Gardening for 'Streamers

[Edie]

Originally Posted by silver suz

Maybe we gardeners should start our own thread!

Originally Posted by GT6921

A gardening thread would be kind of neat - I know there are hundreds of them out there - but I guess it would not be the same as it would coming to this "community" now would it

Ask, and ye shall receive...

Originally Posted by silver suz

Argyle Acres is here-I don't know if you have heard of that- it's for irises, and about now is their weekend walks through all their irises.

So I'll begin with a photo I took today of my small iris bed.

[GT1963]

And these would be my beautiful Blue Flag Iris's contemplating whether the weather is going to get warm enough to start growing - April 8/04

But once warm enough they turn into prize specticals.....

[GT1963]

...Photo taken last Spring - aproximately last week of May 1st week of June.

[Edie]

Originally Posted by GT6921

And these would be my beautiful Blue Flag Iris's

Well, to tell the truth, my irises were labeled Blue Flag when I purchased them. Another bad case of mis-tagging.

I've learned that if the color of the bloom is important, only buy it when it's blooming. Otherwise, it's anybody's guess what color it will tun out to be.

And then there's my wisteria. It's been in for six years now, and only one single bloom one year. I should have waited to purchase it when it was blooming I guess.

[GT1963]

This is a bad thread to start as the two things I love - okay there is a couple more like (Hubby, Doggies and Airstream, can't forget the boat too) anyway that I love...are Photographs and Flowers - I could literally post 1000's all day long - but I will try to contain myself to the topics at hand.

Last year a gentleman gave us tons of iris and day lily's - I find they don't do quite as well the year they are transplanted plus he had them healed for quite a while waiting for us to pick them up. This year they should be fab I will be sure to take pictures. We have a little stream (man made with the sump pump overflow back to the marsh) a perfect spot for all the iris as they do love their water.

My only problem this year will be Haily - she is the first dog we have that is very heavy on her feet - and just plows through things - all our others grew up in a fenced yard - Haily has had the run of the forest and does not know the difference - especially when a chipmunk is hiding in his hole that happens to be in the middle of my garden - at least one of them anyway.

This is also part of the stream where the sump pump runs into - Haily is a bit bigger this year but still a tyrant - Yes I know this is a gardening thread not a pet thread - but at my house both go hand in hand....

[silver suz]

Oh! That is truely the most stunning Iris I have ever seen! I'll have to make a copy and bring it over to Argyle
Acres via i-net and see if they can find out what it is!! I wish you could come visit and see the hundreds of iris they have. the Ft Worth Japanese garden should be well developed in color, and then there's the Dallas Arboretum! Any chance of coming down??? Right now we have lots of extra cars, as we've bought some and havn,t sold the others I love taking close up pictures of wildflowers on trips. so show away-I wont be bored!!! I love your bog garden!! Perhaps a sprinkling of pepper on favorite plants or areas would discourage your pup. Are the pink flowers dianthus? or in the carnation family?
Animals and plants go together around here too. chickens are my main defense against the grasshopper plagues that would otherwise it everything in sight. I have an old velcro dog who has to be stuck against my leg at all times- aargh. when I rode (can't now) my horse (bay arab mare-Fayleen) got used to me leaning way over to look at the wildflowers. ^4 in one 1$1/2 trip was my record - mostly possible because of the microclimates we'd ride through- the wettest desert in US- where we saw a mountain lion once (- and my horse NEVER forgot.- that was always a hard place to get her by). high chapparrel up on the ridge over the ocean, ponderosa pines found only in this little spot besides the Sierras. Huge old oaks , Big second growth redwoods in the little valleys, marshy spots with lots of ferns. all in a round trip!! wonderful wild flowers and feral flowers.
Now I have to confess, my forte is antique fruit trees and vegetable gardening. Not like my friend who used the latin names for all the flowers, she was really good!
I helped her with her vege gardens and fruit trees. I like the idea of preserving the antique varieties. Also most of my gardening has been in USDA zones 7A and 7B, so pretty limited knowledge! I have apples like esopus spitzenburg, kidd's orange red, fameuse, pink lady, gravenstein, roxbury russet, caville blanc. Cox orange pippen. etc.
A lot of them had special uses- like Arkansas Black apples can last until early Dec on the tree and then stored in a cool place to develop their flavor. Roxbury russet was the tart flavor in a good mixed apple cider. pink lady is wonderful eating and great apple sauce. Apple cider was the main drink in colonial times. where you are, you would have totally different apples like macintosh with more chill requirements. I cant grow macs here. we are experimenting with pics wish me luck sil siz

[Edie]

Animals and plants go together around here too. chickens are my main defense against the grasshopper plagues that would otherwise it everything in sight.

My sister, Sandy, in Midlothian, TX has guinea hens instead of chickens for her grasshoppers. Once they eat all the grasshoppers, they move on and eat the fire ants. She doesn’t have a grasshopper, an ant, a tick, or a flea anywhere on her acreage!

The guinea hens come in a small variety of colors. She likes the lavender best, but I like the royal purple.

Sandy buys her guineas locally but has to take whatever colors they have. Usually they just have the white or pearl gray in stock. I found this web site with the lavender and royal purple.

[summerkid]

... Edie, are guinea hens the same as the "banties" we had back in Montana. Fierce little things!

This is the 10 raised beds, behind the pool, for herbs (late last summer)

[summerkid]

... late spring a couple of years ago...

[summerkid]

... the bed of princess irene tulips (the grassy-looking stuff is the foliage from the saffron croci, which bloom in fall)

[maxandgeorgia]

Okay, girls, I never dreamed that Airstreams, Gardening, and this Forum would all fit together. I really liked it before. I love it now! Since I haven't yet figured how to do photos (I am dead out jealous of all of you photo posters), I cannot yet send mine, but we too love flowers and try, even with all our shade. One of my sons decided we had to have a water garden so he dug one for us. I then craved a bog garden, dug and made one that was so rich, we lost all view in our back yard from the 5 foot + tall plants. After a year, I dug that into another water garden, then a stream that falls to a lower garden where we lost a huge linden tree. . .you know, if you're gardeners, what I am describing. There's always one more plant to try, one more hole to dig, one more. . .Thanks for starting a fun thread!

[Edie]

Since I haven't yet figured how to do photos

UPDATE:

Rog0525 was kind enough to point out that the link I originally posted is to the OLD directions. He has prepared new directions, and they are in the How to attach photos? thread.

Updated 4/8/04 at 11:30 p.m. E.D.T.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by summerkid

... Edie, are guinea hens the same as the "banties" we had back in Montana. Fierce little things!

summerkid,
Guinea hens are different from the banties, a little larger than the banties. Guineas are orginally from Africa (IIRC) they do an excellent job of keeping all pest bugs down. As an added plus they are h*ll on snakes and make good watch dogs too. We have a few running our property, you will not get a flea or a tick anywhere on the grassy acre.
As soon as I find it I will post some pictures of my gardening prowess, I play with the antique tea roses. My favorite is "Pearl d'Or" a tea rose that dates back to the 1890's and was rose of the year in 1954. It can be grown as a bush or climber. We have one that has been blooming since it was planted in the 1930's. It will bloom most of the year. In this part of the country it isn't unusual to still have blooms in late December.

Happy Gardening!

Aaron

[Happycampers]

This is our back yard last year, plan on it looking better this year.