It's official, ignore a plant, don't water it, think it's dead and nearly throw it out and it will start to grow. I have a Peony that wasn't impressing me and got sickly looking. I almost threw it away but put it in a pot and stuck it on my porch. All winter the little eyes were exposed. I watered it every once in a while out of guilt. I decided to go ahead and throw it back in the ground, so I replanted it with it's eyes underneath the dirt. Low and behold, a few weeks later it's growing well and today I see 2 buds on it!!!
I've had this happen with other plants too. I remember looking at my moonvine and thinking it was wasting space and was never going to bloom so I would just cut it down. HA! It bloomed the next day! It works every time!
Ignoring or threatening your plants with death
It probably would have worked faster if you had said your thoughts out loud. "Aw, this is just a waste of space. I'm cutting that thing down tomorrow!" (Works for me, too!)
:-)
never fails - always works around here
I am pretty sure I did say it outloud to my husband. I do to talk to myself too, and birds, toads, butterflies etc. etc.
would you believe that I started a similar thread on "the other website" about threatening my difficult plants (which by the way works like a charm) and I got at least two people blasting me for cruelty. No joke.
LOL... I would say "you have to be kidding" but I know that they probably did say that! I didn't know that we had to be "politically correct" about our plants now.
When we first moved into our house 4 yrs ago we started doing everything organic, followed Howard Garrett's plan and all the timely applications of fertilizer etc.Our neighbor stood outside every few days watering Miracle Gro into his lawn. The next 3 years we had all kinds of strange problems with our grass!!! We finally just stopped trying to be good to it and it's better.
Sometimes we just try to hard, I guess. I think I'm going to take more of the "tough love" approach this year and see if that motivates my plants.
well, it looks like you and I are following the same paths. We also started doing everything organic (well, most everything) using the Gucci compost, not the walmart compost. Boy! I cannot tell you the amount of weeds that cropped up this spring! I called the guy that sold me the Gucci compost (he's known in Houston & Conroe as the compost guru) and his explanation was sort of like this: the soil became better quality, that even weeds flourished. However, since St Augustine is flourishing too, eventually and without a doubt it will choke the weeds. I want to believe him 'cause I spent a fortune in leaf mold compost and some of the weeds seem to be dying away, but overall I don't have a warm fuzzy feeling about the whole experience. But, I will give him the benefit of the doubt because he is widely respected, because of the wet winter we had and because all my neigbors have the weeds; the hardworking gardeners and the ones that do nothing.
vossner, is the guy who sells the "Gucci" compost right at the end of FM 1488?
I didn't think Peonies would grow here! I did some volunteer work at the Dallas Enviromental Center years ago and the woman that ran it had one. I asked her how she had managed to get it to look as good as she did, because I had always heard it didn't get cold enough here for them. She said she threw ice around it now and then during the winter.
I'm impressed you were able to get yours looking good with no effort. Maybe I'll try that!
Maggie, John C Ferguson, Nature's Way Resources, 101 Sherbrook Cir Conroe TX 77385
936 321 6990. East of I-45, off FM1488. If anybody gets an opportunity, do go to one of his lectures, I greatly enjoyed it and felt I learned a lot, then made a bee line to his place.
Yeah, I'd been hearing so much about their superior ("Gucci", as you say) soils, I stopped by to check them out. A little expensive for my pocketbook, but I hear great things about them. I wonder when his next lecture is. Where did you go to hear him?
monthly meeting at Ft Bend Co. extension office. I think he also recently spoke to Sugar Land Garden Club. I think his staff keeps up w/ his lectures and if you call they can tell you if there will be one close to you.
Yeah, I forgot to say it wasn't cheap!
Patmo, I'll post about how it's doing. It was just something someone gave me, and after reading about all the special requirements I wasn't sure I wanted them. I have 2 others coming back now also.
My neighbor, who is new to gardening, bought several at Lowe's last month or so. She just put them out in full sun in our crummy clay with some other stuff (probably some Miracle Gro and manure). I'm waiting to see what hers do!! She also planted a bunch of azaleas in our alkaline clay and they are blooming away.
It just goes to show that "ignorance is bliss" sometimes! lol
Time WILL tell. When our extreme heat hits, those peonies will be toast. Mine gets sun until 1pm only, and it still gets crispy on the edges, but she blooms early in the spring, so she is done blooming by then. 5 years now, and she doubles the blooms every year! Keep the faith.
.......... I threaten mine too!
I had a passiflora that I ignored for 2 years and never a bloom. My husband whacked it with the wead whacker. Then it bloomed twice and died a couple mohths later. As if to say it's last farewell with a beautiful bloom...
Michelle
I got side-tracked. I meant to say I have a peony Sarah Bernhardt (thanks again KimGaither) that is peeking out as we speak. planted in part shade and protected with lots of mulch. Somebody from Houston told me they did this and got beautiful blooms, without threats! But I will not hesitate to threat, if necessary.... LOL
What zone is Burleson, TX in?
I also have a night blooming cactus that I planted all over the yard last year. Was supposed to take off like crazy. Never grew. Just sat there. I brought one piece in and left the rest outside (some cacti will survive here & I don't have room inside). Well, they died. The one I brought in looked liek it was dying. Finally I shoved in on top of the stove and ignored it for about 2 months. Now it was a trendil (?) heading for the ceiling. I'm afraid to move it.
Okay, when you have several plants that won't grow for you, don't forget to try a heavy pruning of one, then scan the others, telling them, "That's what you'll get, if you don't start growing."
A landscaper on one of the local gardening shows recommended this to a caller for her two stubborn hibiscus plants.
: - )
LOL! I might try that.