Message Board

Rose of Sharon on the Canadian Prairies...

treeboy — Thur, 29 Jul 2010 23:11:09 GMT

Another dream, right?

Has anyone tried Rose of Sharon in MB, SK or AB? (Hibiscus syriacus)

What was your experience with it if you did.

I am in amazement at all the different cultivars and varieties that are now blooming like crazy here in Chatham, ON (Zone 7)

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

Evergreen plantings-hoping for some suggestions please

Arlene — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:46:03 GMT

Our house is a modest, rectangular box shape situated on a very slight hill with a gradual, slight slope to the street. I'm hoping to create a focal point to the front door, hiding the sides of ugly concrete steps which are 4' high, 4'wide and extend 8' outwards. I'm in Zone 3 and because the steps/foundation is prominent and the area is plantless it looks especially bleak in winter. Have my heart set on planting evergreen shrubs to hide the concrete sides of the steps and also to somewhat 'transition' to the more level ground. I've been frequenting Plant Search with my 'criteria' but could really use some help/ideas for an unfussy, simple symmetrical planting. Any suggestions for varieties of evergreens that I could plant next to the house on either side on the door and also for lower growers directly in front of those would be greatly appreciated!

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

Turning a garden into a lawn.

darrald furber — Thur, 22 Jul 2010 15:42:22 GMT

Hi;

I am considering turning a 10' X 25' vegetable garden back into lawn. I am looking for any tips or advise that may be out there.

I realize that this may be very basic, but as someone new to owning a home I want to make sure that no steps are missed.

Thanks all.
Darrald

Forum: Edible Gardening - Fruits and Vegetables

I have a reaction to barberry bush needles HELP ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!s

Rodgie — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 22:37:49 GMT

The more I try to get the needle the more it goes in deeper later it hardens-develops a cyst around the needle-suposing I am allergic to the needle from the barberry bush,I am allergic to penicillian Spell??I have read that is my bodies way of prtecting me from the posion it is to me/not healing power!! then the needle will come up like out of a valcano errupting!! leaving me a bad scar!! All I can read up and find is how the plant is used for its healing powers. I have been told to rub a potato on it and some times that will bring it out but not this time I over did it trimming _YES i wear rubber gloves under thick rubber gardening gloves.pants,long sleeves and try to avoid but these needles will poke me through it all and stay behimnd for the kill!! HELP ME I am crazy her! The more I research the net the more I am convieced I am desten for blood poision I also got stung by a bee an the same hand as 3-4 needels stayed behind my hand is swollen around area as I would expect thanks in advance for your advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! does this get attention asap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!thanks!!!!!!!!!

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

problems with taunton yew shrub

Fern — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:40:29 GMT

I have a taunton yew shrub on the side of my house. It gets sun in the heat of the day. I have two of them, but one is turning brown and looks as if it has a disease or is dying. What do you suggest I do? Is there a disease known to this shrub that I can treat for?

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

Butternut Canker Disease

Wpg Treeman — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:12:21 GMT

I was doing some research on Butternuts -- a great tree for Winnipeg and possibly other parts of the prairies -- but I came across a number of recent disturbing media reports about a disease that is threatening the species with extinction: butternut canker.

According to The Ottawa Citizen, March 13, 2010:

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Searching+butternut+cure/2677658/story.html

Its lethal. It infiltrates the tree wherever it can and there is no way of stopping it. Theres no cure. Theres nothing you can spray the tree with. So finding resistant trees is the best way to go, says Fleguel, the field manager of the butternut recovery program for the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority."

(...)

"Survival is truly whats at stake, since the fungus has infected butternuts throughout their range, from Louisiana to New Brunswick, and contributed to a decline so severe that in some American states, 80 per cent of butternuts have died off.

In Canada, the butternut is listed as endangered under both federal and Ontario provincial law."

This is very discouraging. The tree is very hardy and I wondered if the tree should be planted more widely as a replacement for elm and ash. Now, a disease is threatening this species too. This is such a shame. I hope that the butternuts being sold on the prairies aren't infected with this fungus. Hopefully, our geographic isolation from the native range of the tree will leave our small number or trees unaffected.

