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Claudia welcome! Try the soldering iron to make holes. Soooo easy. I go out in fall with all the milk jugs I've saved (and after over two decades I've decided milk jugs are the best way to go for me, so I use those exclusively) - anyway, I go out on a beautiful fall day, fire up the soldering iron, and put holes in the bottoms of the milk jugs, and one in the side to facilitate easy cutting open when I go to sow. And it doesn't matter which way the wind is blowing because the smoke will ALWAYS blow in your face lol. But for me it's a small price to pay for such an easy method. And then I string all the jugs on a long hockey skate lace, or a piece of twine or yarn or whatever, and then I hang that on nails in the basement rafters, and there they wait till I need them.
Sometimes mid-winter if I run out of prepared jugs I will use a small steak knife to poke holes but that, imo, is more dangerous. I've poked (I won't quite say "stabbed" lol) I've poked myself in the palm of the hand numerous times when the knife slipped off the plastic of the jug instead of going through, and went into the hand holding the jug.
christie, thought of you yesterday. Going through the endless emails in my inbox and saw one for a seed sale. Almost hit delete because it's too early for me to think about that, but then I thought of this thread and thought, well, it can't hurt to take just a few minutes to take a look....!
:)
Dee
We get some very warm days in winter too Markay. I think that's why I've come back to using gallon jugs. They're not quite clear so maybe it's helping them to not overheat. I got over-confident last year and left mine out in the sun with just the lids off. They did just fine when it was windy but then we had a day in the nineties in late winter/early spring with no wind and they cooked. Lesson learned.
Diggerdee - "it can't hurt to take just a few minutes to take a look" That's true unless you're on a budget. Sounds dangerous. lol Much of my temptation comes from reading here or reading articles about "best plants for butterflies" or "long blooming perennials for sun" stuff like that. I research and make lists.
Thanks for the welcome, christie and diggerdee!
I will have to get a soldering iron and try that method. It's about the only thing I haven't tried. I tried steak knives and a sewing awl, various push pins, and screwdrivers. I like the tip about stringing up the prepared jugs! I have just been throwing them in a big box in a spare room but that's an eyesore. I also found the milk jugs gave me the best success. Like Markay and christie I have to watch the temperatures closely. We actually don't get real winter weather here until January most of the time, and February is also cold, but we will get warm days and hot days sometimes. I experimented with growing tomato seeds which I know isn't really the ideal use for the method, but the seedlings that survived all the freezes and hot days were nigh indestructable and I had enough I needed to give some away. I did have to cheat a little bit because there was one hard freeze, I think it was in the teens, that came through in February and I am pretty sure that would have wiped them all out, so I moved them indoors a couple nights. I had one batch of flowers that I killed by letting them stay in the sun on a hot day. I need to keep better records because I don't even remember what they were now. Even if I have some failures and have to modify the method a bit, it's worth it to me to try. I really would like to have a dedicated place with lights and heat mats to germinate seeds efficiently, but I don't have a good spot in the house for it and I get overwhelmed looking for indoor lights and heat mats.
I've grown so many of these (Cupressus macrocarpa 'Wilma Goldcrest') here in Z8, and a lot of them in containers - for years. Based on my experience the top is probably hardy to around 16-17F for a few hours, the containerized root system around 20F, again, for a few hours.
I know what I would do: Keep it outside in good light but protected from dry winds as much as possible, as long as the temperatures are above what I described above. Move it into the garage for cold-snaps only, but then back out when it warms up again.
Since your plant was mail order I'm assuming its quite small and easy to move multiple times.
Good luck, garden experiments are at least half of the reason I keep going!
Thanks guys! I'm still so bummed lol. Every time I walk by that thing my first thought is how beautiful the color is, and the immediate second thought is, what am I going to do with it?
The plant is about 2-2.5 feet tall, so yes, it is easily moved - for now. I do need to put it in a bigger (which means heavier!) pot though if it's going to live in a pot, even for this winter. I think it's too crowded in its current pot.
It is currently in my family room lol. We had a freeze warning last night so I brought it in.
So artinnature, I think you and the others are right and I will need to bring it in and out, at least till I decide it's permanent fate. I think I knew that from the get-go lol. It's just I'm not sure of my options. Even bringing it in and out, these are the options:
Outside warmest spots:
In front of the house: decent sun in winter, lots of wind (i live in a fairly windy spot) but hoping the house would break the wind and protect it
On the side of the house, against it, on the asphalt driveway (which goes all the way up to the concrete house foundation): warmest, sunniest spot throughout the whole winter, but not as protected from winds.
