The clouds looked frightening here around 6:30 but it didn't amount to much rain or wind, and all looks calm now.
Yardening October 2015 - Waitin on Joaquin
Haha! Finally I win on the rain! ;-P
We got nearly a 1/2" WOOT WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jill and I got caught in a torrential downpour while we were at the nursery in Urbana this afternoon. We needed to get inside to checkout anyway, so by the time we were done, the torrential part had come and gone and it had turned into a light steady rain.
Muddy, at this rate with the fall sales and the bulbs, I'll probably be planting into November too.
Yep, I thought you would win yesterday, Jeff. :) Between a quarter and half inch here but yes, watered in the plants I just put in the ground earlier this week quite nicely, thank you !
Yay, Jeff! We got quite a thunderstorm last night. It felt like summer.
I took this picture of muhly grass yesterday while stuck in traffic. The pink is much more pronounced in person. This was in Bethesda, and new construction/new planting at a school (I think).
This message was edited Oct 10, 2015 6:51 AM
I think Cam have gotten something started. LOL
Haha... I would say they were the trend setters and I was the copy cat since mine have only been in the ground about 2 weeks. :) And yes, SSG, I bet those look great in person !
So... I knew I had a busy gardening year but thought I'd take a stroll around my yard and count the number of trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, bulbs, tubers.. everything I planted this year. Now, only 12 of them are annuals so I should see fruits of the labor for years to come. Total count: 256.
Yes, Yes, Yes, I found 3 plants two one gallon and 1 two gallon. One of the smaller ones is for my friend.
I am so excited as well as the Pink Muhley grass they had a hardy to zone 6 dwarf Pampas Grass. 3-5ft and just as beautiful as regular Pampas Grass, it is called Jet Streams Pampas Grass they had one for $24.95. I didn't buy it but will be looking for it next year.
I guess we can find out together if the pink muhly grass is indeed hardy to zone 6 like they say, Holly. :)
CAM what a load of plants you got this year!
Yeah... even I was surprised it was that many. And about 120 of those went in the ground after the plant swap.
holy cow!
We dug some sweet potatoes today- actually found a few really good ones, and a lot of little ones like I expected. I had two ornamental sweet potatoes, each in a big pot by the front door- one made a huge tuber and the other zero!
Made several smaller pots from succulents to hold over winter, and to give away (aloes) I hope.
Cordyline Red Star- I paid 7$ each for two of these in spring so I have potted them to bring inside and try to keep going.
And a long walk in the woods. We are going to sleep tonite. Last night we were tossing. I told Mark that I was stuck on letter J of trying to name a plant genus I have grown, my occasional variation on counting sheep. My explanation of what IS a genus, and recalling insect taxonomy from ENT 101, sure worked to put HIM to sleep....
and by the way, Juniperus
Haha... that's funny, Sally. That's very thoughtful of you to help Mark sleep. :)
Do you have a plants with genus names covering every letter of the alphabet yet, Sally?
I cover a surprising amount of the alphabet and I bet you all do too. Try it. Except for the elusive X- that Xanthorrhiza would help. But isn't there an elephant ear X? Xanthosoma? Probably haven't done X or Z. Not sure about U either, Oh Ulmus! and what is W?....
Then try doing the alphabet with genera you have NOT grown/ not hardy in your area..
This past spring, I planted Xanthorhiza simplicissima, which this site says is "as bullet-proof as a groundcover can be", but it mysteriously vanished and I'm not sure I'll see it again: http://www.louistheplantgeek.com/a-gardening-journal/676-xanthorhiza-simplicissima
You should grow Zizia aurea; if I don't have seeds left, someone else might.
I can't think of anything I have beginning with K, N, U, W or Y.
Oh my, that's way out of my league. I don't think I could name all the plants in my yard by botanical name. That's weird though, I had trouble falling asleep last night too! It took me about 45 minutes to get to sleep.
I cut down a bunch of things today. Including all my Conoclinium coelestinum. It was too late for it though and there were seeds flying all over. I ripped a bunch out of the Honeylocust garden and potted it up. Hopefully I'll be able to get a bunch of things planted between tomorrow and Monday. I had to quit early today because our one cat Gracie got a UTI and we needed to take her to the pet ER. At least it was only $155 but now she's in quarantine in the downstairs bathroom because she is 'leaky'.
Poor Gracie... hope she makes a speedy recovery, Jeff.
And wow, what a fantastic day to work in the yard ! Should have some more of those in the coming weeks, lots of cool, dry days ahead in the 10-day forecast.
Kerria japonica, Muddy? Knautia? Kniphophia?
Nandina? Don't know what my N is, if I do have one.
What, no Welwitschia? haha
I can sympathize with Gracie! And you, Jeff. $155 is not 'too' bad as pet ER trips go.
Thanks CAM. She gets these from time to time. She is a VERY high maintenance cat.
Narcissus!!!!
Duh! How could I forget Narcissus. I've grown Kalmia and Kniphophia in the past, but I'm not growing any "Ks" now that I know of.
I did some more deadheading of Conoclinium coelestinum today. I have to say, I didn't get many volunteers this year, though, probably because I mulched the beds really well after the seeds fell.
Sequoia, have you tried any dietary supplements for Gracie? This one gets good reviews, and one of my daughters orders from Chewy all the time so I know they're a good company: http://www.chewy.com/cat/vets-best-urinary-tract-support-cat/dp/45151
This message was edited Oct 10, 2015 9:17 PM
What a fun game!
I have an X: Xanthocyparis nootkatensis 'Pendula.'
It used to be categorized as a Chamaecyparis, but I think Xanthocyparis is the correct genus now.
