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Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?


Deb

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Deana I'd like to see the fish on the island eating. I can't have fish, the heron population around here is getting larger every year. I lost 10 fish in one day from them. My son bought me fish for Mothers day and they were eaten by Tuesday. II get frogs that show up and stay all summer. So far the heron leave them alone. Once you get tagged by herons you can't get rid of them. I've seen them walking in the yard and sitting in the pond. They are very big birds. I like the day lilies for the island, but I think my island days will have to wait a while, he drained the pond today to see how bad the tear is.He thinks he can patch it without any major renovations to the whole thing, just a few rock adjustments so it doesn't happen again. I was looking forward to the new pond.

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I have found pond liners for really cheap over the years. Good luck with the repair, I never had any luck with them but there are several new repair kits out. I ended up doing my big pond (10.000 gallons) in concrete. I love it. Somewhere I have videos of the koi jumping up the waterfall, but none of them on the islands. I will do that this year. I had a heron problem, but they won't come in with cats - oddly they will if there are dogs. I went to an import store and bought 2 fake cats that look VERY real and I set them on the edge of the pond and move them every day. I also used a plastic 5' halloween skeleton and put a hat and dress on it. I hung it from a shepards hook and used fishline to tie a gloved hand up like it was waving. I move it every day. I have not had a single heron fly in since. With their overhead view, all they see is 'me' out there allllll day. Waving.

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I bought the prettiest tea rose today , Black Magic , so red it's almost black. I've been wanting one, I have the black tulips that should be coming up soon, Chad told me I was morbid for wanting black flowers,lol, I think they're pretty. :) The rose will go in the new fairy garden.

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I find black flowers to make a stunning display among all the greenery. I need to get to the store and pick up some new roses. I bought some last year and got them planted and then we did some major rehab work to the yard and they got pulled out to move on a particularly hot spell week and I killed them. I don't know why I keep buying them, they hate me and stab me all the time. I have scars from rose bushes and last year one got me and I should have had stitches. They are just sooo beautiful though....

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I'm glad that works for you Deana, I have 2 cats and a stray that comes and hangs out with our girls every day. When we had a dog I never had any critter problems. Now I have raccoons, and ground hogs that think they own the place. The ground hogs are the worse, they aren't afraid of us and I almost tripped over one while carrying a basket of laundry out to dry. They lay on the big rocks and sun themselves in the afternoon and watch us.

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We looked at a house here that had a small "brook" with a bridge and a koi pond and I soooooooo wanted it, but in reality, a water feature in a desert back yard is just a bad idea. I know that koi are hardy critters, but even with shady plants they'd end up being poached in the summer heat. Besides, water is VERY expensive out here and just keeping it filled would cost a fortune and require full time work to maintain it. I reluctantly crossed it off the list.

Oooooooooooh, black roses are so pretty. I love the contrast of them mixed with or near white roses. I've never tried growing cultivated roses but I've had so much luck with wild roses that they took over the whole yard. LOL!! I pruned them once a year to keep them out of the way of other things, but mainly I let them grow the way they wanted to and they were beautiful.

Speaking of letting things grow naturally, I'm trying to bring up a mesquite tree from the roots of an old one. I know it's not always recommended but mesquite is surprisingly resilient and I'm willing to give it a chance. I did that with three cottonwoods in Denver and all three brought up healthy saplings from the roots. This one was a fresh stump when we moved in so the tree had just been cut down last fall, a victim of high winds breaking the tallest branches and splitting it down the middle. Anyway, there have been shoots coming up from the stump and since the drip irrigation system is still in place for it, they're getting plenty of water to nurture the new growth. They're up about ten inches now. I'll give it a few more inches and then see if there are two or three strong shoots and prune out the rest. It's worth a shot, especially since this particular variety of mesquite trees are really just overgrown bushes.

