Your Garden 2008!

[honeychile]

I visited my house the other day, and started tallying the damages (roof, fence, retaining wall, ceiling....) of the micro-burst that hit late last summer. When I come out of the sticker shock, I'd love to get two of those crape myrtles that grow furtherest north, have two bushes removed, rearrange my Rose of Sharons, and talk to a landscaper about defining the boundries of gardens.

Is ivy really bad when it grows up the side of the house? I've always liked the look.

[SWTXBelle]

Do you have a brick house? Ivy is bad for brick.(But it looks so cool!)

[AOIIalum]

It's still too cold here but I'm ready to plant flowers. Last summer I didn't put out any flowers and really missed them.

The back of my house is virtually full sun all day long and I can grow whatever I want out there (in planters, of course). The front is another story. My problem is that the front of my house is full shade for the most part, until late afternoon when it's 2-3 hours of FULL sun. We've got rock hard clay soil, and we're in Zone 5b. I've had luck with impatiens in-ground and petunias in planters, but would like to branch out in the front of the house. Any suggestions?

[carnation]

Are you talking about putting in evergreen foundation plants or annuals?

We have the rock hard clay too. I hate it. We're going to try to amend it before we plant the Encores but we used to do that at the college where I taught horticulture and you know what? A year later, we'd take some core samples of the soil we'd amended and it would be all clay again.

Honeychile, the English ivy hurts brick because of the suckers it clings with. There are other vines that aren't quite as destructive to brick.

[honeychile]

Yes, I do have a brick house, but I've tried to keep the ivy lowish. *sigh* What kind of vine looks nice on brick? I could probably get the English ivy to grow on one of the nasty parts of the hillside...

[carnation]

I'm not sure what thrives up there but 2 less destructive choices might be the evergreen honeysuckles or the wintercreeper euonymus (lots of new cultivars).

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by carnation

I'm not sure what thrives up there but 2 less destructive choices might be the evergreen honeysuckles or the wintercreeper euonymus (lots of new cultivars).

is everygreen honeysuckle considered an invasive plant? We recieved a letter recently that outlined all kinds of invasive plants that the DNR would like to see eliminated in Indiana and honeysuckle was listed.

Oh, and Target had these little herb pots in the $1 section, so the two older boys picked out chives and oregano and it was our family night project. The pots are now painted and the seeds planted and sitting in the kitchen window. Now we'll just have to see if they sprout! I am also starting marigolds from seeds this year (I collected the seeds last fall). I probably won't plant anything outside until late April/early May.

[AOIIalum]

Originally Posted by carnation

Are you talking about putting in evergreen foundation plants or annuals?

Annuals and/or perennials, but not evergreens.

[ThetaPrincess24]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Do you have a brick house? Ivy is bad for brick.(But it looks so cool!)

Yes! Supposedly the vines work their way through the cement/grout between the bricks and can do damage that is expensive to repair.

[ThetaPrincess24]

What's the name of that green plant that looks nice hanging out of plantars? it's not ivy atleast not a traditional looking ivy. I think i want to try some of that this year in my plantars out back.

[bejazd]

Will it matter what temp the bulbs are at in the pots? I more or less live in the desert, so the ave temp is about 80 here with little to no humidity.
Should I keep the pots in the garage?

After last fall's wildfires, we are having the best spring, as many of the native plants have to burn to germinate. the golden poppies are blooming everywhere right now. some of the hillsides look like the yellow brick road!

[carnation]

WOOOO! The bluebonnet is blooming! We are GOLD!