At 8/7/10 08:20 PM, Sheizenhammer wrote:

I'm pretty sure these are all black ash trees, if your old blog post about them is anything to go by. I'd have posted a picture by now but I've STILL lost my camera. Stupid mother and her incessant tidying up!

Of course, ash species are different from location to location. Where do you live?

Now back to the garden... We have basicly everything.
Here's a list of what I can think of:
Chives, burning bushes, camperdown elm, marigold, milkweed, tomato, hostas, peonies, lillies, black eyed susans, boxwood, daisies, and a wisteria tree. I can't possibly name everything at once, but it's a huge variety.
About the only thing we don't have is sunflowers.

Oh, and we have two of my ashes in the garden... both of which need permanent spaces in the yard. What you said about the ash trees is true, they do grow and grow if left unchecked.

Several years ago I had a wonderful garden at my moms house. I've been planning an organic garden now that I've settled in a new house. I've made a 3 Bin Compost Bin and got all my rows for gardening all planned out and everything. I work at a restaurant as a prep cook so I get all kinds of vegetable leftovers (the tops of tomatoes, potato peelings, the bottoms of romaine hearts, etc) that I'm gonna be able to get my compost started with.

I'd like to join.

At 8/7/10 11:11 PM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: Of course, ash species are different from location to location. Where do you live?

North-east England. These would be European black ash trees, but they still bear every resemblance to black ash trees in general.

Speaking of which: I FINALLY FOUND MY CAMERA YAY!
Here's an overview of ash trees in my garden, along with the tree they're coming from.
I'm prety sure these are, in fact, black ash trees because of the black tips on the stems.
The problem I have with them is that the fuckers get EVERYWHERE. Including inside other plants!

...Oh, and here's a random chestnut tree I'm sure a squirrel must've planted.

Now back to the garden... We have basicly everything.
Here's a list of what I can think of:
Chives, burning bushes, camperdown elm, marigold, milkweed, tomato, hostas, peonies, lillies, black eyed susans, boxwood, daisies, and a wisteria tree. I can't possibly name everything at once, but it's a huge variety.
About the only thing we don't have is sunflowers.

Heheh, cool. Sounds like my garden to some extent (read: a random collection of everything). Mostly Coleus plants (the ones I took a picture of on the first page; they're now all about 2 feet tall :D), but a fair few types of your average pot-plants and what-have-you as well. It's all good. :P

Oh, and we have two of my ashes in the garden... both of which need permanent spaces in the yard. What you said about the ash trees is true, they do grow and grow if left unchecked.

Yeah, tell me about it. The ones I couldn't get to last year are now threatening to ruinthe entire view of the garden if they keep on growing. Given the size of the parent tree, I really don't want them to keep on as they are. I'm gonna have to go digging through the bushes they're in, though, which won't be fun. : /

At 8/9/10 01:15 AM, DrunkenApples wrote: Several years ago I had a wonderful garden at my moms house. I've been planning an organic garden now that I've settled in a new house. I've made a 3 Bin Compost Bin and got all my rows for gardening all planned out and everything. I work at a restaurant as a prep cook so I get all kinds of vegetable leftovers (the tops of tomatoes, potato peelings, the bottoms of romaine hearts, etc) that I'm gonna be able to get my compost started with.

Sounds great! I'd love to have a garden I can design and plan myself. This one I keep going on about is technically my parents' garden, and they won't let me do anything major to it regardless of how badly it needs it. They aren't gardeners, and they don't see the amount of damage they're doing to it by neglecting most of the larger plants. :(

I'd like to join.

Sweet, although there's no real memberlist here, and anyone can use this thread at any time. If you have something you want to share here, don't hesitate. No-one's gonna berate you for not being a member or anything. I would like to see a few pictures of the compost bin, though (I know, I'm strange like that :P).

At 8/4/10 09:38 PM, Sheizenhammer wrote: I've wanted to grow some aquatic plants for ages. Only problem is I don't have a pond, or a fish tank, or anything that could be used to grow...

