Forty + Liatris aspera die suddenly in sand site
plez
16 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (7)
laceyvail 6A, WV
16 years agocarol23_gw
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Need an overall 'natives' strategy (Michigan)
Comments (9)MaryLiz: Sounds like an exciting project - you sound like you have a lot of great information already, and a plan of action. Here are some thoughts and suggestions based on my limited experience on a very small plot in eastern Mass. (1) I used John Diekelmann's Natural Landscaping: Designing with Native Plant Communities as my guide. Although some of it was over my head, I found dozens of useful points, plus lists of plants in the back, categorized by type of community (oak-hickory forest, mesic grassland, savanna, etc.). But I also took the advice of the book (and folks at GardenWeb) and learned about the native plants that actually live in my area now. I did this by using field guides and by exploring natural areas (state parks, etc.) to identify what was living in sites similar to mine. (2) As for your book's philosophy that non-invasive aliens are 'bad' too, I feel like that's a matter of semantics. The irises in my front yard non-native garden aren't actively 'bad' for the environment, but they don't do much good either (although you'd be surprised how many native insects and birds enjoy feasting on non-native plants). But for me the more important question is, what plants and animals have evolved together over thousands of years to form a community? These species have slowly pieced together a multi-faceted mosaic with countless connections and interrelationships. There are no places in the mosaic to fit non-native plants and animals - they fit into other mosaics, other communities, where they have evolved, usually far away from here. So one way of native plant gardening (and it is only one of many ways - your way is another) is to plant only those species that are part of the community that you've identified as native to your area and your site conditions. Then, the frustrating part is finding places that sell the plants you identified. (3) As for 'select aliens', I would ask around in the various GardenWeb forums covering your desired landscape type. Woodlands and Meadows & Prairies are two good ones. Folks there will probably steer you to natives, but you'll probably be able to get some advice about aliens/exotics that will behave themselves in among the natives. I've never heard of an invasive hosta, for example (watch someone prove me wrong!). Best of luck, wd...See MoreWhat is Blooming in Your Garden - May 2011 - a Photo Thread
Comments (79)I will start an "Early June" thread some time tomorrow. The irises in my garden are just opening. Irises are my favorite flower. I just have a small bed the width of my garage. We're planning to tear the garage down next Spring and build a bigger and better garage - which is probably my excuse to get a bigger and better iris bed! Clematis Miss Bateman in full bloom. I forgot to prune the clematis this spring. This is just a 2 year old plant! Behind the clematis is my daughters art gallery, aka our porch. My 3 year old peonie, flanked by a siberian iris and a japanese iris. I have been waiting 3 years for this peonie to bloom. I only plant white flowers in front of the house, and I am sick sick sick to see a pink bud on it. My only consolation is that I will have a beeautiful pink peonie in a bud vase on my kitchen table real soon. And this peonie will be getting the shovel. Lastly - any idea what this is? I seem to have stumped the people on the Name That Plant forum. I bought these at Weston Nurseries as tulip bulbs....See MoreWhat's Blooming/Happening in your Garden?
Comments (31)Dee, great photo! I'm exhausted. Not as exhausted as poor George, probably, but I was in the garden all weekend and every night this week after work. We finally have the front beds pretty well planted and mulched (just a few things left to be moved when I have more time). There is a still a pile of mulch in the driveway waiting to be spread out back and lots of weeds to be tackled back there. I also remembered to sow my cosmo, foxglove and cerinthe seeds. The great development for me this week was that my son has taken an interest in the yard. He has always hated the time I spend in the garden (not that he wants my attention when I'm in the house, lol). This year I bought him a reel lawn mower, which he seems to love, and an electric weedwhacker, which he loves more. Tonight he helped me by loading the wheelbarrow and delivering the mulch, and was actually asking about some of the plants and voicing his preferences (so far, alliums are a big hit, mainly because not much else is flowering). Dirty fingernails here as well - - and telltale dirt on my heels when I get in to work in the morning! Moving on, here's what is flowering this week: Allium purple sensation - - full bloom Fothergilla Mt. Airy - - beginning to fade Cercis canadensis 'Covey' - - really fading creeping phloxes - - full bloom conifers are shooting new growth Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate' - - blooming on a very short stalk bleeding heart - - full bloom Salvia 'May Night' - - beginning to bloom Roseshell azalea 'Marie Hoffman' - - just starting to open Showing buds: dianthus peonies (lots - - and they were moved last year!) lady's mantle celadine poppy Still in process of leafing out: Hydrangeas weigela clethra cercis canadensis 'covey' fothergilla...See MoreNative Grass Gardens
