House cleaning and books.

Beside Amazon's used books - try eBay's HalfBay. I found a cookbook I wanted for 75 cents and the shipping is the same as Amazon. I love Anne McCaffery for Sci-fi Fanatsy. The Dragon Riders of Pern series comes to mind. I also love the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie is a thirty something single woman living in the 'burg" of NJ and is a Bounty Hunter and quite inept at it. She is constantly rescued by Joe Morelli - cop, high school sweetheart and love interest or by Ranger - dark and mysterious cuban sometimes bounty hunter with his own security business as her other love interest. (I'm voting for the MIB.)

noknok and candy,
Thanks for the fence cover ideas, variegated and evergreen would be nice together. I'd love tall narrow native evergreen trees but most of the area is shaded and under a large oak,except for the corner. Can't find the answer yet. As for ivy, I'm afraid it's way too invasive here. I actually spent 3 hrs. this week pulling it off the school side of the fence. Both chain link and wooden fence belong to the school, I don't think they'd replace the wooden fence if it was damaged and I begged for them to put up the fence (town rules only 4' fence without variance for home owners). As it is they stopped a few feet short of covering the whole back, which is why I have the burlap covered trellises in the corner. I think the Virginia creeper would have a similar problem?but I do have a variegated VC, wish it was more aggresive, I could try back there. I'm leaning towards buying sheets of lattice and covering the whole fence. I was playing with small left over pieces of lattice and bamboo and rebar but I don't have enough and it looks quite tatty.
I got a few Christopher Lloyd books from the library but the Succession Planting one was out. Good idea to interlibrary loan the Stanley Kunitz. Ycat,
I haven't read Anne McCaffery in years but I also loved The Dragon Riders of Pern.
candy,
What is the Gabaldon "Outlander series about?
edited to say- If you play building structures outside(even when it's c-c-c-old, you don't have to clean).

This message was edited Dec 4, 2006 5:36 AM

semper - google for "understory trees". That is a permaculture term for shorter trees that grow under the tall trees in a "forest". Then you'll want an evergreen to hide the school. You could do bamboo IF you put in something to confine it. Someone who writes in this group is a bamboo lover and has written wonderful descriptions of the snow tinkling through the bamboo. One Green World on the West Coast has great descriptions on the plants they sell and I'm sure they have something to recommend that would hide the school and provide food for you or critters.

YCat,
Do you order from One Green World on the West Coast without a problem establishing the plants here in the East? I have a lovely evergreen grape holly that is indigenous to that area but it has to be babied. I have come across the term permaculture but am not familiar with the concept. Can you explain ?
I think bamboo is very pretty, and very invasive(I know you said confine it). It certainly would be a perfect choice to cover the fence but I have my heart set on a native garden (broadly native ,US and Canada) for that back area. Of course I already have a non native azalea, Japanese Stryax and 2 90 ft. Norway Spruce along with native Oakleaf Hydrangea, Witch Hazel, Serviceberry and Calycanthus in that "woodland" area. I have 2 young starts of native honeysuckle in pots if they didn't freeze last night that are semi-evergreen.
The photo shows the 2 Spruce over my little gazebo and the Oak behind the fence, on the school side.
Sorry, I took the book and cleaning thread off course, I use William Cullinas "Native Trees, Shrubs & Vines" frequently.

Semper, That is great!!

Semper - Here is a link to a permaculture site http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/perma.html . The concept is sustainable agriculture - build an environment in layers that nourishes itself and provides food for all - people and wildlife. That is my take on it anyway - I'm sure some can 'splain it better. When it is done correctly - the land maintains itself - you don't even have to rake the leaves because they are used to feed the plants under them. I haven't ever bought from One Green World - yet anyway. I talked to them last summer about some trees and decided to wait. They seem really knowledgable and have tons of unusual but cold hardy plants that seem like they would fit right in in New England.
Edited to say that the permaculture books I read often suggest serviceberry is one of the plants they like to use as understory planting and you already have that.

This message was edited Dec 7, 2006 8:36 AM

Thanks Dave.

YCat, I'll have to review the permaculture site more carefully.

Ah ha! No cleaning for me this year, one of the new Hellebores I planted in the spring has been tricked by the 50 degree weather into coloring up early. I believe it will be able to bloom before Christmas as it isn't supposed to get cold again until then. The question is does it count if it's not really in my garden but my neighbors?. I planted and maintain the garden.

This message was edited Dec 14, 2006 9:09 AM

Woo, I haven't checked this thread for a while.

