The gardening thread

[bimble]

Plant ID and a reassuring word please!
This climbing plant lives on the wall of my house and i love it very much. Quick growing, lustrous green and then glorious deep red heart shaped leaves.
I've had a google and can't find what its name is and now all of the leaves are almost gone and it looks like it might be dead and i really want to know if it is ok?




(these pics are from a couple of weeks ago, now its mostly just dry looking spindly brown stems with a very few leaves clinging on just at the furthest ends)

 

[two sheds]

I am often asked to remove ivy from walls and fences. I usually cut through the main stem as close to soil level as possible. I then either drill some holes in the crosscut ivy trunk, fill with SBS 'Stump Out' and cover with a black plastic bag and tape. May need another application next spring. I find the herbicide translocates within the ivy trunk and kills the roots without affecting nearby plant growth, leaching into the soil, or affecting wildlife.
I agree with Two sheds - hand-lifting ivy from across a bed or border is quite satisfying. The adventitious roots are never very deep so entire lengths of stem can be lifted...but when old and gnarly growth is covering upright structures, or getting too high into the canopy of trees, I generally do the chop and stumpkiller method.

That sounds good. I do keep some roundup for Japanese knotweed which we get around here. I similarly cut off the stem (they're always young so very thin) near the ground, put a bit of roundup in a small piece of paper towel wrapped in a small piece of plastic bag and tie it round the cut stem. Works really well.

 

[The39thStep]

Plant ID and a reassuring word please!
This climbing plant lives on the wall of my house and i love it very much. Quick growing, lustrous green and then glorious deep red heart shaped leaves.
I've had a google and can't find what its name is and now all of the leaves are almost gone and it looks like it might be dead and i really want to know if it is ok?



View attachment 239218View attachment 239219View attachment 239220
(these pics are from a couple of weeks ago, now its mostly just dry looking spindly brown stems with a very few leaves clinging on just at the furthest ends)

Isn't that some form of virginian creeper? I had one at my old house. If it is that cycle you mentioned is just normal. Just a word of caution its worth cutting it back every three years or so as the it grows very quickly gets into the eves and guttering and the way it attaches its self to the brickwork can lead to repointing.

 

[bimble]

Thank you! I thought it didn't look like the pictures of virginia creepers just because of leaf shape but that makes more sense than anything else.

 

[Duncan2]

thanks campanula will reapply myself to the job armed with that info.Although my first task will have to be clearing the area of half a ton of fallen beech leaves

 

[The39thStep]

Thank you! I thought it didn't look like the pictures of virginia creepers just because of leaf shape but that makes more sense than anything else.

I think there are quite a few variations

 

[gentlegreen]

Boston ivy - the well-behaved version ...

EDIT - wrong leaf shape

The one that eats my house is Parthenocissus vitifolia I think...

 

[two sheds]

I thought virginia creeper apart from the leaf shape, too. Interesting that there are variations. Mine which covers shed no.1 had dropped all its leaves now, too.

 

[gentlegreen]

Whatever it is, insects love it, but it produces no edible grapes - even mildewy ones

 

[iona]

thanks campanula will reapply myself to the job armed with that info.Although my first task will have to be clearing the area of half a ton of fallen beech leaves

Pile them up somewhere to make leaf mould!

 

[Duncan2]

Pile them up somewhere to make leaf mould!

Iona-I wish you could see my pile of beech leaves which looks a bit like the Great Pyramid at Giza.I literally rake em onto a tarp and haul them off the lawn onto the side of the road.The vexing thing is I add to the pyramid each November and the breaking down into leaf mould thing doesn't seem to happen.I must look like some demented Badger clearing out its sett.Can't burn them though I tried recently and produced a bank of dense white smoke which must have appalled the poor sods locked down in the flats next door. Maybe if I was to dig down fifteen harvests I would find some useful compost but i'm not too sure.
When is the best time to plant daffodil bulbs for March 2021-have savvy gardeners done this already?

 

[two sheds]

Sycamore leaf pyramids of about the same dimension (20 trees round the garden) do break down in 1 year I can testify.

Daffodil bulbs can go out now - I've just planted some and have more along with crocuseses/croci.

