Plant collector or garden designer?

I prefer the Gorilla Baby Irises myself.

Wish I could have joined in last night, but had to watch UCONN lose another game, then we have my stepson from Maine staying with us, so we chatted until bedtime. Victor--right on--German Bearded iris --- does anyone still call them that, or is there a new name? Love them & have since a child wandering in my Grandma's garden--still remember dark purple falls, & deep yellow standards, & highly scented--wish I could find it--Gram's been dead 30 yrs. Patti, you'll love the Morden sunrise--it was blooming for me right into Nov.--might be longer in your area. Hope mine survives--man who plows, has a snowbank against it, & he knocked over a rugosa at the top of the driveway. I did say I was into major renov. for the Spring!

Robin, thanks, I did plant bearded iris a couple of years ago. I now think they have new names, all of which confuse me,but they sure are pretty.

Miniature Dwarf Bearded (MDB) - Standard Dwarf Bearded (SDB) - Intermediate Bearded (IB) - Border Bearded (BB) -
Miniature Tall Bearded (MTB) & Tall Bearded (TB) or as I write them TBI

Snow plow drivers are never gardeners in my experience. I think they are demolishion derby drivers in the summer and just practice by seeing what they can tear up in the winter.

I am pleased to hear about Morden Sunrise. I had some sparse blooms on "Flutterbye" which is similar in look ,but more yellow, very late, well into Nov this year. I love the open simple bloom type. I have been adding some new Rosa rugosa and am now eyeing a new spot to add a big mass which I will do from swiping some from a couple of big areas that we planted 25 years ago that are making the birds very happy right now. This is Flutterbye on Nov 2. Patti

Oh - please don't mention the plow guy! I am convinced there is a low upper limit on IQ to get the hwy dept job in my town.

Victor, I spoke too harshly about them all and I beg to differ about one HWY worker in Williamsville Vt . I have a culvert that takes snow melt down from the hill and under the road and then under part of my garden on the brook side of the road to discharge in Baker Brook that became blocked one spring during a major flooding that caused massive damage to our area. There was a huge geyser shooting out of the road and water was flooding down the road and threatening to cause major damage to houses including ours. This guy comes with a backhoe at 5 in the morning to help me as I was up trying unblock the culvert. He says he has to dig up part of my garden and the road to free the blockage. I was sad. He says he will get the culvert replaced at some point. But before he leaves he carefully moves my clumps of plants to a shady spot with his backhoe. It turn out that culvert part from the 1800's was stone and had collapsed. He finally comes back after several weeks and he puts in the new culvert, then he replants the clumps of plants and levels and seeds the grass area between the road and garden and covers it all with straw. Then he comes back and checks on it from time to time as he knows I am not there often. He even watered it at least once according to neighbors. Talk about a good guy. Here are some of the plants he saved. Patti

what a sweetheart!

What a great guy, he must be a gardener too.

Very generous! I was only referring to my town.

Patti, that guy is remarkable!!! The guys in my town are like the guys in Victor's town. They get a thrill out of destroying as much as they can. Well, my neighbor's son is the worst. He doesn't work for the town, but he plows my little 25' driveway. Crushes as many plants as he can. I wanted to cry today when I saw what he drove over.

I am totally convinced that guys with snow blades on their trucks are temporarily on the payroll of the devil himself. What other excuse is there for the ripping and tearing about just to drag a little snow out of a driveway? Then the wonderfull town council decrees that we are not alowed to put it on roadside. Who boy! That's normal brilliance....absoulute political brilliance. We won a legal opinion here. We are able to put it on the parking spaces but not the cartway. Of course then the newspaper and the mail will not be delivered until snow melt time.

My town has this ludicrous approach where they put up this four or so inch high 'curb' of asphalt to help water flow to the storm drains. Then every winter the plow breaks it in pieces, which end up in my garden. Every summer they come back and put more! But they claim the first 5 or 10 feet of your property is accessible to them.

Yes we do have township employee fun and games too. They work for seven eight bucks an hour while the hiring body assumes they will get near to CEO intellegence guys with kind loving attitudes. Instantly we the tax payers become the enemy. Most of the times we lose as all kinds of little secretive laws are written into their protection shields.