Deb

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Those roses can really leave a mark, but are so worth it. :) I'd had several rose bushes planted here and there, but last year I put in two raised beds of just roses, so pretty. Then John built me a gorgeous wooden arbor to replace a metal one that had finally rusted away, we carefully dug up the clematis and climbing rose that were there and replanted them along with some lillies, iris, more roses and a bunch of other perennials. I can't wait to see how many of them made it through this nasty winter. I am on the lookout for some blue and lilac colored roses to add this year, along with some others I'm sure. :D

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Those roses can really leave a mark, but are so worth it. :) I'd had several rose bushes planted here and there, but last year I put in two raised beds of just roses, so pretty. Then John built me a gorgeous wooden arbor to replace a metal one that had finally rusted away, we carefully dug up the clematis and climbing rose that were there and replanted them along with some lillies, iris, more roses and a bunch of other perennials. I can't wait to see how many of them made it through this nasty winter. I am on the lookout for some blue and lilac colored roses to add this year, along with some others I'm sure. :D

Stacey, that sounds soooooooooo pretty and elegant, especially with the blue and lilac roses in the mix. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that your blossoms made it thru the rough winter.

I can't wait for summer - everyone had better post pics of their gardens!!!

Oh, pretty please! I want to see pics of all the gorgeous things going on in everyone's yard this year. We have so many members all over the world that our virtual gathering of gardens here would be spectacular. I'm really looking forward to watching everyone else's gardens grow as much as my own!

Terri, your yard is breathtaking! It literally made me gasp and then ooh and aaah a whole lot. The tunnel fascinates me and I have an uncontrollable urge to just crawl inside there with a book and spend the whole day. Then I got to the last picture of the winter view and wow, what a shock! Your spring fever must be horrible knowing that the gorgeous pond and plants are hiding under all that snow and ice.

Deb

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As of this morning I have hopes for my yard being reclaimed by the birds and squirrels,now that the felines are gone: as I left for work this morning a rustling of leaves startled me-I looked over at a debris/burn pile off to one side of the yard and a lively little grey squirrel was just scampering over it and up the side of a tree: a bit farther out my eyes fell on a brilliant male cardinal along the fence line...That's the closest I've seen any furry or feathered critters around the yard in about a year. I used to have tons of every kind of bird local to the area and grey and fox squirrels in large numbers-it was delightful! I am so glad they may be realizing it's safer now and will be back in full force soon. :)

Whoops,I just realized this was meant to be posted in the bird watching topic! But,hey,I have 2 gorgeous golden yellow roses blooming from a bush I planted last year that only put on 1 bloom the whole season back then. Maybe this year it will be as abundant as it's red 'sibling' was last year-and which has no buds yet,itself!

Does anyone know if I can root dogwood in water? I have the most lovely 2 branches in a vase right where I can enjoy them anytime I am online. The blossoms last forever! I've rooted tons of other things in water,but this is my first dogwood tree-well,it comes with the rental,but I love it!

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Kat, I have rooted hydrangea cuttings in a small bag of potting soil; pulled off the bottom two rounds of leaves and stuck them in through small holes I cut into the bag of potting soil, ran some water in there, and let them alone for a couple of weeks and when i checked they had enough roots to plant outside. I had read how to do that from an old issue of Southern Living magazine. I don't know if it works for other things, but I thought if I can get my hot little hands on some azalea cuttings I'd try with them.

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Terri, you yard is so lush! Thank you for sharing.

Thanks so much Deana, That is just a small part of it.We are very lucky, we live in an older plan but still have about 4 acres.and two of our neighbors each have about 5 acres, all of the properties butt up against each orther so it like a giant park and all of it is tree covered like in the picture.I really love it, mainly coz I don't have to cut it!! I take care of the upper yard around the deck where the pond is.

Terri, your yard is breathtaking! It literally made me gasp and then ooh and aaah a whole lot. The tunnel fascinates me and I have an uncontrollable urge to just crawl inside there with a book and spend the whole day. Then I got to the last picture of the winter view and wow, what a shock! Your spring fever must be horrible knowing that the gorgeous pond and plants are hiding under all that snow and ice.

Deb

Deb, The tunnel is a fun thing, We put an arbor up when the hedges were small and just let them grow through it, kept weaving the branches through it . It is at the top of the steps and only about 3 feet deep but there is another tree behind it that adds to the shadows, It is still suprising for me to walk down the steps and see everything layed out a the bottom.Several times I've gone down the steps and met up with a deer having lunch on the berry bushes. Today we walked around looking at everything now that the snow is gone, just alot of mud now. The lilacs have buds, the day lilies and irises are up about 3 inches and my black eyed susans are turning green. I see little purple tips where the hostas are and the sedum around the pond is bright green so it looks like most everything made it through. The dill and cat nip grow wild everywhere but its still to early to see how much of those will come back, tomorrow I'll check the blackberry vines, they are growning up the side of the greenhouse and were out of the winds so I thing they will be OK. I love seeing everything change daily.