 

[iona]

Iona-I wish you could see my pile of beech leaves which looks a bit like the Great Pyramid at Giza.I literally rake em onto a tarp and haul them off the lawn onto the side of the road.The vexing thing is I add to the pyramid each November and the breaking down into leaf mould thing doesn't seem to happen.I must look like some demented Badger clearing out its sett.Can't burn them though I tried recently and produced a bank of dense white smoke which must have appalled the poor sods locked down in the flats next door. Maybe if I was to dig down fifteen harvests I would find some useful compost but i'm not too sure.
When is the best time to plant daffodil bulbs for March 2021-have savvy gardeners done this already?

What are you stacking the leaves in/on?

Can you send them to me if you don't want them?

(Being in charge of >10 compost bins wasn't enough, the power went to my head and I've started annexing gardening clients' bins for leaf mould )

Stick the daffs in now if you haven't yet.

 

[Duncan2]

What are you stacking the leaves in/on?

Can you send them to me if you don't want them?

(Being in charge of >10 compost bins wasn't enough, the power went to my head and I've started annexing gardening clients' bins for leaf mould )

Stick the daffs in now if you haven't yet.

Just been piling the leaves on top of the previous years leaves on a rough grassy bank under another huge beech tree probably owned by the local authority.No idea why they don't rot down much if at all.Can't transport them I'm afraid currently only have a Fiesta mk 6 firing on three cylinders on a good day.Also one eye.Thanks for the advice on the daffs my gf has a sack (as in proper coal-sack) of them which she claims were given to her by groundsmen in the town park who were in the act of throwing them away.They look okay though.

 

[campanula]

Just been piling the leaves on top of the previous years leaves on a rough grassy bank under another huge beech tree probably owned by the local authority.No idea why they don't rot down much if at all.Can't transport them I'm afraid currently only have a Fiesta mk 6 firing on three cylinders on a good day.Also one eye.Thanks for the advice on the daffs my gf has a sack (as in proper coal-sack) of them which she claims were given to her by groundsmen in the town park who were in the act of throwing them away.They look okay though.

I am keen on leaf-mould too...but it can be very slow to break down. Leaf decomposition is a different process to mixed composting. Really needs to be kept damp (because fungal) and can be hastened by packing the leaves into black binbags, well soaked with the hose and stashed somewhere for a year...at which point, you will about 1/20th of the original volume of semi-rotted leafmould. Another year and it's perfect. I cba though and pile mine into a vague hill with some rough, chicken wire attempt at keeping order. Eventually, you can rake out some lovely leafmould but it can be slow...and beech, (and oak) containing shit;loads of tannins, are some of the slowest leaves to break down into the elusive leafmould. I never get loads of it whatever - I put it through my riddle and save it to add to my seedling mix.

 

[two sheds]

I am keen on leaf-mould too...but it can be very slow to break down. Leaf decomposition is a different process to mixed composting. Really needs to be kept damp (because fungal) and can be hastened by packing the leaves into black binbags,

I did this one year

ended up with shitloads of useless scrappy black binbags

It might have taken my leafmould a couple of years to break down (although cornwall is permanently damp) but I don't think so - and made really good compost as you say.

 

[campanula]

I spent 2 hours pulling the wrong sort of grass from my 'meadow' and then got locked into the allotment for the second time this week (there is a very sizeist issue with the gate lock which small women have no hope of undoing). Had to importune a passer-bye to let me out. I am going back tomorrow and taking my Metabo battery angle grinder and chopping the fucker off.

 

[two sheds]

I planted loads of "woodland seeds" last year in a prepared bed to try to get them to seed and it's all turned out to be .... grass.

Looks like good weather today so will hopefully get out and plant the last of my three rambling roses. Not really sure yet where it will go though

 

[campanula]

three rambling roses. Not really sure yet where it will go though

O my favourite roses. Do you know what they are? I have a few which are freestanding, making quite immense, arching structures since I haven't dared attempt pruning for years...but if you are ruthless and consistent, they can be kept quite mannerly and compact.

 

[two sheds]

mine too

I've put a Crimson Showers in large pot by the front door (crimson hopefully shows up well against white walls) plus a white Bennett's Seedling down in the garden hopefully to ramble over a pergola type thingy plus the last one Trier which apparently 6 ft high by 4 ft across which is the last one I'm not sure of but I'm thinking in a bit of a raised bed half way down the garden. Only place I can really think of that is full sun and a bit out of the way so visible from the house but I don't spike myself on the spines

 

[iona]

Anyone else seem to be living in (what plants have decided is) spring already? Bulbs coming up everywhere here - villages out on the Downs that do actually get cold weather too, not just in Brighton - hedges that were still dropping leaves a fortnight ago are suddenly green again, loads of things waking up and sending out new growth...

