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If you have put out anything in the nightshade family or if your beans are up they are the most vulnerable. We used to have all our tomatoes etc set in clay tiles until the weather warmed up. Wall-o-water type gadgets are very good too. They sell frost protection row covers but if you use them you must make a hoop of some kind to keep it up off the plants, I learned the hard way that where it touched the plants frost will pass through. In a pinch you can mound straw or some other light mulches over plants at night.
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Tender plants, young seedlings, new growth, non woody stems. Cover with just about anything. Use stakes to keep heavy clothes from breaking plants, sheets, burlap are good. The idea is to cover n the evening to keep warmth in the ground during the night. Remove the next day as soon as temps are above freezing.
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Send, I think they are but never had a cat that bothered my house plants. I keep them up out of harms way. The only thing my cat has tried to get at is celery. When I come back from the grocery store and put bags on the floor.
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I did some raised beds. Unfortunately my four cats think they are dandy new litter boxes. A man brought me a single baby goose that was caught in fishing line down at the creek. Only a day or two old. Cats are eyeballing her too.
Captain, I have lots of red and grey squirrels and many chipmunks.
The rabbits left town when the cats moved in. But the neighbors meat chickens do wander over from time to time.
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i put ground cover cloth down in my tomato garden this evening . in the gaps between the rows i dropped some cabbage seeds . i figure the cabbage plants will yield some head shot rabbits .
im an animal lover ..
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Sharyn, Aren't the pathos poisonous to cats? I am not sure anymore.
When my dog kept getting sick-all plants were banned in-house. We just never put them back after she died. That may be a good idea though-to help the indoor oxygen. Thinking about it.
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Sour grapes, gritty pears,hmmm....sounds pretty serious...no it cant be!!!

Who does indoor gardening? Any houseplant people?? I have 2 lucky bamboo plants in water. One is around 6 years old. Ànyone like Pothos (devils ivy)? Easy to grow and great for filtering indoor air.
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i guess im still a little pissy about guadalcanal ..
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Cap, that sounds like sour grapes to me (or is that sour pears?). Asian pears are supposed to be grit free.
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japanese trees kill themselves at the first sign of dishonor . my asian pear tree did too . GOOD . ive found out since that the pears are as gritty as hirohitos ball sweat .
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Cwillie-looked online at the Emperor,Japanese Maple. A gorgeous tree!
Hoping it lives. More research!
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Totally understand the privacy issues. Some tiny-holed lattice privacy barriers has helped here. Trees are better, because you don't get boxed in as much.

People here live so close-they wear headphones to pretend they cannot hear the neighbors saying helllo.
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It is (was?) an emperor, with purple red leaves, and was meant to fill in the area beside my deck and provide a little privacy. I like my neighbours, but I don't want to have to chat every time I go out my back door!
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What kind of Japanese Maple? Does it have the reddish brown leaves?
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Yeah, Cwillie-that is also what I read online, posted it here, that too disappeared.
I googled: Japanese Maple in Canada withering....
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I am still hoping for a resurrection, but hope is fading.
Last winter was mostly mild but not much snow cover, it survived the polar vortex of the year before which was its first winter with me. Checking online I think I may have plated it too deep, they say to leave a few inches of the root ball above ground... now they tell me!
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My posts are being erased. Sorry Cwillie, maybe your tree is not really dead.
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Cwillie, did you experience cold weather below 32 degrees? I lost mine one year due to a cold snap even though I put it on our covered patio.
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My little japanese maple is still not showing any signs of life and even the walnuts are budding now. Why would it up and die on me?? :(
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Visited here today, it is very grey outside. There will be pictures soon of my bouganvillias.
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I don't have the patience to baby roses, but if I do decide to plant any it will be from the Canadian explorer series, tough as nails. I did take a cutting from a red climber of unknown name that has managed to survive the winter and is putting out new leaves, so I will have to find some kind of a trellis for it.
My woodland garden will have to rely heavily on illusion as I have a very small lot, but two walnuts serve as the foundation and I have added a serviceberry directly below and a redbud just beyond the drip line. The smaller plants will be a mix of native and juglone tolerant non native plants, so far mainly hosta, daylily, ferns and bleeding heart with several small spring bulbs.
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GA, I have three Austin roses - white, pale pink and a peachy color. They have so many petals, they resemble peonies. Their fragrance is amazing - strong , pure old rose scent.

I've grown sweet potatoes before from slips. I have the best results putting them in a large pot - I think I'm better able to give them adequate water that way. Great looking plant and I had enough potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner.

The wind whalloped a few veg plants - a tomato, some peppers. I usually have to replace a few each spring due to wind damage. Grapes and apples look good. Need to get the rest of the plants in this weekend.
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LINDA, do you grow David Austin roses as well? They're so beautiful, so lovely.... whenever I see them I want to buy most of them! I could easily spend my entire SS allotment on roses!