Semper, The "Outlander" series is about a woman who passes through the standing stones and ends up in the 18th century in Ireland. She was married with a daughter, but she chooses to stay and marries an Irishman. Then right about the time a massacre is about to happen, he sends her back through the stones. Apparently, the daughter goes through at a later time but I haven't read that one yet. I've also read and enjoyed the dragon rider series.

YCat, I was unaware of the eBay site. I'll check it out.

Cleaning? Did that. New mess and 10 days to think about cleaning again, maybe...

This weather is confusing me and my plants. Maybe I should be out there planting.

Outlander is set in Scotland, not Ireland. Sorry about that.


This message was edited Dec 18, 2006 8:42 PM

Semper, I vote that it counts.

If we didn't let gardens that you don't own but tend count - Al would only be able to post one dalia picture! And we would miss all of Al's pictures.

What I'm wondering is how many of us tend gardens for other people - not as a job - as a gift? I do - I tend to one neighbor's roses - replacing dead plants, weeding, feeding, treating and pruning (and he brags how beautiful his roses are) and another neighbor has bulbs and plants that I planted and feed and prune for him.

Kind of got lost in the questions here, the beds I maintain range from low maintenance plants that only require occasional maintenance to high maintenance. They all were my plants, I have never bought plants specifically for those beds. Is it a gift, well ..I suppose. I know that they will enjoy the plants, and I will enjoy not discarding plants I don't have room for. I do most of the maintaining of my plants at work on the clock, but it's not even an hour a week.



here is a shot of my neighbor across the street's house. It was of the Overdam really, it is low maintenance plants. She doesn't have a nice annual bed for dahlias yet Yank

Al, you know I was just razzin' you - right?

I thought your were giving me the business Wally.

you'll have to try harder than that ;)~

Now that we've all had a nice winter break I was curious to hear what everyone read and liked. I just finished The" $64 Tomato"
by William Alexander (borrowed from the library). It was an entertaining quick read, and he gardens in the Hudson Valley of New York.

A friend gave it to me and I still haven't read it.

Are we allowed to trade cookbooks for plants?

pirl,
Are you giving up cooking as well as house cleaning? I'd say cookbooks are a fair trade.
I have to mention I also liked "Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants", BBG All-Region Guide. This one I bought, only $9.95, and worth every penny. It's a good quick reference and you can check their website for a more complete list if you can't find what you want. www.bbg.org/nativealternatives

The computer has made recipe hunting so easy! I haven't given up on cooking but I certainly don't use them as I once did.

pirl, I hadn't thought about it, but you're right. it's so much easier to sit down and search than pull out the books. and so many more choices.

It's enjoyable to look up a recipe for, say fish, and end up with pineapple upside down cake! It is relaxing.

Hi Sempervirens et Al, et Pearl,
running out of books here. Reading "Teaching a stone to speak" by Annie Dillard again.
Her stark fresh talk falls well on the snow out there. Taking turns with Lee Reich, who
gardens 20 minutes from my place in the Hudson Valley, just checking on all that early stuff,
peas and cool weather veggies. Didn't know about William Alexander, do you know the name
of the town/area he lives in?

The only cook books I ever bought are Molly Katzen's, and my DD has snatched those.

I ended up reading a lot of Beverley Nichols, but can't seem to get through Henry Mitchell's
Essential Earthman though. So far, it seems to alternate between whiny, pontificating and
downright questionable (recommendations for Hall's Honeysuckle and English Ivy "can be
acquired simply pulling some up off the side of the road or a back alley").
It's something you DO, not write about ;o)
Did get "The Wild Braid" A Poet Reflects on a Century of Gardening by Stanley Kunitz, very sweet!

Meanwhile, seed packets are accumulating. I'm getting ready for the first batch of winter sowing.
My next door neighbors brought a bag of Brussel sprouts they HAD JUST PICKED after 3-degree
nights. They were delicious! Plus, we share the same deer and rabbit population, no fencing.
Sooo, I'm thinking a few brussel sprouts in with the gold yuccas, the Indigo Spires and the Tithonia.
They are really a very Dr. Seussy looking plant.
And WHITE Sunflowers this year, with the Shiso, Asparagus and Helenium Mardi Gras.

DD got me the latest spin-off on Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, The Furies (a graphic novel)
which I've now read at least eight times, can't wait for the ninth, exqisite!
Also the latest Gaiman short stories, Fragile things, oook, but no "American Gods" which just got
better with a second reading.

