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Have never had oak trees before, I am looking forward to the change of colors. Probably a couple of weeks out yet, some trees are starting to change. Though, I must say, I have never been bombed with acorns either! The squirrels are well fed! LOL! Poor Macy, she is going to give herself whiplash, "what just fell"?
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Everything here is gearing up for fall, need rain badly. Love summer when everything is blooming, but kind of enjoy fall when it cools down and I can start digging up the bulbs and clearing out the dead brush. Love to see the size of the elephant ear bulbs and canna bulbs.
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Here in central Cali we are around 73 today with breezes and tomorrow is expected to be a high of 67 with clouds and possibly a shower of 2. Am hoping it stays cool like this until winter comes.
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Garden Artist, Can you turn down the brightness on your screen?
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Going to even out my rose bush again, the roses are gone, the leaves are baked in the sun. More water!!!
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That's it, Sharyn,
They are outside, in the garden. If is cooled today, 79° F.
Sun, and just now some clouds.
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Very quite here. Where is everyone?

The irises I planted about 5 weeks ago (barefoot) are growing well. The barefoot iris I received 10 days before going to Idaho, I soaked in water for 24 hours when we arrived home yesterday afternoon. I am going to plant it now, hoping it survives.
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Oh, yes....it is the Abe Lincolin rose!!
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Thank you GA. We are leaving for Idaho on Sunday, wont be back til October 1. I will leave it packaged as is. Here in Central California still having 80a90 degree temps. Autumn for us is usually late October early November.
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GA, my mother lived in San Antonio (drought and very low aquifer these days with all the commercial development) so there is a big push to zero-scape or hard-scape the yards. She had a gigantic agave plant in the front yard, various flowering grasses and yucca. It was gorgeous and very low maintenance once things were established. Years ago, my husband and I left any tree planting for the back yard to the nature area behind our house. We have all kids of plants that thrive in the yard that were "gifts" from the nature area and that like the weather and watering naturally available. I think it's a great idea and as we deplete resources is much more attractive than golf course greenery.
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Glad, sorry I missed your comments on ground covers. May I respond later? All the white space on this page is bothering my eyes!
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Sharyn, I'd keep it in the excelsior packing which I presume it came in. The packing should absorb moisture and keep the root from rotting, but I'd check daily just to be sure no mold develops.

I don't know what area of the country you're in, so if you're in a hot West or SW area, try to find a cooler place to store the root. Keep it out of the sun one way or another.

Another alternative is just "heel it in" in a temporary place so it gets the benefit of soil, then when you're ready to plant it in its permanent home, dig up the root ball with the iris root and replant the whole thing.

BTW, is that the Abe Lincoln rose in your avatar?
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I received a barefoot iris in the mail today. I cant plant it until Oct 2. How can I store, protect int I can plant it???
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Garden, my yard her, not by design I am sure, in the spring had johnny jump ups scattered throughout the back yard. Then there was also the strawberry patch that I think just outgrew the garden. The squirrels and birds loved them though. I have seen yard where people have planted tulip and daffodikpl bulbs sporadically throughout which is very nice in the spring just as the weather is beginning to warm up. I would do a patch in the yard, dig up the grass. Not the whole yard try it next year and see how it looks. If too flowery I would not want to walk on jt. Then maybe allergies? Lilacs set me on my ear. Course they would not be a ground cover then either would they.
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Wondering if anyone has or is in the process of converting lawn to ground covers? For a variety of reasons, some relating to health, I'm considering having the lawns plowed up and putting in ground covers that will provide a sequential flowering lawn.

Any experience with this? Thoughts?
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Send, awesome news about your garden. I have never been to Huntington gardens. Will googled it to see what it is all about!!
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We will be missing the Huntington Gardens, could not get tickets.
Yosemite is but a distant dream in the past.
Just being so grateful for all of you here, on the gardening as therapy thread.
Our garden actually looks much improved, as I said before.
The bougie is thriving, the rose bush has 4 buds, there is a unique patch of St. Augustine grass left, bright green, growing fast, in a circle surrounding the tiny apple tree, also thriving! Couldn't have asked for a better border to keep the
water from draining away from the tree. Never have seen anything like it. But after trimming about 15 inches away from tree trunk, adding new topsoil and feeding the tree with the normal, popular liquid-it appears a miracle! Really!