...Wait a sec. I might be able to make use of a few of these oversized vases I've got lying around here... Hmm...

THANKS!! You've just given me my next random idea for a houseplant. Now all I need is some underwater plants, which won't be hard since there's a damn big aquarium store near here.

Dude I'm actually selling my other 20-25 gallon fishtank 'cause i have no use for it! PM me if interested!

At 8/9/10 01:41 PM, Sheizenhammer wrote:

Speaking of which: I FINALLY FOUND MY CAMERA YAY!

WOOOOOOOO

Here's an overview of ash trees in my garden, along with the tree they're coming from.
I'm prety sure these are, in fact, black ash trees because of the black tips on the stems.

Looks like European Ash, also known as Common Ash. Latin name, Fraxinus Excelsior. Pretty similar to the American black ash, Fraxinus Nigra.

...Oh, and here's a random chestnut tree I'm sure a squirrel must've planted.

Darn squirrels. Yeah, I knew that tree right away. Horse-chestnut isn't edible for humans, but it makes a good shade tree in the UK, so I hear.

Has anyone ever tried growing broccoli? It's on the top of my list for things to plant in my garden, but its the only thing on my list I haven't tried to grow before. Curious as to any personal experiences you all may have had in growing it.

can I join I love gardening I have some Sunflowers and Potatoes planted in the garden right now.

At 8/14/10 09:57 PM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote: can I join I love gardening I have some Sunflowers and Potatoes planted in the garden right now.

He probably doesn't care :P

BTW what potatoes are you planting? I planted blue potatoes last year, but I cannot grow them again due to an internet suspicion that the seed potatoes could contain the late blight of last year :(

I'm sorry but I have to bring up one of your rules.

At 2/21/10 08:49 PM, Sheizenhammer wrote: 1. Absolutely no discussion about the procurement and / or cultivation of illegal plants! Asking about how to grow anything that produces a banned or controlled substance is not only a really good way of getting BBS banned (read: "discussing illegal activities"), but may well end up with your local government placing a drugs intelligence marker on your IP address. If you find yourself questioning the legality of what you're posting, you probably shouldn't be posting it.

Sooner or later, saving seeds used for normal vegetables may one day be illegal since the supreme court made it legal to patent plant life :(

At 8/14/10 07:24 PM, DrunkenApples wrote: Has anyone ever tried growing broccoli? It's on the top of my list for things to plant in my garden, but its the only thing on my list I haven't tried to grow before. Curious as to any personal experiences you all may have had in growing it.

Needs full sun. I myself never had any problems with disease. However, I never really cared for it and it always bolted. Be careful about that. Also, when you cut off the center head, side shoots grow out too.

Fall is coming soon for those of us in the northern hemisphere! Man, some of the trees are already starting to change here. So far, none of mine have shown any color.
But the best thing about fall: The seeds.
It's a bit of a hobby for me, I pick up tree seed everywhere to sprout and grow.

I've been needing practice with oaks, so that's what I have been focusing on. I went to the lake today, and picked up dozens of oak acorns and hickory nuts, all of them without any insect damage. There's got to be a good four species among them:
White Oak
N. Red Oak
Shagbark Hickory
Bur Oak
And there were some Eastern Hemlock cones that I found on some planted tree. I got about four of those, so I'll see what I can do. Also, I found a grand total of TWO ash seeds at the lake!
I'm going to have to sprout the nuts in my garage because the squirrels can and WILL steal them if I try to sprout them anywhere outside. It has happened before, I lost almost all of the acorns I planted last year in this manner. I bet one of two of those ended up in the lawn.
One of the oaks I transplanted out of the lawn has come back! it grew three new leaves in the place of the ones that fell off when I first transplanted it.
Also this fall, I plan on taking a trip up to northern Michigan with my family, for the fall colors and the seeds. I remember seeing some huge white ash trees up there in a park, with thousands of seeds last year. And, of course, I couldn't sprout them; it was too early to get them. But this year I plan on bringing some back to grow. I also plan on getting hemlock, pine, and sugar maple seeds.
I'll definitely get some pictures for the next post here.

