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OSU_Matthew posted:This is probably more of a landscaping question, but I've been redoing the front of the house and there's a big blank section of dirt about 3.5-4' wide and ~5' long I'd really like to plant an ornamental tree in:
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May 15, 2022 02:33
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I’m never going to object to permeable pavement or to less pavement, but plant the tree. It may not thrive there, but small tree is better than no tree.
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May 15, 2022 05:29
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 Lilacs in the backyard!
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May 15, 2022 15:35
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gently caress everybody keeps buying up all my trees!  piss! I kept scoping these 4-foot Japanese black pines that were gonna make awesome prebonsai at $40/pop and somebody swooped in (with probably the same idea, because past about the second set of branches they both turned into pretty ugly yard trees) and grabbed ‘em both. And because HD pricing is wack as hell they got a bunch of JBPs that are all literally the same as the other two—same size, same growth characteristics, probably same age—in one pot size bigger for $150. Anyway I just wanted to vent bc I’m still mad about it two days later
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May 15, 2022 16:59
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Brawnfire posted:
I am a burning pillar of envy. God, I miss lilacs. (Next year. Next year we shall plant.)
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May 15, 2022 17:14
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I am a burning pillar of envy. God, I miss lilacs. (Next year. Next year we shall plant.) Then in several years, you'll get flowers! This one took SO LONG to decide it was ready to bloom.
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May 15, 2022 17:32
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Ok Comboomer posted:(for about 20-25 years) I was much happier not knowing this. OSU_Matthew posted:E: It didn't even occur to me to check the expected lifespan, I just figured most trees kept going so long as their conditions were good and they weren't pruned stupidly to pool water and rot the inside. poo poo, should've gotten the redbud or something else Same, and I want to continue believing this. After all the work I put into my (still-unfinished) apple espalier, I don't want to think about it eventually dying. couldcareless posted:I'd love to have a flowering cherry for my yard but in my bits of research I never came across one that can cut it in 9b. I KNOW I have heard of flowering cherry varieties that grow at least as far down as Zone 9 or 10. I want to say Yoshinos will grow in 9 but I might be confusing them with another variety. I know they'll grow in 8B though; there are several local nurseries near me that sell them. I'm amazed more people in my area don't plant cherries or peaches given how pretty and how drought-tolerant they are. I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 20:17 on May 16, 2022 |
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May 16, 2022 20:13
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When my parents bought their house in the '83 or so, my dad planted ten flowering cherry trees down the driveway for my mother, and he's only ever had to replace 1 or 2 since then. They're absolutely stunning when they bloom.
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May 16, 2022 20:56
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OSU_Matthew posted:Serious question, what is the District of Columbia doing to maintain the cherry trees donated in 1912 that are still kicking? Proactive trimming? Luck? idk the answer, but it seemed like a good opportunity to share my favorite of the Tidal Basin cherry trees. Still blooming motherfucker!  As of 2019 anyway. Wouldn't get COVID for the sake of blossoms.
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May 16, 2022 21:44
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Chad Sexington posted:idk the answer, but it seemed like a good opportunity to share my favorite of the Tidal Basin cherry trees. That's just incredible they are still kicking! That's what stuck out to me last time I visited there too, was how extremely gnarled a lot of those trees are. I thought it was impressive given their age, location right on the tidal basin, and nonstop stream of visitors touching them. I had no idea that they usually live about as long as a roof, and probably less where I want to plop it. I showed the garden center a bunch of photos and measurements and kept asking about limitations and sizing and they insisted it could be done... at least they have a one year warranty? Arsenic Lupin posted:That isn't enough root run for a tree. A tree needs a lot of water, and that un-concreted space is too small to let all the needed water in. In general, a tree's underground root span is the same as its overhead branch-span. Think of a tree as a dumbbell and you'll be close. I would strongly recommend, and I know it's spendy, jackhammering a much larger amount of ground that is exposed to rain. That's one thing I was afraid of... the dumbbell is a good analogy, thanks! There are some raised beds around it, gravel on the other side of the concrete driveway, and the path is sand & rocks which should trickle down, but there's not much I can do about the street. I'd actually asked several installers about pervious concrete but nobody had any idea what I was talking about so I gave up on the idea and just went with regular concrete for the driveway. I suspect this might be something where my ambitions have outpaced feasibility yet again. Worst case if they come out and say that spot is a no go, I think I have a good plan B spot in my tiny backyard that this would do well in  I've never planted a tree with a root ball like that before, just containered pawpaw starts. YouTube University (this old house) said that you should tease/unfurl the root ball to encourage lateral growth. I've also heard that excessively constrained root balls sort of "dumb down the tree", and the first hits I clicked through on the googler for transplant advise recommended pruning roots which I thought was verbotem. I asked the lady at the garden center if they unfurled the roots or did any pruning and she said that was an outdated philosophy and modern methods don't recommend either of those things. Just out of curiosity, is there any consensus around either perspective?