Back patio: My house forms a kind of U-shape around the patio - back of the house, a room that juts off the back of the house, which is connected to the garage. That corner by the garage wall is very warm (I have trouble keeping things alive in summer because the sun here is so hot). However, there is more shade (from the house itself, so even in winter) and also that U-shape makes the wind into whirlwinds. There are often little piles of leaves in the corners and against the walls - which might be a good thing??? Insulation vs winds??
Inside options:
Unheated garage: Honestly, I'm afraid this is too cold. I swear sometimes it's colder than the outside!
Family room: long story but this old addition to the house is on a raised concrete slab, between the back of the house and the garage, with an inaccessible crawl space, and the concrete slab is cracked, so the room is cold. The back door opens into this room. We rarely use it in winter since we finished the basement, but in the old days we used a space heater in addition to the heat from the vent from the furnace. If the space heater runs and the door to the next room is closed, it stays warm. But I can't run a space heater for a plant lol. If the space heater is NOT on, it still is warmer than outside but it does get cold (but no lower than 40's-50's I would say). It has 2 east/southeast facing windows, so it does get decent sun at least in the winter mornings, and is a bright room.
Front hall: about 6x6, does have a heat vent but has cold tile floors. Temps fluctuate - cold at night and when the sun isn't there, much warmer on late afternoon winter sunny days.
I think I just need to figure out my combo of indoor and outdoor spots lol. Trying to decide what is worse - the cold or the wind. Indoors? Well I just worry in general because I can never overwinter anything in the house. My doors are the threshhold of doom to any plant lol.
And then of course, I wonder, okay, how long can I keep this up? The plant can grow up to 8 feet tall lol! Don't think I'll be able to lug that in and out! My daughter was laughing when I told her - she told me I can use it as our Christmas tree! :)
Anyway, if anyone is still reading after my long dissertation lol, thank you again for your suggestions, and please feel free to add more!
:)
Dee
So sorry Sherry. I feel your pain. I have a resident chipmunk (literally - it lives inside the wall of my house!) that is always digging and even tipping over some pots. It's exasperating.
LOL gardenho, I keep saying I'm done with those darn petunias but each spring I succumb to their charm. In my defense though I have severely limited my purchases - this year only two or three. Considering I make up about 25 pots between my patio and my daughter's, I think that is showing some impressive restraint!
:)
Dee
lol Dee yes, you are doing good! I know they are very hard to resist. I go to a greenhouse that has every color available and I swear I feel like a kid in a candy store! They have so much thats its overwhelming and I end up having a hard time deciding. 🥴
It is strange how some years squirrels will be a nuisance and not in other years. I had bought new irises by mail order one year, and had just finished potting them up and left them on the ground outside the back door. I came out to check on them and a squirrel had come along and dug them all out and ran off with them. lol I did find one across the yard with bite marks all over it. But...I think I was feeding the birds then and that was drawing a lot of squirrels into the yard. When I am not doing that, I barely see a squirrel. They must find other feeders to use.
They also used to pull out all my sunflower seedlings. One year I replanted three times! And the third time I did what gardenho did....cayenne pepper. I worried they would rub their eyes and get a nasty surprise, I didn't like to do it,. but....three times?! lol They didn't touch them after that.
I have some critter that sits on my bottom front step to eat cherry tomatoes and leaves the remnants of one there, all the time. Pretty sure it is a chipmunk.
Still trailing, sounds like a good haul!
Yes I would have to agree that climate changes are affecting the garden. Unstable and crazy temps - 90 degree days in April followed by frosts and freezes, unseasonably warm winters, then freezes leading to more damage not to mention the longer-lasting presence of critters and bugs. I used to put my mulch down after Thanksgiving, when the ground would freeze (so as not to make it an inviting hotel for critters to spend the winter lol) and now sometimes the ground doesn't freeze till January! The later frosts also make dahlia digging later and more miserable. Although then again we have sudden, unusual frosts early in the season sometimes. This season many things were frost-damaged because they leafed out unusually early.
Winter-sowing used to be so very reliable for me, but now if I have 100+ milk jugs and we suddenly have a 90-degree day when it's normally barely 60, well then either I have to open all those jugs and close them again that night, move them all into some shade and make sure they are watered, or, more likely, go to work because I don't have time to do any of that, and hope for the best! I lost a good portion of my zininias this year due to seedling damage from the temp fluctuations.
Honestly the only thing that is certain anymore is the uncertainty!