About time someone bumped this thread. I got a kinda nifty plant story.

When I was pulling some weeds today are back yard is full of weeds. If you saw it you would be amazed cause there like 3 feet tall weeds. ITs not a rule where I live but I had to pull them today and when I went to grab one I hit a cactus and under all those weeds is like a field of cacti. Probably 30 sq feet. So we have to hire some gardener to come pull out all the cacti from the yard.

Bout time this thread some more activity. Speaking of gardening and whatnot, I have been throwing old non-edible vegetables and veggie scraps on my garden along with a bucket of horse crap(can't be arsed to call it manure. Too lazy. :P)

Anyway, has anyone ever been keeping their garden fertilized with compost and/or store bought fertilizer? If you use store bought fertilizer, what brand and would you recommend it?

At 9/8/10 04:42 PM, SlntCobra1 wrote:

Anyway, has anyone ever been keeping their garden fertilized with compost and/or store bought fertilizer? If you use store bought fertilizer, what brand and would you recommend it?

Usually anything by Miracle Grow works well...
Myself, I break up the weeds I pull and put them into empty pots for fertilizer, that way, when I transplant things into these pots, there's no need to do anything more than water. It's a method that serves me well.
I hate using any kind of fecal matter as fertilizer. I just can't touch it. I know it works, but I don't care.

Putting weeds into vases for other plants to feed off of eh? Hmm, sounds like it could work. I do hope you take the time to mulch them up so they won't re-root into the soil and choke the other plant.

So far, we haven't had much in terms of fall color -- but man, have I got a lot of seed so far!

For some reason, I walsy get more oak acorns than I can deal with, but this year I have a lot of incentive to plant them. I've really wanted a white oak, so I collected more than enough seed. I also got some red oak and a few other kinds or seed, even a pile of hickories.

I just now sorted the seed. The sample of ash seeds I've gotten were green ash and white ash, but the green ash was insect damaged and the white ash was not ripe, so I'll have to go back if I want some reliable sprouting seed.

So how about some pictures?
Late sprouting ash seedlings
Here's the oak seed that I just sorted:
Acorn sample, red oak
White oak sample
Hickory nuts.
One of the oaks from the lawn has recovered, with three new leaves.
This weird-looking thing has been growing in the garden. It's some sort of weed that we cannot identify.
This oak twig was sitting right at eye level in the forest at the lake, so that's how I got one acorn.

It looks like one heck of a good fall so far. I still want some white ash and hemlock, so my work here is not done.

I could do with NOT forgetting about this place, don't you think? >_<

At 8/14/10 09:57 PM, Tony-DarkGrave wrote: can I join I love gardening I have some Sunflowers and Potatoes planted in the garden right now.

lol you already asked to join on the first page. XD
I love sunflowers btw. Any piccies we can have? :)

At 8/14/10 11:48 PM, AnotherAnonymous wrote: Sooner or later, saving seeds used for normal vegetables may one day be illegal since the supreme court made it legal to patent plant life :(

I know what you're getting at, but the law only involves GM plant life. Companies that made the GM plant can patent it and charge stupid amounts of money to anyone who either wants some seeds or even wants to distribute their own version of said GM plant, even if the genes used in it are different (as long as the result of said genes is the same, it counts as the same kind of plant). Of course, it'd be pretty hard to enforce that law since plant tissue culture kits are easy to make and use (ergo, you don't need to buy seeds, you just need one original plant and the ability to grow cuttings from it), and I fail to see how they'd stop anyone doing that.

Also, I'm wanting to get into making said GM plants too... so I could come in here and discuss my own GM seed stocks all I like MUWAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

...Ahem.

(Also, the US Supreme court doesn't apply over here in the UK, so meh.)

