Mumsy's Romantic Garden Advice

[MumsyII]

Still on a quest to name every deer and rabbit proof plant I"ve ever grown. It takes a stroll through the gardens to have things shake out of my old dusty brain.

Add to the deer and rabbit proof list:

Camelllia trees
Barberry
False Bamboo (Polygonum cuspidatum)
Juniper
Alliium (ornamental onions)



This little fellow is a descendant from bunnies living in my garden for generations. He was nibbling grass and weeds. Behind him is Lavender, Daylillies, and Hardy Fuchsia. All of which the rabbits ignore.

My front yard is not as prime as it used to be and we don't water as often so it's dry. But there are some interesting things in the front yard that a mob of twelve deer used to graze through. Draping roses with bird netting keeps them alive but everything else the deer ignore.

Shasta Daisy and Crocosmia (Lucifer) I love stunning combinations in contrast.


Hummingbirds favorite flower. Crocosmia is a great cut flower too.


The front porch of our cottage. The old rambler is finished blooming. The large leaf vine going up and over the porch is a purple leaf grape. It's a male and never sets fruit. Leaves turn beautiful purple in Fall. Deer don't touch it. The rose grows out of their reach.


We cut it back and pull it off the house every year. The faucet is behind the grape. I planted this vine under our huge wild cherry behind the house. One year it grew half way up the tree and hung down like a thick large leafed curtain. I loved that.

 

[MumsyII]

You know, I probably had bad luck with the poppies because I always try growing them inside early on. Maybe if I just sprinkle them... Yes I think I will do that.. I know it is late in the season, but they are perennials so I can still do it yes?

I have a bunch of Glady bulbs I have still not planted. I am so busy... Kind of worried the darn goats will eat my efforts anyway. I should just plant them out front where the goats do not go. Gladies are my favourite cut flower after peonies. I do love lilac as well.

Oh and my mother has these hydrangea that are stunning. The flowers get HUGE. Basketball sized! I dry them out year after year.



I always love grape vines as well. Here is a picture from Cornhill nursery that I took a few years ago.. before I had my camera.. One day I'd love to do something like this for shade (plus you get grapes!)

Some poppies are perennial and some are annual. The Welsh poppy is perennial but blooms the first year. The Bread Seed poppy is an annual. Once you have it come up it will self sow from then on. The Oriental Poppy is a true clump forming perennial poppy. Best to buy plants in the Spring or Fall.

You can plant those glads now but they might start blooming right about when you get cold weather. I would plant them anyway. Better they are in the ground than dry up and wither away in storage. I love glads too. My husbands dad always had them so they remind us of him. He was a dear sweet man.
Grape vines have so many uses! I love that plant.

I suggest you concentrate your favorite plants and best efforts out of the goats reach. It will be a special garden spot and one you will enjoy for many years without worry of your efforts and hard earned funds going down Billy Goat Gruff's throat. It could be a real oasis of comfort for you and Susan to relax in.

 

[aoxa]

Some poppies are perennial and some are annual. The Welsh poppy is perennial but blooms the first year. The Bread Seed poppy is an annual. Once you have it come up it will self sow from then on. The Oriental Poppy is a true clump forming perennial poppy. Best to buy plants in the Spring or Fall.

You can plant those glads now but they might start blooming right about when you get cold weather. I would plant them anyway. Better they are in the ground than dry up and wither away in storage. I love glads too. My husbands dad always had them so they remind us of him. He was a dear sweet man.
Grape vines have so many uses! I love that plant.

I suggest you concentrate your favorite plants and best efforts out of the goats reach. It will be a special garden spot and one you will enjoy for many years without worry of your efforts and hard earned funds going down Billy Goat Gruff's throat. It could be a real oasis of comfort for you and Susan to relax in.

I think that is a wonderful idea. We are finishing our fence in August once I take another week off from work. Once it is finished I think we will be safe!

Do rabbits eat tomatoes? Mine avoid them at all costs. So do my goats. The chickens devour them once they are ripe.

 

[armorfirelady]

When u speak of splitting a plant do you mean like when I dig up hostas then cut the roots into clumps to move them to other gardens?

I would love to learn how to start plants from cuttings as well . Seedlings don't do well in my house, the sunny windows are occupied by my cats who think seedling boxes are great to lay on while having a snack :/

I love forget me nots. They grow everywhere. My mom brought seeds over & sprinkled them everywhere. I need to try that with poppies.
My mom walks a lot and ask people if she can pick seeds of plants she likes and then puts them in her gardens.

I keep a notebook near me to write your great ideas down. I'm so excited about this thread.

Today at lowes I found perennials for $3 each!!! I bought 3 of each kind to plant in the chickens area . And splurged on 2 blueberry plants. I learned today you need 2 different kinds in order for them to bear fruit. Thank goodness for informative tags

 

[aoxa]

When u speak of splitting a plant do you mean like when I dig up hostas then cut the roots into clumps to move them to other gardens?

I would love to learn how to start plants from cuttings as well . Seedlings don't do well in my house, the sunny windows are occupied by my cats who think seedling boxes are great to lay on while having a snack

I love forget me nots. They grow everywhere. My mom brought seeds over & sprinkled them everywhere. I need to try that with poppies.
My mom walks a lot and ask people if she can pick seeds of plants she likes and then puts them in her gardens.

I keep a notebook near me to write your great ideas down. I'm so excited about this thread.

