Dinsdale - I’m just up Lake Street a-ways, in Elgin, and spent a good chunk of my teenage years in Glendale Heights - I used to live behind the Brunswick.
Regarding the goddamned euonymous - we have two largish specimens climbing the front walls of the house just off the kitchen, and today I went out and really looked at it - and it is totally scale-encrusted :eek: This weekend the WryGuy and I are ripping it out and burning it. The only thing I’ve found that works at ALL on scale is dormant oil, and it doesn’t work well… plus, ants just LOVE to eat scale and I refuse to have ants in my kitchen again this year. So I’m rescinding the offer, even though you already turned it down. I have purple coneflowers out the wazoo, though (please try not to visualize that, it’s just a figure of speech) and they’re the next thing to go, so if you’re interested in a seed trade this fall, give me a shout.
This is what I learned today in the garden - magnolia blossoms smell like mild tuberose, but if you prune some branches back to improve the tree’s shape, the cut wood smells like CHAI TEA! That was kinda cool! I’m going to let the wood I pruned dry out and see if the scent lasts. If so, I have a new “ingredient” for my aromatic fireplace bundles.
And today I also bought some lambs’ ears for the garden - the plant that doubles as a pet
I was going to get the garden ready last weekend, but it rained the whole time (and was beautiful Monday, of course ) I only grow things I can eat. I haven’t planned yet, but I usually have lettuce, tomatoes (the ones from the store are gross) eggplants, peppers, jalapenos, beans and peas, as well as green onions and kohlrabi if I can find any. (Burpee’s screwed up my last order so badly I’ve dumped them.)
The thing I like best about my garden is that it was awful when we moved here seven years ago. Each year I’ve worked in kitchen compost, compost that our trash collector gives out every year, and composted horse manure, and I’ve got worms and decent soil. Makes me feel that I really accomplished something.
Good suggestions, thanks! It’s the north side of the house, not a very big slope - just steep. It runs down into our neighbor’s driveway. I didn’t know daylilies would spread - I already planted some last year in front of the house.
Someone else suggested lambs’ ears to me today, too. I think I’ll go out looking this weekend, but it’s supposed to only be in the 50’s for the next week and the weather’s been unpredictable, so I might hold off until next month to plant anything.
Not that food crops don’t have their own beauty (and some are just gorgeous) but don’t forget about flowering herbs and edible flowers! They can add a colorful touch to a “service” garden. Here’s a neat URL for some ideas:
My little maple trees are coming into leaf. The hostas are up. The tulips are well in bud, and should come out within a week. The weather was very fine a couple of weeks ago, so I got ahead of myself and put bedding plants in. Then it frosted for a couple of nights last week. The first night, I thought they were OK, but the second night killed them. The hanging baskets and the geraniums in pots are OK. It’s ludicrously warm for April right now, well up in the 20s Celsius.
The man of the house has just bought some little conifers and pots to put them in. He’s been pleased as punch to find a good online garden nursery which sells conifers. He bought three Monterey Pine seedlings, four Scots Pine seedlings, a Veitch’s Silver Fir (his favourite kind of tree), a Serbian Spruce and a Japanese Cedar.
I’ve put in some new herbs - marjoram, sage and winter savory. The green salad onions have come up. We’ve had lettuce and purple sprouting broccoli before, so we’ll have those (and anything the man of the house’s father has spare) again.
I don’t usually feel very gardeny, but the warm weather has got me out there.
) I only grow things I can eat. I haven’t planned yet, but I usually have lettuce, tomatoes (the ones from the store are gross) eggplants, peppers, jalapenos, beans and peas, as well as green onions and kohlrabi if I can find any. (Burpee’s screwed up my last order so badly I’ve dumped them.)