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Kat, I have rooted hydrangea cuttings in a small bag of potting soil; pulled off the bottom two rounds of leaves and stuck them in through small holes I cut into the bag of potting soil, ran some water in there, and let them alone for a couple of weeks and when i checked they had enough roots to plant outside. I had read how to do that from an old issue of Southern Living magazine. I don't know if it works for other things, but I thought if I can get my hot little hands on some azalea cuttings I'd try with them.

Oh,wow,Holly,that sounds so easy! I will definitely try it,as I don't have anything to lose and I bet it will work for the dogwood,too. I have a new small bag of potting soil I recently bought for something else that got set aside,so I'll get it started tomorrow and will let you know if it takes! Yay!

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No,no,I'll never have azaleas again! It's one flower I am sick of seeing (They are everywhere!) and the only kind of plant or flower I ever actively abused! The original owners or whoever had the house before my ex-husband,planted a whole row of them across the front of the house. I spent 27 total years hating them and for the almost 18 of my divorce years there,I would cut them way back as much as I could so they wouldn't bloom.(They still did,of course. :glare: ) It would have been too big a job for me to rip them out,so I just kept them clipped back. I just don't like them. I don't mean to sound so nasty about it!You are like my mother-she loves them and had several different colors in her old yard-including some pretty white ones. I just had the putrid,gaudy purple pink ones. And by the way,of course the new owners of the house immediately ripped them all out along with all the beautiful stuff I planted while I lived there. I'd rather have seen them stay,than to have no flowers,no plants in the yard at all-who does that? But,I truly hope you get some Azalea cuttings since you do love them. :)

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The people we bought out house in Havana from were rabid gardners and there were azaleas everywhere in every color and size imagineable, and enough varieties I never got sick of them. We had one bush along the driveway in particular that had really dark red flowers, so dark that the slightly lighter red spots appeared to float off the surface of the petals; breathtakinig! One of the two native azaleas we planted when we first moved in is thriving like gangbusters. The moles seem to have eaten the other one. In addition to taking everything that wasn't nailed down and quite a number of things that were, the people in the house when we bought it als dug up every plant in the yard, whether they had put it there or the builder had. We tried several shrubs the first year, but only the one native azalea has survived the moles, deer & rabbits.

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The moles seem to have eaten the other one. ... only the one native azalea has survived the moles, deer & rabbits.

Holly, sorry, but I have to step up to defend the lovely mole. Moles do not eat vegetation. Moles eat earthworms. Their little tunnels may seem to aim toward the root buffet, but they're really stalking their wriggly prey. They have a poison in their saliva that paralyzes earthworms, effectively creating larders. A mole's metabolism is so rapid that one can starve to death in 24 hours.

I studied moles when we had an infestation in Missouri a few years ago. I learned that the only semi-effective poison delivery system was the plastic earthworms sold in garden and hardware stores, but I also learned that once the moles have harvested most of the earthworms in an area, they move on. (See starving to death above.) Then they're no longer a problem in your yard, but you'll see your neighbor stomping down tunnels next door. :D So, we exercised patience and waited them out. Stomping down the tunnels every morning was a fun exercise, even though I knew it was useless. After a while, fewer and fewer tunnels were bumped up the next day, and finally they disappeared.

On the other hand, I have seen with my own eyes tomato plants being pulled into the earth -- just like in a cartoon -- by a gopher. Now you see it -- zoop! -- now you don't. I set one snap trap and caught one. He was pierced through the middle by the two stabbing prongs and screaming in pain. I had to put him out of his misery with a hammer blow to the head. After that one experience I decided the tomato plants were not all that important.

I'm getting anxious to get back to Missouri and see how the garden fared the winter. A couple more weeks, I think.

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Not knowing exactly what happened to your plants,Holly,I'm only guessing-root rot maybe? I Googled it and it seems to be pretty prevalent in the azalea/rhododendron family. I'll have to go back and read when I have more time...

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I'm pretty sure one of the two sweet gum saplings we planted didn't lose its roots to azalea/ rhododendren rootrot... At least whatever IS getting the roots only seems to go for one and the other one survives enough to take hold. The native azalea is next to the house by the front stoop and the sweet gum is out in the yard, halfway to the street.

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