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May 17, 2022 00:52
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You should absolutely fluff out the roots or just cut them around the edge of the pot to make sure they aren't growing in a circle imo. Maybe it's outdated philosophy, but it's served me well and I've replaced plants where that clearly wasn't done and the plant + exactly pot shaped root ball came right out of the ground 2 years after they had been planted with almost no growth into the dirt around them. They were planted into bad, unamended/unworked ground which certainly contributed, but the plants I planted in the same ground have done much better. Digging a wide hole is important too. 2-3x the diameter of the pot at least, but you only need to dig a little deeper than the pot.
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May 17, 2022 01:01
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Thank you! I thought that teasing them out made really good sense. That makes me feel a lot better, this old house hasn't really ever steered me wrong before. I'll make sure that gets done, and I'm going to clean up and work the whole patch of soil before the tree is delivered in a few weeks.
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May 17, 2022 02:07
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OSU_Matthew posted:Thank you! I thought that teasing them out made really good sense. That makes me feel a lot better, this old house hasn't really ever steered me wrong before. I'll make sure that gets done, and I'm going to clean up and work the whole patch of soil before the tree is delivered in a few weeks. You don’t want a root bound tree or shrub. Just ask any of the dozen root bound shrubs from the previous owner that I replaced this spring when I had the time. I could have put them straight back into the containers they came in without barely disturbing anything. You could probably route some extra water into the space until the tree has happily grown in, but it may not work forever. Worst that happens is you have to replace it, but you’ll get a few really nice years out of it.
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May 17, 2022 02:19
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Maybe it's outdated philosophy, but it's served me well and I've replaced plants where that clearly wasn't done and the plant + exactly pot shaped root ball came right out of the ground 2 years after they had been planted with almost no growth into the dirt around them. They were planted into bad, unamended/unworked ground which certainly contributed, but the plants I planted in the same ground have done much better. Digging a wide hole is important too. 2-3x the diameter of the pot at least, but you only need to dig a little deeper than the pot. It's not—that lady is wrong. You don't need to prune any that aren't circling, but they can girdle a tree otherwise and you should definitely rough them. Loosening the root ball by soaking it or spraying it down with a hose is supposed to improve results as well. Given the receipt includes 40 pounds of humus I assume they're going to dump in the hole, I don't think they're up on modern tree planting research. Current best practice is not to dig an extra big hole and not to significantly amend the soil where possible—plant roots are disinclined to cross over gradients in soil composition or compaction, so the closer what's in the planting hole can be to the surrounding soil the better.
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May 17, 2022 12:27
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Speaking of cherry trees, I have a cherry tree in my yard, maybe ten years old. Its fruits never really ripen properly, they're mostly bird food. Would they be more successful if paired with another cherry tree to encourage cross-pollination(?)?
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May 17, 2022 13:18
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Brawnfire posted:Speaking of cherry trees, I have a cherry tree in my yard, maybe ten years old. Its fruits never really ripen properly, they're mostly bird food. Would they be more successful if paired with another cherry tree to encourage cross-pollination(?)? A lot of (most?) cherry trees require cross pollination to bear fruit, or to bear fruit well. Some are not self-compatible, so multiple trees planted in proximity of the same variety still won't successfully or effectively cross pollinate. It may be that the tree just isn't big enough or happy enough to bear significant fruit so the birds are beating you to all of it, but it may also be that it isn't being pollinated enough to create a significant crop. If you can identify the kind of cherry you have you can find information on suitable varieties for providing cross pollination, e.g. here. Wallet fucked around with this message at 13:31 on May 17, 2022 |
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May 17, 2022 13:25
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Brawnfire posted:Speaking of cherry trees, I have a cherry tree in my yard, maybe ten years old. Its fruits never really ripen properly, they're mostly bird food. Would they be more successful if paired with another cherry tree to encourage cross-pollination(?)? the Bible says that you should rip it out and turn it into a bonsai/give it to me to turn into a bonsai
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May 17, 2022 13:31
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Wallet posted:It's not—that lady is wrong. You don't need to prune any that aren't circling, but they can girdle a tree otherwise and you should definitely rough them. Loosening the root ball by soaking it or spraying it down with a hose is supposed to improve results as well. Given the receipt includes 40 pounds of humus I assume they're going to dump in the hole, I don't think they're up on modern tree planting research. Current best practice is not to dig an extra big hole and not to significantly amend the soil where possible—plant roots are disinclined to cross over gradients in soil composition or compaction, so the closer what's in the planting hole can be to the surrounding soil the better. Very interesting. Do you have more info on the “not crossing soil composition gradients”? It’s a little counterintuitive to me since roots will grow into water pipes and even out of a container provided there’s moisture to be found.
