Gwen, is your water lily picture from the Japense Gardens?

My garden is really lame this year, but I'd love to hear about everyone else's.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Answers

Yeah, it is. I wondered if you'd recognize it.

That picture came from that fateful day when Shelly visited me and I lost my son at the park. (At least I got a cool picture out of, though, right?)

My garden is sort of lame, too. Trash keeps flying into the flower beds in front (damned litterbugs) and half my stuff didn't germinate in the vegetable patch. And now it's too hot for me to care.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2000

It came out really nice.

I have some Lantanas, Morning Glory and Bougainhoweveryouspellitvilla in the back, but just along the fence. Nothing is in a bed. I think I may try to make some in the fall.

I did a couple of window boxes, but they aren't looking so hot and all the friggin rain we got this weekend drowned my cacti seeds.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2000

Here is a sad garden story. I live in an apt and have no yard of my own so I can't have a real garden, but I love flowers. Naturally when spring came I went and bought tons of pretty terra cotta pots for my patio. I planted begonias, petunias, snap dragons, geraniums, and then threw in a couple of cactuses. Slowly but surely over the last couple of months they have all been pilfered. How tacky is that? Someone walked up & snagged my plants from the ledge! I only have the snaps, one petunia, and one begonia left. I'd replace the rest but I'm afraid they's only go missing, too. Anybody have any good ideas for booby traps?

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2000

I have beefsteak tomato plants that are getting the tiniest little tomatoes growing on them, some dill that was left over from last year somehow grew again this year, and I soaked some packets of morning glory seeds from last year, and they're leafing right now, so I'm really impressed with myself.

I live in an end-unit townhouse, so I bought one of those Fischer-Price flamingo sprayers and srtuck it by my front door. I use that to soak everything for about 20 minutes to an hour three times a day, which keeps everything alive.

And as with my video games, I cheat constantly in my garden with Miracle Gro because I like pretty flowers.

I can't think of any good booby-traps for an apartment. If I thought someone was stealing mine, I would hide on the side of the house and wait for them to come by and then --whoosh!-- Flamingo Power! Soak the hell out of them!

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2000

A huge dog or if that doesn't work, trip wires, or a moat of manure. My garden went in about one week ago - it snowed that next day. I love the north.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2000

My garden is half-lame this year. A mild winter sent the roses into a frenzy in late February (I live in the Denver area, so that's weird) and they are blooming all over the place. I have fourteen rose bushes. A dahlia I planted two years ago keeps coming back year after year, even though they're supposedly not hardy enough to do that in the frozen Denver tundra. And I have some white gladiolas that have put up foliage and I keep hoping they will bloom even though they, too, aren't supposed to survive the winter in the ground. I planted a pin oak in the backyard and he keeps cranking along.

But I also planted a kousa dogwood and a red maple and they are kinda half-assed, but growing. A little lopsided. I had planted four different hostas last year and two of them died right away. The other two are growing this year, but they're wimpy and they suck. Of all my iris, I think I have five planted, only one bloomed. Oh, and I have some in the front, one of which already died, but only one of them bloomed this year and it's blossom is SMALL. The damn catalog showed this huge hubcap-sized exotic beauty. Liars. And then I have some sort of perennials in a front garden and they're growing very big and strong and will probably break it open later this summer. Finally, I have a bulb garden. I laid it out lame, but it still does OK.

-- Anonymous, June 14, 2000

I'm a gardening rookie, a total novice, so I'm trying not to be too hard on myself. If I can keep it alive, I'm happy. The good news is we finally have a great yard to work with...still renters, but the gardener and water is included, so someone else does the mowing/trimming and we plant and play in the sprinklers. We have three tomato plants (Early Girl, Brandywine & a cherry tomato, I forget the name). I've never grown tomatoes and was so excited at the beginning, watching them get bigger everyday. I have to admit now that they are like 5-feet tall that they're starting to scare me. My mom told me (way too late) to pull the "suckers" off where two branches come together. These plants are just so big and scary. And I'm afraid I'm going to see one of those tomato bugs my mom warned me about. So, I let my husband do the inspecting for new/ripe fruit.

