Re: Re: Zone 10/ saving plants

re: rotting vegetation/improving soils

Kitty: I'd have a hard time answering that, since the soil on my
property is pretty good already, but I don't find that it hurts any
either and I figure it's sort of natural composting, so it must do
something.



Melody, IA (Z 5/4)

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious."    
--Albert Einstein

 --- On Sun 02/22, Kitty < kmrsy@comcast.net > wrote:
From: Kitty [mailto: kmrsy@comcast.net]
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2004 10:37:36 -0500
Subject: Re: Re: [CHAT] Zone 10/ saving plants

> the poor things will get left in the ground to<br>>
rot...<br><br>Here's a stupid question. If all this stuff is left in the
ground to<br>rot.....<br>Does it improve the
soil?<br><br>Kitty<br><br>----- Original Message ----- <br>From:
"Melody" <mhobertm@excite.com><br>To: <gardenchat@hort.net><br>Sent:
Thursday, February 19, 2004 4:28 AM<br>Subject: Re: Re: [CHAT] Zone 10/
saving plants<br><br><br>> Yeah, I think I'm going to have to do that
next fall because I just<br>> can't imagine my garden long term without
these beauties! However, I<br>> think it's probably going to have to be
a "You want them, You dig them"<br>> kind of offer because frankly, I
know myself well enough to know that if<br>> it's left up to me, the
poor things will get left in the ground to<br>> rot...<br>><br>><br>>
Also, I know I've mentioned this before (long time ago) that a friend
of<br>> mine said she uses her potato and onion bags to plant her<br>>
dig-up-in-the-fall bulbs/tubers in, then when it's time to lift them
she<br>> simply pulls on the two ends of the bag and out they come...I
think I'll<br>> finally get around to trying this and see if it actually
works. My<br>> concern is that the bags would degrade just enough to
fall apart when I<br>> pull on them and make the whole thing
pointless...but I guess I'll never<br>> know until I try
it.<br>><br>><br>><br>> Melody, IA (Z 5/4)<br>><br>> "The most beautiful
thing we can experience is the mysterious."<br>> --Albert
Einstein<br>><br>> --- On Wed 02/18, Donna < justme@prairieinet.net >
wrote:<br>> From: Donna [mailto: justme@prairieinet.net]<br>> To:
gardenchat@hort.net<br>> Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2004 08:05:08 -0600<br>>
Subject: Re: Re: [CHAT] Zone 10/ saving plants<br>><br>> Well..... offer
the extras to folks here, or in your<br>> community.<br><br>For istance,
I usually save some of each kind, but<br>> this last fall,<br>between
crazy weather, business trips, and illness..<br>> I lost them all.
By<br>the time I could get out there and do something,<br>> they were
mush.<br>Guess

ing this gives me the opportunity to pick out<br>> new
varieties....<br><br><br>Donna<br>who lost many TP and tropical<br>>
stuff last year:(<br><br>----- Original Message -----<br>From:<br>>
Melody<br>Sent: 2/18/2004 4:15:29 AM<br>To:<br>>
gardenchat@hort.net<br>Subject: Re: [CHAT] Zone 10/ saving<br>>
plants<br><br>> My problem with saving Cannas, which I absolutely
love<br>> and my husband<br>> adores is that if you plant 5 tubers in
the spring,<br>> by fall when it's<br>> time to dig them up you have 35
or 40...and what<br>> was once a pleasure<br>> becomes an onerous race
to get them all out of<br>> the ground and properly<br>> dried for
storage before winter...ugh! And<br>> then what to do with the 35<br>>
or 40 that then becomes 100? About<br>> three years of this nearly drove
us<br>> bonkers! But we sorely missed<br>> them last year when we opted
not to plant<br>> any, so who knows...maybe<br>> we'll suck it up again
this year and go for<br>> it!<br>> <br>> <br>><br>> <br>> Melody, IA (Z
5/4)<br>> <br>> "The most beautiful thing we can<br>> experience is the
mysterious." <br>> --Albert Einstein<br>> <br>> --- On<br>> Sat 02/14,
Kitty < kmrsy@comcast.net > wrote:<br>> From: Kitty [mailto:<br>>
kmrsy@comcast.net]<br>> To: gardenchat@hort.net<br>> Date: Sat, 14
Feb<br>> 2004 19:07:15 -0500<br>> Subject: Re: [CHAT] Zone 10<br>> <br>>
Lately<br>> I've had the opposite problem. I try to explain to people
they<br>><br>> can<br>overwinter some of their tender perennials, but
here they<br>> simply<br>> refer to<br>them as annuals. Well, when a
Cordyline costs<br>> $40, I am not<br>> going to throw<br>it out after 4
months. (well, ok, I<br>> only paid about<br>> $5, but the same one
is<br>going for $37 at WFF and<br>> $40 elsewhere). A<br>> nice
Osteospermum can cost about<br>$5 here.<br>> Early on it's not much,
but<br>> does grow to a nice size b<br>><br>> y the end of<br>the
season. So in Sep 02 I<br>> brought it in and put it<br>> back out in
May 03,<br>already a nice size. By<br>> the end of the<br>> season,