Comments (18)Tom, that's really interesting about the relationship between the horned toads and red ants. We had giant red ants, nearly as big as carpenter ants, down around San Bernardino when I was a kid, and we also had horned toads. I don't think I've ever seen any since then. Janet, I think I'm going to have to be very careful with the grasses, now that you've said that some can be quite invasive. Naturally I knew that, but I had hoped the ones that we see in use as ornamentals would tend to be more well-behaved. I've got 6 acres of cleared pasture, but I don't think I'd call it prairie, since we're pretty well surrounded by oak trees everyplace else. I've also got a border of cedars that runs all the way around the property. The original owner put them there. I hate the things because of the way they tend to harbor ticks and they are such a fire hazard. My big flower border where I'd like to use some ornamental grasses for interest, runs across the front of the house section of the property, but it's on the far side of a humongous cement parking area that's about 40' x 130'. It's nearly the size of a city lot! If the bed on the far side was just a little strip, it wouldn't be so bad. It's not. When I ordered weed cloth, I had to measure it to get an idea of the size. It's 24' x 80' and was full of stuff like crabgrass, burr clover, stick-tights and poison oak; a big weed patch that had to be mowed all the time. After the first year, I couldn't stand to look at it any longer. The soil in the bed seems to be pretty good, as I've said before, but it isn't what you could call a 'yard' with all that concrete between it and the house. I began a weed control program and started putting in some of the larger foundation plants; a couple of maple trees, 3 crape myrtles, a Rose of Sharon and so on. The maples may eventually hang out over the parking lot, but it's so big that I can't see that it will be a problem. The soil in the bed seems to be pretty good, and looks to be a pretty neutral ph, but as I've said before, but it isn't what you could call a 'yard' with all that concrete between it and the house. Weeds are still my biggest problem, and most of them are a grass of one sort or another. The crabgrass/devilgrass is a nightmare. I'm going to try using the industrial-grade weed cloth that DeWitt sent to replace the stuff that failed, but the last thing I need is something that tends to be invasive, or that will let native weeds grow up through it. Somehow I managed to bring in a start of vinca major, and it's a disaster. Now it's another big bunch of tall grass with vinca leaves poking through it. I need to rip it all out. Are there any of the native grasses that are both non-invasive and also dense enough to pretty well choke out anything that tries to grow through them? I see them a lot in Shawnee and Tecumseh, but they are in planters with little else around them, so it's hard to tell what they would do in a garden like this, that tends to have a rampant grass population in spite of everything I can do to stop it. Oh, and I think you're the one who directed me to that silt test at Fine Gardening? Or was it Tom? I've forgotten. Anyway, thank you. I quit taking the mag a long time ago, so I hadn't seen it. It's a really good article, and I'm going to try it. The question seems to have already been answered. I won't be digging up any trailer-loads of the silty stuff in the chicken pens and putting it in the garden. I'll just stick to adding manure to the compost heap. I do have a neighbor who raises chicks and who sometimes brings the cedar bedding from the pens, so I add that also and let it compost down. It should not be any problem, should it? The bedding I add in from our sheep pens is generally oat straw or native grass hay and manure. I haven't worried about it too much and it does not seem to be seeding. I hope I'm not creating a monster by using it and will get a big surprise later on. Sorry I wandered around so far away from the original topic of garden grasses. It's hard to draw the line between controlling weed grasses and putting in the good ornamental ones and keep the thread separate. Pat ps: Janet, I absolutely love your photo of the wildflower up against the blue wall. It is so good, and has such a southwest feel about it. Have you ever thought of entering it in photo competition? Seriously. It's good....See Moredragonfly_dance
16 years agobilleeeveee
7 years agowisconsitom
7 years agoZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
7 years ago
Related Stories
TILEPorcelain vs. Ceramic Tile: A Five-Scenario Showdown
Explore where and why one of these popular tile choices makes more sense than the other
Full StoryGARDENING FOR BUTTERFLIESBe a Butterfly Savior — Garden for the Monarchs
Keep hope, beauty and kindness alive in the landscape by providing a refuge for these threatened enchanters
Full Story
tuben