What's Growing - Part 6

Thank you!

Dave, I think Bob is really, really pretty. Love Black Beauty.

none of the fish are named Bob, are they? I'm jealous. I really want to grow water lilies. but a water feature is way down on the list. maybe one of those patio sized water gardens and I do one.

Dave - the backdoor garden looks nice - I like the tetra


Anita - don't use the word commited around me - I am sensitive.

Gram, Water gardens were down on my list and I was a bit intimidated by them. Four or five years ago when we moved 3 miles away in the same town (To the house my DW had wanted in the first place), I lost my established gardens and their much better soil.
But in return I gained the water garden which came with the house. Maintenance has been a pleasant surprise. There is clean up in the spring but you never have to weed or water.
Mine is dug out with a liner and about 800 gallons. In the center it is about 2&1/2' deep so the fish can live there over the winter.

Dave, Do you put a heater in the pond for the winter to keep an 'open water' hole?

My old fashion Garden Phlox are showing good color now.
I always hated how the rain made them fall over, so now I prune them.
Around the first of June when they are knee high, I cut them in half. This delays the flowering by about 2 weeks but they are bushier and the rain doesn't knock them down.
This is the smaller of 2 clusters as it looked this morning.
Andy P

Edited to point out the dog fence is 3 feet tall.

This message was edited Jul 31, 2006 2:28 PM

I think cheatings allowed here, I took some pics at the Arboretum I was working at today.


Don't know the name of this hibiscus - the leaves weren't tropical though.

Not as big as Debbies, but twice the size of my Oakleaf

Should be 'tiger's eyes' sumac, and yes it is spreading which is why I haven't bought it for my place.

upside down elephant's ear

This message was edited Jul 31, 2006 10:02 PM

This 'silver ray' korean pine had huge cones on it.

Not nearly as many dahlia this year, mainly coleus it seemed.


that is all - we now return to our regular programming

that was fun, Al. how big is that hibiscus bloom? I used to grow a lot of coleus from seed, use them as house plants, whatever. there are just so many great colors.

Andy, great tip on the phlox. that's one of the reasons I haven't grown it. maybe I'll try.

Dave, I may take the plunge on the water garden some day. my brother got transferred from NC to Baton Rouge LA and bought a house with a big koi pond. he enjoys it. biggest problem is protecting the koi from predators. we have great blue heron here that we enjoy, but I suspect they would enjoy a nice koi occasionally, too

for a nice change of pace, here's another collage - with what are apparently the 3 hardest weeds to get rid of (the sedge has made it to the Guiness book as the world's worst weed). and guess what, I was able to take all these nice pics in my own garden :^(
one of my front beds is covered with the horsetail, and the sedge has taken over my fairy garden and my heather garden. at least I have finally identifed them (I thought the sedge was a grass..had never seen it before..so I was spraying it with grass-b-gone and wondering why it wouldn't b-gone). I'm pulling out a half bushel of that sedge a day and can't get ahead of it. I just added the pic of the poor birch tree to round out the collage.

ok, I'm done whining now. sorry. feel better. see :-))

gram

Gram - that hibiscus is about 12" wide I would say.

Yes sedge is tough, I do use a product for work sometimes called manage that works on it.
Horsetail is one of those dinosaur weeds they say - how long it's been around.

Al, I read about manage. It doesn't kill the little tubers or whatever, though, does it?

say, is
Some sort of big caladium like thing.

a scientific name, or just a common one ;-)

Well my guess was that there were more kinds of caladium than elephant's ears, but maybe this is closer
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/132115/index.html
caladium is scientific and common IMO, elephant's ears is common

anyway - manage does kill off yellow and purple nutsedge completely, roundup should work in beds and nongrass areas - it hasn't?

Back from a wonderful vacation In that most beautiful state of Washington.
This is what I found blooming in my garden
A pale lemom colored hydrangea

A close up

phlox paniculata "David". one of the species that does not get mildue

Maria, That's right, I never get mildew!
Andy, No heater in my pond. Mainly,I use the pump to keep a hole in the ice open for oxygen (which they use more less of during hibernation). The cold will not kill them if the pond is deep enough (2&1/2 ft,) Last 2 years my pond spent some time frozen across the entire surface and the fish still survived.