it
covered 3 times what it<br>had the previous<br>> year. Last<br>> Sep,
though, I just took cuttings. They pitch<br>Purple<br>> Fountain<br>>
Grass at the end of each year and buy new, when the<br>>
first<br>one<br>> has trippled in size. They throw away Caladiums and
Cannas,<br>><br>> which<br>could easily be overwintered in storage. I
know I sound<br>> cheap,<br>> but it's not<br>just that. These are
healthy plants and<br>> bulbs they just<br>> pitch. I know I<br>can't
salvage everything, but I<br>> can't quite accept<br>> throwing
away<br>> everything.<br><br>Kitty<br><br><br>----- Original
Message<br>> -----<br>> <br>From: "james singer"
<jsinger@igc.org><br>To:<br>><br>> <gardenchat@hort.net><br>Sent:
Saturday, February 14, 2004 6:27<br>><br>> PM<br>Subject: Re: [CHAT]
Zone 10<br><br><br>> Thanks for the list.<br>> I'll<br>> go back to
Darrell's list and take a peek.<br>><br>> Yep, zone<br>> 10 here.<br>>
Good things and bad things about zone 10. Good<br>> things<br>> are I
can<br>> grow orchids, begonias, sweetsops, and avocados<br>><br>>
outside--not to<br>> mention mangos, lychees, guavas, bananas, and
so<br>> on.<br>> Bad things are<br>> most plants northerners value and
talk<br>> about won't grow<br>> here. I<br>> spend a lot of time at the
nursery<br>> counseling folks from the<br>> north<br>> about the
differences between<br>> here and there. It's a lot more<br>> than<br>>
"palm verses ash," but<br>> that's always a good place to<br>>
start.<br>><br>><br>> On Saturday,<br>> February 14, 2004, at 06:22 PM,
Kitty<br>> wrote:<br>><br>> > Jim, I got<br>> three of my Epimediums
from Darrell Probst<br>> and two from<br>> ><br>> P<br>> <br>> lant<br>>
> Pics - the people who used to own Shady Oaks .<br>> These are<br>>
what I have:<br>> ><br>> > Epimedium pinnatum ssp.<br>> colchicum<br>>
><br>> Epimedium alpinum 'Rubrum'<br>> > Epimedium x<br>>
versicolor<br>> 'Versicolor'<br>> > Epimedium diphyllum 'Roseum'<br>>
><br>> Epimedium x<br>> youngianum 'John Gallagher'<br>> ><br>> > There
are<br>> some<br>><br>

> r<br>> eal stunners<br>> in his collection that I'd love to have<br>>
><br>> some<br>> > day. Some<br>> listings I see on the internet show
that some<br>> varieties can<br>> ><br>> be<br>> > grown as far south as
Zone 9, but<br>> you're in 10, aren't<br>> you?<br>> ><br>> > Kitty<br>>
><br>> > -----<br>> Original Message -----<br>><br>> > From: "james
singer"<br>> <jsinger@igc.org><br>> > To:<br>>
<gardenchat@hort.net><br>> > Sent:<br>> Saturday, February 14, 2004
4:36<br>> PM<br>> > Subject: Re: [CHAT]<br>> Ground Orchid<br>> ><br>>
><br>> >> My<br>> turn to plead ignorance,<br>> Kitty. I didn't know
what an Epimedium was<br>><br>> >> but I found this<br>> page
www.home.earthlink.net/~darrellpro/ that<br>> has<br>> >> pictures<br>>
of any number of species. Very interesting flowers,<br>> some<br>>
>><br>> quite<br>> >> stunning. Which ones do you have?<br>><br>>
>><br>> >> On<br>> Saturday, February 14, 2004, at 01:00 PM, Kitty<br>>
wrote:<br>> >><br>><br>> >>> Jim, I looked it up and the images I saw of
the<br>> leaves alone<br>> were<br>> >>> enough to<br>> >>> create a
desire for the<br>> plants.<br>> The flowers are beautiful. I just<br>>
>>> love<br>> >>> those<br>><br>> little surprises, most of them in
spring, when a long-awaited<br>><br>> >>><br>> plant<br>> >>> blooms. I
am eager to see my first Epimedium<br>> flowers this<br>> spring.<br>>
>>> And I<br>> >>> hope I don't miss the<br>> Bloodroot. It's<br>> such
a grand surprise when you<br>> >>> round<br>><br>> >>> the corner
and<br>> notice that new leaf, or the long-awaited<br>> flower<br>> >>>
spike.<br>><br>> >>><br>> >>> Even though I can't grow<br>> much of
anything you do, I enjoy<br>> it when you<br>> >>> mention these<br>>
items. It spurs me on to take a look<br>> at something I<br>> >>><br>>
might<br>> >>> never have thought to look up.<br>> Thanks!<br>>
>>><br>><br>> >>> Kitty<br>> >><br>> >> Island Jim<br>> >><br>>
Southwest Florida<br>><br>> >> Zone 10<br>> >><br>> >> ------<br>> <br>>
--<br>><br>> --------------------------------------

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