We have some purty flowers, too: petunias (love it in my yard), Xenia, 6 roses bushes (5 appear to be the viney-climbing kind and don't bloom for squat), daisies and uh, a hydrangea I've almost killed, and some impatiens that I've tried to kill, and some other stuff my mom gave me. I've gone a little cukoo on various foods; we have rose food, tomato food, Muracid and regular miracle grow. I really don't know what I'm doing, and every time I try to research tips/techniques on the 'net I get even more confused. Any of y'all that can successfully grow (and remember the names of what you're growing and even SPELL the names!) a lush garden, you just impress the hell out of me.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

Paul, I didn't know you were into gardening. Rock on!

My mother-in-law says that you only have a good garden every OTHER year. So this must be a lame year for me... I'll hold out til the next.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

I live in the city and have a gorgeous backyard view of the alley and dumpsters so the bamboo went in last week. I can't wait for it to take over and grow up to 20 feet. I really wanted a living screen to block the sight of neighbors who remove their shirts as soon as it's 60 degrees. I also have a lot of shade so hostas and ivy are the norm. Dogs don't help in getting pretty flowers, but as a few of you have noted, they'd get stolen anyway. I've also just planted a wysteria tree next to our porch, I think I'm planting hearty, annoying plants just to piss of the next occupants. The neatest thing in our tiny yard is a set of old ornamental iron gates taken from the St. Louis Zoo's monkey house. I tell people there's still monkey poop on them. Who needs flowers when you've got m

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2000

I've had to hem and haw over answering this forum question. I am a professional gardener, I guess. Oh, I mean a horticulturalist and botanist, thankyouverymuch. Some plants of note in my garden include Dendrobium, Oncidium and Papheopedilum orchid species, some very nice Alstromeria species, South African bulbs such as Freesia, Dietes, Babiana, Homeria and Ixia. Other bulbs like Tigridia, Calochortus. Two varieties of Bauhinia tree and variety of vining shrub. And lots of plants of economic use: rosemary and lavander, lemonbalm, lemon verbena, thyme, avocados, peaches and plums, cherimoya, lemons, limes, oranges, macademia nut, loquat, and mulberries. Anyone crazy about roses should try 'gertrude jekyll.' They are so extremely fragrant and you can collect the rose petals for bathing in! It's fab, I tried it last night.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

I am in suburbia, but I have a large organic vegetable garden in my back yard in raised beds. Right now we have baby lettuces to eat as we thin the rows and the first snap peas. Also growing are tomatoes (I like to try different heirloom varieties), cucumbers, peppers, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, onions, beans, squashes, and, if the gardening gods smile on me, perhaps a muskmelon. (That's a long shot, though.)

I have a shade garden in the back that I am slowly filling in with hostas, lily-of-the-valley, violets, and astilbe.

I'm working on perennial beds in the front. I tried again this year to start some delphinium from seed. They look rather straggly, though. My roses, on the other hand, are doing fabulously. (I stick with rugosas-no pruning and tough as nails.)

I also planted two elderberries and a pie cherry this spring. So far they seem pretty happy.

Perhaps another time I'll tell the story of the hydrangea that wouldn't die.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

Jill, is there enough foliage in your pots to conceal a mousetrap?

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

Hilda, what zone are you in?

We have no shade and it's pretty hot/dry here in summer, so I'll probably never have hydrangeas. And everything's limestone, so even if I could have hydrangeas, I wouldn't have the blue ones I fantasize about.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

On my 6ft by 20 ft balcony, I have daisies, impatiens (the regular ones and the double ones), cosmos, geraniums, lobelia, some other trailing plant with small flowers, and verbena all in bloom, as well as dusty miller and a couple of English ivy topiaries. My Virginia creeper is showing some reluctance to actually creep up the walls though.

I went for the Vita Sackville-West all white garden this year, and it looks really good, so far. I'm quite pleased with it.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000

Gwen, my garden is in southern california. I think the USDA zone is 10, but that covers a lot of area. There's another categorisation called Sunset Zones and I'm Zone 24. It's mediterranean, with a strong maritime influence and extremely rare occurance of frost.