At 9/6/10 10:36 PM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: I've been needing practice with oaks, so that's what I have been focusing on.

Dude, I just remembered there's a MASSIVE oak tree near here (English oak tree, obviously). If you send me an address I can mail some over... along with about a milion ash seeds I want rid of, since I'm now picking them up off the garden before they sprout.

I'll definitely get some pictures for the next post here.

W00t!

At 9/6/10 11:04 PM, Domo wrote: So we have to hire some gardener to come pull out all the cacti from the yard.

If I were you, I'd just soak the area they're in. Drown the damn things, y'know. Cacti hate living in wet soils for more than a few days, and their roots are very susceptible to mould. Keeping the area moist would kill them pretty effectively, and might be a lot cheaper then hiring a gardener too.

At 9/11/10 09:14 AM, Sheizenhammer wrote:

Dude, I just remembered there's a MASSIVE oak tree near here (English oak tree, obviously). If you send me an address I can mail some over... along with about a milion ash seeds I want rid of, since I'm now picking them up off the garden before they sprout.

I'll definitely get some pictures for the next post here.

Sounds like an interesting project. I've never raised anything non-native, not sure if it'd be successful.

Anyway, I've got a few projects going right now! My most important and urgent are the trees in the garden. I plan to dig them out and put them in pots, because if I don't do it soon, they'll be too large to put in pots or even move, eventually. This is the taller of the two. It has three stems, so I am going to trim off two over the winter, when it is dormant. The second tree is farther back in the garden, and probably has a deeper root system. It's going to be a challenge to get it out.

The fall "colors" are starting to show. Next year, I am going to replant the ash tree in this pot out, because it's just not going to grow well with all of those flowers competing with it.

My favorite tree, this ash, is losing its leaves slowly. It never really gets any good color in the fall, which is weird. I'm not sure if it's a white ash, black ash, or green ash, since I never saw it as a seed (I dug it up out of the woods a couple years ago when it was much smaller). It has characteristics of all three, but mostly black and white. It has the leaf shapes and twig colors of white ash, it leafs out late in spring like a black ash, and it has fuzzy leaf undersides and twigs.

Some more ash trees in this picture. One of them has begun changing colors, in the center.

Check out the color on this maple. It's in a pot with larger cottonwoods, I'll have to move them around later.

Close-up on some of the smaller plants. The one in the white pot has quite a history: I got that out of a park. I "smuggled" it home in a Styrofoam cup. I put it in the large pot because I want to see how much it can grow.

These flowers took over the pot they're in when my first and only beech tree died. I liked that tree, too. Oh well, those little flowers are interesting anyway. I have no idea where they came from.

Another shot of the plants of the deck. Note the elm on the left. It's actually growing inside of a used ice cream bucket. The ash to its right, in the larger pot, is actually one of the seed sprouts from last year's seed collection. To its right is a maple.

The pine trees in the yard are an interesting story themselves. The bigger one has strange colors on the old needles, nothing harmful. It did this last year, too. A couple of pictures of the smaller of the two show that it is near the neighbor's spruces. I suppose one day my pine will overtake theirs and it'll look funny.

a few pictures of the small ash sprouts that I took inside to protect them from frost. Sorry about the mess of links, but I took a.... few... pictures.

These things are keeping me busy, as usual.

I got two gigantic fields of earthaples on two different countryside farms which I share each with the relative neighbours. Earthaples are Austrian Potatos.

Of each field 10% belongs to me, 10% to my neighbour and 80% are being sold to town.

Sorry I know not actually gardening / planting. But I'm proud of them.

So yeah... bump 'n' shit.

