Tonight I was double blessed with the visit of Josephine and Frank! (Frostweed). Even though our three year old garden is far from perfect and gets more then its share of weeds she loved each and every part of the garden and even in the rather bare spots found somthing to ohh and ahh over. Made this gardener to feel good - makes three Daves visits now (Sylvia in Red oak, Sylvia in Oak Lawn, and now Josephine!!!) each time when they leave you just feel a warm feeling knowing that it is coming along and you are turning what was a waste of space with a green grass yard into something wonderful and full of blooms!
Thank you Josephine, my friend and garden tutor, for coming over looking at all the same plants you could see at home and loveing them each and ever one. Thank you for helping me find out I have common ragweed I was caring for, and that I had some great wildflowers out there that I will not pull out not that I know their names!
Garden Visit
Oh that was a cool thing to have happen. It is always nice to be able to share in what you both love and to get some knowlege along the way.
Sure is - you are going to have to lets us up to your place one of these day too.... (hint hint)
Yes I am, and it won't be too long. Hopefully before we start having those sudden rain storms Spring brings or the unbearable heat of our summers.
I'm here, Mitch, and waiting for photos. What wild flowers do you have?
Wildflowers - more then I knew. I know I have white and pink primrose, rock rose, goldenrod, frostweed, Mt Laurel, sumacs, Kindeywood, Dames Rocket, Queen Annes Lace, Black Eyed Susans, Thistle, Frogfruit, ironweed, Litrus, Agave, Nopal, Mesquite, Desert Willow, Yarrow, Trumpet Vine, American Wisteria (I hope), Two types of Ragweed (one is very nice in the garden the other,,, well it will be pulled or the flowers cut), grasses, I know I am forgeting somethings off the top of my head but that gives you an idea. Add some canna, wormwood, Iris and Daylilies.. along with the famous Mimosa and you ahve my garden. (Veggies here and there just to make things interesting)...
I'm just trying to imagine what it looks like when 300 DL bloom at the same time all in one yard. Stunning!
Hello Everybody, we had a great time checking it all out. He was very generous and gave me a little Purple Smoke tree, three Liatris, three Dame's Rocket, a Black and blue sage, and cuttings of purple trailing Lantana. I hope I haven't forgotten anything, I am very sleepy right now.
I must say, that he has a very colorful home interior, all the walls are painted in bright colors, with very original pictures and photographs, he said Esther loves bright colors.
The first thing we saw as we arrived, was a very cute wild rabbit, the one that eats all of Mitch's plants any chance he gets.
I will post a picture tomorrow.
Josephine.
Mitch, what fun! Especially when you are in the process of turning a "yard" into a "garden", it's so nice to have someone over who can share your vision. I really understand what a warm feeling that is. :-)
Nery (vossner) and I spent Saturday together, and I got to tour her garden. She has a beautiful place! Now it's her turn to come see my garden.
You can ask Jopsephine so far the DLs do not look all that much ... in time I hope they really pop out there with everything else blooming and going...
Our home sure is bright - to bright for most but we love it. All we knew is that after both of us growing up with all white walls we did not want white walls ever again - there is not a white wall in the whole place.
Mary - it sure is nice, there is a lot of work still out there to do but knowing what it came from to what we have out there today I can really see how far things have come, I hope in a few years to have it looking more and more lush like Josephines place out there. You can really spot the oldest bed - it is getting really green and lush this year for the first time so now I know it is going to take about 3 years for each area of the yard and that I can live with. I am to the half way point in turning it all to garden sooooo with the beds going in this year and next in the very back within four years the whole place will start to have tht lush green feeling we are trying for.
Mitch, I think I need to go study your yard.:)
Not mucht o study yet - there is going to be one day..... good dreams.
Actually, Mitch has a lot of good ideas going, but it is all very new, and it takes a long time for the soil to change and improve, and for the plants to grow.
Also the wild rabbits are not helping, they chewd up that so called rampant growing Trumpet vine down to a nub, he is having to protect most of his plants from them, so it is very frustating, but with perseverance and God's help, he will get there, I am sure.
Josephine.
Well, Frank just got the picture ready for me, so here we are Mitch and me in front of the beds that he has prepared for all those beautiful Iris he is going to get.
Doesn't it all look great?
Fantastic! Great job Mitch!
Organization and pre-planning, you're good Mitch. I guess the frames keep them from mixing with each other so you can keep them identified??
Wow, I like the frame idea, Mitch. Hey, did you just get a haircut? Sure am going to miss you at the RU.
