I live next to an extremely ugly parking lot with a ten-foot chain-link fence. Last year, I planted a 250-ft row of pink cleome, see my photo. This year, I want to enhance the fence with Heavenly Blue MGs, can you imagine the effect for the children walking to school?
Should I start the seed early or plant them direct?
this wont help, but i would try Both, knowing that they will reseed the next year~And i think what you are doing is Exceptional, BTW. :D They dont pop up until they get some 70degree-ish sun, but you prbably read that an the deed packs. DO soak them for a 12 hour rest (put them to bed in tap water when you go to bed and plant when you wake up has been my rule, for years.
:Darren
I would think planting them direct is easiest unless you have a GH. Looks like your boxer is ready to fertilize!
Beth - ROFLMBO!!!! You are too funny!!!
andycdn - What a lovely idea! I think MGs growing all over the fence would look amazing! Warm weather needed to get them to really take off though!
LOL! Im dieing here tears rolling down the face!! Poor pooch was caught in the act!
I love the fence idea those colors will look heavenly together!!
Thanks, all, I too got a huge laugh, always a good thing in late winter. When this blooms, count on a photo. I'm planning white alyssum around the base for a lace effect. --A
fernman23 -
You mentioned
"..they will reseed the next year..."
A few 'fun' facts...
The Ipomoea purpurea and less often the Ipomoea nil will successfully resow in freezing climates,but the Ipomoea tricolor will rarely,if ever,successfully reseed itself in climates where the temperatures freeze...
TTY,...
Ron
I'm so eager (encouraging for a 50+ man) I ran out and bought the seed for my Heavenly Blues, so looking forward to the dramatic effect.
I have a postage-stamp-sized backyard, but this community centre is thrilled to have me as a volunteer gardener, so I have gained a huge space to design and plant.
250 ft of Morning Glories will be quite a lovely addition to the chainlink.. a real softening touch.
Planting in public spaces here goes by the name Gorilla Gardening.. Insergents... moving in and taking over .. done late in the evening perhaps.... under the radar.. in true Gorilla fashon.. Some I accomplish by planting.. and sometimes pruning to a new form what one finds growing..I use both tactics.. Gordon
A friend lived next door to rowdy young renters. All that separated them was a short chain link fence, not all that long.
We bought several sheets of lattice and stood them vertically against the fence. Then we wired them to the fence. That was over 6 years ago. The "new" fence is covered by trumpet vines grown from seed. There is absolute privacy in the yard now.
I know you wouldn't want to do that for 250 feet because it would cost hundreds of dollars. But you could do it closest to your house and maybe put a lattice fence across your property so that no one could see your yard from the parking lot.
Gloria, I'm fortunate to have a 10 foot cedar hedge bordering my little garden. The parking lot is on the other side, so I am well-sheltered. I have a retaining wall as well. But your idea is great!
I live in a third-floor apartment that has a small balcony with a wooded view, but it also has a view of three other balconies, half a dozen air conditioning units, and a dog-walking area. On top of the noise and traffic that make enjoying the balcony difficult, the open end of the balcony faces southwest, and gets direct afternoon sunlight, which shines on a large glass sliding door, heating up the apartment.
Last summer, I tried a little experiment with morning glories, and it worked out really well. Using just a few windowbox-type planters and some twine, I managed to grow a green screening wall along that entire side of my balcony, which not only shielded me from seeing and hearing the noise and traffic of my rowdy neighbors, but it also provided shade from the afternoon sun, and lowered my cooling bill, too.
That was my first experience with growing morning glories (or plants of any kind, really). I learned a lot, and have some ideas for this year, once it warms up a bit.
(The photo is taken from a position seated in my chair on the balcony. The thickest part of the foliage grew in just the right place to provide screening where it mattered most.)
Nice little garden areas everyone! Including the balcony garden that you have Seamus!