Today at lowes I found perennials for $3 each!!! I bought 3 of each kind to plant in the chickens area

. And splurged on 2 blueberry plants. I learned today you need 2 different kinds in order for them to bear fruit. Thank goodness for informative tags

If you want to start with something easy to root from cuttings - willows are SUPER EASY.

A good beginner plant..

I always loved willow trees.

More:

Quote:

 

[echosrevenge]

yay! I'm already learning a lot!

My mom always had gorgeous gardens once we moved into a house (early childhood on a sailboat, not a lot of gardening...) but she was very defensive of them so I never got the chance to learn much from her. My father in law is a botanist, but has the blackest thumb of anyone I've ever met. My husband can grow anything, but works 6 days a week and is always exhausted on the 7th, so the yard is pretty well mine.

Our property is 5.5 acres that was once the central home place of a dairy farm in the 18th and early 19th centuries, but has pretty well been left to pot since the 1950's - occasional brush hogging, but nothing else. Even though we're in zone 4b, this land WANTS to be forest so badly that you can lose a pasture completely to the woods in two years if it's not grazed or mowed regularly. There are old stone walls everywhere that we are slowly trying to restore/move to where we want them, and a couple of old silted-in ponds that we're going to try and restore over the next few years. As of now, there's almost an acre of lawn to the SW of the house, another almost-acre of rasperries (which I keep calling blackberries because the rasps here are as invasive as the himalaya blackberries in the PNW!) to the SE of the house past the upper pond. The rest of the property is mixed young hardwood forest, scattered through with monster white pines and poplars that we are slowly taking down to open up the sunlight. There are a couple of HUGE old oaks on the property that we'll be saving, and some nice-sized maples and birches we'll keep for syrup season (nom nom birch wine) but our eventual goal is a silvopasture/food forest for the bulk of the land, with a hedge around the perimeter and gardens near the house. Eventually we'd like to build a small earth-sheltered passive solar cabin towards the back of the property, and rent out the current house near the road.

this year has mostly been about the chickens and ducks, though we did get a trio of plum trees planted and a little bit of a veg garden in. I'm clearing the small trees by hand and using them to make wattle fences around the garden & for the bachelor pen (which will also be the compost pile, a la Harvey Ussery), as well as making hugelkultur beds and chipping the excess for winter henhouse bedding. As my husband brings pallets home from work, I am using them to fence off the areas I've recently cleared, when I complete the pallet fence we'll get a couple of pigs to dig out the stumps and till the ground, then plant pasture and trees and move the pigs to the next area. My husband works in an organic bakery, and good friends of ours have a creamery, so we'll end up with some delicious pork at the end of that project!

I know a fair bit about veggie gardening for someone who hasn't had access to gardening space more years than not, but ornamentals and flowers are a whole new ballgame for me. I will be following this thread with great interest!

 

[MumsyII]

I'm very pleased there is excitement and enthusiasm for my thread already. It makes it a pleasure to come on the computer and find it.

If you all want me to start the propagation methods I use and find successful, I can do that now. Other people have their ways and those that work in the business have their ways too. I'm all for diversity in getting the job done. Just like on the Natural Chicken Keeping thread. There are no wrong ways if your methodology works for you. I'd like to keep this thread about how I do it so the beginner plant propagationist (My word) does not get confused.

I will share easy ways, hard ways, and some that take a first hand knowledge of the plant in mind.

Are we ready to move away from deer and rabbit proof plants and start discussing plant propagation the Mumsy way?

 

[Alibabe]

Yes please

I have some hydrangea cuttings. I have them in water presently as that is the only way I know. Must the cuttings have a few roots or a really strong root system before planting? Can I put anything into the water to help the plant produce some roots?

 

[armorfirelady]

I'm very pleased there is excitement and enthusiasm for my thread already. It makes it a pleasure to come on the computer and find it.

If you all want me to start the propagation methods I use and find successful, I can do that now. Other people have their ways and those that work in the business have their ways too. I'm all for diversity in getting the job done. Just like on the Natural Chicken Keeping thread. There are no wrong ways if your methodology works for you. I'd like to keep this thread about how I do it so the beginner plant propagationist (My word) does not get confused.

I will share easy ways, hard ways, and some that take a first hand knowledge of the plant in mind.

Are we ready to move away from deer and rabbit proof plants and start discussing plant propagation the Mumsy way?

Yes please !!!! I've got paper & pen to take notes but can you post pictures of the steps if you have them? I am a visual learner

Aoxa hanks for the info

Willow trees here don't fair well. The winters & winds tend to topple these trees easily. I also remember when I was a kid we had to cut ours down because it was infested with caterpillars. Yuck!

But there is nothing prettier than willow trees around a creek or pond. Even on the hottest days is cool under a willow tree

 

[aoxa]

Yes please !!!! I've got paper & pen to take notes but can you post pictures of the steps if you have them? I am a visual learner

Aoxa hanks for the info

Willow trees here don't fair well. The winters & winds tend to topple these trees easily. I also remember when I was a kid we had to cut ours down because it was infested with caterpillars. Yuck!

But there is nothing prettier than willow trees around a creek or pond. Even on the hottest days is cool under a willow tree

Strange. We have the same type of winters as you, maybe a little more harsh. They do quite well here. I grew up with a giant willow in our yard and it was heaven!

Until it was struck by lightening...