How is your garden looking today?

Xeric, fulgent, what a wonderful world.

Without a doubt the chainsaw approach is the biggest breakthrough in the evolution of suburban landscaping. Like, instantaneous lawn. Don't you miss your hedge even just a little bit now, mctag ?

Yes, well at times it's wonderful. Problem is, both osso and I have tried planting too late in summer and, no matter how you baby the plant, the sun is so intense that it literally burns the plant to death.

It is nice knowing that we won't be using too much water for our gardens, yet we will have sosmething attractive. Lots of people in the Southwest simply cover their yards in gravel. Xeric as hell and looks like hell.

What I love about native plants is that they bloom their little hearts out and refuse to be babied. In fact, there is a plant native to Arizona that is almost averse to water. The directions say to dig the hole, do not put any peat moss or other amendments, then put gravel at the bottom of the hole so that water just flows past the roots. If they sit in the smallest amount of water, they die.

Talk about the will to live.

two years ago ehbeth dug up a campanula along the st. lawrence river . we transplanted it into our garden and had just a few flowers last year . we scattered the seeds behind our spruce trees - no sun , fairly damp spot - they love it .
this year the campanula is taking off !
this was three days ago , have to take another pix .
hbg

Thanks, Hamburger, that is a nice way to start my day.

campanulas are putting on an even nicer display this afternoon !



and a blue one opened up !

McTag, I missed your post--xeric and fulgent.

The flora and fauna from around the world is a wonder, but having grown up in Arizona, I really appreciate the tough beauty of the desert plants.

Cacti are like some people with very prickly personalities. Once in a while, they open up and show their breathtaking beauty.

The weather has been unseasonably cool and wet. We're finally getting a handful of strawberries from the garden the last three days or so. Of course we have to compete with the neighborhood chipmunks for the berries, the little poachers!

I know, those darn chipmunks!

Hamburger, lovely campanulas.

Trumpet vines are now in full bloom, I love them. This photo is from last year:

(The one time of year I regularly see hummingbirds is when the trumpet vines are blooming -- saw my first one yesterday, yay!)

more joy to walk around the garden every day !
(saturday afternoon - more flowers showing today)

Yall know anything about moles?
My brother lives in Germany and reports a serious mole problem. They are "excavating big mounds of dirt-about 15 of them in a diameter of 20
feet."
Poisons and other chemical repellents are illegal in Germany. Someone suggested castor oil. His landlady said he could get a low-frequency sonar system that produces sound inaudible to humans.
I'll let Jim, the musician, tell his solution:
"I took apart an old set of headphones from my studio, plugged my electronic tuner into a wall socket, connected it to the ear cups at the end of a long extension cord and set the tuner at A=440 tone. Put the earcups on the surface, weighted and covered with plastic with an aluminum pan on top to act as a resonator.
"So far, running non-stop for a week, no more digging.
"Percussionists do what they have to do."

Heh...

Creative!



My garden looks droopy and sad. I recently crowed about not having to water all year (due to gardening choices) but I think I'll have to drag out hose today. Wunderground said there was an 80% chance of thunderstorms at 2:00 PM, and I was hoping, but no. <sigh>

you expect your brother to administer castor-oil to the moles ? good luck !
just think of the mess he'd have to clean up once the castor oil starts working

some years ago we had a problem with voles . every spring after the snow melt the lawn was criss-crossed with the trails they'd eaten into the grass sod - and one spring it happened : no more vole trails - they just diaappeared . my assumption is that a very cold winter must have killed them off .

a few years ago a rabbit family (probably released domestic rabbits) moved in under our spruce trees . we really don't mind , since so far they have not been very destructive .

this year we noticed some chipmunks scurrying around in the garden for the first time - of course , we have plenty of squirrels .

skunks just to be quite a nuisance in our neighbourhood - couldn't leave the windows open at night ! but this year "the stink" hasn't been too bad .

our lawn is really GREEN this year . haven't had any extreme heat or long periods of draught - actually could do with a little less rain .
hbg

What a great idea. Are .223 AR-15's illegal too?

Just silly. Why even bother to obey such a stupid law? You've got enough toxic material in your home/car to do the job. Gasoline and a match come to mind.

I saw a beautiful grape vine yesterday that made me wonder how I could get one going in a pot.. I think they need about 6 feet of root space. Since I am going to buil a large potting system over the winter on my back porch, Im thinking I am going to give grape vines a go

My friends garden is realllllly nice too.
Im spending my time in a HOME with a GARDEN and I am JEALOUS..

These work on moles too.

We don't really have a garden, only a strip of dirt in front of our townhouse. My eight year old daughter got a free plant at a garden show which she and her mother planted in that strip of dirt.

My garden is just starting to produce... not sure what is up with it this year. The corn and soybeans around here are just effing huge, as compared to three weeks ago when they were almost washed away and only 6" high. My garden never recovered from those storms.

Anybody else dealing with Japanese beetles? They have discovered my roses. I oppose using pesticides so I've been removing them by hand and putting them in soapy water to kill them. So far, I'm able to keep ahead of them. They've done quite a bit of damage, but I think the roses will survive.

Any other things I should do?