Let's Talk about Gardens

@gingerw That's beautiful! I love my cacti in Texas - covid was a blessing this year as it kept me sheltered in place there long enough to see almost every variety bloom. The color change could be weather dependent. Our prickly pear blooms red some years and coral in others. And here in Minnesota, I had white columbine in my garden this year, even though I have never planted them - something obviously mutated or cross-pollinated!
Sue

What a beautiful flower, @gingerw The cacti I have are starting to display their yellow flowers. Soon others which have purple flowers will put on their show. I try to be on the lookout all of the time for weeds in my cacti. I always seem to manage ending up with various size needles in my gloves and arms. I use a wide trowel and a weed digger to get down to the roots, and I usually have a long bbq spatula to help in the process. I have a fair amount of mulch anywhere I've planted cacti, so if I keep a close eye on them, the weed roots will only be in the mulch, making it much easier to pull them out.

I bought my first jade plant when we lived in San Francisco, at Cost Plus, now known as World Market. The original store down by the piers was a lot of fun to spend an afternoon in. It was a maze, with lots of nooks and crannies. That was back in '75. When we moved to Oregon in '82, it went with us. I had that original plant for more than 15 years, and it was the parent and grandparent to many, many little ones. A couple of years ago I donated 4 large jade plants to our church office. They were more than 3 feet tall. I think I over watered the old one, and developed rot, so I had to cut off the viable branches and threw it away. It was almost like having a dog put down.

The Presbyterian Church in our town has an annual rummage and plant sale. I potted up several dozen jade starts, and several kinds of sediment, some aloe "pepe", a bunch of hens and chicks and a couple of other things. The sale was cancelled this spring, and I don't want to tend all of them for another year, so yesterday when we shopped at the Humane Society thrift store, I noticed that they had a few little pots, so I asked if they would take mine. The manager suggested bringing in 20 at a time. I hope they sell well. The little 3 inch pots they had were priced at $3.50 each! Made my day to find a good place to donate them. My current service dog was a rescue from the local HS shelter. Happy ending.

Looking around my yard, I see that my work will be cut out for me in late summer/fall. Several colors of Iris, daylillies, wild rose, herbs, tulips, daffodils, garden mums, yucca, and maybe a couple of peonies are all due to be lifted and divided and/or be re-homed. I'll be wishing I had a young neighbor to help me.

Moles, voles, gophers and Townsend ground squirrels have been tunnelling in various places, so the annual battle has begun. Sadie has brought me several squirrels, and yesterday a gopher in the past few weeks. I guess she knows that hunting is one of the services she provides.

Living in the country calls for a different style of landscaping than what I did on previous city lots. I find it to be more relaxed and informal. Anytime I have something to plant, there are always places to tuck in one more thing. If it doesn't fit anywhere, I can just start a new location somewhere. There's always room for one more (or a dozen more).

I could write more, but I need to be out tending to what I've written about.

Happy Gardening, everyone.

Jim

@jimhd I have the solution to part of the dividing dilemma. Dave's Daylily Divider - google it - you still have to use a fork to lift them, but this handy tool divides any fibrous roots with a LOT less work than a pair of garden forks, a machete, or any other method I ever tried. And with almost no damage. Every daylily gardener who ever tries one buys one. A couple years ago my friend divided my 85' hosta border in an hour, but it took 9 hours to pot the plants for our sale. Last year we divided almost 500 iris and Siberian iris for our plant sale in just 2 hours - it was wonderful.

As for labor, do you have a local tech school with a hort program? That's a good source for someone who cares about how to handle plants nicely.
Today all I did in the garden was pull a handful of weeds, and sit back and enjoy. My grandson got to plant his own flower garden, with his auntie, in an old stump in my yard, then pot a few marigolds to take home - the promise of being able to water with the hose really hooked him! Little brother, age 17 months, was quite upset that he's not strong enough to squeeze the nozzle yet.

Don't forgetto stop and enjoy.
Sue

@jimhd I held off answering your post to this morning. Yesterday was a pretty busy day for me. Interesting to read about the voles/moles/gophers/squirrels in your yard. We have something burrowing and creating holes in back, by an old stump. Tree was cut down over 10 yrs ago, and it must have been a biggun, stump about 2' off the ground is easily 3 feet across, with large roots snaking just at ground level out about 8 feet. We relocated a squirrel who was denned under our cement porch, earlier this year.

I like your idea of donating to the Humane Society! If we had the time to go camping, I would ask my husband to head your way and help you with some leftover plants and gardening! My mother had quite a green thumb, and one of her prides and joys was a huge jade plant she had gotten from the neighbor. Poor thing sat in a pot in a corner by garage, for four years before she finally planted it. Boy did it take off! Within a year it was close to 5 feet wide and that tall.