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May 17, 2022 15:00
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BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:Very interesting. Do you have more info on the “not crossing soil composition gradients”? It’s a little counterintuitive to me since roots will grow into water pipes and even out of a container provided there’s moisture to be found.
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May 17, 2022 15:52
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Wallet posted:A lot of (most?) cherry trees require cross pollination to bear fruit, or to bear fruit well. Some are not self-compatible, so multiple trees planted in proximity of the same variety still won't successfully or effectively cross pollinate. It may be that the tree just isn't big enough or happy enough to bear significant fruit so the birds are beating you to all of it, but it may also be that it isn't being pollinated enough to create a significant crop. If you can identify the kind of cherry you have you can find information on suitable varieties for providing cross pollination, e.g. here. I think it's a bing. Some of our neighbors have cherry trees and I was hoping the proximity was close enough to pollinate but no dice, maybe it's time to make a mini orchard!
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May 17, 2022 16:20
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BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:Very interesting. Do you have more info on the “not crossing soil composition gradients”? It’s a little counterintuitive to me since roots will grow into water pipes and even out of a container provided there’s moisture to be found. It's not an absolute. If you put a plant in a hole filled with fresh/loose soil it's much easier for water to gather in that planting hole. The roots are less inclined to leave that hole both because of water availability and because roots have a tendency to grow in directions with less mechanical resistance (less compacted soil, etc). If you've filled the hole with compost or other material that's high in nutrients that's another reason for the roots to hang out where they already are. The plant is going to grow either way if it can, but in an ideal world you want the plant to spend its energy spreading roots out and away from the planting hole, not circling around in it.
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May 17, 2022 23:16
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Internet Explorer posted:Plant goons, help me! What is going on with this Night Blooming Cereus? I'm afraid it's going to punch through the ceiling soon. That stem is growing like an inch a day. I have an Oxypetalum pumilum that sends out all sorts of tendrils. They are looking for other trees to grab onto. The tendrils will grow smaller leaves in ample light - mine does mostly nothing inside near a window in the winter, but under a 50% shade cloth right now has absolutely exploded with growth. I'll grab a picture later today. Ok Comboomer posted:wtf kind of cereus is that? Epiphyllum genus, probably oxypetalum. They are rainforest succulents and they jump from tree to tree by sending out these really long branches that will shoot air roots and grab onto bark and stuff. Super neat. Commonly called 'night blooming cereus', 'queen of the night' etc. edit I see that this was covered a few posts after this, lol. I'll still post some pics of mine later. At maturity they can send dozens of blooms at once; oxypetalum tends to have larger blooms than pumilum; mildly pleasantly fragrant too. skylined! fucked around with this message at 13:09 on May 19, 2022 |
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May 18, 2022 13:37
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Here's my Epiphyllum pumilum, very closely related to oxypetalum. It has all sorts of branches and is growing like crazy this Spring.   
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May 19, 2022 13:14
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This is a shot in the dark, but: While on a drive the other day, I spotted an ornamental tree in a front yard, close to the house, that had the most beautiful habit: it was flame-shaped. Just a smoother version of 🔥, with what looked like dense, fine branches that were just starting to bud green. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Googling is tough with the few keywords I have. I'm not sure exactly where I saw it around here, but I can try to retrace my steps for a better look and potentially more adjectives to use in my search.
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May 20, 2022 02:36
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Gonna need a pic probably. E: and your approximate geographical area would help too
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May 20, 2022 13:38
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First thing I thought of was the European hornbeam, which has a pretty pronounced flame/droplet shape. But yeah, pics and general location would help narrow it down a lot.