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

foundation plants

Ang Dana — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:09:06 GMT

My house has plants all around the perimeter. I get the impression this is a bad idea for a few reasons and wonder if theres anyone to list some specifics for me?

Forum: Annuals, Perennials and Flowers

Opium Poppy Seeds

Poppyseed Dreams — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 14:15:05 GMT

Hi,

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Forum: Specialty Gardening

Never blooming lilac

Kate — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 01:58:53 GMT

I have a lilac that was planted in 2001, and it has never bloomed. It's now 5-6' tall, very bushy, has a nice shape and looks healthy. The first few years the moose nibbled on it a time or two, but I have been able to keep them away the last 3 years. Once again, it didn't develop any buds but is leafed out very well. It shares a bed with honeysuckle, wildly blooming foxglove, delphiniums, columbine and lilies. Everything in the bed is healthy, huge and blooming.

Any suggestions?

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

Walnuts and Butternuts in Winnipeg

Alan — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:50:41 GMT

I've been noticing many of these trees in Winnipeg lately, and wonder why they aren't planted more frequently. They seem to do very well here.

On the grounds of the Legisative Building and Government House, there are at least 8 mature nut trees, all of which appear to produce a good crop of nuts each year. The two biggest appear to be a couple of old 40-50 foot Walnuts inside the circular driveway of Government House. There is also a beautiful Walnut tree on the west lawn of the Leg Bldg, near the new Nellie McClung statue. Three mature Butternuts are planted along the foundation of the Leg Bldg, on the north and south sides. A good spot for seed sourcing for anybody who's interested.

While you're in the area check out the 4 Catalpas, each about 20-25 feet tall, on the riverbank near the Louis Riel statue.

I have a Black Walnut in my backyard that is about 6 years old and absolutely thriving. About 10 feet tall, extremely thick with foliage, and never any winterkill whatsoever. I also have a Butternut that's doing OK, except I mistakenly planted it an a poorly drained location.

These are beautiful trees that in my opinion should be more frequently planted here in the not too too far north.

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

blue beech hornbeam

gail — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:41:29 GMT

Hello everyone, picked up a Blue Beech Hornbeam tree at the garden center today whose tag said that it was a zone 3. Have not seen any of these trees around so I figured I would try my luck and see if it would make it thru the winter here just outside of Edmonton. Just wondering if anyone has one of them and if there is anything special I should do. Tired of having the same trees as everyone else especially when our developer decided it would be wonderful for our whole subdivision to have schubert chokecherry's, 95% of which now have black knot!

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

shelter trees

dianne — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:22:21 GMT

Any ideas on what tree will grow on the south side of a steel quonset, populars won't

Forum: Landscape Design and Construction

New stuff at my farm.

Sherwood Botsford — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:34:06 GMT

Last fall my in-law's buckeye had a good crop of conkers, so I planted 120. This spring I've got 60 some. Most are about 6" high now putting on their second or third leaves.

This fall I'll migrate the survivors into #2 pots, or maybe #4's depending on how well they grow.

***

I bought 24 sugar maple from Jeffries this year. 3 foot whips. Seeded from the same tree that produced 'Unity' I think. Planted 4 in the bush, 2 in the yard, and the other 18 in #10 grow bags. It would be so cool to be able to have an Alberta Sugar bush. Can't make money farming.

***

I've also started 360 of the Romance Cherries. The ones from usask that are a cross between this and that and a mongolian cherry. I settled on Juliet, Romeo and Carmine Jewel. All are settled happily in #2 pots -- surrounded by three rows of willow, alder, and dogwood. I'm hoping the deer will munch on the dogwood, bump into the willow, and leave the cherries alone.

***

Still sorting out the wreckage from last winter. Bad mouse problem. Lost over a thousand trees. Knocked down the population with poison bait, nearly knocked out my own dog. Have 5 cats who live at the pot yard now. All the kibble they want, plus mice. Don't know if it will work. So far none have vanished into the mouths of coyotes or have been carried off by hawks.

