Mumsy's Romantic Garden Advice

[MumsyII]

So I have one of those plants that I bought that has taken over one of my flower areas. I've been trying for years to get rid of it. It was supposed to be a ground cover for shade called Barrenwort (epimedium), but it climbs like crazy and the flowers do not look like barrenwort flowers that I've looked up. It resembles the bindweed or wild buckwheat (polygonum convolvulus L.) that we have growing all around, except that the leaves are bigger.

Could it have been mislabeled at the nursery? It has leaves that vaguely resemble epimedium but the flower looks very much like polygonum. The huge Polygonum aubertii looks like this. The red vines look similiar to me. It is growing to the top of my Hemlock tree!

 

[MumsyII]

Polyogonum aubertii growing up my Hemlock. Called Silver lace vine, mile a minute, Russian vine. In the knotweed family.

This picture was taken from my upstairs deck. You can see the Rose maiden statue in the heart of the garden. That huge evergreen Hemlock tree is engulfed with the Silver Lace Vine. Poloygonum aubertii.

 

[Sally8]

Finally found you. I'd kind of forgotten about this with so much going on. Just marking a spot to come back tomorrow to read. So beautiful, Mumsy!

 

[midnightroo]

Leah, I will take more pictures soon for you then. We are going away for a few days so there is tons to do and all that yard work this weekend wore me out yesterday. There are some plants that I don't know so I will need help identifying them.

Have a great day all!

 

[coldupnorth]

Mumsy - I do believe that my vine was mislabeled at the nursery. Sad, since it comes from one of the nicest family owned nurseries here. I love to go window shopping at their nursery, but usually can't afford to buy much there. I do not think it is a Silver Lace Vine just because the blooms are much smaller, but related in the polygonum family. Regardless, it is a weed where it is, so I need to somehow remove it permanently without harming the surrounding plants, trees and bushes. I've been pulling for years, but it still manages to find its way under something. I will have to be more persistent with it and weed that flower bed more often. I may try it along something that it can climb.

 

[armorfirelady]

I use straight vinegar on weeds in my sidewalks and driveway. Kills them within a day. I eventually get other weeds that grow again but at least it kills them and won't harm my critters

 

[DeesHens]

Finally found you. I'd kind of forgotten about this with so much going on. Just marking a spot to come back tomorrow to read. So beautiful, Mumsy!

Me too, Sally8! Enjoying this thread so much.
Your place is a wonder Mumsy. The Secret Garden is one of my favorite books. Sounds like your girls had an ideal childhood. Very precious indeed! As a girl I loved fairy stories & would have loved your place.
We raised our sons in the woods on 7 1/2 acres. A different story indeed but nevertheless it was ideal for them climbing trees, building forts and fishing in the beaver ponds nearby.

When we moved on to our present 2 1/2 acres 18 years ago my DH and I wanted to make our own secret garden. It was thwarted by my debilitating illness but I finally am able to tinker around a bit now.
This year I was able to grow seeds then plant some blue borage, cherry nasturtiums, sweet alyssum, Italian & lemon basil in our little sidewalk garden which was nothing but weeds for years. What a joy! I thought chickens would love blue borage nasturtiums but mine snub them. Oh well. The bees and hummingbirds are enjoying them and so I am delighted.
Mumsy, you seem like a very lovely lady and I admire your generous spirited nature. All my best, ~Dee~

 

[MumsyII]

Thank you Sally and Dee. You are very kind. If I lost my pictures or eye sight tomorrow, the memories of a life time will keep me happy.

Borage! Thank you Dee for sharing that! I couldn't remember this plant but did remember the flower. The cut leaves smell like cucumber? Yes?

There are plants that I can close my eyes and recall the fragrance and it transports me back to my childhood. Borage, Nasturtium's, and Carnations. The first reminds me of my first herb garden. The second reminds me of my mothers first garden when I was a small child. She let me pick and play with the blossoms. I pretended they were dancing ballerinas. And carnations remind me of my Grandmother. She wore Carnation perfume. I miss her hugs. The scent of Carnations would linger on my hair.

My daughters tell me the scent of old roses reminds them of me. I'm glad it's not the smell of chicken poo!

 

[armorfirelady]

Mumsy

Do you have any natural suggestions for getting rid of blight in tomatoes? The leaves are turning yellow with black dots (I think its called blight?) I've tried to remove the bottom leaves from the plants as they grow but I still ended up with some. I have it every year.

Do you think spraying it with my LAB juice would help?

 

[MumsyII]

Mumsy

Do you have any natural suggestions for getting rid of blight in tomatoes? The leaves are turning yellow with black dots (I think its called blight?) I've tried to remove the bottom leaves from the plants as they grow but I still ended up with some. I have it every year.

Do you think spraying it with my LAB juice would help?

Good question. Last year I lost every tomato plant to blight. I had them in a plastic tent until this time of year. They grew huge and healthy. I removed the tent and they got blight within a week! This year I planted them in a different bed under a tent with construction grade plastic. Built much the same way as my hoop coop. I removed all the bottom leaves as they grew and set fruit. No rain or overhead sprinkler can get the leaves wet. There is no blight on them this year. I am still waiting to see if this works. I'm harvesting sweet yellow cherry tomatoes now. The heritage Brandywine has set a lot of fruit but a long way from ripening. Getting large tomatoes to ripen in the PNW is tricky no matter what I do. I have no experience with using LAB. Blight is air born and in the soil if I remember correctly.Saturating the ground around the plants sounds good. I don't know about spraying the plants. I'll snoop around and see what I can learn.