I do love that welcoming front strip, then all the gorgeous plantings in the proper garden.
I got a shipment from Clematisnursery.com in Massachusetts of 2 Silver Moon-- not cheap, but they are huge! Well packed, too.
This should be a good Clematis year for me- Venosa Violacea was late getting started but is growing well now, Veronica's Choice has huge buds nearly ready to open, and Nelly Moser s blooming her head off. Others are on their way... Yay!
Many of mine were late, Pam, but then I seem to enjoy them even more.
My President (elect) seems to be about done, tho' I did give the old Epsom salts. I also just received six new clems! YAY! Actually seven, because I was shipped a double of Filigree.
But oh joy!
And yes I certainly would like to be Etelka's neighbor. :~). And to be offered a sit in the red chair. That chair seems like the basis for a short story or novella.
Turtle
Wonderful news about the newest clem's.
You must be young. You think of the red chair and reading while I think of napping!
My whole life is a Novel, tragedy and comedy together. But life is still good, learnd not to worry about others, they will talk about me even if I try my best to please them. Flowers don't judge, they just sit there and help us cope with all kind of problems. I wake up sometime at 4 AM and ready to wark in the garden, because I had some grate plan to rearange the flower pots, but have to wait till 6 30 , then my early neighbors are looking at me like I am a fanatic (they are raight.) I am so glad to inherit this talent from my father, I would be in a rubber room with out my garden. Etelka
A picture of some projects from water bottles.
very true..especially perennials ands Iris and daylily..doesnt matter if their is a depression in the economy or a depression in your life..they come back every year like clockwork regardless of what else is going on. and it doesnt cost anything for you or others to go by and enjoy them as well.
Ooh, I love those Etelka! But I'm glad I don't use that kind of plastic.
Pirl, not so young - all my gardening is from my knees, so I'd just crawl into the chair, lol. But I meant a story >about< the chair.
Etelka, I like your attitude. I try for that myself, since I've been called 'weird' all my life. Besides, I seem normal to me, it's everybody else.... Happy gardening!
Listening to all of us talk about our gardens. I know we are a different breed of people. Others wonder why we do what we do. But they like to see what we have done. I love to look at it when it comes back to life in the spring and grows and blooms and I know that my hard work helped them do that. The pleasure our gardens give us. As one said, it does not argue, does not complain, ( well when it needs water or food it does look sad) it smiles at us during the summer and says thanks for all your loving care. The blooms are the biggest thank you.
To our Gardens.
Thanks you, for appreciating us.
Very interesting bottle ideas there, Etelka. When I need plastic bottles I visit the machines outside stores since we don't use them at all. People leave bags of bottles that can't be returned and I get them (haven't used any yet for something I wanted to do in mid-May!).
I'd be totally lost without my gardens! All the planning, the work, the ideas - all help those winter months go by and then comes the freedom of being back in the garden again. It's such a blessing and such a stress reliever.
Turtles - I used to be on my knees all the time but now I switch to sitting when I'm weary and can do what needs to be done from that position.
I truly couldn't care less what the neighbors think as I garden until 8:30 each night nor do I care what they do. Gardening makes me happy! When a flower makes me smile then I know it's worth all the work it takes.
Thank you, Pirl.....Miss Bateman it is! So true about gardening.....It is in my genes, I must get out there....even when I broke my hip (July, not Feb.), I got out to sit on the stone walls & weed...and more importantly....got to enjoy looking at the flowers instead of rushing around doing chores! Here are 2 clems from Bill's (Wha) property....he had many more, but these were awesome....as was his entire place!
I'm sure I'd never want to leave Bill's gardens! Such beautiful clem's!
Are you saying you broke your hip twice? So glad you seem to have recovered so well.
"Nature heals" is an old proverb and so true.
Two of the ones I having blooming now I like a lot. The flowers look like they are made of crepe paper in a very pale lavender. My dark purple one is a mush more fluffy bloom. 3 more to come up blooming soon.
We'll be waiting for photos, Marie.
Pam, I only broke my hip once...it was in July.....it should have been Feb. when it's icy, & there's no gardening.....The nurses said that July was unbelievable, more broken bones than in the winter.....there wasn't any room on the orthopedic floor, I was on a surgical floor for several days....
Ouch! Glad you're OK now!
Bill's place looks beautiful, no surprise there! But I didn't realize he had so many Clems, I usually see more pics of JM's, woodland gardens, and rocks.
Except for Nelly Moser, my clems were a tease this weekend. Although there were many buds, Veronica's Choice opened only one bloom, and none of the others opened any at all.
One of the new Silver Moons is in a pot for the summer. There is quite deep soil under those stepping stones, but I need to remove the Thalictrum and add some amendments this fall before planting. I'm also hoping the vines get some height before then.
Looking good, Pam. The clem will just grow stronger by not having any competition for water and food.
The deer have eaten so many clem's here that it's downright discouraging and they've devoured heuchera, at least 100 lilies,
The computer sent the message before I finished!
...the roses, but did miss three buds. Maybe they're saving them for a midnight snack tonight.