And as far as the increasing dryness and drought, even if you CAN water your garden (and not all of us can due to water restrictions or being on a well, etc) well then I feel guilty using increasingly scarce water to keep plants alive. Food crops are a bit different, but even then it's guilt-inducing.
I keep telling myself physical limitations haven't hit me yet, but if I'm being honest with myself, while I can still get out there and dig rocks and move stuff, I probably shouldn't be lol, with some of my minor issues, and I do have to admit I have slowed down a bit. A whole day out in the garden does not produce the same results as a full day in the garden five years ago!
I also take care of (and am still installing) gardens at my daughter's house. I have literally not been there to care for any of the beds since one day in late March, when I did SOME spring clean-up. I have to say, I am so very pleased at how great her gardens are looking! I'd like to think it was my gardening genius with my plant choices etc, but it's more likely due to quite sufficient rain, (i.e. no need to hand-water almost at all this season), a good layer of mulch, and the fact that most people see them from a distance! :) But starting this fall we are doing a whole new foundation bed so there is lots more work for me to do! Part of me is looking forward to it, the other part is already tired! But here too, I am focusing on low-care shrubs.
As PM2 says, and I'm sure many of us agree, I love gardening and don't want to stop or lose interest. I think all of here are showing how wise we are lol. We are adjusting our gardens to our level of ability and to the factors (health or weather or time, etc) that we have to deal with, in order to keep enjoying it. Hopefully that will work out for us!
:)
Dee
P.S. Still trailing, I've had an increasing problem with moles the last few years. Two years ago I tried planting some of my new shrubs in wire baskets. My newly-planted shrubs have done well and not been damaged by underground critters. Whether this is due to chance or the baskets, I'm not sure, but for me, it was worth the relatively low cost to have a bit of added protection. Here is what I used, just for referral purposes. (link is in that last sentence - hover over it) IMO they are not QUITE as easy to use as the video shows, because I think any gardener would and should loosen the root ball of any potted plant they buy, so that makes it a bit wonkier to place and stabilize in the hole, but still they are easy to use. I hope this might help you a bit, at least with the underground critters!
Glad you finally jumped into the conversation Still Trailing! Nice to hear from you!
:)
Dee
It has poured and poured since yesterday evening. still pouring intermittently. We have a concert at 7 in Roanoke so should be much better by then according to radar.
Getting 2 days of 80’s again then more like Fall the rest of the week.
I got bags of a Miramichi lawn improver containing char . I am excited to try it. A permanent improvement to the soil . We are having aeration and fetilizer and seeding done this month and we will rake this into the aeration plugs holes. DH is going to be the primary since my broken R thumb will now inhibit my activities for the next few weeks. 👎 pics of the shrubs i purchased in C’ville .
Two Aronia Low Life
Little Devil Nine Bark
love the color!
Shasta Viburnum - color again so beautiful
Glad you decided to chime in StillTrailing!
It seems we're all in the same boat in one way or another. I suppose these sort of feelings and changing interests come with time and increasing limitations or declining capacity, whatever that may be. I still work full-time so in addition to physically slowing down to some degree, time is a limiting factor -- it always has been, but combine those two things with a lack of motivation and here I am in the current state. I think the lack of motivation is the hardest to overcome.
That said, I did buy some conifers over the course of the last week. Along with that came a re-arrangement and thinning of an area of one of the beds. Good time of the year to do the work and catch it all on sale -- conifers can be $$$. So at least I was motivated enough to get that done... I'll try to take some pics of my haul soon (it's been raining this morning)
We're in the process of re-locating our vegetable garden and switching everything over to raised beds. My current vegetable area is just much too large and time-consuming to keep up with. This was probably my worst year ever in this house in terms of harvest -- I just didn't give a cr*p this year and let it all turn into more of giant mess than it usually is.
But, we're coming along with the re-location. The area is a marked out in anticipation for the fence company to come in November, all the blueberries and grapes are moved and mulched, the raspberry fence is up waiting for those to be moved (the small fruits are in-ground plantings). DH will work on building the raised beds over the late fall and winter; we should be ready to go live come spring. Finally. I've only been talking about it for years LOL! I am looking forward to it, though -- it will make tending the vegetables so much easier, mostly because of the proximity to a water source and much smaller area to maintain.
FrozeBudd those are gorgeous! And thanks rouge. :)
Markey the other day I was out cutting a few blooms for a bouquet and the bees were swarming everything - not sure if these plants are truly pollinator magnets, or it's the fact that there's not much else blooming lol.