Hey, if you want to raise the acidity of the ground around your hydrangeas to turn them blue, maybe try some sulfate of ammonia and sulfate of iron. Like a teaspoon per 2 gallon can of water, maybe even less "or else it'll explode" says one of my colleagues. A slightly less risky way to lower alkalinity is to incorporate peat moss into the soil. It'll be loads slower than the chemical way. I've never done it myself as my area is naturally alkaline and there are so many nice things to grow that don't need much work. Anytime anyone asks me about hydrangeas, I suggest they grow them in pots so it's easier to control the soil they grow in.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000

I'm too lazy to condition the soil. Plus I'm trying to be all organic and stuff... but thanks for the advice! I think I will try hydrangeas in pots with lots of peat.

Mike, your balcony sounds too, too gorgeous.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000

We're in a triplex unit (but moving to real house July 1! woo-hoo!), so we just have containers. I have a frickin' huge pot of spearmint (and I don't pick it, so it grows really, really tall and looks beautiful); rosemary; creeping thyme; two sage plants; garlic chives; and two strawberry plants I put in just for looks that are, out of the blue, growing six real strawberries (a first for me).

Hilda, do you think bamboo would grow in Oklahoma? The place we're moving to only has a side yard, unfenced, and I'd like to cordon it off from the neighbor's yard with plants. Bamboo sounds ideal, but I don't know how much heat it can take or how much water it needs.

-- Anonymous, June 22, 2000

Hi, my guess is that bamboo would grow in OK. The stuff's from the tropics and subtropics, so it can definitely stand the heat. You'd definitely have to give it water when it's first establishing and you might have to give it supplementry water even after. BUT, my garden in So. Cal. is super dry and the bamboo that's there has never needed any water..oh wait, it's right next to a well, so perhaps that's its water source. All I can say is, it's nice stuff, but it gets out of control super fast. Its clumps not only expand, but it sends out above-ground and underground runners. It ripped up my asphalt driveway! So, either keep it in pots, or box it in with some sort of heavy duty hard plastic that goes at least 2 feet underground and 6 inches above ground. Sounds like too much work? yeah, it's a fair bit. There are kinds of bamboos that are clumping only and won't send out the runners, but I can't recall the name/names right offhand. Try asking your nearest friendly nursery? I'm a fear-of-committment type of gal, so when I need to put up screen, I use annual vines, like morning glory and moonflowers. Good luck!

-- Anonymous, June 23, 2000

I'm still waiting for Breck's to send me my bulbs, damn it!

Anyway, I have a bed by my garage that's looking pretty colorful. The Lantanas are blooming and so is the alyssum (the one's that didn't croak in the heat this summer). I replanted some dianthus and so far so good.

I have an Avocado seed that's been soaking in water. It's starting to get a little sprout on the bottom. When do I plant it in soil? For some reason, I keep thinking that when I do plant it in soil I'm not supposed to bury the whole seed. Is that true? Tips, please.

Start bragging about your fall gardens!

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2000

Yeah, I think you are supposed to leave the very top of the pit sticking out of the dirt.

My garden is for shit this year. It really looks bad. It all died off in July, and I haven't planted anything new. Plus, every bastard that drives by feels the need to fling trash out his pick-up window, and it all ends up in my flower beds. IT'S MIGHTY RESTLESS TO MESS WITH TEXAS, YOU BASTARDS!

I almost bought some snapdragons yesterday to fill in the many, many empty spaces, but then I didn't because it was all cold and raining and the kids were antsy. (That's my excuse. It's not because I felt too lazy to plant them or anything.)

