Hey there, long time no post
-
Isn't it funny how we have fondness for our
mothers' and grandmothers'families' flowers? A visit to my Grandma in Medford OR always included a tour of her garden. One time I was struck by her combination of red rhodies and white woodruff blooming together. I vainly tried to recreate that in Massachusetts. They don't bloom at the same time, and the woodruff dried up and disappeared. Duh. -
We lived in the country, sort of. It was the best of both worlds, in that our house sat on four acres, but we were ten or fifteen minutes from town. My parents kept more over an acre of that land as the yard, which Daddy mowed with an old Cub Cadet tractor that came with the house, so Mama gardened with a big canvas. She planted roses and small flowers that you had to get close to see in the back yard. In the front yard, if it couldn't be seen from a car hurrying down a country road, it wouldn't do. Under some truly massive pine trees, she planted tons of azaleas, which grow to the size of a minivan (maybe a school bus) in that climate. They were honestly spectacular. She also moved azaleas and some redbud and dogwood trees out of the woods behind the house into the front yard, and she had a behemoth of a wisteria climbing up one of those pines and a yellow jessamine climbing up another. I remember daylilies, too, and nandinas and a pyracantha and masses of orange cosmos in the fall.
This happened over years, so I don't remember her as being one of those people who was always out in the garden. I think she tended it a little at a time while we were at school, and also she planted things that didn't need much tending.
The subsequent owner clearcut the lot and bulldozed the azaleas early in this century. Nevertheless, this is what people from my hometown still think of when they see me. They say, "I drove by your house and thought of your Mama and her azaleas."
-
We lived in the country, sort of. It was the best of both worlds, in that our house sat on four acres, but we were ten or fifteen minutes from town. My parents kept more over an acre of that land as the yard, which Daddy mowed with an old Cub Cadet tractor that came with the house, so Mama gardened with a big canvas. She planted roses and small flowers that you had to get close to see in the back yard. In the front yard, if it couldn't be seen from a car hurrying down a country road, it wouldn't do. Under some truly massive pine trees, she planted tons of azaleas, which grow to the size of a minivan (maybe a school bus) in that climate. They were honestly spectacular. She also moved azaleas and some redbud and dogwood trees out of the woods behind the house into the front yard, and she had a behemoth of a wisteria climbing up one of those pines and a yellow jessamine climbing up another. I remember daylilies, too, and nandinas and a pyracantha and masses of orange cosmos in the fall.
This happened over years, so I don't remember her as being one of those people who was always out in the garden. I think she tended it a little at a time while we were at school, and also she planted things that didn't need much tending.
The subsequent owner clearcut the lot and bulldozed the azaleas early in this century. Nevertheless, this is what people from my hometown still think of when they see me. They say, "I drove by your house and thought of your Mama and her azaleas."
@Mary-Anna said in Hey there, long time no post:
The subsequent owner clearcut the lot and bulldozed the azaleas early in this century.
How awful!
-
I have Bishop’s weed. Ugh. Can’t get rid of it. It was variegated when I got it, but I think a lot of it has reverted to plain green; there’s an awful lot of it in the front yard. I’ve decided that it’s just going to look like an overgrown cottage garden out there. I also have a ton of pink Japanese anemone, also hard to get rid of. I bought these things 25 years ago at a native plant sale, not knowing that “native” means “will spread like crazy and take over your home.”
-
Triclopyr (new, safer formulation of Roundup) and a paintbrush will solve your problem. Weed-b-Gone ( less toxic yet) will too.
May not be your thing but it will work.
-
Triclopyr (new, safer formulation of Roundup) and a paintbrush will solve your problem. Weed-b-Gone ( less toxic yet) will too.
May not be your thing but it will work.
@Steve-Miller Thank you. I’ve always avoided RoundUp. I don’t know if I have it in me to do this much yardwork, though!
-
I just got an up-close look at a new-to-me invasive plant. We spent the day at Tony's mom's house and there was a ton of rosa multiflora in her yard.
I'm 99% sure there's another new-to-me pest in that yard in the form of trees of heaven surrounding her pool.
As for the other weeds? Heck if I know.
On the plus size, there are magnificent two-story-high rhododendrons in full bloom all over the property. We agreed with the realtor who thinks we should take pics right now and call it The Rhododendron House in the sales material.
-
Tree of Heaven is another invasive that absolutely requires Roundup or similar.
Or you can try pulling it - for a long time.
-
Hi, rf! Long time no see. I'm just doing a drive-by here myself.
-
Good to see you here, Rich. Hope you stick around!
-
Good to see you around rf! (I was/am 'ctpianotech' at the other various fora) Not exactly a frequent poster myself, but it's nice to see how folks are doing.
@RichL hi! I think maybe we both went on a Steinway tour back in the day