That is worst then my grasshoppers. This year I have only seen a few, every morning I am checking the plants for the hatchlings, maybe the new extermineter spraying helped, he sprayed outside for roaches and mosquitos. I wonder what will happen to the bees and the good bugs.
Pirl, you have my sympathy. On the east end LI the deer get worse every year. They keep getting crowded out by new houses, and keep breeding, At my late mother's house they destroyed a lovely landscaping that had been in place for a decade or more. In the end all that was left were ferns, the biggest Rhodies, Korean Boxwood, Forsythia and mature trees and evergreens. Really sad. Most of the understory was decimated.
Even iris, peonies and clems, which they supposedly don't like, were stripped of buds, and sometimes new growth as well.
Let's hope the spray didn't hurt the bees, Etelka.
Pam - it is a problem and we (in Southold) know where the deer are during the day. Why they can't just cordon it off or cut all those trees down (it's zoned for commercial use) is my question. The town won't even say how many deer were killed in the February cull, which the Hamptons decided against but Southold went forward with the plan.
The deer (or maybe it's turkeys) have even eaten my hellebore! Second year in a row....This clem is doing very well....I think it's Ito...Pam, love the Veronica's Choice
As we take up more and more of their natural living space for our own. We need to give them something back. When we take over and destroy more and more woods for our own living space,they are loosing food to eat and shelter. So if we are going to do that, ( it is not the deers fault) we need to supply them with food in the woods that is left. Killing them all off is not the solution. It makes us sound like the English when they came to this country, Kill all those Indians they are on our land!. This their home too, they were here first. So as humans we need to figure out how we can still save them while we build. Our County's should come up with some sort of feeding in the woods ,( with some of the taxes you pay) that they have not removed. Hech we do it for people, Welfare and food stamps.
Now as a previous hunter in my younger days. They do need to be thinned out as there is only so much food to sustain a herd. The weak will die from hunger. That is why we have hunting season with a limit of kills and size.
I always get tickled with the people that build up in the mountains and get angry or afraid when they see a Bear in their yard," Oh my Gosh there is a Bear in my yard", Well golly gee what did you expect.
Put up a fence so they can no get into your yard. Do what you can to deter them.
So with all that said, I do feel your pain. I have my own varmints that eat and kill my flower beds.
I got cats to thin out this herd of Voles and Moles. I lost a whole flower bed of Expensive Hostas. I had to plant the rest in cages to not loose them.
I hope I did not offend anyone.I am kind of a nature person. My father was a trapper and if he caught a animal that was not intended, well it came home with him and we nursed it back to health. Our back yard was full of large cages with animals that we saved and could not be put back out in the wild. The elementary school would come out with the kids to show them.
Sorry, Marie. Providing food to the deer encourages them to procreate and then the demands for food just grows. I heard a native Southolder say he used to go hunting out here with his father and they never saw any deer - that was 60 years ago. They were driven out here by building developments to the west. I'm almost 73 and I'm sure the deer around here are not as old as I am so I was here first.
Putting up a fence here would be around $30,000. plus numerous gates to allow for mowing, if not more. In the end it would create even more work for me since the entire fenced area would need grass removal and shrubs (more food for the deer).
I'm all in favor of nature but wish we could be safe from the deer, the several diseases they carry and the threat to children and dogs. Rabbits and squirrels may be annoying but they don't threaten kids and pets.
I just came back from house sitting, the house is in a gated community, one of the most elite area in Augusta. They have a pond and a Golf club, alos deer. I can see the damage they do in the garden. The owner is trying everything, but they still come and munch on the roses. I noticed they do not touch the dahlias, clematis have not been hurt by them, Lantana which is a perannial here. Lots of canna lillies and azelias.
They are so destructful and unless the farmers want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect their crops, they face the rampages of the deer.
Next I'll try coyote urine and hope it works. It's too late to help the lilies and many hosta but maybe I'll be lucky with the daylilies. Heading out now to dig up many roses, now less than a foot tall due to the rotten, miserable deer.
I am sorry that I made everyone upset. That was not my intentions.
Her are the last of the Clems to bloom.
The last ones. I still have a few going strong with blooms. But the hard rains and wind is beating them down.
Very beautiful pictures here! I have been lurking and I am so sorry to hear about the deer problems. I wish they could take them all out to the country. I live in a city surrounded by a large interstate system and it is rare for a wild animal to get in but mostly we just see a bear or a fox now and then, so animal control will take them out to the country, I am also living near a wild life refuge called the 'Great Dismal Swamp'.
I am fairly new to Clematis since I purchased a few small ones last spring from Bluestone. It takes forever for the small ones to bloom. It is pretty discouraging for a beginner! I'm thinking about putting in an order with Bridgwoods, or who ever has the big ones. LOL.
Can anyone recommend a few large clematis, I mean like 10-15 feet with big flowers. :)
susan
In my experience, even if you were to order or by a large Clem, non come that size. They need years to get that big. Just buy one that says it will get that big in full growth. I know I have one or two of them. Ask pirl she can tell you.
