The Gardening Thread

[Tanager]

This will doubtless be a relatively unvisited thread, but I know there are at least a *couple* of other peeps out there who like to garden.

On the home front, lots of buds swelling:

Florida Flame Azalea (R. austrinum)
Flowering Dogwood (C. florida)
Red Buckeye (A. pavia)
Flowering Crabapple (Malus cv )

I just planted two more trees, one a Baldcypress (T. distichium) to replace a dead Loblolly Pine (transplanted, didn't survive losing the root mass, unfortunately), the other an Arizona Cypress (C. glabra, sometimes C. arizonica, I think). Negotiating with the wife on one more, she wants a saucer Magnolia (M. x soulangiana), I want a Cucumbertree (M...I forget). She's going to win.

Also planning a new bed of antique roses in front as part of my drive to eliminate more lawn, will probably front the roses with a mixture of oriential lilies and...something else, not sure what, just yet.

Getting ready to transplant a *mess* of Swamp Sunflower (H. angustifolia) out of a bed into a "wetlands" area of our yard, along with three Switchgrass plants (P. virgatum). I'll replace them most likely with something else which flowers in fall, probably some Aster spp. Into the "wetland" I'll probably try and sneak a Pondcypress (T. ascendens, I think), maybe another Sweetbay (M. virginiana).

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Hey, I'm not the gardener in my family but I appreciate all the hard work that goes into helping give rise to such beauty.............

[MRS]

Dropped 65 bulbs. . .Black & White Parrots beneath the Magnolia in front and some 40 more (some bulbs called 'Blue Magic') 'neath my conifer in back. It's difficult cultivating in a highly urbanized part of downtown!

[clinthopson]

Our roses, all 30 of them, are in full bloom. It's spectacular!

This w.e. is tomato planting time. A local nursery has what they call "Tomatomania" where they have about 200 varieties of tomatoes including a lot of heirlooms. My vegetable bed is ready for those babies.

I'll probably get about 14 plants of various kinds including three Super Marzanos which are the best paste tomatoes I've ever grown. Naturally I have some Brandywine which IMHO is the king of the heirlooms. It bears huge, incredibly flavorful tomatoes. I'll be picking tomatoes by June.

I'll also plant a couple of jalapenos and one serrano. I leave the fruit on the plant until it turns red, it has much better flavor that when it's green.

My Choggia beets are rearing their sprouts above the ground. I planted them from seed two weeks ago.

[Douglas]

As you know from the previous thread I'm only a newbie to this. But, I am getting an almost ridiculous amount of satisfaction watching the plants take and then grow.

First priority was herbs which are all doing nicely and already contributing to the kitchen. Now working on the more ornamental plants. A genista is stunning when caught in the early morning light. Still looking for oriental lilies that Tanager recommended. Do you have any latin names, as that may help me locate them more easily in France?

[Tanager]

Douglas, orientals are all from the genus Lilium - they are not really species lilies, as they are usually cultivated hybrids based (among others) on L. speciosum.

For some ideas of cultivar names you can look for, try:

http://www.lilybulb.com/index.html

This is B&D Lilies, which is the nursery from which I order my lily bulbs. You probably can't order from there in France (but I could be wrong), but it will give you a good idea of what might be available.

I will hunt around and see if I can dig up the name of a Lily supplier in Europe.

I would note that, if you are still planting in the fall, you can often grow Spring bulbs (e.g. Narcissus/daffodils, tulips, etc.) in containers, and you should have no trouble whatsoever finding those around Paris.

As you seem to have found out, herbs make great container plants - and they're obviously quite practical. I myself prefer ones with lots of fragrance when I'm growing them for ornamental purposes - lavender is almost classically French (in my mind, at least), rosemary also has a good scent, as do various sage cultivars and mints. The other good thing is that most of the herbs are pretty tough plants, and you don't have to be very experienced or knowledgeable to grow them and enjoy them.

[Tanager]

Douglas, clint's posting reminded me: many veggies/fruits are good candidates for container gardens - tomatoes will do nicely in a warm sunny spot, as will peppers and other things which grow on vines.

Tubers and other things which require harvesting the entire plant are probably not worth the trouble, since you can't grow enough of them to last very long, so I'd skip (unless you have a LOT of containers or just want to try them) things like carrots/potatoes/cabbage, etc.

[clinthopson]

I grow my herbs in my flower garden, they make very attractive plantings, especially rosemary, chives, thyme, sage and tarragon.

Marjoram and parsley get pretty big and have to be chopped back. I have a parley bush in my back yard which is 2' wide and 18" tall. It's starting to go to seed, so I'll let it reseed itself. It's flat leaf parley, the curly stuff isn't worth the bother. I had one huge marjoram bush and finally decided to yank it out because I wasn't using the herb that much and it was taking up way too much space in my limited area.

I also have a 15' tall bay laurel which is a beautiful tree.

