Celeste, give our heartfelt sympathies to your dear husband - five years is a long time to be patient (in both senses of the word). It sounds like your gardens are going to be lovely this year.
Grampapa, know what you mean by having an abundance of wealth in terms of seeds acquired through swaps, etc! I clearly came out ahead. I think we are so lucky to belong to DG. Once I have established all the perennials I want, I am going to invest in buying more unusual seeds in large volume so I can return the favours to everyone :-)
Bebop2 - how did you convince your DH? I want to convince DH to tear up more of the lawn - but I doubt I will be very successful. lol
Visions of Spring '08!
Seandor, this great fall, after this perfect summer, still did not produce many ripened grapes. I think the frustration finally got to him and I moved in for the kill.
Smart woman! BTW my parents grew fabulous concord grapes along the fence in Kamloops BC - zone 5 - cold winters - but hot dry summers.
Oh Pixie! My very best wishes for BOTH of you! I'm glad the recovery time is a whole lot less than before. Keep us posted, will ya?
Wow - very ambitious bebop! If you're going to try oakleaf hydrangeas, and I do love them, try to pick a sheltered part of your garden.
Well, first year will primarily be annuals. I may splurge and buy a small "Adonis" butterfly bush because it is a minature form of Black Knight and it will serve nicely as a backdrop to the dark blue and white "midnight" garden.
I will be wintersowing all sorts of perennials this year, and assuming I am successful, these will probably be put into the garden next fall.
Then , , , in the future, I can start replacing some of the perennials with shrubs - but that is still several years away.
I figure it will take three years before the gardens really look like much - and probably several years after that before I am really satisfied.
It will be lovely Michalea! I love the the 'blue garden' idea, but I would!
Yes - a lot of your blue seeds are going to end up as flowers there! :-)
Are we ever truely satisfied??? I'm constantly changing things around. I'll have plans in the spring for the following year, and come fall, the plan has completely changed.
Celeste -my thoughts are with your husband - holy cow that must be very frustrating!
Celeste, my thoughts are with you and your husband as well. I hope he has a successful surgery and that he really does only have a six week recovery time and that this will be his last surgery on that leg!
Big hugs,
Harper
Anita - isn't that what makes it fun?!!
I wouldn't have it any other way Victor.
I had collected some of the seeds of this plant when I was at Old Westbury Gardens. I looked up the info about propagation and found that the seed would germinate in 30-90 days. I sowed the seed 2 weekends ago - it's sprouted. I googled further and found more info that states the sprouts are slow to grow, so I should be safe.
That's going to be a beauty, Anita!
I hope it makes it.
Faith! Hope! And charity if it grows.
Good luck, Anita.
Nice - what is it Anita?
The Glory Bush in the photo above. http://www.hear.org/pier/species/tibouchina_urvilleana.htm
Thanks Anita.
Beautiful
Anyone grow tree peonies?? I killed one once but would like to try again.
My neighbor, the Master Gardener, has one out of two alive (last I heard). They're tricky with pruning from what I recall of a Martha Stewart show or article.
I transplanted one this fall after 5 years of too much shade. It's dead. I'm doing about as well as Pirls neighbor. I really like them though and will keep trying for some success.
They certainly seem to be more challenging than the herbaceous type.
I just put one in late summer, we'll see what happens...
I have one that doesn't stop...have no idea of the cultivar, bought it, and the only thing it said on the plant tag was, Purple tree peony...they take several years to establish...this coming from my former boss at the garden center I worked at, he told me about 3-5 years...most varieties that are offered through sale (mail order) and somtimes nursery stock, are only 1-2 year grafts, and won't flower until they are anywhere from 5-7 years old...when they establish. Pruning, I didn't/haven't done to mine, I don't have the heart to. Also, if someone likes the look of the Tree peonies, but likes the ease of the herbaceous peonies, you really can't go wrong with any of the ITOH hybrids, they aren't the cheapest out there, but they give the height/growth of the tree types, but with the ease of care of the herbaceous...
Agree with everyone though, the tree types are a wee bit more delicate than the herbaceous types...
The thing about pruning of the tree peonies is that it's not only tricky but required to get more blooms. I have no idea if it's not pruned results in no blooms or fewer blooms. I'll see what I can find out about it.
From Martha Stewart's website, on tree peonies:
The Incredible Peony
One of our most beloved gardening friends, Roy Klehm of Klehm's Song Sparrow Farm (www.songsparrow.com), joined us today and demystified growing tree peonies and herbaceous peonies -- the latter of which his family has made a into life's work for four generations, in the Chicago area.
Though less familiar, perhaps, than their herbaceous cousins, the tree peonies, in particular, are real prizes of the flower garden, forming shrubby, woody-stemmed plants of 2 1/2 to 5 feet tall in about 5 to 8 years. The individual blossoms will reach 5-6 inches, and a mature plant can be positively covered with them. Martha grows them in her garden and likes to float a single bloom with just a few inches of stem attached in a bowl of water -- even one flower makes a spectacular display, if you can bear to part with it from the bush. Give the plants, which are hardy in zones 4-8, some light shade from the hot mid-day sun and protection from drying winds, particularly in winter. Many sources offer small, bare-root tree peonies, but the Klehms sell container-grown 2-to 4-year-old plants in 5-liter pots. Set them in the ground at the same level they were in the pot, says Roy, or a bit deeper. For a detailed how-to on tree peonies, visit the Encyclopedia of Plants on marthastewart.com.com.
Songsparrow Farm sells so many great plants, and as Roy pointed out there are some hot new items this spring, including many new colors of coneflower that aren't the familiar purple at all. Look for gold ones like 'Harvest Moon' and other sunny colors in the new trademarked Big Sky Series.
I do remember them needing to go a bit deeper. I think mine may have received too much sun.
One thing I forgot to mention that I would like to do is finally get a good composting system. What do you think of this kit & design / approach?
http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=2&p=56092&cat=2,33140&ap=1
It's just one bin. If you used the two additional bins, since it's the general approach, the flared out sides would leave compost collecting in between the bins.
Why? Looks pretty self-contained. Don't think the compost will be squeezing out the sides. Doesn't seem that way anyway.
Victor, I know where about $65 is gowing soon...lol...thank you.
Thom - you're a one-man gardening industry / U.S. economy savior!!
How many bins do you want, Victor?
As you turn each bin some will no doubt make it in between the bins - it does here. Jack is sorry that he didn't build the first set as he did the second set - with no space in between.
Definitely leave the front boards so they can easily be removed or you'll break your back trying to get the compost out that's at the very bottom.
Three bins - no waiting!
my dad has been composting for years.... and he still says it's a lot less hassle with the tumblers... even though he has a few other containers .... has two bins made out of wood.... and a plastic upright bin.. he says you can't beat the tumbler for the speed the compost is complete... and it's easier on the back than flipping the piles with a fork or shovel
Do snakes get in the tumblers? I really want to get into composting also - tried it many years ago but they were full of snakes and my DH wouldn't help me with turning them. Eleanor
Well that did it for me - NO Composting!
We've never ever had a snake anywhere, Anita, so don't let that scare you away from it. My next door neighbor has a plastic bin, not a tumbler, and she gets the huge slugs - we don't get them but we do end up with compost loaded with worms - that's a good thing!
I can understand turning a pile can be tiring and now Jack does it with a rest stop in between. The typical wooden bin holds much more than other methods.
Those nice tumblers are very expensive though! It would take years before it was cheaper than buying the compost!