Started the rock reseating into my rock feature in front yard. It started drizzling but I wanted to continue. By the time I had had enough of lifting and placing, it was raining pretty good. Better than sweating! Weed barrier remains in place this morning, and I will get back out there soon. I figure no more than 3-4 cartfuls of rock a day, plus some additional weeding, will be all I can handle a day. The rock they placed on perimeter of property fence is pretty flaky, and breaking down as I lift it sometimes. In direct contrast to some river rock they also place along driveway and front walk, so it will be visually pleasing to see it all together. I'll add in my finds from Quartzite, and assorted BLM lands. But the rock my dad brought home in the 1950s from Death Valley will stay on the porch. It has moved many times, and he gave it to me in 1999.
Ginger

@gingerw I LOVE your rock story! I have various landscape rocks and boulders around the yard - many of which have storiesbehind them. This year, as I have been renovating beds, I have moved many to show them off a little more. My daughters still love to come and rearrange the rocks around my little pond - it takes all summer of moving this one and that one until they are "just right". Then comes winter, they are all piled off the the side to cover the pond, and we get to start all over in April. It's hard to tell my grandsons not to touch Grandma's rocks when they see Mom & Auntie moving them. The littlest guy figured out yesterday that they make a fun splash when he drops them into the pond. It was so fun to watch his gleeful reaction that it was hard to tell him to stop.

And the big guy planted his first garden yesterday - I have a stump we are letting rot in place, and it gets planted with marigolds to make a bright spot in the lawn. Yesterday he got to help auntie plant them, then use the hose all by himself to water them. There were extras, so he got to plant a pot to take home - where he has his own watering can to keep them watered - if he doesn't drown the poor things!

Today I am marking all the plants I moved around this past week, and trying to identify a few "mystery" ones - some volunteers, some gifts...some will forever remain unknown, I fear. And moving some of my garden art as well. Attached are before and after shots of my garden buddy "Bearly" who watches over my plants in the back shade garden. He got a facelift last weekend when I took a break from digging to paint him.

Happy rock planting!
Sue

@sueinmn I love "Bearly". What is he made of? My porch is holding "Sly" and "Wiley" for now. Wiley is resin, and probably will not stand being out in the weather, even if he is a howling coyote. "Sly" is a metal art piece my husband bought me in Quartzite, two large river rocks twisted into a cat with tail in the air. He called him Rocky, but "Sly" for Sylvester Stallone fits him better.

Heading out to rock garden, and investigate why we just heard a helicopter coming in low over the house. Wondering if it is Forest Service checking for natural brush fires due to storms in the area.
Ginger

@gingerw Bearly is reinforced fiberglass. I got him, already well-loved, at a plant sale 5 or more years ago for a few dollars. It was fun mixing and layering paints to get him looking close to original. I felt a little guilty at spending more for paint than I paid for him - until I saw his new brother in a fancy garden center this week for nearly $400. Yikes!

Inspired by your description, I took some time this afternoon to reposition a lot of the bigger rocks into my newly planted gardens, but not before I got my husband to chop down a shabby, overgrown lilac in the center - leaving behind only 2 small clumps of seedlings. Wow has my back garden changed in just 2 short weeks.

Now I truly am finished out there until my thumb heals. Happy rock gardening
Sue

@sueinmn I bet you will be chomping at the bit to get back out there after the surgery that while your thumb is healing! You'll beat me making little drawings and rearranging things on paper just itching to get out there and do it for real, right?

I moved about 6 cartloads of rocks today. My husband fashioned a cart for me by adding a large heavy duty plastic storage bin to a dolly, one that you can change from 2-wheel to 4 wheel. I only load as much as I can push or pull at a time. The smallest rocks I am working with are at about 5 lb. The large ones are close to 50, and yes, I can pick them up. It's a bit of a struggle lifting them into the cart and then having to take them back out once I get over to the Rock feature but the alternative is really poor. I am dividing this it into quadrants so that I don't have to be walking across uneven surfaces too much. Of course, I started matching rocks to shapes and almost looking like a horizontal dry stack! Three more carts on Monday will finish all the rocks on the south fence into the future. Then I will have to go to the northeast corner and gather the rocks there. We also have a dry stack retaining wall that the deer keep jeopardizing when they try to get to the trees that are leafing. So I might take the top two layers and move them into the rock feature also.
Ginger

This morning I moved two carts of rocks. Still feeling the effects of a few days of "under the weather", it was enough to make me light headed. Then went and deadheaded the yellow tea roses, found this shy yellow beauty on the old plant, and caught morning light on the salmon cluster. Loving the pops of color!
Ginger

@gingerw, What a beautiful hidden gem!