Years ago Meadowbrook Hall used to have annual garden shows. If I recall correctly, it was there (or it could actually have been at Cranbrook) that the traditional large rose garden was an attraction. It was quite an experience to wander through a large garden filled entirely with roses, most of them fragrant.

On that subject, I think I'll give up food for a month and use the money to buy David Austin roses!

Thanks for the reminder of using toothpicks to hold the sweet potato sections above water - I remember that I usually end up changing the water regularly once the roots begin growing, and they do grow into quite a mass.

Have you ever seen the ornamental ones for sale other than in gardening stores? They're much more expensive than the regular edible sweet potatoes. I notice that more and more cities are filling the large container planters with the ornamentals, complimented by masses of calibrachoa, petunias, or other flowering plants.


CWILLIE, I like the idea of extending a woodland garden. Keep us posted on what you decide to plant there. I'm also curious how long it will take for the cardboard to break down under the mulch.

Helpful as it can be, I'd be leery of trying it in my area b/c one of the neighborhood snoopers would probably report me to code enforcement and I'd be cited for blight.

I used to have a woodland garden that I really liked - it was filled with ostrich ferns, trilliums my mother grew from seeds, hostas, wax begonias and a few daffodils. It was so cool appearing, so soothing. I edged it with rocks that I uncovered while digging it up before planting.

This year I plant to create little woodland pockets, planted with caladium, ferns, perhaps sweet peas and petunias and begonias.


SEND, a few days ago I watched a BlueJay making repeated trips to what appeared to be a pocket in the large (and annoying) cottonwood in the abandoned yard next door. I suspect there might be some little BlueJays, so I'll just keep a watchful eye. Hopefully the neighborhood cats won't discover any little baby Jays.
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Cwillie- I am so happy to hear the birds outside-almost 24 hours a day it seems they don't sleep at 3 a.m. They are drawing me out the door to take a look. I was watching one just twirt and tweet, making a fuss, came down from the wire to the block wall and did a dance, twirted some more, pecked at the top of the wall as if I should have put some seeds out there! Maybe I will, maybe I will be sorry too.
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I'd rather have garden gnomes than trolls... ;)
Seriously though, I haven't noticed any more trolls than usual, but then I try to stay away from posts that start to go around in circles.

Today there was a wren twittering in the area and I heard swallows in the distance, the summer birds have arrived! I spent some time today outlining an extension to my natural woodland garden area, my philosophy is that if a space is a p.i.t.a. to mow it becomes a garden. If I can get some heavy cardboard I will cover it and apply wood chips to avoid having to dig it up. I'm still mulling over what to plant there, I'd like to put in another serviceberry tree if I can find a good deal, if not perhaps I will try to root a cutting from the one I planted last year.
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David Austins are wonderful - such strong, rose fragrance. I've had good luck with sweet potato slips - I cut out a chunk with an eye, put it in water (use toothpicks to submerge the bottom and eye), and pot up after it develops roots. I have a large plant on the counter, waiting for the warmer weather so I can plant it outside. Found a couple tomatillo plants at the store - a client was telling me about his mom's new small garden - she has AD - how she likes to tend to the plants. Good for the soul.
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I had a lot of beautiful roses, including some of the David Austin hybrids, and eventually lost all of them either to winter weather or contractors driving up in the narrow driveway and driving right over my little pocket garden. I still have one climber - that's all that's left.

You're not joking about the trolls - posting has become like stepping in mud - you never know when you'll sink into a trap.
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GA, Was joking about the potato salad.
You are talking about uncooked potatoes, I am sure. Thank you for your serious answer. As for the rose slips-they were planted right into the ground.

I had good success with a tiny rose bush gifted from a market supply on a long past Mother's Day. My son gave it to me and I planted it outside. It grew and grew, lasted over several years! Then, a cold winter killed everything in the garden.

Good thing we have our gardens as a retreat since so many new posters are trolls.
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Send, you can create your own potato starts by cutting/dividing them so that each has some of the tightly packed roots. I don't know how well they'll grow or taste though given CA's drought, which can affect the taste of tubers.

I don't recall if you tried to root your roses directly in the ground or in water first. If I recall correctly, there's a method to which cuttings you take based on which side of a rose branch node they're cut from. I'd have to do some research though as it's been awhile since I've taken rose cuttings.

If transplanting and cuttings are a problem, have you tried putting the cuttings in a separate pot, in potting (not ground) soil, keeping them in the shade until they root?

There are natural rooting hormones that can help - as I recall the branch of a willow tree will exude those kinds of hormones if placed in a glass of water with the cutting. I can't find the information in my gardening files right now though.
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Good morning Send!!! LOL!! I have a big appetite!!
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