Coffee's on and Spring is here!

Turned out to be a decent day here. I put in a little more back strain time moving a Miss Kim lilac. I also moved some bleeding hearts that didn't exactly enjoy it - they'll be better next year.. I also argued with my wife about one of her beds again, she wanted me to take all the plants out and improve the soil - I said I will if I can rearrange them to make more sense and she said no deal.

Al, whats wrong with the set up of her beds?



This message was edited Apr 23, 2006 8:10 PM

Well she has one that is sunny with poor dry soil and the other is wet clay soil. She has mostly irises in the dry bed and sedum and mostly taller plants in the other. I always figured the irises would be great in the front of the wet bed with some taller plants in back and in the dry bed have the sedum with a few other taller ones in back.
We stopped by a neighbor of her dad's that sells plants every year and she was wanting me to buy her more irises. I bought some virginia bluebells and some marigold leaf looking aster - have to look it up.

careful if those Irises are TBs they don't like it wet!

Actually - my parents just came up from North Carolina today!! They didn't have rain the whole drive up. Me on the other hand....No, Al - luckily it [the water] just makes a mess of my yard. By the time I got home tonight the water was gone, but I'm sure there's plenty to clean up. That bed in the back is actually a new one. I cleared it out this past fall so I'm still playing with what I want to plant there. It's a part shade bed. It might turn into a more sunny one if my neighbor cuts down some of his trees. He's asked me for my tree guy's number - I'll keep my fingers crossed. He has some huge, dead hemlock that I hope he takes down too.

Dena, "Just trying to keep the conversation lively! " (Really, just joking).

Anita, glad your house doesn't flood. If I remember correctly the above movie quote was part of the beginning of a long series of movie quotes between us. Did I ever ask you about one of my favorites: "try to remember back to when you had an open mind"? I may have it less than perfect but its a great quote that I appreciate more the older I get.

Andy, there was flooding in New Haven & Fairfield counties. Maybe you were lucky. Im fine in Guilford. Anyone take any damage?

It started to rain around 7 PM, we got just over 1 inch overnight. More is predicted for this afternoon. No damage but very welcome.
Andy P

Warm and dry here today.

OK the old guy sellings plants called this one transcendentia(spider wort) I am thinking it looks more like the cordyalis I bought from him a few years ago. Totally did not like that plant - sort of a cross between alfalfa and crown vetch. I argue witha woman at work who likes cordyalis and thinks helenium is a weed - and I love my helenium - Oh well

Here's another one. He called this one an aster. There are some many kinds I guess it's possible . Certainly not the New England variety I am used too.
I asked him about the tall aster I bought there last year - turned out to be Harrington's Pink and he said he never had those. I think he has lost it - thought about locking in the figure four leglock on the old guy.

The first one surely is NOT Spider wort.

I agree. That first one is not transcandentia. And because it runs so rampant that you have to end up taking an axe to the roots, you're lucky it isn't!

Just kidding

D

Al, Your seeds arrived today! Thanks again! Very nice of you.

Yeah,definitely not spiderwort. Is the 2nd one astilbe? a fern? I don't know an aster like that. So this guy just sells misidentified plants?

Dave,
This guy lives behind my FIL's house and has nice shade gardens. That's mainly what I buy there. The second one looks like a marigold with reddish stems. Grecian windflower?
I seeded my packet of that a week ago with nothing yet.

Daisy - I dug up my neighbor's bed that I'm taking over. OMG - the geranium roots! some sort of 'wild' campunala roots down 2' also.


Had to send in for warranty replacement on some Park's and Wayside plants today. I've never done that before - wish me luck.


Looked at perennials today. I was glad to find the perovskia 'filgran' that I was wanting. It is supposed to be tidier than most russian sage.

Soupy1957, that's a nice Hibiscus.
Forgive the oversight, we should have welcomed you yesterday.
Some times you have to shoulder your way in, here. LOL
Andy P

Al, Parks is good, they took care of my concerns more than once.
Even answered questions on a plant I got somewhere else.
Andy P

Al,
From the photo the 1st one looks like colombine, but it has more and closer leaf joins off the stem. Maybe astilbe for the second? Not sure. You're brave to take unknowns. What if they turn out to be true garden thugs?
By the way I was wrong about the rain being over, just a temporary lull. Early yesterday morning we had heavy thunderstorms. In the school field the puddles were so deep and wide a duck took up residence. More rain predicted for today. How about for you guys?
Pixie

Hey everyone - Al - I agree with Pixie, columbine and possibly astilbe.

