Hirayuki posted:

We have several of these popping up in our currently-ugly perennial garden: a long stick-stalk about 18" tall with leaves at the top.



Are they what I think they are? (Maples?)

z0331 posted:

elgarbo posted:

I've been doing a lot of cactus grafts lately, and thought I'd share a pretty good success story...

I sowed some San Pedro seeds late last year and noticed one of the tiny seedlings looked like it lacked chlorophyll. It wasn't going to survive on its own roots for long, so I did a seedling graft. Here it is on 16 November:



It took to the graft, and since I had used a vigorous rootstock (Pereskiopsis, just about the fastest growing cactus of all), its growth started taking off. Here it is a month later, on 16 December:



It kept going and about a month later, although it was putting on lots of growth, I noticed that a fungal infection had taken hold at the graft join. I was going to need to perform emergency surgery. This is what it looked like before surgery on January 6:



I cut it off the graft and regrafted to a more permanent rootstock (still no chlorophyll, so it can't survive on its own roots). The surgery was a success, and here it is today:

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

This is the coolest thing I've seen all day. I had no idea cacti grew that fast!

z0331 posted:

We're in 6a/6b - New Jersey suburbs, just outside NYC.

z0331 posted:

In the future I want to pull out all of those privets and plant something. Maybe azaleas? I want a native shrub that will get roughly the same height.

elgarbo posted:

I cut it off the graft and regrafted to a more permanent rootstock (still no chlorophyll, so it can't survive on its own roots). The surgery was a success, and here it is today:

subpar anachronism posted:

So I'm mostly into houseplants, but kind of just want to fill my room with vines and tack up some support for them to attach to on the walls. If I were still in the South I'd try something crazy like indoor kudzu, but we don't have it up in Canada. Are there any fast growing vines that would do well in the indirect light of a west window?

Oil of Paris posted:

I mean this is an amazing opportunity and there is just an insane amount of improvement that can happen. At this point it really depends upon your taste because you basically have a blank canvas. First step I would take is to decide what areas you want to make into your first beds. Cover those areas with cardboard and then cover that with mulch/compost. That'll kill the weeds and help you visualize the shape your garden will take. If you're in a hurry to plant stuff NOW, get some soil conditioner (its just bark mulch) to mix in with new plantings.

In terms of what plants to recommend, you'll have to give us a general idea of what you're looking for if the suggestions arent just going to be random "THIS poo poo OWNS" quality. Personally I'm very glad you're keeping the dogwood, which is one of the most perfect trees.

Sir Lemming posted:

Ok, change of plans, possibly. We had the idea of planting Hall's Hardy almond trees after clearing out all the pine trees in the front yard, both for ornamental purposes and for eating. But after some more reading it sounds like maybe these aren't so great to eat. (Apparently they are somehow involved in the death of Steve McQueen; I'll let you go down that rabbit hole, it's fun.) So I'm either gonna learn how to make my own amaretto or just get something else.

So now I'm just gonna throw it out there. Growing zone 7b, not-quite-full sun, pretty hot & humid most of the year but occasional late frost. We're wanting something that won't take more than 3-5 years to be, like, an actual tree. (Though I guess that partially depends on where we buy it.) Doesn't have to bear anything edible, but that would be nice. We don't want it to absolutely tower over everything like the old trees did, just something that will attractively "flank" the house a little. (The treeline is a good 30-40 feet in front of the house though.) Any recommendations?

We were starting to like the idea of Weeping Willow, but then we read that it needs to be far from septic, and that's possibly a deal-breaker. Our septic runs from the back of the house and drains somewhere in the front yard. Of course, we'd be planting exactly where some huge trees already were. But they weren't willows...

Russian Red Pomegranate also looks appealing.

actionjackson posted:

Any suggestions for indoor plants that are super easy to take care of? I have two sansevierias and a zanzibar. they don't require any direct sunlight and only need to be watered once a month, which is why they are still alive!

Sir Lemming posted:

So now I'm just gonna throw it out there. Growing zone 7b, not-quite-full sun, pretty hot & humid most of the year but occasional late frost. We're wanting something that won't take more than 3-5 years to be, like, an actual tree. (Though I guess that partially depends on where we buy it.) Doesn't have to bear anything edible, but that would be nice. We don't want it to absolutely tower over everything like the old trees did, just something that will attractively "flank" the house a little. (The treeline is a good 30-40 feet in front of the house though.) Any recommendations?

Wallet posted:

Out of interest, what kind of medium are you using for your cactus farm? I've been replanting some things in a gritty mix after getting uncomfortable with how long some of them were maintaining moisture.

elgarbo posted:

My mix is unnecessarily complex, I just like how it looks and it gives me good results. It's approx 3 parts pumice, 3 parts sifted cactus mix, 1 part zeolite, 1 part akadama and a handful of slow release fertiliser. If I replaced the zeolite and akadama with pumice it would be just as good, but they give the soil a bit of a rainbow look.

Wallet posted:

With that many plants a little complication seems reasonable—it's not like top dressing is a sane option. It looks like a pretty normal gritty mix but then there's extra color in there that made me wonder.

Not to play 20 questions but is there any particular slow release fertilizer brand you've found particularly suitable? Some of the specialized ones seem to get super expensive.

Wallet posted:

Are you looking for plants you can forget exist for a month or just ones that are easy to keep happy in not-ideal conditions? E.g. Peace lily is pretty hard to gently caress up and they don't need a boatload of light, but mine wants water twice a week. It wilts dramatically when it's thirsty which is pretty hard to miss even from two rooms away (it bounces back almost immediately when you give it a drink).

