy, that's a great feeling, to feel the freedom to change something and then do it.

Seq - I love the "taking roll call" phrase that you came up with - it is perfect for this time of year in the garden.

I received a new book in the mail yesterday that ecnalg recommended "Heaven is a Garden". I've only read the first chapter, but one of the key points was what Sally said about feeling the freedom to change something and then do it. Even if something is growing and even thriving, if it just doesn't fit what you're after, don't be scared to CHANGE it. Sounds like a great plan for that spot Muddy.

I think a large part of my garden enjoyment is control ( nya haa haa) Nobody else voices much opinion, which is fine with me, and plants don't talk back.

Yeah Terri, I crossed a couple more off the list yesterday. Looks like the end of next week is going to be in the mid 60s for us so things should be really cranking by then. Our Katsura buds are swollen, that is the first in our yard to leaf out I think. Things are definitely much slower this year though. Because I'm a weather dork I counted the number of below average days in Feb and March this year and both had 22 days with below average highs for my area. Crazy.

weather dork weather dork
Eh we all gotta be dorky about something. If it is stylish or profitable, you get to call it your passion.

So much left to do in cleaning up the beds....as I step INTO them to do it..
With everything popping up, this becomes a more risky thing to do...
Don't want to step on sprouting plants...

Being able to do a "mental roll call" (cute...jeff) of what is where helps.

Having had most things in their locations for a long time--helps.


I could show you my greening up grass--except it is NOT growing yet--just greening up--
so much of the old grass and the yellow dead grass is still showing through.
Still--the rains have helped...But--it is on it's way.

I am sure everyone's is doing the same....G.

Lol...sally

I bought some plants online this winter that I wanted to plant near our Plumbago but it doesn't come out of dormancy until mid-late May. That's going to be a tricky planting job. I'll have to tap the xray vision to tell where it is. I have the bulk to my plants shipping 4/7 for install next weekend so I hope that more things emerge from dormancy before then or I'm going to have to postpone until the next week as I don't want to kill anything.

Pretty good sun next week so hopefully things will show their faces at least. I know I had forgotten a group of hostas, and so glad I hadn't walked there yet.
Harvested a plastic 8" by 20 " flat of Blue Spruce sedum, and that's about half the total I could easily get rid of. I carried my pen and refreshed some labels. Monkshood has come back, Gita. I potted three rosemary and have three more heeled in, should get a couple nice ones to offer out of all that.
Brr its chilly out there.
Spinach seed is emerging

Ric and Holly: the amount of things you guys grow is jaw-dropping.

Gita: I have some Blue Spruce from you. My yard is still more of a mud pit. I wonder if any grass will come back at all this year? The only thing green in the lawn is those weedy onions.

Seq: Is your Katsura a weeping tree? Do the fallen leaves really smell like strawberries? There's one at the National Arboretum that is huge and gorgeous. I wonder why I don't see more of them planted? Do you know?

Typ: There is only one in our area that I am aware of but I'm sure there's others. My wife got it for me as a wedding present and we planted it in the fall of '12. These trees are difficult to establish, I'd imagine that's why you don't see more of them. It is not the weeping variety. Last spring it leafed out great but after a month or so, it lost about 1/2 its leaves due to the roots not being able to supply enough water. I trimmed off 1/3 of the tree to try to save it and then it maintained the rest of its leaves. I think I'm going to have to wait a solid 4-5 years before this tree starts looking great. It made it the winter though as it has its swollen buds so I'm excited to see what it does this year. They truly are beautiful trees once established. Our leaves didn't smell like anything but maybe will as the tree matures. The key to these trees is water, even not when in drought and that's what I'm going to focus on with it this season.

Karen--
Those wild Onions can really take over! Pulling off the leaves does not help
Digging them up takes forever--and you may leave bits of the roots in the soil.

You can buy a foam Round Up (like shaving cream) and use it on the Onions.
The good thing is that the foam version will not drift onto other plants.
FIRST--step on them and grind the leaves with your foot so you break them up
and then spray. If you don't do this--the RU will not even get into the plant--
as the leaves are 'waxy'--and sealed...
G.

We are getting some onions too but IMO Roundup (at least RTU) doesn't work as well in the cooler temps. I didn't have good luck with it last year. Anyway, I tried using boiling water on some of the larger onion weeds on Tuesday, and it totally worked. Both are dead so I think I'll do that a little more this weekend. The wife wasn't thrilled about me using her KitchenAid tea kettle in the garden though...LOL

Seq, I totally forgot about the boiling water trick! That's what the wild onions are getting tomorrow!

:)

nice GH Ric ...looks like the pros wish we had a green house

Spent a couple hours today getting intimate with the rock border and path under my group of maples, and up close with emerging wood poppies, blue eyed grass, baby columbines, moss, grape hyacinths, strawberry begonia, Viola trilby, Anemone virginiana...and wild garlic and Ranunculus ficaria. Even with weeds it was wonderful, listening to birds and putting my private paradise in order.

I spent today at work--running around like a chicken w/o a head.

it was the 3rd day of insanity--(I did not work the 1st, two) because of this
Black Friday add....That--and that the weather was FINALLY spring like--
I really pull in the reins helping some overly anxious people do what they wanted
to do....already...
Did a lot of advising on lawn and weeds care---and sold a few bags
of Milorganite to boot.

Bonnies Veggies and herbs are still 5/$10. (reg. $3.68).
This created a bit of chaos and a mess in those shelves...Trashed--is more like it.
Most pleasant day--but also stressful--as everyone wants your attention and help--
and you (me) is already with someone else.
Lots of grills sit assembled--but many of them had no price tags on them. WHY?
No SKU or Bar code anywhere--and people want to know how much they cost!

Shall I go on???? You get the idea... Lots of $$$$$$$ rolled in since last Thursday AM.
This insanity ends on 4-13.

Funny....it would be my 51st wedding anniversary on that date-- IF...I was still married.
G.

Sounds like a lovely day, Sally. I love watching the first leaves peeping out...

Gita, what a busy crazy day! Must be fun too, though--being with and talking about plants (and lawns) all day on such a nice spring-like day.

Ugh, can I just say again how much I hate zoysia grass?

Last year, I sheet-mulched the bed next to the back patio with plans of widening it. Today I dug in there and encountered something hard. I thought it was a tree root or a rock, but it turns out to be... the patio!

The zoysia grass had crept over several feet of the patio pavers. I uncovered about an area about 5'x3' that was covered in a shallow layer of dirt (1 inch at best) and a thick layer of zoysia. I had no idea my patio was so wide!

I had a whole list of yardening to do but all that had to be put aside while I dug up this grass.

What a pain, SSG! WHat is zoysia grass??

wow Terri what a surprise!