Garden Talk - to get through winter :)

[Doberluv]

Originally Posted by sassafras

I didn't plant any bulbs this year, but it was the first year I got the garden completely prepared for winter before... winter. My entire front yard (it's a small city lot), part of the boulevard, and one whole side of the house are all perennial gardens, so it's a fairly substantial job.

I've been slowly trying to convert over to natives over the years, partially because they are so low maintenance. But I love peonies so much that I will never get rid of them. I don't have any pictures of the whole garden from this year, but here are a few individual plants:

This is a native called pussy toes, a nice low ground cover.


This is one of my very favorites, called prairie smoke. Apparently large groups of this plant blooming on the prairie looked like wisps of smoke to early settlers.


Marsh marigold, another favorite of mine.


Joe Pye weed. I don't really know who Joe Pye was, but this is a really tall and beautiful native.


I'll dig up some others eventually.

Oh! *gasp* these are all simply gorgeous. And I mean simply. I love their non-pretentiousness. I must look for some of those for next year if they'll do all right here....probably, huh. (?) I wonder if something there might work in between the cracks in my flagstone patio. Or do they stand up too high? When putting in the flagstones, I purposely kept them a good couple inches apart...even more so I could plant stuff in between them. I can't wait to see pictures of your garden...maybe next summer. I'm hoping my yard will be finished enough (it will never be finished...always a work in progress) to take some pictures. Next summer we'll have to make another garden thread.

[Greenmagick]

Joe pye weed is one of my favorites. It's been on my list for probably a decade. Lol. I grew it from seed one year but killed it. Maybe this will be the year for me

Automatic watering, we are FINALLY just about done with our system. So happy about that. I am definitely a lazy gardener and admit I have lost many plants over the years from not watering. We also have our rain water harvesting system all set uP now and that is a big help as well.

For the arbor, you should plant roses AND clematis. I just love that combo!

Speaking of clematis, I am behind the times. Last several years I have been focused on veggies and missed that autumn clematis has escaped the garden and has be come very invasive, choking out natives. I was all set to grow some along the front fence. Thinking of doing virgin's bower now, looks very similar but no wonderful smell.

[Greenmagick]

Thought some people may enjoy seeing how the rain water system works...the first video has more detail but it was clogged so the second one is better to see how much water moves through. You can also see the old veggie garden that is still in use but kind of a hot mess and the way overgrown full sun garden that is my big project come spring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA1htX46Qyw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc5MKeWbPnU

And a tour of the other veggie garden lol...DH made these for a friend as very embarrassed by them for some reason so shhhhh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br0GaGbaFGU

I have a video somewhere of the force that comes out of the rain water harvester. It is VERY powerful.

[Shai]

I believe you folks need to come by and work on my landscaping for me haven't done much since moving in a year ago besides adding some vegetable garden beds back by the shed...the (ridiculously gigantic) "flower beds" by the house remain in the same state of disrepair they were upon our arrival...they were just too far down the priority list this year. And we couldn't get to part of it until the pool & pooldeck were gone. Bah! It's a little overwhelming...the rear flowerbed is 130' x 35' and that's just craziness :/

[Doberluv]

Originally Posted by Greenmagick

Joe pye weed is one of my favorites. It's been on my list for probably a decade. Lol. I grew it from seed one year but killed it. Maybe this will be the year for me

Automatic watering, we are FINALLY just about done with our system. So happy about that. I am definitely a lazy gardener and admit I have lost many plants over the years from not watering. We also have our rain water harvesting system all set uP now and that is a big help as well.

For the arbor, you should plant roses AND clematis. I just love that combo!

Speaking of clematis, I am behind the times. Last several years I have been focused on veggies and missed that autumn clematis has escaped the garden and has be come very invasive, choking out natives. I was all set to grow some along the front fence. Thinking of doing virgin's bower now, looks very similar but no wonderful smell.

Thanks for the idea. That never occurred to me. LOL. When I visualize that, it WOULD be awesome I think. Thanks!

We really must not lose track of this thread. There are some neat ideas. Plus, I bet there will be more.

Smkie, I always love your garden pictures. You should post more...the whole lot of them. lol.

Shai, that sounds like one big garden!

Greenmagic, thanks for posting those links. I did look at that idea before a little. It would be cool. Nice, non-chlorinated water and all free. I will look at those links later...thanks for posting. I have to go take the turkey off the carcass soon so I can make soup. Thanksgiving chores aren't finished yet!

[smkie]

Just don't plant that autumn clementis..that is the plant from hell..yeah it blooms a thousand flowers alright, all over everything and spreads like nobody's business.

[sassafras]

Originally Posted by Greenmagick

Joe pye weed is one of my favorites. It's been on my list for probably a decade. Lol. I grew it from seed one year but killed it. Maybe this will be the year for me.

It's not as "flashy" as some garden plants, but I really love it. It's very stately. The one native I've had a lot of trouble keeping healthy in my garden is vervain, which is a shame because I really love it (I say that about everything, lol).

If you (or anyone) want any seeds from the JPW (or other stuff) let me know next year. I've already cut everything back and sent to compost for this year, but holy cow do I get a bajillion seeds off of everything. Usually I just shake them out right in the same bed but they would be easy to save.

[Greenmagick]

Oh I love vervain too! I admit I do a lot of non natives in my flowers but I love the natives too! I am strict about heirloom veggies so let myself go a bit with flowers and plants lol.

Yes, we should do a seed swap next year!!!!

[sassafras]

Oh there are some non-natives I will never let go of. Peonies... stonecrop... daylillies... hostas...

It's easy for me to go native because I truly love a lot of the plants. I have 5 varieties of native goldenrods, for example, because I adore them.

[smkie]

A seed swap sounds like an awesome idea.