One of the best herbs to grow in a container is cilantro, it doesn't seem to go to seed as fast as it does in the ground.

I don't think I cook a meal where I don't use something from the garden

My wife and I have always loved gardening, especially when we lived in the tropical moisture in Florida. But we haven't done any since we moved because the place we're in right now, we're renting. But we should be in our new home by the middle of June. The people we're buying it from already have a lot of great gardens all around property, so we'll at least have a head start there. Plus, it will take us some time to get used to the different kind of soil here(it's basically just sand down in Florida)and the different kinds of plants that can grow here. Looking foward to putting in my first apple tree.

So, I think this is a very cool thread Tanager, hopefully I will have more to contribute to it in the future, and maybe even learn a few new tricks from those in the know.

First question: I've always loved having goldfish ponds in my garden and plan on putting another one in here(Missouri), can anyone out there tell me how deep I should dig it so that the fish don't die come winter? My ponds in Florida were always only a foot and a half to 2 feet deep, but someone told me that here, because of the fact that it will freeze over on the surface, it needs to be deeper, but they didn't know just how deep. Any thoughts?

[bluenoter]

Just saying hello here on the gardening thread and letting y'all know that I'll be following it.

I haven't had gardens for the past few seasons, but for years I had organic veggie gardens (with a few flowers, but no landscape features). For most of those years, I had a community garden plot about a mile from where I live.

Why I'm not gardening these days is a long story, but I miss it!

[Brian Olewnick]

Scott, as it so happens, we were over at a friend's on Saturday who has a goldfish pond in their backyard (this is Long Island, NY) where the first fish were re-emerging. He mentioned that the fish, which in his pond (about 12' in diameter) range from 3" to almost foot-long monsters, need about 8 inches of water beneath whatever ice forms on top.

Hmmmmmmmmm, thanks Brian. But i wonder how you figure out how much ice will form, or more appropriately how deep it will go. Is there a way to figure that? I was born and raised in Florida and lived there until last October, so I'm ultra unfamiliar with all this cold weather business. I'm really diggin it, but my only experience with ice before was to get some out of the freezer to keep my margharita cold.

Plus the only seasons you have in Florida is summer and spring, so I've got a boatload to learn.

[Brian Olewnick]

Hey, I didn't say it was easy! fwiw, their pond looked to be about 18" deep and, even with a fairly fierce and cold winter this year, their fishies survived.

[MRS]

Scott. . .if you're interested in taking a long drink of each extreme of each season, I can think of no better parallel to be situated than ours. Anywhere I travel for work. . .San Jose, NY, SF, DC:

Me: "St. Louis"

Hotel Bartender: "Jesus you guys get the HOT summers."

Tanager, or anyone else. . .I've only experimented with bulbs I get from White Flower Farms in Litchfield, CT. Is anything good to plant now in my climate? Thanks a bunch!

[Tanager]

Michael, if you are asking specifically about bulbs, you typically plant Summer-blooming Lilies either now or in the Fall. Lilies which are fairly tender (this will usually be mentioned in the cultivar description by a reputable seller) and require a long period to establish should be planted now, or they may not survive their first Winter.

If you are asking generally, now is a great time to plant perennials/herbs/warm-season veggies. Smaller container-grown tree and shrubs can be planted now, as well, but you'll need to keep an eye on them. Typically, trees and shrubs are best planted when dormant in late Fall or Winter.

So, in sum, yes, there are lots of things you can plant now. One of the best sources of advice for your local area are good local nurseries. Just skip the big garden centers and home improvement stores altogether - while they can be good for getting common plants on the cheap, they are pretty much useless for advice, despite the marketing claims to the contrary. Also, a locally-owned and operated nursery will usually (a) sell stock propogated from plants adapted to your local climate and (b) know what works in your area and what doesn't (like what grows in your soil, what's native around there, etc.).

For an example of why (a) is important, let me give you a recent example from my own experience. I recently purchased an Arizona Cypress (either C. arizonica or C. glabra, depending on which taxonomist you're using). Now, I live in NC, and the climate here is *very* humid, and the soils in this part of the state are pretty much tight, poorly-draining clays. Root-rot is a frequent concern around here. Arizona Cypress is from (guess where) Arizona and the SW, where the climate is dry, the soils are fairly sharply-draining and coarse-grained, etc. Does this matter? Of course it does - a plant that is not acclimated to our humidity and cruddy soil just won't survive without a LOT of care. But...the nursery people checked the cultivar and found it had been developed at Clemson University for use in the SE...so we (the nursery peep and I) decided it would be a good choice because of this.

The drones at Lowe's and HD will NOT know this kind of stuff...ever.

Brian, thank you, that sounds just right. I was planning on going about 20-24 in. this time around.

