Please continue here. We are coming from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/802921/#new
Plant collector or garden designer? - Part 2
Victor, I have extreme empathy for you, and will consume an adult beverage to Future Miscanthus Removal, in your honour.
For those who enjoy Japanese maples and garden design, here is the obituary of California's famed Flo Ota De Lange. What a lovely story it is and the drive Flo had to be in her beloved garden, despite her health problems, is so commendable!
I loved her comment about her impending death - great sense of humor, too!
http://www.ocregister.com/news/garden-flo-life-1962673-years-maples
Wow what a lady! Thanks for sharing the link Pirl, she truely is an inspiration.
How I'd love to get a link to her gardens. I saw them last May on the computer. What a glorious accomplishment.
Very inspiring - thanks Pirl!
I'm still hunting for the photos.
Mike's link has photos but I haven't checked it yet.
http://www.442ndmemorialgarden.com/Site/now.html
Just found it. You'll have to click on each photo but they're all gems.
I can't get the link to work for me.
Works for me. Uh oh, Pirl! Not again!
Yes, Victor - all agida.
Clicking on this one will give you a slideshow of her gardens.
http://www.442ndmemorialgarden.com/Site/now.html
'agida'??
Beyond amazing. Now how many Japanese maples do I want now. I have one. I guess that is a start. Her J.Maples, as she called them, is such an extensive collection that is melded into a tapestry of subtle color and form. So fine. I could take a pilgrimage. Pirl, thank you for the link. Patti
It is gorgeous. I like some of the pairings. I am falling in love with pairing JM's and dwarf conifers, my latest addiction. Also, pairing them with any contrasting texture and form. My six that I underplanted my big one with will hopefully do that. I love that one that was limbed up. Not done enough in my opinion. They have great trunk structure.
Sorry, Victor. It's agita. I learned it from someone who should have known how to say it correctly.
victor and pirl , you send me to the weirdest places. Thanks, Patti
http://www.word-detective.com/121800.html
No, Pirl - I'm sorry. I just didn't understand it. I did not get the agita connection. Duh!
The part of the story about Flo that I really enjoyed was when she and her husband bought the home and she selected the house based on the light for her J.maples. Most people think of the house first, the land second (if at all).
True. I wasn't into gardening when we bought our house but if we were looking now I would probably bring a shovel, a soil test kit, etc.!!
We lucked out since the previous owners weren't gardeners so there was not much ripping out to be done.
I was amazed to see how it changed from what she first put in which was drop dead beautiful, but not the totally memorable garden it became as she made it by adding all the J.Maples, moss and rocks. What and evolution. My DH said we could afford the moss. Patti
Start with the moss??
There was a TV program, long ago, about planting moss plugs and each of the gardeners were assigned some huge number to plant - like 250,000, for some public garden. I'd need help getting up at the end of each day.
My DH loves moss, plus it is free. Every time he stops along a quiet woodsy roadside to relieve himself, he brings back to the car some moss to transplant to our yard. Some takes. He loved seeing all the moss under her J.Maples or at least that is what he thought he was seeing. But I think he was mostly seeing how many dollars each of her trees would have cost, even when tiny. Patti
I hope he does not take home what he peed on!!
It does form a lovely mat. I have lots of areas with it and keep transplanting it to cover more bare earth. It's quite restful to the eyes.
I love moss too and want to get some going.
Victor, he has excellent aim. Plus he also collects Lichens. I gave him a most amazing book from Yale Univ Press a few years back that is a work of art and the definitive book called 'Lichens of North America' by Brodo, & Sharnoff 2001. We still know nothing about Lichens or moss, but he always drags them home when he is using natures pissoir. Plus being an old salt, he know in which direction to aim to get dry samples of moss and lichen. Patti
I'm like, liking lichen. I do need to try some. Thanks for the title!
Those really are awesome gardens - thanks for the link.
Pirl, I envy her structure, vision and straightforwardness. She was one of a kind with a good sense of humor. I'll have to use that one when it's my time to go : } I agree, I liked also that she chose the sun first. That struck me as smart! I couldn't get either link to work. My computer is so slow today.
Patti, giggling over husband and his moss.
Victor, that was my unspoken thought!!
Moss is pretty when it's in it's place and not in the middle of my grass or driveway, and I know nothing about lichens.
The front is a rose bed, the back apparently for gaillardias. They got thinned much this fall.
Me likem lichens. Sorry, couldn't resist. Nice gaillardias. Patti
Cool pic!
Yes, very cool lichens. Do they just grow on branches? How do you use them in the garden?
The Lichen is on an old tree (Amelanchier canadensis, shad or service berry) that was native to our property. I am afraid it might be a bad sign that the tree is past it's prime. Anyone know? Patti
That would be my guess, but I'm not sure. Ever eat the berries?
Birds do, but I have not. I heard they have a nutty blueberry taste. Here is a neat article.
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/spring2004/shadbush.html
I don't think mine is the rare one. But his idea of "cliff" is odd. Didn't think we had those here. I am planting a new one this year, plus we may have found another small native one the other day when we were brush whacking in part of our still wild area. We will know when it blooms. DH cleaned around it and pulled out all the V.Creeper that was eating it. What ever it is it has a nice shape.
I am now blooming in poison ivy, not a happy kid at the moment. I didn't get it on my hands as I was wearing gloves, but got it on my waist. Yes, when I hit the head. Not happy truly. DH got me some new PI soap which seems to be helping. Not bad enough to go to the doctor, which is great. Patti
Good luck with that poison ivy, Patti, darn stuff.
My daughter made serviceberry jam the first year we moved here. It was yummy, but a lot of trouble, big pits in those little berries. Slight blueberry taste. I find it funny the birds here don't care for it.
Do you know they have cultivars of serviceberry, too. Ours are just the wild form, they pop up all over.
http://www.horticlick.com/p/amelanchier_princess_diana1.html
http://www.trimpines.com/treeoftheweek/appleserviceberry.htm
Sorry to hear about the PI, Patti. Have Tecnu? I like the taste of serviceberries, but the birds do like them. I planted one last year but some animal destroyed it.