Stupid Gardener Tricks

Sagos can take frost they just get burnt leaves. That's why I don't like them but they won't die from frost and they don't seem to need any care. Little bit of pruning and that's it.

Corey's right, prune those fronds off and the little guy will right it self by next summer. BTW, I know of folks as far north as Asheville that grow sagos in their garden, in the ground. There are also those that preach you should remove all the fronds every year, frozen or not, because they will put out greater numbers of new fronds. I am not sure if that really works or not.

They look unnatural that way. The fronds will always be pointing up. The entrance to palmetto Dunes has them trimmed up like that.

I only have one that holds it's fronds like that, it must be a different variety. All my others spread out and look normal right away.

woah how did i miss this thread???
my sago gets no protection and never has gotten any burn from frost. if it were up to me, i'd replace all the sagos with coonties... i like them better because they arent prickly and i like their looks better

could you post a link to a pic of a "coontie"? I do not know that plant.

it is a cycad; zamia integrifolia
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=4610943
i just moved it. it was sulking because it got too wet during fay.... sitting in 4'' of water, plus the soil it was in was swamp mud-like. it is now under a pine tree with well draining sandy soil. it is native to sandy pinelands in Florida, so i decided to put it in a place that would remind it of home

Thanks for the pic and info

youre welcome

Stupidest garden trick of all - having too many containers to pick up when a storm is approaching.

I'm so there, Ardesia. ;->

yes especially for us tropical lovers

I've just found this forum, and upon seeing this thread, I cannot resist. for my own oops - the biggest is probably planting more irises than i can possibly weed.

But I moved into a home that had had only men owners, and almost all male residents since being built. And i'd love to show some folks what happens......


30 years ago, someone decided to plant a marvelous camellia, with NC State red and white colors. Go Wolfpack - - - and so will my foundation eventually.....this is less than 2 feet from my foundation....

Photo title - "I never remember to take a photo at Christmas when it's in bloom!"

LOL, Bonjon, I think some folks don't realize that there are camellias that grow into trees! 'tis a tad near to the house. :)
Deb

it is almost under the overhang of this split foyer style home! Don't get me started on the scraggly holly tree planted just as close right up against the front door - I've chopped it down three times, its bigger than ever.

Not completely sure of this, but I think the birds that nest in the camellia - cardinals - may have pecked into the side of the house to build nest - but I can't SEE in there, this camellia is evergreen. It sure sounds like it in the spring. We hear peeps in the living room (that's the upper window).

Can't show photos of this because I've fixed it. Lots of hostas were planted out front, full sun -they were tiny and come summer looked terrible. Six roses were planted in shade. The only rose planted in the sun had termites or something. The roses were mere tiny twigs - with my care, now robust. the English and climber styles were beside the walkway to back yard. They attacked DH every day until moved.

and the biggest mess - someone got the bright idea to lay down plastic, even directly under the trees within their dripline, and put, - well, they would have had to put some dirt, right? not much, hardly any, and mostly pure red clay left behind now. Then they seeded grass. at first glance it looked kinda nice. Have it on good authority from a neighbor that it was done a couple years before we moved in and before that it was a "natural area" with a heavy fallen leaf/fallen pine straw base. The front yard is deep, heavily shaded by very old oaks and some large other trees. the little trees were not removed even after a storm broke their tops out, every single one. Many ground level stumps in various stages of decomp. such a lawn would have been extremely work intensive, something grass allergic little old me ain't gonna do. took one season for it to die, but not before it had messed up DH's mower - four repairs and two broken blades. The job of pulling out that cracked up and broken-by-the-trees'-"knees" plastic is a heavy one that has caused me one back injury already. It was even under the big azaleas, on their roots.

Bonjon, Sounds like you enough work to keep you busy forever!

Camellias are amazingly hardy here in NC. We had some mature ones when we bought our house in '96 and they were very overgrown. We literally sawed them almost to ground level and they bounced right back.

One stupid thing that I've done is quite evident now. I got several Spider lily bulbs in a trade one winter. Having never grown them before I decided to scatter them in different places to increase my chances of having at least a few to survive. At least 2 were planted at the base of a Wax Myrtle which has grown quite a bit since then.

Sorry it's out of focus but it's hard to take a picture with one hand while holding the branches back with the other.

A Wax Myrtle that grows fast??? Who would have thunk??

Bonjon: I hear ya about the Holly. Either the builder or the previous owner of our home put 3 of them right up against the foundation of the house, and one right by the front steps. I keep hacking them back. Tried to take out the one by the steps but gave up so there's now a big Holly stump there that just keeps putting out shoots. Beats getting scratched everytime I walk past, though.:)

You must feel about Holly the way I feel about CACTUS! One of the houses we lived in had cactus under the bedroom windows... great huh?

Some people do that on purpose to keep people away from the windows. I saw one paraniod guy who had every window in his house planted with simply nasty plants.