I'm not surprised this place died over winter. There's hardly anything to do in the garden anyway, so what would anyone have to post here?
However: 'tis a new growing season again, and I've been busy. I thought whoever's still interested in this place might like to see some pictures of things I've been up to:

You know those Coleus plants I mentioned on the first page? Well, I didn't take any pictures of them after that since they turned out not to be anywhere near as colourful as they should've been. This year, I emptied every seed I had into an indoor propagator over the winter, and now I have a few that ARE properly colourful (as they should've been the first time round!). I have a bright pink one, a deep red one, a few assorted variations of other colours and some more I didn't get to photograph yet. I might be getting pics of them later.

Also, I built a greenhouse. For years I've had to make do with those shitty plastic tent things that never lasted more than a year each because the snow and wind destroyed them every winter. This time, I have a much sturdier one (though it is still held together with sealant, which I made a complete goddamned mess of... damn glazing clips that came with it wouldn't fit the frame!). It's also got electricity and a bottomless pot in it. ^__^

(There are some tomato, pea and carrot seeds in said bottomless pot, but I only sowed them yesterday so it'll be a while before anything happens there.)

I love spring. :D

At 7/13/12 09:53 AM, Amaranthus wrote: I actually go to a school specialized in that.
Could I join?

Wait, how did you even find this? It's been dead for a ye--

...Oh, right.
Lol; I'd completely forgotten about what's in my sig these days. :X

Anyway, there's no "joining" here; just start showing the world what you like to get up to in the garden. Pictures are a good start. What do you do in a school specialised in horticultural stuff anyway?

What a year. Been a while since I last posted here, eh?
Summer was very rough on my plants this year. A lot of days where the temperatures were about 90 degrees (Fahrenheit) and very little rain really kept me busy with watering. Also, our rain barrel broke over the winter so I couldn't use that, which meant I had to drag out the hose every day.

We also had a really bad late frost that killed a TON of new growth on almost every tree I had. It was more of a cosmetic problem, though, because they all sprouted back with almost no problem. It just looked really crappy to have a ton of blackened stems and leaves for a while, and most of the trees have two leader stems now.

I didn't lose any trees to the frost, but the summer heat did kill at least one of my smaller ashes. I've only got like 50 more, though. The heat really stressed them all, and most have lost their leaves or have some sort of fall colors right now.

I did make a major breakthrough; I had my first oak tree actually grow more than 6 inches. Turns out composting ROCKS. Seriously, to grow an oak, just mix in a ton of oak leaves in with the pot it's in. It helps so much. Trial and error was really the key to finally getting oaks to survive.

I also am taking care of a white ash that I sprouted from a seed I found in Northern Michigan. It's still rather small, and I'm trying my best to give it a chance.

I was thinking of ordering an American chestnut, American beech, or white oak tree online. What do you guys think? I want another American chestnut so bad because the first one I had died. I was an idiot and didn't put it in the right kind of soil. But beech trees are cool too.

No pictures with this post, but I'll try and keep more regular updates coming.

Boom, pictures.

I found a guy on eBay who sells American chestnut seeds and I got some. They arrived in the mail two days ago and I could not be much more excited. I've been wanting to start chestnuts from seeds since I learned about the tree. Since I'm outside of the natural range of the American chestnut, I think my trees should be safe from chestnut blight. With any luck, I should be able to plant these in a permanent location nearby and not worry about the blight knocking them off.

I've read that germination rates for the American chestnut can be as high as 95% with proper preparation. My only concern is growing them in pots; I had one before (I ordered it as a 6-10 in sapling online) and it croaked. This time I'll be much more careful... and I have instructions. Anyone have tips on growing plants with taproots in pots? I could use all the help I can get.

So here's a picture of the chestnuts themselves. They're pretty small compared to other chestnut species, but I've read that they taste the best. I don't intend to eat them, though; they're too important for that.

Also, this is the only tree that I have which is still green. The oak is the bigger plant here. The smaller one is the white ash I brought down from northern Michigan as a seed last year. I've mulched the pot with lots of plant material for compost.

My friend is real into horticultural. I'd love to be able to use some of his plants in a recipe of something.

So it's been a while, but I'm still growing stuff.