I cut some asters, some salvia, zinnias and the few dahlia blooms I had. The bees were following me around lol! I used to sell bouquets and I NEVER had so many bees following me as I did the other day! I finally laid the cut flowers down in the grass and walked away for a few minutes lol, till they moved on.
I love your pink, purple, yellow combination - one of my favorite color combos!
:)
Dee
@diggerdee zone 6 CT, they absolutely love them.
Mystic Illusion winding down:
porkchop thanks for the update! I finally bought a heptacodium, a Temple of Bloom, so I think (I hope lol!) that it won't get quite as big as some of the gorgeous photos here. I actually now have two. I buy most of my stuff via mail-order, and while I expect small specimens, I was not at all happy with what I got - it was almost completely horizontal! So I wrote the company and they replaced, and told me to just keep the other one. I suppose it's tiny enough to train it straight, or plant it sideways lol. But I have enough of a problem trying to decide where to plant one, never mind two lol.
PM2, I noticed woody's posts too as I re-read through. It kind of made me catch my breath for a second, and made me sad and made me smile at the same time.
:)
Dee
Tim Wood, that is spectacular!
Tim Wood -- WOW!
WOW great photos
rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a) !!! :-)
Thanks FrozeBudd_z3/4 !
Wow is right! To both of you!
I discovered a few years back (during the pandemic when they were all I could find at the garden center) that begonias are amazing. I never liked them much but when I grew them that year and they just kept going and going and going, with hardly any care, well I became a fan.
Mine look nothing like the photos of course lol, but they almost always out-perform my other potted annuals and they make me happy.
:)
Dee
rouge how lovely that your town does something like that!
I agree, porkchop - I like the way kato thinks!
Although the saw part.... hmm I'm not sure about that. If I could remove or cut down things as easily as you, kato, my life would be so much easier lol. All those potted shrubs and trees would have been in the ground long ago and I wouldn't be such a worry-wart!
I think it's the part about "quick decisions" that has me wavering lol..... I can barely make slow ones!
:)
Dee
That's good to know. Porkchop. Do you have a large property? I think that makes a difference too and how larger tree you can accommodate without it becoming a problem. I love the look of tulip tree. They look like great trees. The flowers are great. I like the trunk. As long as it doesn't have sticks, LOL if I had the room, I'd try one.
You should take some photos of the trees in their new location, as well as any historical photos of them in the old location, if you have any. I'm sure that uploading those here would improve this thread.
Holy moly, gardenho! 35 plants! Wow good for you!
I actually played hooky from work one day last week. It was so beautiful and folks kept coming in saying how nice it was (thanks for reminding us we work in basically a windowless dungeon and can't even enjoy the weather through a window lol). I was getting a serious case of FOMO and worrying that I would never have good weather - because of course when the weekend rolls around it rains lol. So I took a day off and while I didn't do much planting that day, I did get a lot done in terms of clean-up.
rouge, I am crushed! Crushed, I tell you! :) I thought you would be so happy that I got the Candy Corns (I recall a certain person whispering in my ear "Do it, Dee!") :)
Now you've got me wondering... was there something else I said I might do? Hmmmm... Well, whatever it was, I have a bit of a defense as I missed over eight weeks in the garden due to a bum knee. And I'm still hobbling on a cane so I can't do as much. But I'm trying!
"I have a bad habit of never getting fully caught up and having to baby pots all winter. "
Claudia, I hear you! That's why I potted up some small shrubs I just bought. I'm not convinced I will get them in the ground so I wanted them in bigger pots to overwinter... you know, just in case!
:)
Dee
I can’t count how many sedums I divided and planted it was a lot. I also planted about 13 divisions of Little Blue Stem and Pink Muhly . There were 4 more of the Late Boneset cuttings that I rooted and 3 of them are a go. The other 10 I set out that I rooted are going gangbusters . I have a bunch of red twig dogwood branches that are officially root bound because I am still waiting on my guy that is going to redo the retaining wall out front and grade for 2 new beds at each side. I also have 2 Bloomerang Lilacs and then the 4 big potted shrubs I got a week ago . We had frost last night and will again tonight but having steady 70’s daytime. My lawn is getting aerated and overseeded the week of 10/26 and I have the char product I am going to spread.
All this with my broken R thumb! It is healing but they said 4-6 weeks total and it’s been 2 . The bone is splintered in 2 places and the nail cracked through.
At least it has stopped hurting so much.
Wish me luck and hoping everyone gets their planned work completed. c