Do I detect a bit of cynicism??

That's what I out up along my driveway for my guy, Emily.

I sympathize with you guys about the snow plows, I used to see the damage those 'nuts' did when I lived in the city. Where I live now both the town and the private operators are very concientious and just do their job. Thankfully I have no sidewalks & I never shovel my driveway, we had a nice 2ft snowstorm a couple of years ago... I just rolled over it with my 4x4! ☺

Geese you folks have all the luck. Here all they do is plow your open driveway shut as they go by a couple times for each storm. They put it in our right of way to property access so where are we permitted to put it next? They will not reopen a driveway unless you are on town council. Surely those folks have village business that mandates that perk.

I posted this on the Visions of Spring thread but I'll repeat it here. Anyone have experience removing large, mature miscanthus? I want to do it this spring and have heard it can be tough. Would like to hear first-hand experience.

Victor, sheepishly I had to google 'miscanthus' and can say that grass scares me because I assume it can never be moved, so I don't have any. Why are you removing it? And what are you replacing it with. Patti

A couple of reasons. In general, I am not nearly as into the grasses as I once was (isn't it weird how our tastes change?!). The exception is Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster', which is extraordinary. Miscanthus flops horribly after a rain and doesn't get the 'flowers' until late in the season. Also, it gets quite large. I want to replace it with more behaved shrubs.

Victor, I'll be happy to!

Thank you Pirl. I love taking ladder pictures.

Grammy, you just gave us a chance to ''brag'' about our pitiful beds :)) Your daughter does the best she can.

Polly, no gardens are what I comment on too.

Thanks Laurie. This picture is for you!

Pirl, you hit the nail on the head for me. I ordered 4 anemones and none survived my zone 5 winter. I was very discouraged.

Patti, I love that! Find it hard to weed in boxing gloves. Perfect!

Robindog, sorry about your injury, but since it couldn't be helped, what better excuse to sit, enjoy, and note what more you would like to do when well! I'm working on my flower wish list.

Katye, I agree with sitting at dusk. We have andironack chairs and to sit in them at the end of the day is so relaxing! The weariness just drains away. We also have mosquitos with the rains. No rain no skeeters. It's a no win situation. Beautiful pictures, sigh.

Laurawege, even a birdbath says spring!

Oh Pirl, don't say gnats. I forgot about them. We have small swarming ones and huge biters :((

Victor, I hear you on weeding out a wish list. Same story here.

Docgipe, syrup time that soon?

Venu, I bought an expanding folder for all my garden invoices, magazine subscriptions and recipes for bugs and such.

I binge. Last year it was astilbes and it's always a few more daylilies and oriental lilies.

Laurawege, I have the tigerlilies that grew at my childhood home. ''They'' are 50 years old. I don't have the dreaded lily beetle yet either.

Patti, what a beautiful color combo. I love the blue lacecap!! East side. Peonies. There are mini mock orange shrubs too.

Pixie, I use the Bayer product on my bearded iris along with a malathion spray. I have to.

Pirl, I wonder why you can't buy Bayer and we can.

Victor, funny, I'm just getting into grasses. I love the miscanthus, but haven't decided to get one yet. Hearing about the flop, I may not.

There are many grasses to choose from, so don't be discouraged! Even lots of miscanthus - different habits, etc. I still like the pennisetums too.

billyporter - how did you remember what everybody posted??? Eleanor

Probably had two windows open!

Patti, if I were you, I'd try to find out who the guy is and give him a nice gift certificate or case of beer or something as a thank you! There is hope is this world after all!

That would be kinda breezy on a day like today!! Eleanor

The maple trees will provide a flow when the nights are freezing and the daytime temperatures are above fifty. It starts slow. There were two days like that a week ago. When several of those days or a string of those days apear it brings on the early major flow of the best quality sap. There are many good natured bets lost on when the major flow will appear each year.

Victor. I have two books on ornamental grasses. I do a lot of research before I buy anything now. I especially don't want a reseeder or a runner.