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May 20, 2022 15:03
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Pics I don't have--I spotted it out a rear window of a car as we drove past. As for location, SE Michigan, so Upper Great Lakes, 6B. It was definitely ornamental, not an oak or a maple or anything like that.
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May 21, 2022 02:48
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I bought a lemon guava (psidium littorale / cattley guava) over the winter and had it in a sunny window. I repotted it in a clay pot with Coast of Maine potting soil and probably too much Marine Cuisine Foxfarm fertilizer in it. Red spots have started to develop on the leaves since I moved it outside, and I'm trying to figure out if this is from the fertilizer, or from spider mite damage (I can't see any on it, but I did have some inside, and my lacewing eggs haven't come in yet). It's only on the bottom half of the plant. The redness might have been there before I moved it outside but I can't be sure. I had it in a partially shaded area for about a week before I moved it into a sunnier place. Any suggestions? https://gardening.stackexchange.com/questions/14974/what-are-these-red-spots-on-my-guava-leaves looks sort of similar but that is speculative too   
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May 22, 2022 03:00
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So I recently put up a vinyl fence that I'd love some ideas for perennials to plant alongside the interior. This is zone 6A, and my goal is to have some sort of living wall effect and some nice enjoyable plants. For reference, the back side has a really nice patch of Rose of Sharon trees, which bloom really quite nicely every summer:   I'm thinking maybe a few small hydangeas in front of the Rose of Sharon might be a good use of that raised bed? In particular, this is what I'm looking for ideas to fill in (both along the existing vegetable garden and the lawn)  While at menards earlier, I impulse bought some blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry starts and some blocks and trellis sections. My thought was to use the blocks and build some sort of half moon raised planters for each shrub, and space each plant about 5' apart with its own trellis staked in to climb:  Eventually I'm thinking I could use some smaller blocks and build a lower tier of planters for bulbs, like tulips and daffodils in between the vining plants. I know next to nothing about what looks good or landscape design principles... I'm just sort of learning plant by plant and the more I learn the more I really enjoy the whole thing, and I really appreciate any thoughts or recommendations!
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May 22, 2022 03:47
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After today's hot spell and massive rainstorm, I think I can probably promise some really nice iris blooming pics tomorrow. Very excited to see these in action! Meanwhile, these are cute, not sure what they're called but they're in one of my rock gardens: 
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May 22, 2022 03:53
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OSU_Matthew posted:So I recently put up a vinyl fence that I'd love some ideas for perennials to plant alongside the interior. This is zone 6A, and my goal is to have some sort of living wall effect and some nice enjoyable plants. There are a ton of options, so it's kind of hard to give recommendations (also you don't mention how much sun you get where you're planting unless I missed it). I'd just start walking around nurseries and seeing what you like. You don't have to find one or two plants and put in a ton of them to make a garden look good. If I see something interesting or pretty I just buy one and see how it does. I'd probably go for perennials in front of the hibiscus rather than more shrubs. Along the fence line the bed looks fairly narrow so while I'd generally be looking at shrubs for a space like that I'm not sure you'd have room to put shrubs in and have much room left for perennials when they grow in.
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May 22, 2022 12:22
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Brawnfire posted:After today's hot spell and massive rainstorm, I think I can probably promise some really nice iris blooming pics tomorrow. Very excited to see these in action! Those are star-of-bethlehem and I love seeing them pop up!
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May 22, 2022 13:37
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Wallet posted:There are a ton of options, so it's kind of hard to give recommendations (also you don't mention how much sun you get where you're planting unless I missed it). I'd just start walking around nurseries and seeing what you like. You don't have to find one or two plants and put in a ton of them to make a garden look good. If I see something interesting or pretty I just buy one and see how it does. Thanks! I'll poke around some nurseries, that's a good thought. I was worried that might be a bit too broad to ask, but I'm basically looking for 6'ish tall and narrow plants and possibly shrubs. Oh, I'd also say it's about 60-40 shade/sun there Are there any good YouTube channels for landscape design and horticulture? Eg this old house. Just trying to learn more and make good decisions.
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May 22, 2022 14:02
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OSU_Matthew posted:Thanks! I'll poke around some nurseries, that's a good thought. I was worried that might be a bit too broad to ask, but I'm basically looking for 6'ish tall and narrow plants and possibly shrubs. Oh, I'd also say it's about 60-40 shade/sun there I like Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't for entertainment value as well as an intense blizzard of knowledge. Heard about it in this very thread too.