I got the idea from the last plant gathering - each one will grow with out mixing... I hope! She had tons of Iris there and each one had about 2 sq foot. Lots and lots of preplanning, charts and tables . . . loads of work. All the wood used is scrap lumber from local trash (one mans trash right?) but it really looks sharp I think. The boards are about a foot deep with all redone soil (I keep redoing a little soil at a time... ) I need to work to get the back part smoothed out better and then the right side of grass is gone this summer with the left side this fall or winter - Lord willing. Then it is getting my compost back up and running again, had one until the dog took at it sooooooooo got to get it up and running again.
My iris babies are going to a much better home than they have now! I have two big, sort of octagonal beds, but no dividers. I need dividers! I have a stash of scrap lumber, and now I have an idea of what to do. It's going to take a while. Thanks!
I can make more if more head this way - there is a little home for each one you listed and about 6 more right now but I have the lumber eyed for about 30 more... Just looked good I thought, she used garden timbers but these are sooo much cheaper :-)~
One thing you'll have to watch is dividing the irises before they get too crowded. You're supposed to do this every 3 - 4 years anyway. But since they'll be in a grid that they can't escape, they'll be growing on top of each other if you wait too long and it'll be impossible to dig them up without destroying something. Don't want to throw cold water on a good idea, but keep that in mind when you start planting.:) Just don't plant too many in one square.
One root per square - she had maybe three or four fans in each square and said it helped to cull out the mamas after they bloomed (they will not bloom again) and let her know how many she could give (or trade or in her case sell) and still keep the clump the way she liked it. it looked really nice, every so often in the mix she had a square of something else here or there to give it a garden feel - looked very nice and neat. Many of her plants were 7 years or more in the same spot never dug up just the extras culled out every year.
Yes, culling out the mamas is a good idea. They should produce a root that will bloom, but that particular root will not bloom again. One root per square would certainly give plenty of room to grow.:)
Mitch, I don't cull the mamas because mine make enormous numbers of babies after they bloom. Of course, that is why my beds are such a mess right now. I have irises climbing over irises! I started digging irises today and have several extras for you already. I hope you will enjoy them, and I hope to see your gardens someday too.
I have the room! Dont worry there.
Maybe I need to keep them a year longer then her but with the goal being the same. My mothers mother lost a home and garden up in Tulsa just lined with Iris back when I was really young. I still remember the site of it all and thinking this is what I want to have one day. The natives and Dls are all from my dear and wonderful Texan friends I have meet in the last two years here on Daves. (and one New York but who is counting?)
This message was edited Apr 25, 2006 8:29 PM
Oh yes, I'm counting!
I planted in a similar manner but it was one of those days when the brain was on vacation because I crammed daylily seedlings (all named) into the square foot boxes we had. How many ways can I spell disaster?
Glad you'll just have one variety to a box! You can always use a knife (thrift shop variety) to cut through the corms as they reach the sides of the boxes. Have fun (I'm sure you do).
lol - I could not forget you - you are the big one who started this whole Dl thing down here!
Seedlings crammed into the squares... yikes. I have the spread out in three long areas in and around the veggie beds. I hope to keep them so I know what they are!
Mitch, Mary said above that she was going to miss you at the RU. Did you change your mind on coming or did she?? I thought you were both coming?
I am not going to be able to come - there are some family things at home I have to take care of and Esther took a day off to go with me so we will be out of town Fri night to Sunday early. There has been a lot of issues around here that we just needed some time to step back work through a few and catch our breath.
Oh no, I am sorry you won't be there. Hope everything will be resolved for you. We do have to stop occassionaly when life catches up with us.
If I can help with any swaps you had going let me know.
Thank you - Josephine came over (drove all the way) just to pick up my trades and take them with her! Can you say a very sweet gardener? I gave her a little chart with what to pick up from whom - and I have not done any trades after I found out I would not be able to go.
Great, then that will be something you won't miss out on. I plan to take pictures to share too.
I am sending your tray with her too - thatnk you soooo much for letting me use it to bring the plants home.
You are very welcome. I found those at Dollar Tree and they have come in handy for moving plants around this winter and watering them too.
Dollar tree - it is a great Idea... I know where I am going to stop on my way home!
Okay, inquiring minds need to know. What kind of a tray are we talking about?
a huge plant watering tray - huge
As Ed McMahon would have said to Johnny Carson:
HOW BIG IS IT?
(Bigger than a breadbox? You're too young to remember that one)
The tray is exactly 20 inches across, and 4 inches high, and it is round.
Certainly bigger than a bread box.
Are you old enough to remember the "breadbox" line from the really early days of TV?