Eleanor, I have learned to use notepad. This way I can scroll down everyones thread and make my comments. I never lose a post by enlarging a thumbnail.

ROTFL. Breezy and freezing!

billyporter - that is awesome! I can never remember who posted what and it takes so long to go back and find a post and who posted it. By the time I scroll back down to my message box I can't remember what I was going to say. It takes so long cause I have to go back several times and then when I enlarge a thumbnail the whole message is lost. (thought that was just something I was doing wrong) I end up reading the post and enjoying the pics and just say "great pic everyone"!! Eleanor
p.s. - if you would close those two windows it wouldn't be so breezy and freezing!! LOL What's ROTFL?
Never mind I looked it up and I'm rolling on the floor laughing too!! Now I can't get up!!

Victor - blow the Miscanthus up. I wish someone had told me to go this route.
I have affectionately renamed mine "Miscanthus sinensis exponential".
The "small" miscanthus I planted was obviously mislabeled - it grew to 7' tall.
I have completed one removal - three more to go...

Assemble the following:
Weed whacker - Shovel - Spading fork - San Anselmo bar (like a 6' crowbar) - sturdy boots - 4 to 6 microbrews - sanity/reason/nerves of steel

Weed whack / cut all topgrowth of Miscanthus.
Dig a narrow shallow trench around the perimeter. Rest.
Use a spading fork to loosen that soil a bit deeper. Rest some more.
Plunge San Anselmo bar into the trench at an angle, all the way around. Rest.
Open microbrew of choice, consume.
Plunge San Anselmo bar into and under roots - push down free end of bar with booted foot, and put as much weight on it as possible.
Repeat all around the perimeter. Rest again.
Thirsty? You've earned another: go for it.
The idea is to use your body weight to loosen up the outer third of the root mass. This is a long process. Be sure to keep your fluid level up & rest a lot. When you have consumed the entire microbrew selection, you are done for the day.
Eventually, you will have regathered your wits, at which point you'll want to remove whatever chunks of roots possible, working toward the center.

I suppose you could burn the top & layer compostibles over it.
However, this is one of those situations where Round up might be most ideal.
A backhoe would make short work of it, too.
I am still in a quandry about whether to endure this process again 3X more.
I have lots of grasses, but never realized that Miscanthus roots had literal claws on the root ends. Give the remains to someone that enjoys running bamboo...

Love your humor, Katye!

I had a clump of Japanese irises, out in the full hot sun, for many years and then decided to divide it. It's getting that first wedge out that's the killer. It took hours. After that it seemed easier but I still ended up in the hospital from the experience.

I just planted (Sept.) a back area with different grasses, & hydrangeas. My 2 exhuberant dogs loved the garden--they dug & chewed, & trampled. Whatever survives stays--I hope it will not be the miscanthus, Victor, but it probably will! If you can't dig yours out, I'll lend you an airedale.

Funny Katye! But now I'm really now looking forward to it. Maybe stick with the beer while I watch someone else do it!

Victor - if you end up removing it please take before, during and after pictures and let us know how many hours (or days) it took.

And maybe the doctor bills as well!

I remember those all too well! Thank heavens for morphine.

Pirl and Victor, perhaps we can officially name you as our "American Garden Gladiators" and have tournament style event in Thug eviction contest in which you both can take on all. Who else wants to enter the fray? I have some Yucca that I need to take to a steel cage death match very soon, but it scares me. I tried once and thought I had won only to have them reappear even bigger and better the next year. Patti

This message was edited Jan 19, 2008 3:41 PM

Grammy, you're cracking me up! I used to lose long posts and did all the scrolling too. Notepad! So easy!

Katye, that's why I don't jump into things I haven't researched :}

Hospitol Pirl? MORPHINE!! What happened??

Patti, I have dug a yucca out and it grew back. Luckily it wasn't in my yard :}

I'm supposed to be researching germination for the many seeds I have amassed. I got sidetracked :}

Patti - surely, you jest! Victor and I would be sidelined faster than you can blink! We'd have matching hospital gowns.

BP - it's a long story but it ended happily with my total of 83 visits to Peter, the handsome and talented physical therapist.

Peter keeps returning to this forum!