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Puncturvine is new to me, and after checking wiki I'm glad it doesn't grow here. At least not yet, but it seems I read about a new invasive species or two popping up every year. The emerald ash borer has completely decimated local trees, every year we get an alert about giant hogweed, there is a big push to educate landowners about phragmates control, and just recently I've read about freshwater jellyfish in local lakes.
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Sorry, the Trumpet vines had me stuck, then I realized I could use the puncturevines to cut the trumpets.

The main trumpet is huge. Probably 12 feet tall, three or four vines braided together. Dang things they are coming up all over the yard. Have pruned many o u t, but they will be back. And the puncturevines poor Macy's feet. I pull them s I fine them. Walk the yard with my work gloves. Those things are really nasty!
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This Spring I borrowed a little reel lawn mower from my sister-in-law because I wanted to see if it was a practical option. (Well, I guess she told me she didn't want it back so it is really a gift.) I LOVE it, it is almost fun to be able to cut the grass without fiddling with gas and exhaust fumes and noise. Good exercise too, and really no harder to push than a gas mower.
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Glad, they'll soon be back. But you'll feel meanly better for doing it.
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Hear hear!
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SusanA43,
Are you locked out again, leaving your friends? Your messages box is closed, hoping you are okay, and know that you are missed!

Also, Garden Artist, originator of this thread, glad to see you returning lately!

It's okay to come and go, but so nice to keep in touch with the old gang.

HELLO!
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How big are these trumpet vines? Little seedlings maybe, but full sized rambling vines probably have a root system to match. No harm trying though.
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Any truth to boiling water killing trumpet vines? Has anyone tried it?
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Susan, please don't use herbicide! I cringe when I read about toxics for use in the garden. I've found easier ways to kill them.

Grow morning glories and twine them all around the bark. They choke the tree and prevent it from getting air. Or strip the bark and grow the MGs then, winding them around the bark.

Stump killing is necessary too. I usually dig out around the stumps, strip the bark, and again, use morning glories to kill the rest.

I discovered that MGs do double duty as beautiful flowers as well as junk tree eradicators. And what could be lovelier than those pretty little flowers?
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The key to getting ahead of manitoba maple seedlings (box elders to you) is to be ever vigilant and root them out when they are under 1 year old, after that the roots just live on forever. We had one that was cut off at the ground annually for 20 years.
I don't hate the big trees though, the grow fast, make good shade and the leaves are small enough that raking isn't always necessary. Don't get me started on Norway Maples though....
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Gardening whine today: Boxelder trees and their never-ending "volunteers" that show up everywhere.

Today (and every year) I pulled out my handy-dandy saw and cut out a huge pile of Boxelder saplings that keep invading my mom's lilacs. They just love to come right up through the center of the clump of lilacs, where they're hard to reach to cut down. Thought I'd gotten them all, then came back inside and looked out the window - nope - there are at least 2 more in the center of the lilacs, and about 8-10' tall. The trunks on those suckers are about 2" in diameter. Also cut one out of the flower bed that keeps coming back every year - the roots to that one go under the garage, so I can't yank them out. Then I trimmed the new sprouts that were coming out of the sides of the big Boxelder trees themselves.

I'd get rid of the big trees, but after the great pine tree purge of 2014, they're the only large shade trees left on that side of the yard.

I've got to get some herbicide that I can paint on the cut ends of the brush I've cut to get it to stop growing back. Most of them are in locations that I can't get to in order to dig out the roots, and I don't want to kill the surrounding plant life.
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Trumpet vines are incredibly invasive. Unless roundup has a formula for woody plants, regular roundup is formulated for soft green tissue. That doesn't mean you can can't try it. However, using a chemical that is for woody stems is probably going to work better. I would talk with a nursery specialist at your local nursery. Good luck.
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Glad, trumpet vines are wickedly hard to get rid of. A couple of forums said to cut the end of the vine lengthwise and stick the cut end into a small container or Roundup! My FIL has been battling an old vine for a couple years.
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Trumpet vines! I have been working in these overgrown, neglected gardens about three hours on each Saturday and Sunday. Stop by noon I cannot take the afternoon sun and what. I have been avoiding taking the vines out until I was sure what they are. They are very nice, the largest one is about a 12 foot tall tree. But, the seeds, that come from pods are being scattered everywhere. There are way, way to many of them. Some are so old their stems have become wood trunks. How to get rid of these interlopers? Vinegar?
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So I was looking out the front window at my blue spruce and it is covered in gypsy moth caterpillars. I know it is really getting too big to be a foundation tree but I'd rather not have it eaten up, so I've been attacking with insecticidal soap. That probably explains the head pounding pesticide stench in the neighbourhood recently. What's next, locusts??
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Spooky! In Saturday's paper, Helen Yemm's "Thorny Problems" agony column includes the following:


*****************

"Snowball Under Siege"

Q - My beloved viburnum (V. opulus 'Roseum') is being eaten alive by a colony of nasty little caterpillars. They seem to be destroying the whole bush. Will the little blighters spread to neighbouring plants/shrubs? What is the best course of action and can the bush be saved, even if I cut it down? - Lyn Main, Dorking, via e-mail.