Dave - yes you shared that one - If I remember it was from Casablance??

Well, the rain is gone for now - blue skies this morning. I wish I was off. Chance of showers later and it will be cool at night most of the week. At least we are having a spring. I remember a couple of time past we went from winter to summer!

Pixie, My forecast is the sme as Anita's.

Anita, Its from Poltergeist. And the "keeping the coversation lively" quote is from "The Big Chill"

Al...have to ask...what's a "figure 4 leglock"?

pam

OK I looked around at some plant sellers today and have it figured out. The one is columbine - mine has been up so long I forgot how it looked when it came up. The other is tanaceteum or painted daisy.

Pam - I still think I'll put him in a Boston Crab until he submits.

Al, it's not nice to be evasive. LOL
what is a "figure 4 leglock" ???

I've heard of a Boston Boot, but I'm still lost on the crab and leglock! :)

pam

Don't they teach wrasslin' in school anymore?
Don't make me put you in a sleeper hold too :)

Al, I think its more of a midwestern thing. I know a half nelson and a ricky nelson.

Hey, Does anybody use Vinegar as a weed killer?
I do. Works well if you do it right.
Here is a lawn weed, before.
Andy P

Here is the same weed half an hour later.
I'll tell you how later, LOL
Andy P

Andy, THE SUSPENSE!!

wow, that's a cool trick, that vinegar thing. do you use it full strength? white vinegar?

I like a nice balsamic.....
Andy, now for the rest of the story.

Wise guy,
Those weeds were all over the back yard 2 years ago. Since I started spraying them with regular vinegar they are nearly gone. Only found 4 this spring.
My plan today was to show a curly black dead thing but the sun didn't cooperate.

Any regular vinegar, the kind that is 5% acid, will work.
Use an old Windex type spray bottle.
On a clear, sunny afternoon spray enough to wet all the leaves.
The combination of sun and acid does the job in as little as 20 minutes.
Be careful not to over-spray onto the grass or the grass will die also.
It works on some weds, not all. Dandelions look like they die but regrow.
I like it because it is natural, non toxic and darn cheap.
Andy P

That's a great trick. I hate the thought of chemicals. I knew about vinegar but wasn't sure of the how. Thanks

Did you recognize my Paul Harvey voice in my last post?

Al--didn't have a Girl's Wrestling Team at my high school. :) At least, not one that existed outside of adolescent male fantasies involving jello. :)

And Dave, I TOTALLY recognized your Paul Harvey voice. Good Day!

pam

Here is that same weed today.

That sucker is DOA! Score one for the good guys!

If I killed all the weeds in my lawn, I would be left with a lot of dirt!

Pam - I've been digging up my beds and glad to say I don't have much of the 'low down and dirty' clay anymore. That is the clay chunks that when they dry you can throw them against the ground and they don't break. Do you have that? I amended them pretty hard a few years ago and am adding more compost as I redo them.

My daughter really wanted to be in wrestling, but we talked her out of it. Not that she couldn't do it, but she would have been starting out wrestling boys that have done it for 3 or 4 years.

You don't know any professional wrestling - what would Mean Gene say.

I didn't wrestle on the boys team in High School but I did get to make several guest appearances on the otherwise all-girl adolescent male fantasy team. We made it to the State finals.

Not so sure I should even ask....

No, Anita, I wouldn't even go there. :)

Yes, Al, I have yellow clay soil that you could use to make pots. And when it dries it makes these big hard clumps that closely resemble concrete. You could probably do someone a serious injury if you whacked them upside the head with one. I keep amending with compost and I'm making some progress but the clumps just keep working their way up. I do most of my amending by hand because the tiller is too big for me to control (it tends to run away and drag me with it, much to the neighbors' amusement) and the tines get jammed with slimy clay anyway. After a little bit of research I discovered that there are some very nice plants which tolerate and even thrive in clay, so I'm making a nice perennial garden with those. (My surviving azaleas now live in pots. :))

I like the vinegar herbicide--although, like Dave, if I killed all the weeds in my "lawn" I'd have a lot of dirt! :)

Time for more coffee....
pam