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2000

Hey Gwenz, I see where it got really cold last night for you. But it will warm again tomorrow so go get those dragons. I've been growing bonsai for about 30 years and have 8 nice ones. I used to have almost 50 of them but after the big "D" I slowly lost them. I also grow orchids. I've got a shit load of them. I forced some of the catlyeas to bloom and my house looks really tropical like and smells wonderful. Paul, try growing the iris in a sandy soil and you can spread a thick layer of straw or newspaper over them so they will regrow in the spring. They will go dormant at the first frost and then in the spring will put out new growth. They like blood and bonemeal. It is getting cooler here in paradise so they are losing their leaves for the winter. When they come up in the spring feed them nitrogen heavily for the first month and then potasium and phosphorus for another month then finish with lots of nitrogen. Next year you won't be able to cut the flowers with a chainsaw. I also have been able to grow camillias in the sun without burning the leaves. I grow 10 different types of bulbs. Paul. if you take the bulbs out of the ground and store them in straw in paper bags over the winter then replant them in the late winter, they will bloom profusely. Most peopeln forget that to get good blooms you have to feed them good the year before as with most plants. James

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2000

Oh, I forgot to tell y'all(to borrow a phrase form Gwen) about my cactus garden. I've got a whole side yard full of cactus. Big ones and small ones and cactus in pots that line the fence by the backdoor. They bloom all different times of the year depending on where they originated in the world. I collect them. James

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2000

Thanks. That's what I thought. We're going to eventually rip out the concrete slab that's supposed to be a patio and put in a new one and I'm going to make sure there will be built in planters.

I can't believe it got this cold this early and it has rained non- stop for 4 days. At least what's blooming will do really well now, if they haven't drowned first.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2000

Wow, James. I'm impressed with your knowledge.

My irises are basically evergreens here. They don't bloom well, and I wonder if it's because they never get to rest. Or hey, maybe it's because I have them right near the nasty driveway gravel and I never, ever fertilize them. Maybe that's it.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

You just have to fertilize them. Nitrogen makes them grow leaves and store fat(starch) and potasium and phosphorus make flowers. Nitro first and then the other two. If you feed them and water them they will live through the worst of conditions. They don't even mind trash thrown on them. And this morning I found my really, really, rare Peruvian orchid my dad smuggled into the country while in the Navy in the 50's blooming. It has never bloomed and I've had it for 20 years. james

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

Shelly, make sure when you put in the planters that you put in an 8-10 inch layer of gravel in the bottom of them for drainage. The roots will go to the drainage layer and stop. That way you can replace plants as they get too old or you want something different and not have to dig down below the drainage layer. And they won't get water logged. Also put small drain holes along the bottom of the planter wall to let out the water draining through the gravel layer. You'll be able to grow anything that way. james

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

Thanks for the suggestion, James. We may have someone break up the existing concrete slab and prep the soil and try laying the patio ourselves, so I'll keep that in mind.

Our soil is mostly clay. It's terrible.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

I've got red clay in my yard, too. It is so hard to get anything to grow. There is one section of the yard that will not let anything live. Every year we plant something that the greenhouse people say CAN'T die, and it dies.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

Since we don't own, all our plants are inside. We swear by pothos. Can't kill them. We've tried. They grow like blazes.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

O.K. Time to start talking about gardening. Anyone doing anything exciting this year? I am planting from seed only and I only picked seeds that would bloom within 90 days. I'm sure I'll break down and buy some already blooming flowers soon, though.

I must say that I love my little mini greenhouse a lot.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

I've got an old, old sprinkler system that I've had to have repaired every year for about the past 3-4, for things such as cracks in the pipes and broken heads. I've got to get that whole thing replaced this year, and I'm not looking forward to it.

In preparation for that, I'm moving a bunch of bulbs (I realize this is not the optimum time of year to be doing that) and in the process I will be tossing some and adding some new ones. This bulb bed was an experiment and now I'm ready to get serious.

In a small bed in the backyard, I planted some French lilacs last year. When they get a little bigger, after a couple of seasons, I'll be moving them to other various locations around the yards.

I've got two Austrian pines that have started up naturally from the cones of a giant one I've got in the back corner of the backyard. The little ones are about 1.5 feet tall right now. I'm going to have to move them, perhaps in the fall, because otherwise they will be too crowded, and one of them is too close to my fence. That's exciting, these are really fine trees.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

Ooh, the new rental house we're moving into, like? It has GARDENS! I saw crocii and a tulip tree and jasmine and forsythia and daffodils and violets! I am SO happy!