Here's what's blooming at the end of July/beginning of August ...

Sorry, I don't know the name of these daylillies ...

Yellow daylilly with red throat -- anyone know the name of this?

Cut and come again zinnia (beetle included) ...

Blackberry lilly -- I love this ...

Crockney - I love the Blackberry. If you have extra seed at the end of the season, I would love some for trade or postage! Let me know.

Anita

Crockney - I love it too. I planted some this spring and they have no blooms yet.

I have a flower bed - big one - that has totally gone to seed. Mainly because I got tired of fighting the weeds. It has wild blackberry, buttercup, some ugly vine that just won't quit, and, worst of all, stinging nettle. Oh, and burdock. I've tried to kill this off individually, dug them out, and they won't stop. I want to Roundup the whole mess - problem: the bed is full of daffs and other spring bulbs that I don't want to kill. I e-mailed Scotts and asked if Roundup would kill the bulbs - they said not if there is no green foliage on the bulbs.

While I want to trust Scotts, I wonder if any of you have actually done this. I mean used Roundup over bulbs. I really would be appreciative of any feedback.
K

Hi. I'm new to this forum and writing from Western MA (zone 5). Does anyone have any experience with the shrub called rose glorybower or cashmere bouquet? It's C. bungei I think. It's considered a problem in FL from what I can find on the net but I'm wondering if it behaves better up north. If suckering is its worst habit I could put it next to my snowball "patch" and just let them duke it out and then mow down the suckers. But I have been fighting for years with Oriental bittersweet and wild grapes, gifts from my ex-husband, and expect some morning to be found strangled by them in my 2nd story bedroom. If this bush spreads by underground runners it can forget my yard. I'm not totally opposed to over-exuberance; I tolerate nightshade because it looks so wondeful in cut arrangements.

Ah! The name I want is Clerodendrum bungei.

This message was edited Aug 1, 2006 3:09 PM

This message was edited Aug 1, 2006 3:10 PM

Oh, Kayellen, it sounds like a worse mess than mine. I was just reading today about how Roundup (glyphosphate) works. It's absorbed thru the leaves, so I think what they told you is true. here's the link if you want to read it. It also says it does not move thru the soil to other plants.

http://www.pestproducts.com/roundup_herbicide.htm

my Stargazer has finally bloomed! (little happy dance...I was really looking forward to it)

gram

Grampapa:

Your stargazer is a beauty!

Thank you for the link. I read it and it sounds like by bulbs will be safe. There are so many daffs and they're wonderful in the spring - I just hated to see them gone. OK, deep breath, I will do it - but not today - it's so hot outside that it's hard to breathe.

swmargaree - Welcome to NE. I'm not familiar with that shrub; but then, I've really just recently gotten the gardening virus, so don't know a lot about plants yet.

Folks...I think it's time for a new thread...on to Part 7!! http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/634103/

swmargaree, The Glorybower, does it make small dark blue 'fruit' ? I had one for a few years and it spread by root suckers. I had a hard time keeping it in it's place. The top would die back then it would come up somewhere else. I got rid of it, 4 times, LOL.
Andy P

Anita: I'd be happy to give you seeds -- you might have to remind me later in the season ... also I've never collected them but I assume when they look like blackberries it's time to collect them ... send me d-mail when the seasons change!

Sharron

Thanks Sharron - I certainly will :)

My Hibiscus 'Disco Bell' are blooming now. I started these from seed a friend let me collect a few years ago.
I tried to snap a pic yesterday but it was so hot and humid the camera lens fogged up.
This morning I let the camera 'warm up' first. lol
After a watering.
Andy P

Ah, one of the few surviving flowers from the disco era!

Disco LIVES, lol
Andy P

Andy - That is wild - I love it.

K

That's REALLY beautiful, Andy.

Say, what are the rules, anyway? Aren't we typing here 'illegally'? What with Anita starting a new thread, I mean.

Speaking ao Anita, would you please , just one more time, remind me of what you use to make your collages??

Sorry, I missed that.
See ya there.

Sorry Nancy - I've been away for a few days. I use lumapix [ http://www.lumapix.com/ ]