So, I am happy with my yard, garden, best ever! Dear hubby is on his own schedule, and has self-motivated for about 4 months now! Lots of praises go out to him for his meticulous hand gardening. Now, less damaging work for me, I am getting better now that I quit trying so hard and hurting myself in the process.

How does my garden grow?
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Has anyone retired by purchasing a small nursery and living on the property in a small house or RV? Your garden is ready.
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The gardens should be lovely this time of year.
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Pamstegma,
What do you all think I have been doing by walking on his back? Lol.
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Hubs would probably prefer a bath house with a Geisha and some saki.
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There is a fancy tea house there, maybe my hubs would go-do men really go to tea houses?
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Planning a trip to Huntington Gardens in the fall. This avatar is looking over towards the Japanese gardens in San Marino.
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I lost the hydrangea I had in the front. It received morning sun. I discovered by accident that if I left the blooms on the plant, in the fall they turn a beautiful burgandy color. I was so excited by this, I cut them and used to decorate my table for Thanksgiving with some mini pumpkins.
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When I had hydrangeas in a small condo walkway, they were my first alert plant signaling a need for water. Once cut them back, so severely, thinking to remove them, but they grew right back and were even prettier then. Today, I just admire them because I have none.
Florists dry them, or freeze-dry them to retain the color and use the dried hydrangeas in an elaborate flower arrangements.
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Stacey, when you move, take some cuttings of your favorite plants.
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I *think* (I haven't checked) that you can cut hydrangeas back as savagely as you like if they've outgrown their space, and you won't do them any long-term harm - they just won't flower on the shoots you've cut below their previous year's growth, so your husband has been very text book indeed about that! And about leaving the last season's growth on until Spring, so that the buds underneath are protected through Winter.

If you are really fond of them, you can grow them quite easily in containers. Take some cuttings now, they take about three weeks to root and start growing on. Not sure about root divisions but I don't think so, the daisies are tuberous perennials aren't they?

Gosh yes you are going to miss the garden. I was braced to do without when I moved in the spring, and it was pure luck that this rental property comes with a nice little plot - not really enough for vegetables but plenty to potter about in.
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CM, we have several Hydrangeas in our yard, and now after several years, they are Huge, despite my husband cutting them down to nearly nothing (about 10-14 inches right above a shoot) every April. He's not what I would call a text book gardener, but he has a green thumb! Now, are they getting so big because they have such a big root ball, and perhaps have outgrown their space, as one in particular, is next to the walkway entering our home and this year almost completely took over, and if so, then should the plant be replanted elsewhere? Another question, can you devide the roots of the hydrangea, like I have done with my Shasta Daisy's? With those, as they get cut right down to the vase of the plant each year, he just took an ax and chopped the root system into 4 and placed each root ball into other areas of our garden and they did fantastic!

This is the Sad part of leaving our home of 23+ years, all of the improvements we've made. The house was only a year old when we got it, so the yard was practically a blank slate. Every plant, every garden, all planned out by my husband mainly, as he always loved working in the yard, do we will definitely miss that part about home ownership. When we get reestablished in a Condo, I'm sure that we will have many container plants and a little garden hopefully, so that he can putter!
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My hydrangea cuttings are rooting :D !!! Not to brag, but the normal propagation routine for me is careful, not to say neurotic, memorising of instructions, punctilious attention to carrying out same, and then a few weeks later chucking a pile of sorry bits of twig into the compost bin - so this is a real breakthrough.

I only bothered this time because a friend was admiring the parent plant and said she'd love a piece of it if I didn't mind - so she'll be the first to get one of the babies in a nice pot, as soon as it's big enough.

It's inspired me to have another go at the rosemary, in spite of its being a dismal failure first time round. I fancy a low hedge of it along the path to my front door, so I've got twelve cuttings dibbed into clay pots. I live in hope!
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Rose leaves that are healthy will have a purplish cast in the spring and when ant new leaves grow out, turning to a nice green color once they mature. Send, your roses appear to very healthy.
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