Last winter was the worst in memory... weeks of negative Fahrenheit temperatures and loads upon loads of snow... I'm surprised I didn't lose more plants. Check out the damage to my potted blue spruce. It really took a beating.

Some of my other trees weren't as lucky. For example, the American chestnuts I had all look like this now. I kept them separated from the other trees, so they probably got too cold with the wind and no insulation. It's a shame, I really liked those things. American chestnut is a "true chestnut," and they apparently grow to be very large and bear large crops of delicious nuts. Oh well.

I've finally started to keep oaks without killing them as easily. I've got what looks like a bur oak or white oak in this pot. I'm not sure which, because it was planted in my yard by a squirrel, so I dug it up and put it in a container to save it from being shredded by a lawnmower. Also, check out this odd plant growing with it. I made it grow in a circle by bending the stem.

I rescued another oak out of the lawn, too. This one appears to be a red oak, and it has some odd purple flowers in with it, as well as an ash tree.

Sort of a good year for tomatoes, they sprouted up everywhere.

It was a pretty good year for marigolds, too.

Here's one of my seed-sprouted ash trees, which seems to love the spot it's in now. It's mostly ash trees in that image, though there is a wisteria tree on the right, and a small eastern cottonwood on the left near the wall.

I've also got some odd plants growing in with my trees, like this "chicken" in with a maple. Speaking of maples, growing red or silver maples is a breeze, but sugar maples are much more difficult to work with. Heck, you could practically grow a silver maple in sand.

One of my older ash trees suffered a close call. Its main stem got lopped off somehow, and I trimmed the others back last fall to make it symmetrical... needless to say, it was a bad call. It didn't leaf out this spring, and I was afraid I had killed it, but then I noticed some of the buds were swelling. It started growing a little bit this summer, and slowly but surely, it came back. It didn't grow out that much, but it survived. This is what it looks like today: link
I'm glad it's still alive, it's my favorite tree now that the chestnuts are kaput.

Looking back at some of my earlier posts here, I really should have dug up that one ash tree from the garden.

At 9/3/14 08:08 PM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote: So it's been a while, but I'm still growing stuff.

As am I. This whole hobby thing is not one I'll be ditching anytime soon. As a matter of fact, I got myself on a course in horticulture at a nearby college, starting later this month. Can't fucking wait!

Last winter was the worst in memory... weeks of negative Fahrenheit temperatures and loads upon loads of snow... I'm surprised I didn't lose more plants. Check out the damage to my potted blue spruce. It really took a beating.

Ouch. And that's supposed to be an alpine-adapted plant too? Wow, now that's a harsh winter.

Some of my other trees weren't as lucky. For example, the American chestnuts I had all look like this now. I kept them separated from the other trees, so they probably got too cold with the wind and no insulation. It's a shame, I really liked those things. American chestnut is a "true chestnut," and they apparently grow to be very large and bear large crops of delicious nuts. Oh well.

Well, I suppose if you had a spare 20 years to wait for them to mature, and no more harsh winters in between, you could've had a lot of delicious nuts off of them. That's kinda the thing that gets me with trees: they just take so damn long to grow to maturity that I doubt I'll ever be in a house long enough to plant something like a chestnut or oak tree and ever see any kind of crop or tangible reward for doing so. I know these things aren't exactly hard to grow (especially not in the U.K: This island was originally one giant forest form top to bottom, and many of the species native to it will literally grow from bits of branches hammered into the soil and forgotten about), but it's just time and space I don't really have, or probably ever will.

I've finally started to keep oaks without killing them as easily. I've got what looks like a bur oak or white oak in this pot. I'm not sure which, because it was planted in my yard by a squirrel, so I dug it up and put it in a container to save it from being shredded by a lawnmower. Also, check out this odd plant growing with it. I made it grow in a circle by bending the stem.

Looks like half a dozen generic weeds that grow around here (the odd plant, not the oak :P ). Can't quite put my finger on it, but it's definitely familiar.