A - This is the work of the larvae of the viburnum beetle, a nasty pest with a highly complicated life cycle the understanding of which is necessary before you enter into a vigorous battle with it.

Viburnum opulus 'Roseum' (also known as the snowball tree) is unfortunately one of the most susceptible of all the viburnums (along with V. tinus), but there are some varieties that are less so. The beetle is specific and certainly won't spread to other shrubs.

(Might I refer you to an excellent in-depth article from these pages, 'How to win the battle against the viburnum beetle,' by Ken Thompson, to be found online? Although alas, I fear it will depress you.)

In your situation I would be tempted to cut the shrub down - now, before the next generation of beetles has hatched out - to make it start again. Spray the new foliage with a systemic insecticide at the end of the summer and early next spring (when the buds burst). You will not get many flowers next year, but you may just interfere with that endless life cycle.

If the same thing happens again in the future, you have little choice, in my view: dig it up and plant something in its place that is easier.

Gardening is not supposed to be an endless heartbreaking battle with the forces of nature.

*************
I especially need to note her last sentence!
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I read the advice about it being too late but I am not going to let them go off and pupate, ready to attack later. Between applications of insecticidal soap I've been systematically squishing them, funny how changing diapers has increased my tolerance for the ick factor involved in that ;)
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Oh. Forget nematodes. But the RHS website has a lot to say about when to tackle the little blighters (not now, too late) and encouraging things about it might look awful but the plant will survive all right.
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It'll come, Susan. Also, I think its intensity varies from year to year according to rainfall and sun (but don't quote me).

CW, has anyone said "nematodes" to you?
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Mom's peonies are blooming! :-)

They don't have the fragrance I remember though...wondering if that's something that will come in time, due to the trauma of not being allowed to grow properly for so many years.
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Lilies are so beautiful!!
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For MsMadge, who has Lilies of the Nile blooming:
Agapanthus, also known as Lily of the Nile and African Lily, grows from a fleshy root system. ... When all its needs are met, Agapanthus can blooms for months. As the blooms begin to fade, cut the flower stem back as close to the soil as possible. Allowing the flower to set seed reduces blooming.
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I hope you can find the room, they are so beautiful and worth it.
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Thanks, Sharyn!

Funny - I was just talking to a neighbor about the peonies today, and he offered me a huge pink peony bush that he's planning to rip out. I'll have to see if I can find space for it.
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That is so awesome Susan!!! Many plants are very resilient!!
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I'm kind of pleased with myself.

Mom had 2 beautiful peony bushes in the yard for as long as I can remember. They would open up in huge, fragrant blooms every summer. I remember her bringing cut flowers in and turning them upside down in a dish of water with a little dish soap in it to kill the ants that might be hiding in the flowers before putting them in a vase of water to enjoy.
Once Mom & Dad got up in years and unable to maintain the yard, they hired the work out. The guy they hired was a member of their church, who gave them a good price on the work, so they had him do it for years. Trust me, he wasn't a pro at it. Mom asked him to trim a lilac tree - he took a chainsaw to it and killed it. She told him to watch out for the peony plants without telling him where they were. He ran them over - repeatedly - every week for years when he mowed. Same with the patch of rhubarb plants that Dad had tended so carefully for decades.

Fast forward to 2013, when I moved in to care for Mom. I kept the same yard guy for as long as Mom lived, out of respect for their wishes. Once Mom passed away, I hired someone else - someone who would actually listen to what I wanted done and do it that way. Last year, Mom's peonies came back and grew to about 1/2 the height they normally would, but no blooms. This year, they are full height and loaded down with huge buds that are just about ready to burst open in all their former glory. The rhubarb is also slowly coming back, now that it's not being mowed down every single week. It's taking longer to come back, but I suspect in a few years, it will be back....if I'm still here. If I move, I will have to do some serious transplanting.

Mom had a gorgeous flowerbed that is now overgrown with grass and weeds. One end is literally choked with thick grass and nothing else. That's next on the list.
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"A farmer is someone who is outstanding in their field!" was one of my dad's favourite little jokes LOL
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It is understandable that people don't want to pay good money for a bag of dirt. My hubs even makes fun of me.
But once a year,  that topsoil potting mix has helped keep plants looking good. The bouganvillia dirt was replaced a year ago, after Sharyn gave the same directions, which worked! So, I am putting two bags of dirt back into the budget, and buying it without him there. Today, he splurged at the tool store ( his splurge is minor), using a coupon. He deserves it.
Cwillie, your plant will appreciate it!
A farmer is someone who is outstanding in their field!
You can do this!
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While not an expert, it sounds like they over winter in the soil. I would remove 2-3 inches of top soil and replace with a new compost. Keep spraying the bush. Many insects that reoccur over winter in the soil. It's a good place to start. If the bush will releaf ,  then remove all the leaves and start over, while continuing to spray the soap or BT. Good luck!!
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I'm frustrated that my snowball bush is once again devastated by sawfly larvae, last year I tried dusting with diatomaceous earth, this year I've coated the leaves with insecticidal soap twice already and today I spent a half hour squishing bugs on every.single.leaf., or the remnants of leaves as there is very little left intact. The little buggers are even eating the flowers now. :(
Is it even possible to get ahead of these things or should I just tear the shrub out and be done with it?
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