Platystemon posted:

White or red mulberry

Pear

Cherry

Dogwood

Hazelnut

Walnut and persimmon make nice trees but they’re kind of slow to grow. Pomegranates never get large.

actionjackson posted:

Any suggestions for indoor plants that are super easy to take care of? I have two sansevierias and a zanzibar. they don't require any direct sunlight and only need to be watered once a month, which is why they are still alive!

Sir Lemming posted:

So now I'm just gonna throw it out there. Growing zone 7b, not-quite-full sun, pretty hot & humid most of the year but occasional late frost. We're wanting something that won't take more than 3-5 years to be, like, an actual tree. (Though I guess that partially depends on where we buy it.) Doesn't have to bear anything edible, but that would be nice. We don't want it to absolutely tower over everything like the old trees did, just something that will attractively "flank" the house a little. (The treeline is a good 30-40 feet in front of the house though.) Any recommendations?

Platystemon posted:

White or red mulberry

Pear

Cherry

Dogwood

Hazelnut

Walnut and persimmon make nice trees but they’re kind of slow to grow. Pomegranates never get large.

I. M. Gei posted:

Speaking of fruit trees, all of mine are either leafing or budding except for my Elberta peach. How long should I give that one to show some life before I call it a loss and order another one?

z0331 posted:

In terms of where to plant, I was going to try planting immediately in the back corner of the yard that I cleared, but given the state of the uncovered ground, I think we'll try to dump a couple inches of topsoil before doing anything with it. In the meantime, I'll give the remaining ivy roots some time to reveal themselves so I can pull more out. I was planning on doing native plants like foamflowers, baptisia, wild ginger, some lady ferns, maybe red beebalm? From looking around those seem like decent shade plants that also have color.

I want to get a few more things in the ground on the side plot. So far not a lot has thrived there, but this year I have several things coming back so I'm hopeful. It doesn't get a lot of sun, especially in the summer when foliage blocks any direct sunlight. Right now I have a couple Japanese silver ferns, a couple hostas, and some other random things. I love mountain laurels, so was thinking of maybe trying one of those. My parents have two big ones next to their house and when they're in bloom they're stunning. I don't want to put too many big items in that space but I think that would look really nice if it can thrive.

And yeah, definitely keeping the dogwood. I love it when it blooms, and it's just overall a really attractive tree.



Someday maybe we'll convert the lawn around it to gardening space. (You can also see the ivy I tore up in the background.)

I. M. Gei posted:

A note about cherry trees: Sweet cherries take a longass time to bear fruit, normally between 4 and 7 years after planting. Tart cherries take 3 to 5 years, I think.

Also note that this is for standard-size trees. I’ve heard that dwarf and semi-dwarf trees fruit earlier than that, but I don’t know how much earlier.

Sir Lemming posted:

Ok, change of plans, possibly. We had the idea of planting Hall's Hardy almond trees after clearing out all the pine trees in the front yard, both for ornamental purposes and for eating. But after some more reading it sounds like maybe these aren't so great to eat. (Apparently they are somehow involved in the death of Steve McQueen; I'll let you go down that rabbit hole, it's fun.) So I'm either gonna learn how to make my own amaretto or just get something else.

So now I'm just gonna throw it out there. Growing zone 7b, not-quite-full sun, pretty hot & humid most of the year but occasional late frost. We're wanting something that won't take more than 3-5 years to be, like, an actual tree. (Though I guess that partially depends on where we buy it.) Doesn't have to bear anything edible, but that would be nice. We don't want it to absolutely tower over everything like the old trees did, just something that will attractively "flank" the house a little. (The treeline is a good 30-40 feet in front of the house though.) Any recommendations?

We were starting to like the idea of Weeping Willow, but then we read that it needs to be far from septic, and that's possibly a deal-breaker. Our septic runs from the back of the house and drains somewhere in the front yard. Of course, we'd be planting exactly where some huge trees already were. But they weren't willows...

Russian Red Pomegranate also looks appealing.

Oil of Paris posted:

Loving that native plant list. Put the baptisia in the sunniest spot for max flowers and best growth but it will be fine in shade. I'd also recommend Fothergilla gardenii (a witch hazel relative, best if it gets some sun to help with fall color) and pretty much any Epimedium that you can find, both incredible plants that will flower intensely in deep shade. You could also throw in some hellebores which would thrive in any particularly deep shade spots and spread very well. Native deciduous azaleas are very cool and worth a look into if you like them

You could also look into rhododendrons for the other spot, and they would compliment the mountain laurel well. It's actually been a plan of mine for awhile to get some mountain laurel but they keep selling out before I make it to the garden center. FUCKERS!

Also killer dogwood color, that tree is going to be stunning one day. We just planted a similar cultivar, Cherokee Brave, like two or three weeks ago. Of course the deer hosed it up on Sunday so now I'll probably have to cage it because it's too far away from the house for me to regularly protect. Never in my life have I hated an animal as much as I hate deer

Kaiser Schnitzel posted:

If you want azaleas, get a soil test done, or at least test the pH. Azaleas/rhododendrons have to have fairly acid soil, and it's harder/takes longer to acidify your soil than it does to add lime and make it more basic. Lots of ground pine bark and peat moss will help. All rhodozaleas like to be planted a little high too, at least ime. Native azaleas can be finicky and difficult to grow, as well as slow growing, but they are definitely worth the effort in spring.

Hydrangeas would be nice back there too. Oakleaf hydrangeas don't mind shade and are native and very pretty and can get small tree sized. I really like limelights as well.

Oil of Paris posted:

It's actually been a plan of mine for awhile to get some mountain laurel but they keep selling out before I make it to the garden center. FUCKERS!

Faustian Bargain posted:

I think this might be the right thread for this question. Is there anything I can do to encourage this tree to grow up instead of out and down? Are some of the limbs just too long? I’m not sure what it is, we’ve only lived here a year. Please ignore the dead stuff in the background 😐