It was a pretty good year for marigolds, too.

This, right here, is why I really want a more permanent house. I can never get the garden to this kind of cultivation because I always have to move in a year or two (most of the time, a lot less than that).

I've also got some odd plants growing in with my trees, like this "chicken" in with a maple.

That almost looks like a sempervivum plant. So named because they're damn near impossible to kill by accident. If you leave it for long enough you might get some surprisingly ornate flowers out of it too. ;)

Looking back at some of my earlier posts here, I really should have dug up that one ash tree from the garden.

Hindsight is like the annoying little know-it-all bitch at the front of the class, huh?

Anyway, my "garden" (more of a flower bed and a window box, but meh) looks like this now. It's mostly dying back for the winter, but you can see what I think is a Zinnia plant on the left (the pink daisy-looking thing). Next to it, various smaller purple and white flowers around the bases of the larger plants (no idea what most of them are; I just emptied a packet of "wildflower seeds" onto the soil and watched the results). Next to the wall are the stems of 4 lilies (2 planted from bulbs; 2 more bought from the Chelsea Flower show, which was an awesome experience btw), and in the background under the window box are some Iris plants.

The main thing here is the Irises... or more to the point, where I got them from.
A couple of months ago I had a job interview at the Animal Health Trust, which is a charity organisation with a BIG estate in which it operates. With gardens to match. And it accepts volunteer help in keeping the gardens tidy. I couldn't not offer help in such a beautiful place (seriously, it's a literal mansion), and because they don't often get volunteer hep in the gardens, I'm pretty much the only help the sole paid gardener gets. Since said gardener is a little old lady, I get all the heavy lifting and digging jobs she can't do.

She now has a means to redesign things she never liked about the place, which means I get to dig a lot of things up out of the gardens to make room for new stuff. And I get first dibs on anything I dig up and would otherwise end up on a compost heap anyway. These lilies were the first thing I brought home, but there'll no doubt be more stuff to fill the spaces that all of the wildflowers will leave behind come the winter (almost all of them are annuals). So, in effect, I talked my way into a LOT of free plants, and all I have to do is effectively just dig them up and take them home. EPIC PLANT WIN! :D

Watch this space for more pics in time; I'll take my camera with me next time I'm in the AHT gardens. You wouldn't believe that it's actually a workplace... let alone a laboratory as well.

At 9/7/14 08:00 PM, Sheizenhammer wrote:

At 9/3/14 08:08 PM, Ronald-McDonald-LoL wrote:

Last winter was the worst in memory... weeks of negative Fahrenheit temperatures and loads upon loads of snow... I'm surprised I didn't lose more plants. Check out the damage to my potted blue spruce. It really took a beating.

Ouch. And that's supposed to be an alpine-adapted plant too? Wow, now that's a harsh winter.

I think it might has been partially buried in snow for a while, which contributed to any branch death.

I've also got some odd plants growing in with my trees, like this "chicken" in with a maple.

That almost looks like a sempervivum plant. So named because they're damn near impossible to kill by accident. If you leave it for long enough you might get some surprisingly ornate flowers out of it too. ;)

That's exactly what it is! I've been trying to figure out what these are called. According to Wikipedia, it's not easy to tell the species apart. That's okay, I'm fine with just knowing the general name. We've got them growing all over the place.
I love those little things.

She now has a means to redesign things she never liked about the place, which means I get to dig a lot of things up out of the gardens to make room for new stuff. And I get first dibs on anything I dig up and would otherwise end up on a compost heap anyway. These lilies were the first thing I brought home, but there'll no doubt be more stuff to fill the spaces that all of the wildflowers will leave behind come the winter (almost all of them are annuals). So, in effect, I talked my way into a LOT of free plants, and all I have to do is effectively just dig them up and take them home. EPIC PLANT WIN! :D

That's really cool. Not only are you getting free plants, but they're going to be beautiful as well.

BONUS PICTURE! Flowers from the garden earlier this summer.