Any new recommendations on garden design? If not, I'll stick with this

Anyone else waiting for the 7th & final Harry Potter book?

noknok,
I think you'll have to stick with Rosseau as I've not found any new garden design books, maybe someone else has a suggestion. Timber Press always has a booth at the Philadelphia Flower Show, so I'll take a look in March. That's how I found Beverly Nichols. As for the William Alexander books' location it says "a small town in the hills along the Hudson River".
I think of Henry Mitchell as a poetic, old fashioned gentleman type of garden writer. He seems in tune with the natural world and is kind and caring for the smallest creature. I see him as a Victorian gentlemen Buddhist . When he describes wild tulip bulbs as "smaller than a butter bean...wrapped in their natural skin..like satin...sometimes like a russet pear...sometimes lined in soft yellow brown fur", I hear the voice of someone that looks at the natural world. I disagree with his style of gardening and would not choose to plant what he does. I would never plant Hall's honeysuckle or ivy as it's much too invasive but I like his voice.
I also bought " The Wild Braid" and found it charming.
I have read "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" by Annie Dillard with pleasure so I'll look for "Teaching a Stone to Speak".
Which Gaiman do you suggest to start with?
Brussel sprouts are rather spectacular looking on the stalk (I've only bought them at the farmers market, not grown them). Red Russian Kale is also very sweet after a few frosts and can be very Suessian in appearance when it loses the lower leaves and this great tall thick stalk is capped by a shaggy, leafy topknot . It also has lovely seed pods.

candy,
I purchased a book from the Outlander series but haven't started it yet.
Dave,
I'm waiting for the last Harry Potter also.

Semper, I'll have to test the red kale in whiskey barrels, before we know if it's
rabbit proof. The shaggy topknot sounds just right.

The snow has brought back the tracks, telling of coyotes by the house and all
over the orchard, stalking the rabbits, someone's giving those gourmet bunnies
a run for their money!

My favorite story in "Teaching a stone.." is "Total Eclipse", Dillard at her best.
I love her sense of how outrageous this all is - planets hurling around in space, us in
our gardens perched on floating continents on "a wet ball flung across nowhere..."
."careening through space toward a point east of Hercules".
Like a cold shower on a hot day.

Gaiman, now. Well, it's like this, first there were Doris Day movies and then came
Fellini, Bergman, Antonioni, Kurosawa. Movies went from novelty store to art. So,
first there were Superman comics. And then came Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean,
John Ney Rieber, Alan Lee, and comic books became a venue for real writers and
artists. The novelty store is still with us and that's fine, but there are choices.

If you get a chance, spend an hour browsing the "Sandman" section at your local
comic book store (or Barnes and Noble, he's big time now, but the comic book store
is more fun). The Sandman series started out with very crude artwork, but the writing
won writer's awards (to the horror of "real" writers). As Gaiman's work took off, a new,
older clientele were buying comics, and DC Comics/Vertigo produced better and
better "pencillers" to match. Now, they're the best, check out "The Furies"!
Gaiman began writing regular fiction. "Neverwhere" and "American Gods" hit the
bestseller lists and stayed there. You could start with either, or, if you can get into it,
the Sandman books. He has translated myth into current/urban life in a way that
no-one else has.

Since I'm out of books I'll give Mitchell another chance...

So you go to the Philadelphia show. Give us a review, would you?
It's too far for me.

Well I did go to the Philadelphia Flower show and the review is mixed. The horticultural display/competition was fabulous as usual. Wonderful exotic plants grown to perfection. Topiaries that were fanciful, fruit trees full of ripe fruit, small plants grouped together in miniature gardens, and miniature room/landscape constructions with live plants to scale, all charming.
The floral design competition is another story. The designs are ever more contrived and center more on shock and construction then flowers or living material. Just my opinion on that, others might enjoy them. I just wish they felt less forced.
The theme for the show was Ireland and I was hoping for mystical, magical creatures and fantasy. Some of that, but not enough for my taste. There was one wonderful display and others that were ok so the whole did satisfy.
Unfortunately the Timber Press booth was not there to my dismay, no new books for me. Heronswood had a booth selling. at a good price new hellebore cultivars, I resisted since I bought White Beauty and Ivory Prince last year and am quite out of hellebore space.
I hope you can make out this fantasy creature, the photo is dark.

This message was edited Mar 9, 2007 3:23 AM

oops, lost the photo.

Here's another exhibit.

This message was edited Mar 9, 2007 3:24 AM