It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!
So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?
What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?
Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)
Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?
Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?
What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?
Grow morning glories and twine them all around the bark. They choke the tree and prevent it from getting air. Or strip the bark and grow the MGs then, winding them around the bark.
Stump killing is necessary too. I usually dig out around the stumps, strip the bark, and again, use morning glories to kill the rest.
I discovered that MGs do double duty as beautiful flowers as well as junk tree eradicators. And what could be lovelier than those pretty little flowers?
I don't hate the big trees though, the grow fast, make good shade and the leaves are small enough that raking isn't always necessary. Don't get me started on Norway Maples though....
Today (and every year) I pulled out my handy-dandy saw and cut out a huge pile of Boxelder saplings that keep invading my mom's lilacs. They just love to come right up through the center of the clump of lilacs, where they're hard to reach to cut down. Thought I'd gotten them all, then came back inside and looked out the window - nope - there are at least 2 more in the center of the lilacs, and about 8-10' tall. The trunks on those suckers are about 2" in diameter. Also cut one out of the flower bed that keeps coming back every year - the roots to that one go under the garage, so I can't yank them out. Then I trimmed the new sprouts that were coming out of the sides of the big Boxelder trees themselves.
I'd get rid of the big trees, but after the great pine tree purge of 2014, they're the only large shade trees left on that side of the yard.
I've got to get some herbicide that I can paint on the cut ends of the brush I've cut to get it to stop growing back. Most of them are in locations that I can't get to in order to dig out the roots, and I don't want to kill the surrounding plant life.
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"Snowball Under Siege"
Q - My beloved viburnum (V. opulus 'Roseum') is being eaten alive by a colony of nasty little caterpillars. They seem to be destroying the whole bush. Will the little blighters spread to neighbouring plants/shrubs? What is the best course of action and can the bush be saved, even if I cut it down? - Lyn Main, Dorking, via e-mail.
A - This is the work of the larvae of the viburnum beetle, a nasty pest with a highly complicated life cycle the understanding of which is necessary before you enter into a vigorous battle with it.
Viburnum opulus 'Roseum' (also known as the snowball tree) is unfortunately one of the most susceptible of all the viburnums (along with V. tinus), but there are some varieties that are less so. The beetle is specific and certainly won't spread to other shrubs.
(Might I refer you to an excellent in-depth article from these pages, 'How to win the battle against the viburnum beetle,' by Ken Thompson, to be found online? Although alas, I fear it will depress you.)
In your situation I would be tempted to cut the shrub down - now, before the next generation of beetles has hatched out - to make it start again. Spray the new foliage with a systemic insecticide at the end of the summer and early next spring (when the buds burst). You will not get many flowers next year, but you may just interfere with that endless life cycle.
If the same thing happens again in the future, you have little choice, in my view: dig it up and plant something in its place that is easier.
Gardening is not supposed to be an endless heartbreaking battle with the forces of nature.
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I especially need to note her last sentence!
CW, has anyone said "nematodes" to you?
They don't have the fragrance I remember though...wondering if that's something that will come in time, due to the trauma of not being allowed to grow properly for so many years.
Agapanthus, also known as Lily of the Nile and African Lily, grows from a fleshy root system. ... When all its needs are met, Agapanthus can blooms for months. As the blooms begin to fade, cut the flower stem back as close to the soil as possible. Allowing the flower to set seed reduces blooming.
Funny - I was just talking to a neighbor about the peonies today, and he offered me a huge pink peony bush that he's planning to rip out. I'll have to see if I can find space for it.
Mom had 2 beautiful peony bushes in the yard for as long as I can remember. They would open up in huge, fragrant blooms every summer. I remember her bringing cut flowers in and turning them upside down in a dish of water with a little dish soap in it to kill the ants that might be hiding in the flowers before putting them in a vase of water to enjoy.
Once Mom & Dad got up in years and unable to maintain the yard, they hired the work out. The guy they hired was a member of their church, who gave them a good price on the work, so they had him do it for years. Trust me, he wasn't a pro at it. Mom asked him to trim a lilac tree - he took a chainsaw to it and killed it. She told him to watch out for the peony plants without telling him where they were. He ran them over - repeatedly - every week for years when he mowed. Same with the patch of rhubarb plants that Dad had tended so carefully for decades.
Fast forward to 2013, when I moved in to care for Mom. I kept the same yard guy for as long as Mom lived, out of respect for their wishes. Once Mom passed away, I hired someone else - someone who would actually listen to what I wanted done and do it that way. Last year, Mom's peonies came back and grew to about 1/2 the height they normally would, but no blooms. This year, they are full height and loaded down with huge buds that are just about ready to burst open in all their former glory. The rhubarb is also slowly coming back, now that it's not being mowed down every single week. It's taking longer to come back, but I suspect in a few years, it will be back....if I'm still here. If I move, I will have to do some serious transplanting.
Mom had a gorgeous flowerbed that is now overgrown with grass and weeds. One end is literally choked with thick grass and nothing else. That's next on the list.
But once a year, that topsoil potting mix has helped keep plants looking good. The bouganvillia dirt was replaced a year ago, after Sharyn gave the same directions, which worked! So, I am putting two bags of dirt back into the budget, and buying it without him there. Today, he splurged at the tool store ( his splurge is minor), using a coupon. He deserves it.
Cwillie, your plant will appreciate it!
A farmer is someone who is outstanding in their field!
You can do this!
Is it even possible to get ahead of these things or should I just tear the shrub out and be done with it?
Purchase plastic baskets similar to a handle held shopping basket with open square spaces for air. You see these in craft stores or elsewhere. Water the bulbs well the day before removing from the soil. Cut the tops of the plants leaving about 3-4 inches of green leaves. Carefully dig up the rhizomes. Rinse well with water and lay single layer in the container. You can cover the rhizomes with moist soil, straw, or paper. Check on them periodically over the winter to make sure they are not getting too dry or are too moist. If dry, rinse them in water again.
I provide this info now since I am taking my iris rhizomes with me when I move to Idaho the end of June. It is a bit early to be removing them now, but I don't want to leave them here, lol!!
There was a really dead flower pot that I have been wanting to have thrown out for over a year. Today hubs sat it on the porch so I would see the new bloomed pink flower! See, he really can be kind.
Saw another pink garden snake in the road-this one was not going to make it across. What is with all the pink snakes, never seen before this spring?
Feeling better, even though the pain at 8 is constant, there is improvement.....and hope.
Seems like you can take many cuttings from a bush and try to get them to root. If you take many, then you're likely to get a couple that will root successfully. I think I'll do this with the remaining massive red rose bush here. It's at least 30-40 years old and I keep it well pruned for past few years. It's about to explode in first-spring bloom again. I'll take a picture and post. I kill most things, but this rose bush is doing very well.