Re: Back Home! now Cathy's book and ph questions

Understand where you are coming from, but couldn't the planting area  
be treated like a rock garden? Those plants obviously have to deal  
with the same issues, n'est pas?

Cathy, west central IL, z5b

On Dec 26, 2005, at 4:07 PM, Donna wrote:

> And I will be your first customer! :)
>
> Actually, there are not any plants 'just' for garden railroads.  
> Also comes
> into play is your zone, and everything else a gardener has to put  
> up with
> while browsing books and magazines.
>
> Cathy you should spend the winter reading about bonsai plants...  
> especially
> the pruning/training of same. Start with naturally small leaf  
> plants and
> plan on pruning them to death to stay small.
>
> Another issue is all the mountains and rock formations they want to  
> add. Not
> much room for roots at/just below the surface, so rock garden  
> plants are
> also a choice as long as they allowed drainage issues into those  
> mountains.
>
> Another killer of the garden railroads is the stones they use. Darn  
> stuff
> leaches out into the growing sections, so plan for it depending on  
> what
> stones Gary uses. John is using lime stone bases for the crushed  
> ballasts.
>
> This winter I plan on learning more about the ph of soils and what  
> happens
> when exposed to chemical changes from rocks over periods of time.  
> Can I
> nurse a plant thru the first year of ungodly ph swings? How long  
> does this
> nightmare last? Should plants that need that only be planted, then   
> 3 years
> down the line they all die since they are now not getting all that  
> since the
> rocks are no longer leaching it out? (HA! Probably no time, anyone  
> here want
> to give me a crash course or at least answer my current questions?)
>
> Donna
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On
>> Behalf Of Cathy Carpenter
>> Sent: Monday, December 26, 2005 2:24 PM
>> To: gardenchat@hort.net
>> Subject: Re: [CHAT] Back Home!
>>
>> You may just have an idea there. One more thing for my 'to do' list!
>>
>> Cathy, west central IL, z5b
>>
>> On Dec 26, 2005, at 10:06 AM, james singer wrote:
>>
>>> Sounds like a book waiting to be written, Cathy. And since it
>>> appears that you're going to have to research the plants, make and
>>> keep good notes.
>>>
>>> On Dec 25, 2005, at 11:05 PM, Cathy Carpenter wrote:
>>>
>>>> My one frustration was that there does not seem to be
>>>> anything published that focuses on garden railroad plantings.
>>>
>>> Island Jim
>>> Southwest Florida
>>> 27.0 N, 82.4 W
>>> Hardiness Zone 10
>>> Heat Zone 10
>>> Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
>>> Maximum 100 F [38 C]
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>>> -
>>> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
>>> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
>> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
> message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE GARDENCHAT
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index