 

[Leafster]

Anyone else seem to be living in (what plants have decided is) spring already? Bulbs coming up everywhere here - villages out on the Downs that do actually get cold weather too, not just in Brighton - hedges that were still dropping leaves a fortnight ago are suddenly green again, loads of things waking up and sending out new growth...

I'm not so sure that it's spring come early, more a case of winter has been delayed. My salvias and fuchsias are still flowering. There's even some new flowers on the astrantia and the cannas haven't died back yet. There are some bulbs coming up (daffodils and irises) but they're normally up at this time of year. I've just spotted the deer have been munching on the muscari in the front garden. It'll be the tulips next! The hellebores have started flowering but, again, that's normal. I must cut back some of the foliage on them that I haven't done yet.

 

[campanula]

I was taken aback by how sad I felt today. Not just at the scuppering of my modest Xmas plans, along with everyone else, but also a creeping sense of isolation quite different to the usually serene solitude I have taken for granted.And a feeling of helpless worry, not dissimilar to how I felt back in March (there was an early thread on here for us anxious types which definitely kept me more centred). So, I have a handful of self-care strategies. Self-medicating, for sure (although my bloody ballast carked it on one of the grow lights, which would certainly limit future toking plans). However, there is no better celebration and affirmation of the winter solstice than waking the future promise of a seed. This is the perfect time for sowing hardy perennials (the floral backbone of my gardens), shrubs and tree seeds. I haven't bought any seeds, but have collected quite a few from mine and other gardens. Most of the hardy annuals, biennials and temperate perennials I sowed at the beginning of autumn, are up. Many have already been been transplanted into the beds, so there is space for the next batch of seeds, although most of them will be left outside the greenhouse after last years poor showing when it simply wasn't cold enough to stratify a lot of the seeds, so no germination either.
Sowing seeds is such a simple, uncomplicated act. A truly deferred pleasure. Hovering over the pots, often with my magnifying glass), then waiting and watching for emerging shoots, gets me through the drear days of January/February. Hope in the returning light. Especially this year. Especially now, at the darkest time of the year.
Books and biscuits help too.

I do have extra seeds - please message me.

 

[Leafster]

Here's some of the flowers in my garden at the weekend.

One of my self-seeded hellebores



A skimmia - I don't know why the flash went off



Salvia Amistad (with the skimmia in the background)



One of my hebes - "Donna Anna" it seems happy flowering on and off throughout the year whatever the weather



Some hazel catkins forming

 

[Artaxerxes]

Probably the last thing I’ll pick from the plot until spring, though I may grab some kale now and again.

Purple sprouts.

 

[iona]

Priorities

 

[campanula]

Is that a Hori-hori, iona. I lost mine almost immediately. Despite heavy hints, no replacement has so far appeared but my youngest has taken note of several self-designed tools I am wanting this year...including a new, lethal daisy grubber and a hand version of an oscillating hoe.

 

[two sheds]

just looked up hori-hori - would one help digging out bramble roots and creeping cinquefoil (potentilla reptans) the evil little fuckers?

I like the tool holder too but I'd need on with a flap that could be closed or everything would fall out

 

[iona]

Is that a Hori-hori, iona. I lost mine almost immediately. Despite heavy hints, no replacement has so far appeared but my youngest has taken note of several self-designed tools I am wanting this year...including a new, lethal daisy grubber and a hand version of an oscillating hoe.

It is. Got it coz I kept using my good pocket knife to dig and getting grit in the hinge, but that and secateurs are the only things I need most days now.

No promises but I think I saw one knocking around in a box of unused tools in a shed if you want me to check for you?

 

[iona]

just looked up hori-hori - would one help digging out bramble roots and creeping cinquefoil (potentilla reptans) the evil little fuckers?

I like the tool holder too but I'd need on with a flap that could be closed or everything would fall out

I use mine for everything, including digging out huge taproots/woody stuff and creeping buttercup. I've always used hand tools though (autism/dyspraxia thing, can't control a spade that well) so maybe depends how you usually do stuff.