So I went out to plant some new Clems, having planned that their feet would be shaded under the open lilacs while they'd easily reach the sun with their purty parts. What I did >not< plan was that I was going to need dynamite to dig any holes under the lilac. Who knows how long they've been there!
So the shade is still there, and the Clem's are still here -- do you think they'd manage in pots for a year? Hoping that I'll have the porch down and back up by then. You-all seem to shuffle them about a bit; should I just go find a random piece of good soil instead, until I can make a real place for them?
This was today. Yesterday (as I mistakenly posted in the peony forum, oops) I was finishing the hole for a different Clem when I came on a drain, headed for the neighbor's backyard. I thought I was doing well to have actual places planned before buying my new pretties, didn't know I should have dug the holes too.
Sigh.
Deer troubles here too, but I am having luck with Bobbex spray, once a week, some motion-activated sprinklers and some electric posts from Havahart. But there are so many deer in our area, and since it is an island, they can't get farther out of the way. Also, fleas, ticks, deer flies, etc are rampant, and many of the deer cause car accidents. I don't mean to sound ugly either, but we really need to thin them out. They aren't a bit afraid of people or dogs, and they are moving closer into town, into areas that have never seen deer activity before.
Thanks, Susan. How we wish the deer would disappear. I'm not even willing to wish them on a neighboring state!
Brushwood Nursery sells very good clematises. None will get to the height you want as fast as you want and many take three years to really strut their stuff. What color would you want?
Turtles - you did the right thing by not planting them under lilacs. The lilacs do sucker a lot and you'd have a constant battle trying to get the clem's to survive, no less thrive. They'll be happy in their pots for awhile but be sure you put mulch on top of the soil to help keep the temperature constant. "Awhile" means less than a year to me and neither of us know if you'll have a very frigid winter (as we in the northeast just had) or if it will be mild.
How about an alternative? Plant the clem's, still in their pots, and mulch well. Then you'd be free to move them on your terms next year.
Digging the holes in advance is IDEAL! Then you're free to amend the soil, add aged manure (dry or not), compost, and when you're ready to plant you can add the bone meal. I'll say, again, mulch well, not to bore you to tears but to stress how important it is. Also, have a trellis or something the clematis can use to climb on and show off what a good gardener you are.
Happytail: We're on the North Fork of Long Island and live on a peninsula with 45 homes so the deer have prime hunting grounds here with little fear of cars though drivers fear the deer due to the damage they cause. They already killed my dog, Joey, by kicking in his chest. He came walking home, while the deer was scared away by caring neighbors, and though we got him to the vet hospital and they did operate (to fix the lung hanging out), he died a few hours later. How much can people tolerate? They've stomped at the kids on the next block. What's next? Does someone have to die before the problem is fixed?
Thanks Pirl, I want something that gets about 10-15 feet tall with big flowers. I like all colors but would like a nice white one for my lamp post. Anything has got to be better than these 3 inch pots. LOL.
Thanks pirl.. I did mean taking them out of their 4" pots and into bigger pots, but I like your idea. I have the mulch and bone meal and aged manure and Epsom salts all ready. I just didn't dig the dang holes!
Actually in one place I did, and Minister and Parisienne seem happy. Hidden from sun-side, but access to the light if they grow. Hint hint. Tomato providing shelter.
The back side faces northeast and I have lettuce and such in afternoon shade. We call it our salad bar. It's an old gate that is moveable if we want, not attached to other structures. It's all from our own scrap, free!
Ugh, sorry, last two pictures are napping.
Love the salad bar! Neat idea.
Great idea, also, in using the potted tomato to provide some shade for the clematis roots. I like the way you cleared the earth and made a good home for the clem's! The one thing I fear most is root competition from shrubs. Roses do make good partners but established evergreens do not get along with clem's (at the expense of the clem, here) so I do avoid that combo.
There is nothing wrong with a nap no matter when it is. LOL
Virginiarose, I planted 3 clems from Brushwood around a wrought iron trellis.....the following summer, they reached the top of the trellis & all bloomed beautifully.....the white clem I posted, which may or may not be Ito, has blooms 6" across.......I measured one!
The problem with clem's and post lights/lanterns is that they invade the lantern so keep it trimmed back and check it often.
Thank you, and I'm with you on the naps, lol.
I gave one of my new Clems to my recently widowed neighbor, since I keep striking out on planting places. I have two giant Douglas Firs in the way back, and the two lilacs out front, but other than that and some very old roses I have no shrubs. Himalayan blackberry is not a shrub it's a thug. I need my father's machete!
Thanks too for the reminder about the lantern predators. :~)
Naps are always worth it!
How nice of you!
How about the side of the house/garage/shed or on a post. See this idea:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/117093659031640661/
Etelka also made a wonderful item with posts and screening so I hope if she sees this she will add her photo to help all who get that "out of space" feeling.
We've had blackberries and though they were wonderful, those arching branches feel free to root anywhere. I went at them with all possible tools and finally got rid of them. Thugs, indeed!
