tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post2338708080087586440..comments2024-03-28T04:18:17.892-07:00Comments on The Outlaw Gardener: P.S. A Disasteroutlawgardenerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08273973572989510382noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-63315169518437911442012-10-26T06:36:07.714-07:002012-10-26T06:36:07.714-07:00We'll get hard frost sometime late in November...We'll get hard frost sometime late in November or early December. It's always a game with me to see if the banana that I see from my kitchen window is still green on Thanksgiving and many years it is. Once we get the hard frost, the large grasses will be brown for the winter. Our lawns remain green though. We're fairly lucky in that things don't usually look totally gone until December and by late January or early February, the snowdrops, camellias, stachyurus praecox, hellibores, etc. start blooming.outlawgardenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08273973572989510382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-50307141387777812382012-10-26T06:28:39.059-07:002012-10-26T06:28:39.059-07:00I think you might be right about the tree. I like ...I think you might be right about the tree. I like the pears but now that the tree is so tall, I don't usually pick and eat many of them. Don't know if the rain is as much to blame as is the gardener who didn't stake any plants this year. Your wrestling with big plants comment tells me that, like many of us, you may not follow the "support it BEFORE it falls over" wisdom.outlawgardenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08273973572989510382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-59603892999396666632012-10-26T06:22:11.461-07:002012-10-26T06:22:11.461-07:00Thanks for the advice on the tree; the pears are r...Thanks for the advice on the tree; the pears are really good. Messius prostratus!? Too funny - coffee nearly spurted out of my nose when I read that! outlawgardenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08273973572989510382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-24985190196939325232012-10-26T04:34:38.763-07:002012-10-26T04:34:38.763-07:00How interesting to see your onset of winter brings...How interesting to see your onset of winter brings rains and our onset is frosts and freezing. I don't know which is worse. Our first snowfall will knock down all the grasses but I'm usually ready to be done with everything by that point. I still have a gorgeous brugmansia still blooming. I'd brought it into the garage the night we had the hard freeze.Deanne Fortnamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17792741755739983035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-90295850566324943232012-10-25T17:55:54.540-07:002012-10-25T17:55:54.540-07:00I'd get rid of the pear tree. You can always b...I'd get rid of the pear tree. You can always buy pears at the farmers market but every square foot in the garden is precious and shouldn't be ceded to a plant that doesn't work aesthetically. Sorry about the rain damage, after every rainstorm I'm gritting my teeth and wrestling with big plants to get them vertical again.Jasonhttp://gardeninacity.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-31699102048638252562012-10-25T17:21:52.824-07:002012-10-25T17:21:52.824-07:00How much you love those pears is the deciding fact...How much you love those pears is the deciding factor for the tree. Love the pears - keep it. Meh on the pears - axe it. Whenever my tall plants become ground huggers, it's time for more sun. Messius prostratus is the Latin for Hot Mess on the Ground. :o)Casa Mariposahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16647089868277238456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-44323512462041654292012-10-25T14:30:35.862-07:002012-10-25T14:30:35.862-07:00Thanks for the advice about the tree. It's wo...Thanks for the advice about the tree. It's wonderful in the fall but the rest of the year, it's just a big sun-blocking mass of green.outlawgardenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08273973572989510382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-43599926215021059332012-10-25T14:19:44.659-07:002012-10-25T14:19:44.659-07:00When I lived in colder climates the first signs of...When I lived in colder climates the first signs of winter dormancy were always difficult to deal with. If you enjoy the pears, keep the tree.<br /><br />"Inappropriate plant horizontality" is a good term. This happens with Salvia madrensis in my garden, every gardener who visits comments on it because it's supposed to be a vertical plant. Glad to have a name for it now.<br /><br />Shirleyhttp://rockoakdeer.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-65796431721591823732012-10-25T14:14:10.994-07:002012-10-25T14:14:10.994-07:00For the first little while it smells sweet. Now i...For the first little while it smells sweet. Now it's just smelling wet and cold.outlawgardenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08273973572989510382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-85375283175313865072012-10-25T11:25:18.124-07:002012-10-25T11:25:18.124-07:00Looks great, despite all the drooping. And rain m...Looks great, despite all the drooping. And rain makes everything smell so sweet.Hoover Boohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03083294821646284424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-18051519389317989872012-10-25T10:44:16.740-07:002012-10-25T10:44:16.740-07:00When the garden does this weird stuff, I start bei...When the garden does this weird stuff, I start being grateful for the clean-up that winter brings. If we lived in some warm climate where things just keep growing, we'd have to do clean up constantly! outlawgardenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08273973572989510382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-16609466353511946342012-10-25T10:21:20.760-07:002012-10-25T10:21:20.760-07:00The huge grasses in this spot in my garden were pe...The huge grasses in this spot in my garden were perfect for many years as they had HUGE phormiums in front of them that anchored the whole bed and provided support for the floppy grasses behind. Then came the Phormium Killing Winters. There is something wonderful about walking by a 15 foot miscanthus floridulus. Very frustrating when it falls though!outlawgardenerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08273973572989510382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-88520727585380592562012-10-25T10:21:06.808-07:002012-10-25T10:21:06.808-07:00One of my Brugs is blooming too, for the first tim...One of my Brugs is blooming too, for the first time ever! I thought that was pretty weird, considering how cold it's been at night. So I'm glad to see yours is too. I have a lot of horizontal grasses now too. They are so annoying, I can totally understand your desire to just rip them out.Alisonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16323262555906240701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6598416695566325151.post-84207744991183727082012-10-25T07:17:10.462-07:002012-10-25T07:17:10.462-07:00It's sort of a sad fact in my garden too, that...It's sort of a sad fact in my garden too, that the first rains are almost as destructive as they are live-giving! This year did seem particularly bad, for some reason...not sure why. I'm just jealous that you can grow a Rheum...mine would grow fine during spring, but once summer hit, the leaves would wilt away, one by one :-( I've been culling the grasses in my garden that flop as well. Miscanthus are some of the worst offenders...but it IS hard to give up such large, statuesque plants. I'm alway tempted to replace them with some of the larger Panicums...which, generally, are much sturdier...but the rain-soaked seedheads can still pull them over until they dry out and spring back up.scottweberpdxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08740930947767329183noreply@blogger.com