Michael, I can actualy beat that. When my wife and i came here to investigate the town before she accepted the job, everyone would always ask 'why would you want to move here from Florida'? Immediately after this they would follow it up with 'it's so hot here during the summer'. That one still gets my wife and i giggling when we think about it. They don't seem to understand that what passes for hot here is fairly mild in the sunshine state. I always tell them, if you think your four month summers are bad here, go down to Florida and live in 85+(though much higher during the middle of summer) degree temps with 90+% humidity for anywhere from 9 to 10 months out of the year, then come back and we'll talk.

I've really enjoyed it here, I got to see fall!! I always thought it was a myth! AND a white Christmas too? Nice! Looking foward to spring.

[Ron Thorne]

Tanager, thanks for re-starting this thread, which should receive year-round participation.

After watching our pussy willows pop out and swell, the snow and ice recede, grass beginning to green, and many of our perennials begin to poke out in our raised bed rock garden at the south end of our home, we got about 3" of fresh snow last night. Aarggh!

I'm monitoring our two prized rhododendrons (Finnish cultivars), anxiously awaiting their full wakeup and colorful eruption.

Here's a photo from last spring. This is a closeup, showing only one small portion of the shrub.

[blake]

Also planning a new bed of antique roses in front as part of my drive to eliminate more lawn

me too. though i went for miniatures. chose the "my valentine" variety. dark red, repeating blooms. less lawn to mow. yippee!

that rhododendron is gorgeous. just can't grow them here in texas.

[Tanager]

Just found that a few Trillium spp. I'd thought dead are coming up - what a happy discovery. My Flowering Crabapple and Eastern Redbud are both starting to bloom...woot!

[Tanager]

Sorry for monopolizing the thread, but I went out today and rototilled a good chunk of the corner of our lawn today, preparing it for antique roses - we bought three Rosa "Chuckles" and two Rosa "Bengal Fire" from Niche Gardens, an absolutely wonderful local nursery. Also got one Aster carolinianus, which is a climbing/rambling aster, which we'll stick next to a mature Post Oak and attempt to get it to climb a little (will probably need some training).

[Tanager]

Here's Rosa "Chuckles":

[lynn]

Since moving to Seattle it has been a real kick watching spring. The varieties of plants that grow here is unbelievable after spending my whole life in hot, dry Oklahoma.

Since I lease an apartment here (I was really lucky to find one with a huge ground floor patio) I have been polishing my skills at container gardening. Jasmine, roses (both regular and miniture), lilies, rosemary, a couple potted junipers, 2 beautiful red lace leaf maples.

I literally haunted the end of season sales for the maples which were a great deal when they dropped their leaves. This will be my second season with them and they are fabulous. If I can find the pictures I took last summer when it was in full color I will post it.

I love scent gardening. That is my bag. I have two Mr. Lincoln roses that are outragous when they bloom. The jasmine was so fagrent last year I had to close the windows to keep from getting a headache. OUCH!

[clinthopson]

I planted 14 tomato plants this w.e. Most of them heirlooms. We can't wait until June!

Here's our pet tortoise Larry munching on a turtle-height hibiscus.

[Ron Thorne]

Here are a couple of photos from last year's gardening effort, probably one per post, since I haven't been able to figure out how to attach two within the same post yet.

First, one of many hanging baskets, this one filled with fragrant, colorful petunias which bloomed non-stop for four months ... remarkable in our climate.

[Ron Thorne]

I planted Nasturtium seeds along the perimeter of our new raised bed rock garden last Spring and they went nuts!

[Tanager]

I forgot to include the Flame Azalea we just acquired (R. calendulaceum). If you've never taken a drive in late May-early/mid June on the Blue Ridge Parkway, you should - the Rhodie/Azalea/Laurel blooms are just spectacular. Will probably be a couple of years before this one gets established enough to bloom, but I'm willint to wait...

[bluenoter]

Here are a couple of photos from last year's gardening effort, probably one per post, since I haven't been able to figure out how to attach two within the same post yet.

Yes, the last I read, the limits per post were

--one attachment
--two images (not on your hard drive) inserted by using the IMG function
--or all three.

[clinthopson]

We plant Nasturtiums here as a winter flower. I have a couple of them that are threatening to take over my flower bed. I'll probably yank them out since they're chocking my columbines.

The nice thing is that those babies reseed and we'll have a bunch next fall.

Plus, the nasturtium flower is wonderful in salads as long as you use organic gardening products and no nasty chemicals. It has a nice peppery taste.

[lynn]

OK. This is my garden fairie seated among my hostas and scartlet St. John's Wort.

Anyone else urban garden?

[lynn]

Here is a lengthwise shot of the patio. Everything is containered so it is very compact. But at the end of the patio are my Mr. Lincoln's and my white oriental lilies in bloom. Sissy, one of my dogs is below the table. Buddy is in hiding.

My space is pretty wonderful considering I live 2 blocks from Key Arena and the Space needle. You can take the girl out of the country but......