I just checked my plant list at ATP and the only letter I'm missing is J. Any J names you can all think of?
Thank goodness for calla lilies for my Z!
Muddy, do you have an Ulmus or a Weigela?
Jasminum Multiflorum, and anything in the Juniperus family.
Juniperus, of course! Sally even wrote about it above. I have a juniper that I've been grooming for bonsai. Need to add it to my list.
I just realized the Ulmus is on my want list, not my haves list, so I still haven't completed the alphabet. I need to get that elm, now more than ever. :D
CAM, how many of your plantings this year are bulbs? The serious bulb growers here plant them in the thousands, or "kilobulbs." One year I planted a *quarter* a kilobulb and was absolutely exhausted by the end. Bulb planting is hard work if you have really hard soil!
Weigela, duh...got it. Zantedeschia, too. Zanthocyparis? who can keep up? I tried both GRIN and The Plant List ; I just don't understand the whole synonyms thing.
Disclosure- Ulmus was a random weed... and was a tree in my yard as a kid.
Zizia aurea looks cute
https://www.prairiemoon.com/Zizia-aurea-Golden-Alexanders.html
I bet Cam didn't even count bulbs. Sheesh ssg, that's a lot of bulbs. But aren't they like potato chips? you just keep popping them in...
Yes, I did count the bulbs among the 250+ plants I but in the ground. 48 of them were bulbs. :)
I once planted over 500 bulbs in a circular bed. I learned not to plant bulbs in a pattern because that pattern will be broken in a year or two by loss of bulbs from either rot or vermin that eat them.
CAM, you have so much experience now and you must miss not having anything left to plant this fall. I know where there is lots of planting to be done HA HA HA. Mike refuses to help me. His motto, you bought it, you plant it. I am looking at my fall plant purchases and now that I'm trying to get them in the ground, it seems like there is so much more to plant than what jumped on to my cart and came home with me. Four nursery stops in two weeks, my poor aching back...
No, I don't have an Ulmus or a Weigela, at least not that I know of. Oh well, can't have it all...
Cam, that's a lot of plants; your yard will look so different next year!
I just spent the morning weeding and reseeding an area of lawn that never does well, and I couldn't help but think how nice it would be to turn that area into a garden bed and plant a Gordlinia grandiflora (Mountain gordlinia) like the one Aspenhill just bought there. Hmm....I'm very tempted. The only thing that gives me pause is the Cox cable line running through that area.
I'm heading back out, enough of a break. I normally don't eat chocolate, but I'm grabbing some candy from Mike's stash as I pass through the kitchen. Energy boost, yeah yeah, that's what it is.
Yes... my yard sure should look different next year, Muddy.
Ha, Terri... I think 250+ plants for one year is enough. Besides, I saw a day in the forecast the low is to get down to 34 degrees. Freezing temps can't be far behind. Dammit. Although one good hard frost will mean the end of mowing for the year. :) And please pass me two energy boosts. LOL
This message was edited Oct 11, 2015 12:59 PM
still leaves 200+ plants, eh CAM? phew.
Terri I'd love to come help... but got my own work to do. When I'm retired...
Must respect that cable!!! Too easy to forget it's there, if you start planting big things.
what a beautiful weekend. More digging today, misplaced goldenrod which already have runners heading out, gotta get a grip on those.
Hey Jeff, I found a baby Mahonia bealei, did you ask for one? I even had it in a tiny pot, half buried under Gita's fig from 2013 which I gave a permanent spot to (as permanent as anything here.) M b is repotted and on hold in a better place.
Yeah Sally, I'll take that Mahonia. The one that's hanging on put out a new leaf set a month ago but I'm afraid it won't harden off before winter sets in. The leaves are still flexible and bendy. The thought did occur to me that if it doesn't fare well this winter, I might just give up on them and replace with something that will 'put out' so to speak ;-)
CAM, you better be posting all those pics up in the pic thread come next year when your yard is going nuts!
Muddy, we haven't tried the urinary system supplements but perhaps they are in order. We'll have to ask the doc about them when she's all clear.
Of course, Jeff ! Who doesn't like to show off their hard work ? :)
I think I'm most looking forward to seeing if the Zepherine Drouhin roses bloom. They seem very healthy and are climbing up their trellises quite well.
I got your Centaurea planted today CAM. I was surprised how well it did since the swap just being in a plastic bag. It looks great!
I planted about 15 perennials this afternoon. The neighbor kids came over to 'help' so I didn't get all the stuff done I wanted to. They are 4 and 6 and were over for a few hours. I did get a TON of hardy ageratum removed though. I wish whoever gave me all of this plant would have clued me in on how aggressive it is. I think it's too aggressive even for me and I like aggressive plants. I'm probably going to rip out all of it from most of my gardens. It just chokes out everything.
You must have some woos-ified plants, if they lose out to Ageratum.
Get more Viburnum and Ilex. Those are Shrubs of Champions - and never are choked out by mere herbaceous plants.
Glad it did well, Jeff... never had them in my landscaping until I bought this home so I'm not all that familiar with them but they appear to be quite hardy... as in you couldn't kill them if you wanted. LOL
Yeah, I don't think that plant will fit into your gardening style CAM. They will quickly spread out into other things and can flop when the blooms set. Very pretty when blooming but prior to that, they look very weedy.
VV, despite our 19 Ilex and 28 Viburnum shrubs, I still keep a perennial bed or two ;-)
Yeah, that's why I'm thinning them out quite a bit, they had spread out a lot and I'm trying to keep them confined to their own space... like when I'm eating and keeping my green beans from getting into my mashed potatoes. Yeah, I'm weird. LOL