I know personally I don't like people hanging out across the pond from me. It's a 50 buffer and then a road after the road a golf course so people really have no reason to be there. I was over there one day getting rid of some vines and the police stopped to talk to me so i have know idea what that strip of land is being used for but probably something not so good. Lot of teenagers BTW . My solution, some nasty large bamboo. Some Yuuca going in there and a few other goodies should keep people out without making an eyesore.

Yes, I just hate dealing with nasty plants NEAR my home! I certainly understand the desire for privacy.

security folks highly recommend that practice, with sharp or nasty plants for protection. Unfortunately, everything here in NC eventually MUST be WEEDED. and no thank you to that!

My biggest blunder has always been buying more than I can care for.

I have a couple of Yucca and i wear safety glasses to weed around them. LOL. They're in a wild area so no one walks by them but once in a while a big weed grows right around it. I also need to trim them a bit each year for looks.

Bonjon: I have a similar issue. I overplant to fill in a bare spot; and end up with a jumbled, jungle. Planning - not my strong point in the garden.
Deb

yeah planning isnt my strength either. my yard has gon from organized landscape to hodge-podge in less than two years

well, stupid gardening tricks= I once sold - had NO idea what this plant was worth, and I've forgotten the name of it - some sort of palm thing that was given to me by my mom at one of my garage sales. Two days later I saw one the same size at a local nursery - the darn thing had a $175 price tag on it!!!!

I still laugh, because I still loved selling it at any price- everyone in our family had gotten injured on that darn thing, it was so sharp. They started calling it the nasty monster plant. who would pay for a HOUSEPLANT that HURTS????

Somebody with more money than sense?

no - we could have used the $$. But that's how much we all HATED that plant

LOL, no bonjon, I meant someone would pay $175 for a houseplant that hurts if they had more money than sense! (I didn't mean to imply YOU had too much money & no sense because you sold that wicked thing!)

I would have sold it.

Another stupid gardener trick: when I first bought this property 20 yrs ago it was all woods-from road to river. It had an overhead electrical line with relatively clear space under it about 100' wide bisecting it that allowed enough sun to be useful as a veggie garden. But it was in a swale with poor drainage, so while the contractors built the house, I built the garden. Raised it 2' above ground level with RR ties, fenced it, filled it with "nutrient free' sandy loam (but great drainage), and proceeded to "amend" that sandy loam with compost. I had noticed the previous year that folk in the "developed communities" hated even one leaf on their meticulous lawns, and would carefully rake them, bag them, and put them out to the curb for pick-up by the county. Since I'm more organic by nature than not, I thought to myself "hey, what a gold mine"...all I have to do is beat the county collectors to the bounty, run it through my shredder/grinder, till the results into my future garden, and I'd have wonderful soil in a few years.
It worked great for the first two years. Soil was turning a shade of black, nice and frothy, drainage appeared great, so all was looking good. What I didn't realize at the time was that the more civilized yuppies in these communities raked everything into those bags that they put out to the curb. I got some invasive form of Alocasia in one of those bags, chopped it into a million small pieces, and spread it throughout the entire garden. I noticed them going into the shredder but thought they were just harmless Calladiums, a tropical that wouldn't survive the winter (that's where the "stupid" part starts), so I just chopped them up into a jillion small pieces and tilled them into my future vegetable garden site. Still trying to get rid of them 17 years later...

ooooh.....

OMG, that is the funniest one yet. Funny thing is that as bad as the colocasias are, I can't get the alocasias to reliably return at all. They are fine for a year or two then get smaller and smaller.

Doesn't surprise me those were in the bags with the leaves. That's where I would have put them.

Shredding them up and putting all over your bed is "priceless".

Ya, I need to remind myself, I am not picking up "leaves" I am picking up GARBAGE! I picked up SEVERAL bags and took them directly to my compost pile. Later, I found "something" nasty in the trunk of my car. It was "ooze" of some sort that had come from one of the bags. It was DISGUSTING and foul smelling!!!

Sure enough, I went to the compost pile and there was something so foul and rotted that I never did know what it started as. I was at LEAST trying to compost everything before I spread it over my garden!

ouch - yeah, local homeowners will put dead animals in the bags at the curb- probably what you had.

this noreaster is sending my sinuses into the hammerhead pounding zone.

more stupidity. someone please tell me again why i keep buying more irises? Iwas out of room - I've bought 200 more! and I have mostly shade - I need this many hostas.

Addictions make NO sense, don't try to understand it.

If you get some iris you need to thin out... I have room!

psych - check with Sandhills Nursery - roses and irises over near....duh Sandhills ID. Chadwick died, he's the known iris hybridizer. his daughter Kathy White is running it now. she had great prices, and you can go see them in bloom and pick out some you like. Located just a few minutes from the Interstate.

Tell her Bonita sent you, I'm the lady that took so many photos and then couldn't figure out which was which last year. I was trying to help her confirm a few questionably IDs after her dad died.