Gordon, I love your idea of Gorilla landscaping. Across the road from my front yard, there are two giant trees on the highway right of way. They are located in front of a large pasture with a mountian directly behind that. What I want to do is to get two "tree eating" climbers, maybe Lady Bankseia and Mermaid, and plant them so that when I look out, they will appear to be on my property. The people driving by could enjoy them too: maybe not this year, but probably the next. Also, on the steep ditch on the highway right of way, I may plant dogwoods and redbuds which will not threaten the road with falling across it in a storm. Right now the ditch is a tangle of overgrown briars and poke weeds, etc. At the very top on my land are three or four very old boxwoods struggling for their lives in that mess.
Ron, thanks as always, she mentioned heavenly blue....so i had them in mind, and here they did reseed like wild.
Again thanks. Little variances (zonal or otherwise) can make a big difference!
....and Seamus, thats what I did! I could hardly touch my doorknob in the afternoon sun, but with the screen of morning glories shading my door, and part of my wall it made life well, "GLORY-us, sorry, had to go there~
:D fernman aka :Darren
Darren/fernman23 - The reason that Ipomoea tricolor most usually will not successfully resow in climates where the Autumnal,Winter and/or early Spring freezes is that Ipomoea tricolor seeds have not adapted to cold wet zones...the seeds readily swell when the seeds are exposed to water and if the temperatures freeze while the embryos are swollen they turn into dead mush...
There could be areas that freeze and remain dry enough until the weather is warm enough to allow the hydrated seeds to continue to survive and it's interesting as per your report that Las Vegas represents one of these exceptional zones...
Thanks for your contribution as per the Ipomoea tricolor zone friendly reference...
TTY,...
Ron
My English teacher history forces me to note the correct spelling of 'guerrilla gardening'. It's an expression related to the French word 'guerre', which means war, and guerrilla gardening is a peaceful form of warfare against neglect and ugliness in our environment.
The expression has nothing to do with gorillas, apologies all round to Jane Goodall.
(edited to add the surname)
This message was edited Mar 10, 2008 12:09 PM
What if we're covertly planting banana trees?
Edit: Call it the Simian Liberation Army. Ook-ook!
This message was edited Mar 10, 2008 12:00 PM
Seamus... oh great... the return of the SLA... I'd love to see bananas everywhere..
Sorry about my spellings.. useage.. colateral inference...
my desire is to spread the concept.. of global makeover.. bringing influence to places not particularly deeded to one.. I'm glad the point wasn't lost
for historical note
Andy:::>guerrilla ( edited to include: not to look too closely at a teachers reality but if one does ones own thinking or research..you'd find: )
1809, from Sp. guerrilla "body of skirmishers, skirmishing warfare," lit. "little war," dim. of guerra "war," from a Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. werra "strife, conflict, war;" see war). Acquired by Eng. during the Peninsular War (1808-1814), purists failed in their attempt to ..keep this word from taking on the sense propertly belonging to guerrillero "guerrilla fighter."
SO.. insurgents...take that ageing seed try ...outside for a walk.. lets work this placeover to our new design
Gordon
This message was edited Mar 10, 2008 1:43 PM
Gerris, thanks for bringing the two terms together hilariously! Of course we all commit to the peace of our relationships with plants and the soil, rain and sun, and my ever-cheerful puppydog in the photo at the head of this thread. She's almost 9, and the light of my life. --A
Ron-Con, I am so hoping you are right! Last yr was my first growing H. Blue and I adored it. But several people have warned me I'd be overrun this year. We do get lots of freezing weather though so I'm safe! I am starting H.Blue and Star of Yelta this year in my basement light table.
I like that one!
There's a large concrete wall at work that currently has a handful of ratty thorn-vines trying to force their way out from in between the slot-together modules that make it up. It's got southern exposure, and would probably look a lot better with a bunch of morning glories climbing up some twine. Hrm. I've got lots and lots of seeds left over from last summer.....
