[gardeners] Fall overview
penny x stamm (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 29 Sep 2001 22:34:13 -0400
George, what kind of zinnias have you been growing? Are they
subject to fungus down there, the way they are up here?
My big dahlias have suddenly been covered with a fungus on
their leaves, altho the flowers are perfect. Gets to be very unsightly.
Margaret, what visible damage do white flies do..?
I have four beautiful plants whose name I do not know. They are
what I would call a form of grass, since the leaves open up in a
cascade like a fountain, reaching 18 inches. They are green in
their middle, with a pale yellow band down both the left and
right side. And TODAY, the tail end of September, I found them
in full bloom! Tall, thin, purple spires growing up from random
spots. Anybody recognize this description?
My young helper showed up today and together we filled six
huge pails with prunings! In fact, he had to stand in each one
to mash it down, so we would have space ... We dug up three
dead P.J.M. rhodies -- the most beautiful purple-blue in early
spring, but impossible to guarantee to keep alive, just like the
Starry Night rhodies (psychedelic purple) and the Purple Gems
(a mass of blue). Along with the yellow forsythia, very early
spring can be a spectacular show -- but only if the stuff lives.
George, Jimmie works in the den in the summertime at 85*
in long pants and a heavy winter sweater on, with the A/C
turned off. And yet the A/C is on full force in the bedroom,
and he always runs around the house naked for half an hour
before he climbs into bed -- and turns his electric blanket up
on high. . . It's like living in an ice-cold Turkish bath...!
Penny, NY
.
I could never live where you do Penny. Cold weather aggravates my angina
to the point I just want to
sit in front of a fire and rock. Look out for Jimmy, he decides to run
around naked right now he
might catch a cold. B-)
George
penny x stamm wrote:
>
> George, we tend to think of everyone's weather in terms of our
> own, more or less. I don't feel as if we ever had a spring, and
> we certainly did not have an ordinary summer. Yes, I think one week
> of hot and terribly humid, but in general, nada ...
>
> Right now it is freezing -- our metabolisms must have aged radically
> because it has not been so hot that our blood thinned, and
> therefore we never should require the heat on in the house, the way
> we have it!
>
> The mandevilla and lablab are still beautiful, even with the 45*
nights,
> as I mentioned awhile back. And the big flower bed looks rather
> chaotic since the plants grew into each other, natural style, but it
does
> give the yard color, and that's welcome. The rhodies we moved a few
> weeks ago look wonderful! And down on the end there's an overflow
> bed where we put all my extra seedlings, and all those rooted coleus
> cuttings which were so late getting into the ground that they had lost
> all their lower leaves and looked ratty. Today they are a lush jungle
> of color, ALL filled in (they grew fresh lower leaves!) and it looks
> wonderful! The bed is fronted by my hundreds of self-seeded volunteer
> blue ageratum from last year's big flower bed, some no larger than a
> quarter when I carefully scooped them up.. There's yet another bed
> back there with more of those volunteer itsy-bitsies which now are
> full grown. Somehow it is more fun to see and smile at the flowers
> which one has cultivated herself...
>
> But in all it must have generally been cool. The raspberries have
> stood still for weeks -- the berries are fully developed, but not
> ripening, and this is VERY late for the crop. The other bed of New
> Guinea hybrid impatiens stopped growing at half their usual size.
> My 2 foo dogs are placed there at the entrance, and normally the
> New Guineas grow so tall that I have to add bricks underneath
> the foo dogs to elevate them enough to be seen!
>
> I have to be careful what we prune this weekend. The 4 ilex
> hedges, yes -- they grow so thick and fast that they torment me!
> But wherever I find an azalea which should be removed, I am
> waiting until spring. I want the sickly plant to help support its
> healthy neighbors from the weight of the winter snow.
>
> Still so much to do -- guess I'd better get out my winter
> underwear..
>
> Penny, NY zone 6
>
> .
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
> Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
> Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:
> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
--------- End forwarded message ----------
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.