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May 22, 2022 14:09
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Soul Dentist posted:Those are star-of-bethlehem and I love seeing them pop up! They are SO cute! I love how they go to sleep at night. The blooming beginneth:  
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May 22, 2022 14:57
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Soul Dentist posted:I like Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't for entertainment value as well as an intense blizzard of knowledge. Heard about it in this very thread too. Oh yeah! I've seen his video on diy urban improvement after an NPR or 99% invisible recommendation awhile back. Thanks for the recommendation, just hit subscribe!
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May 22, 2022 15:51
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OSU_Matthew posted:Thanks! I'll poke around some nurseries, that's a good thought. I was worried that might be a bit too broad to ask, but I'm basically looking for 6'ish tall and narrow plants and possibly shrubs. Oh, I'd also say it's about 60-40 shade/sun there If you want some local advice without paying for a landscape design, search for something like “master gardener [your town]”. Our local group will set up a tent at the farmers market to answer questions and give suggestions. To get the living wall you might want to look at a vine like coral honeysuckle (lonicera sempervirens) or some ornamental grasses like Indian grass (sorghastrum nutans) or switchgrass (panicum virgatum). And just a random shrub suggestion because I like it of arrowwood viburnum (viburnum dentatum) How steep is that rise from the lawn up to the fence? You might have to look at different plants for erosion control.
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May 22, 2022 16:20
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OSU_Matthew posted:While at menards earlier, I impulse bought some blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry starts and some blocks and trellis sections. My thought was to use the blocks and build some sort of half moon raised planters for each shrub, and space each plant about 5' apart with its own trellis staked in to climb:
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May 22, 2022 16:20
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Blackberries and raspberries aren't single-stem plants. Every year they throw up new growth from the roots of the plant. Your job as a gardener is to cut the old growth down to the base, at the right time of year, and leave the new growth to bear fruit. (There's elaborate timing on when you do this pruning depending on the type of berry and whether it blooms on this year's new growth or last year's new growth.) The point being, you need to leave substantial room around the base of a raspberry or blackberry for this annual regeneration from the roots. So this is what I started doing today:  I'd say each half circle is about 3' wide, 1.5' deep, and the plants (blueberry and raspberry so far) are roughly 5' apart. I have no idea if those trellises will be adequate, but thought I'd start there and swap out something better down the line if need be. I'm also putting up a different trellis for the hops that are growing along the T post there. I know it's going to take two years and some pruning to bear fruit, but I figure there's no better time than the present to start! If that's going to be a complete and total shitshow of inadequate spacing, I can redo stuff, I just relied on the googles for info. I'm half tempted to pull one of them apart here anyways because I'm fairly sure I inadvertently buried a hand trow when I filled it in  ohhyeah posted:If you want some local advice without paying for a landscape design, search for something like “master gardener [your town]”. Our local group will set up a tent at the farmers market to answer questions and give suggestions. Oh that's a good idea, thanks! I'd love to find someone I could pay to come out and give some recommendations, I should google around here and see what's what! I don't know why that never really even occurred to me... I'm also just really enjoying learning about new plants and figuring out what all to put in there too. Thank you for the suggestions! I really like that viburnum, that's going on the short list. Grasses are also a really good idea to add some variety, I'll check those out! There's roughly about a foot of slope there, but I'd like to install some raised beds as I go, since it's mostly well compacted clay soil and shredded pine mulch over top at this point and I like adding some better soil in for planting. I also really love that coral honeysuckle and that it's not invasive, these are all awesome, thank you! I have noticed that after about a year and a half of mulch there's a good abundance of worms and micro organisms in there when I dig in to install the blocks. I find that really encouraging, that the mulch is helping amend things. Even found a big fat toad chilling on the driveway the other night, hopefully he's been able to find a good home somewhere nearby: 
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May 22, 2022 22:44
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Thanks to this thread I went to the home depots and picked up every decent echeveria I could find and a pot to stick them in with gritty mix: Clockwise from top: Echeveria subsessilis Echeveria Hybrid 'Rico' Echeveria Hybrid 'Sleepy' Echeveria Hybrid 'Licorice' Echeveria 'Artic Ice' PP29584 My wife got an echeveria a while ago that got super etiolated before it came into our care and died when we tried to repot without looking up info so this is like an apology. I brushed out all the roots I felt comfortable and kept a couple pups while clearing all the lovely petals. Question: will they fight for space in this situation?
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May 22, 2022 22:51
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