gypsywannabe

The Hibiscus at Christ the King blooms in the winter as well. it was a welcome surprise when I used to go there.

Hey, Lavender,

As you know I'm 100 miles southwest of you and the rhodos, azalea and clematis are all blooming here!

Is there a different type that blooms in the fall or what?

It reminds me of a lipstick plant. Are they related? It's really cool.

Our neighbor on the eastside had millions of Moonflowers this year and down here they seem to be great blolomers this year. My neighbor here is starting some new plants for me for next year. He separates them and stakes them so he can find them early.

The seed pods are so cool. I like to put them in my fall decorations as I've never had a plant grow from them.

Most people say to trim them into a fan about 6 inches long. I've never done that, but it does make the garden look neater.

Just remember that they are NOT to be planted deep, that the roots (can't remember the proper name) should look like worms crawling along just under the surface, and that they don't like clay.

Ah, my garden is here and NOW this feels like home.... Even though everything is shell-shocked and a wreck: it's here and that's all that matters.

On a side note:

Aren't the mums gorgeous this year? It's all I can do not to spend every check at Lowe's, Giant Eagle and the local nursery.

Around here they are perennial so next year I will definitely invest in some of those beautiful gold, rust and purple ones.

I transplanted one from my neighbor who moved. I took it in early May, made sure it had plenty of water and cut the height in half. It did wonderfully.

I think the trick is to reduce the plant's size so it doesn't have so much to support. Anything can be transplanted just about anytime if you do that and keep it watered.

I did kind of wonder about the drainage thing. It is what kills most of the stuff that doesn't make it for me. We have the very heavy clay soil and there are places that when you get about a foot down you could make pots out of it.

Plant labels that say "moist, well drained soil" always make me laugh. I bought a bog rosemary recently that had that on it. So how is a bog "well drained"? I looked it up. The theory is is that the soil in a bog floats on top of the water and therefore is loose and aerated. Maybe the same is true for the weeping willow which supposedly thrives near or almost in water.

I think you hit the most logical explanation, gypsy.

PS Do you still have a garden after your move?

iT'S AWFUL HERE.

I'm so unhappy. I got hooked up with the local Bradford Woods Conservancy and they were thrilled to get all the boxwoods and almost completely burned hostas (from being planted against a house in FULL SUN), brown eyes susans, coral bells, blue fescue and lamb's ears for their perennial sale fund raiser today. They also helped me clean out 10 yerars of junk in the back and tons of candy tuft. But the front of the house where the best sun is is just a mess. Someone put in heavy black plastic, 2 layers of HUGE river rock and then over the years other owners have covered that with small river rock and black mulch. Digging is almost impossible and the ground is so far above grade that the mulch is 6 inches above the bottom of the siding. I have so many perennials in DuBois waiting to come down here but planting is going to have to be delayed until I can get the landscaper for the condo assoc. in here to fix the grade to go down from the condo and not toward the condo foundation. I dug yesterday with them getting the perennials out and it felt so good to get back into the soil. But I'm very discouraged and very very depressed about the current state of this place. They pay a small fortune to a landscaping service that must employ idiots.

I knew I had it great in DUBois. The soil on the eastside is dreamy! But I never imagined anything could be this bad. I'm sure if I ask the conservancy people, now that they have invited me to be a member, they would dig those rocks out for me but I still can't plant anything until the grade is fixed and from what I understand from the neighbors, they won't do anything unless you just about take them to court.

And now that PSU football season and Steeler season is in full swing I can't count on my kids either.

SO, it's going to be a challenge.

Back to the willows, it's strange that they like a lot of water but can't live in clay, huh?

I know from experience weeping willows need light, sandy soil and a LOT of water. That's why they grow so well on Long Island. There's no clay there and you can put a twig into sand and it will grow.

One thing they cannot live through is the dreaded red mite that they get. That's a death sentance. If you look closely to the bottom of the leaves and see almost micrscopic red mites, that's your culprit.

The problem with growing them beautifully here is the clay in the soil. This area is rife with it.

My grandpa could taste the soil and tell me what I needed to add to it to grow better veggies

 

I'm not so good with trees but I have a little book put out by the Forestry Dept. with native trees in it. I think you are right that it is a cucumber magnolia. Go out and taste the twigs. If they smell and taste peppery that is what it is for sure.

I thought I was the only one who did that!

Looks like sassafras to me

I noticed a decline over the last few years in butterflies and I haven't seen much of anything but the Japanese beetles, which seem to be in abundance!

I had some HUGE dark red hibiscus that I tried everywhere in my yard that was protected from extreme weather conditions to protect it. FINALLY I figured, heck, I'll put it in the front of the house and if it blooms and them dies after only one year: so be it. At least I will have seen the darn thing bloom. Well, that stupid thing LOVED the front of the house even tho there was NO protection from the wind or harsh weather. Go figure!

COOL! I have copied this to my desktop and will use it next time.

Right now I have nothing for them to eat!

Never tried ice. Maybe that would work better.

Most pain from action of some kind, is an inflamation in the muscles and joints. Heat will feel good for a while but won't help solve the problem.

I find that icing my joints and back after a hot shower, makes me feel almost new.

If we were from the town I lived in previously, I would say we were related because they were all inbreeders there....

I can play in the garden all day long...I just ice down at night, have a drink and the next day I'm raring to go again....

I feel bad for your back pain. As almost all the nerves and muscles run through the back, if you have a bad back, it's HORRIBLE!

A town named Eden?

Belive me: Du Bois is EDEN compared to the last place I lived....

Having come from a home where NOTHING grew, I moved to EDEN a few years back where EVERYTHING grew.

So, my dormant seed growers soul decided it was time to try the ultimate in gardening challenges: to grow things from seeds.

I planted all varieties of sun flowers (there are a LOT OF THEM!), zinnias, cleome, moonflower,allysum (sp),: you name it, I planted it.

EVERYTHING CAME UP AND WAS THRIVING: A MIRACLE WAS OCCURRING IN MY YARD.

THEN, the Japanese beetles arrived, eating everything down to the skeletons: the rose of sharon was doing well but was also very badly eaten. I got some Sevin, hubby mixed it and I sprayed it:

everything is NOW DEAD!

It's like living in gardening hell again..... alas, my yard looks like the blight hit it.

Now, I'd like to hear a collective "ahhhhhh" and everyone feel sorry for me now... :'(

B.U.D.S.....email or PM petee

Looks like what my father used to call Indian Paint Brush.

lavender?

I've never gotten one to winter over. And at $1.50-3.00 per, it's just as easy to choose one that has lots of buds on it and get 4-6 weeks of flowers in the fall and let it go.

Fox glove lasts forever but usually only BLOOMS every other year.