I'm even happier that I don't have to plant or weed the stupid things. YES!

And I still swear by pothos. That, and I have a peace lily that shares a vase with a Siamese Fighting Fish and they're both thriving.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

My morning glories that I grew last year were beautiful. I'm planning on planting them earlier this year (I planted them in late June last year) along with tulips, and whatever else is really pretty at Home Depot.

I have lots of mint that will grow, and I'm going to remember to water my basil this year. Early Girl tomatos and maybe watermelons. Well, I'd like to grow watermelons, but I don't have much ground to begin with.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

Keli, someone gave me a chocolate mint plant about a year and a half ago. It grew all last season and I'm looking forward to it again this year. Is it true that mints grow like weeds? I'm trying to get a heads-up before it takes over my whole back garden, kinda like how the raspberries took over the corner I planted them in but at least I knew that was coming.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

I like morning glories too. I have a million seeds. I planted a buunch of climbing stuff, as well as the easy stuff like zinnia, marigold, pansy, carnations, etc.

I still have a bunch of tulips blooming. They started in Feb. Also, I have a ton of grape hyacinth blooming and some mystery bulbs that I forgot what they are. I'm waiting anxiously for my freeshias to bloom

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

Paul, as far as I can tell, mint will sprawl like crazy. It's also my most low maintenance item I can grow (which means I never remember to water, and ocassionally throw some Miracle-Gro on them and that's about it).

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

I think I am officially sick of living in my current house. Usually by this time I would have visited the local nurseries and have purchased various flowers and shrubs. This year I just don't care. I think it also has to do with the fact that there are more deer living here than ever, and the rabbit population has grown so I'm admitting defeat before the battle starts.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Nicole, why don't you just password protect your yard? (ba-da- boom) :-)

(groan... sorry about that)

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Nicole, one more reason you need to move!

I planted a few more seeds to. I'm bad because I totally don't space them out or anything. However, I'm happy to report that some snapdragon seeds that I probably threw in the ground last spring are now starting to bloom.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

to=today. Sigh

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Anyone have anything exciting to report? My bulbs are done now and all I have blooming is Lantana. The seeds are doing well but nothing is blooming yet.

Any of you that are within driving distance to Fredericksburg, TX go check out the wildseed farm. It's awesome and now is the time to go and it's FREE! I wrote about it at You Grow Girl and took a bunch of pictures. However, Gayla is having server problems right now so she hasn't posted the entry yet.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Well, at least 9 of the 10 French lilacs I planted last fall are sprouting leaves and growing. The Louisiana irises I planted in the front yard (which have yet to bloom) are not only back and looking good, they are multiplying. I hope they bloom this year. The pin oak is coming back strong as ever (it never lets me down), but the surprising things are the red maple and the hostas, which I had given up for dead - they're looking good. Even my kousa dogwood is sprouting leaves, but I still have my doubts about its future.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2001

Gwen--you can have hydrangeas, even blue ones. In Savannah (read: 120oF in the middle of summer) we always had them. The trick is to plant them next to your house so that shade from the house falls over them for some of the day. We had pink ones and blue ones and purple ones.

You can try making the soil more basic, too, since I was told that hydrangeas are similar to litmus paper. (I think my leg was being pulled, but I'm such a botanical nimrod that I shrugged and said "duh--okay!" and accepted it.)

-- Anonymous, May 03, 2001

I miss having a garden. Some day...

The thing is, basic soil makes them pink. I'd have to add acid to get them blue. Austin is full of limestone, which is basic. You have to add acid and iron for a lot of stuff there. It's a big pain in the ass.

There's a passion flower vine in the community garden at my work. It is incredibly beautiful. Also, we have a huge kumquat tree. Everyone eats the ones they can reach, but a lot of them get wasted or pecked on by birds. Then I drive home and see yards with small trees *full* of kumquats -- totally wasted. People should let other people eat their kumquats if they aren't going to use them.

That sounded kind of nasty, didn't it?

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001