Sherwood

Forum: Trees and Shrubs

Is Jim Kohut no longer here?

treeboy — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:00:20 GMT

Just wondering...

Forum: Topical Discussions

Hot Topic - The Ethics of Fertilizing

Moderator — Thur, 01 Jul 2010 20:51:59 GMT

The Ethics of Fertilizing -
Do Plants Really Need Our Help?

This month we're tackling one of the great debates of modern gardening. Is it right for us as gardeners to force our flowers, veggies, shrubs and trees into hyper-growth with the use of concentrated chemical fertilizers?

At first glance this may seem like an organic versus chemical debate. But is it really that simple? After all, most fertilizers contain some combination of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, the very nutrients these plants get from the soil in nature. Aren't we just helping them along by providing them with optimal quantities of these essential nutrients? Or are we catapulting our plants into the realm of Frankenstein by force-feeding them powerful concentrations of nutrients at perfectly-timed intervals? One thing is certain, with the right combination, timing and strength of fertilizers, we can accomplish things that simply won't happen on their own in nature.

Is it ethical for us to one-up the talents of Mother Nature and overdrive our plants to unnatural heights (and productivity and performance...)? Here's what this month's opinionated debaters have to say on this firecracker topic;

Andy Says...

I have a dream. a wonderful dream where my army of mutant tomatoes will leap off the vine to once and for all silence the whining protests of the naturalists and pro-organic ilk who dare to suggest that fertilizers are a bad thing. Or, to frame it in their speech, (insert whiny voice here) All fertilizers are chemicals, and Im not eating anything thats had chemicals dumped on it! (end whiny voice if you want). Little do they know that organic gardening is the second largest user of dihydrogen monoxide in commercial gardening. This is an incredibly frightening (and made up) statistic, until you realize that we are talking about simple H2O, otherwise known as water! Nasty chemical.

The reality of the situation is that plants grow by extracting nourishment from the soil, primarily nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, creating the foods that we eat through a series of incredibly complex chemical processes that I do not pretend to understand. If, year after year, we insist on selecting the same little patch of land to produce our magnificent potatoes, ears of corn and plump, juicy, three-legged tomatoes, we eventually suck the nutrients from the soil leaving little more than a barren wasteland. We could let the land rest, to recover some portion of what is taken, or we can manually replace the core of what was taken to once again allow the soil to bear mutant tomatoes. From there we will train them in the art of vine-to-vine combat and infiltration techniques... um, I mean make a BLT and a fresh garden salad... yum!

So take that you vile, oxygen-converting, walking, talking chemical plant. Quit your whining (and the whiny voice really, its just annoying now) and heed my words. Go forth ye and fertilize, and help mother nature along, one three-legged tomato at a time.

Jon Says...

Today many people are not content with what they can grow with their own hands and the earth they stand on. They have to use fertilizers and by doing so are altering the natural production of plants. Most no longer know the real fruit and vegetables they could be growing. You often see enormous plants and fruits and veggies that even, in some cases, make it into record books.

To me, the use of mass produced fertilizer is not right. I'd like to know that my hard work paid off by seeing what I can grow when I really put my mind and spade to it. There may be times when I get hardly any food from my plants, but when I do it is much more satisfying. In some cases people have plants that are not native to their area and so need "help" growing. In nature they grow exactly where they are meant to grow. They do very well without the "aid" of fertilizers. But when we grow them for our own personal use, we never seem to be satisfied with the end result.

Even the chemicals used to keep our plants safe in these fertilizers/soils are not natural to the planet. We kill the planet just to see our flowers or tomato plants grow. The soil these chemically altered soils are put in/on sometimes become unusable without the aid of more of that same kind of fertilizer. It becomes dependent on it and so do we.

What Do YOU Say?

Post your replies to this thread and BE HEARD!

Forum: Gardener's Edge