Re: I'm considering...

The big tree in my front yard is also a trash tree- some kind of ash. I'm sure some day it will just up and die, it always has some problem in the summer- branches split at the ends, leaves are sort of mangled looking in spots- undoubtedly some insect thing- but it is a huge tree, and until it drops dead, I'm going to hang on to it. I could probably call an arborist to check it out and prune out the dead branches, but it'd likely cost me a fortune and would probably continue having the same problem the next year anyway. Shade here in the summer is a valuable commodity, and this tree shades about 75% of my house in the afternoon. 

Theresa

Cathy Carpenter wrote:
I agree, they are trashy, but mine is the biggest tree near the house, and I like the shade. It gets anthracnose, but in the early spring when the leaves are small. They drop, but the second set put out is always clean. Some years the disease doesn't appear at all. 

Cathy, west central IL, z5b

On Jul 13, 2007, at 1:39 PM, james singer wrote:
Are sycamores your best option for a shade trees? I know, I know... they're there and they're big and they do the job. But they're really messy and, to my thinking anyway, a trash tree--one step above a cottonwood or a willow. Most of the ones I've lived with got anthracnose anyway, so halfway through summer they lost most of their leaves and come late August and September, when their shade would've been much appreciated, it was marginal at best. 



On Jul 13, 2007, at 2:11 PM, Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSRT wrote:


This is zone 8 (usually). I think I am having trouble coming up with
ideas because I don't really want to do it. But something needs to be
done, either I start putting a lot of time into it or it has to be
radically different, it will not look better while I am standing around trying to make up my mind. It's too hot now to do things though (except weeding, and if I could do that regularly I wouldn't be thinking about 
change).
I guess I will give some thought over the next few months to what
exactly could go in there and be maintainable plus less water intensive. 
I won't have to commit to anything for a while that way. Drought
resistant groundcover for shade...something that won't trap a zillion
pounds of dead sycamore leaves...hmmm.

Cyndi


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On
Behalf Of Bonnie Holmes
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 10:46 AM
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Subject: RE: [CHAT] I'm considering...

What about using easy perennials with groundcover that will require
little maintence?  You might not have all the blooms but if you do a
variety of leaf shape and color, the result could be interesting.  I
have several beds that I have done that way to avoid lots of
maintence...I have had to water this year as I have added things but I, 
too, am looking to ways to avoid much watering in the future and am
starting to collect and use things that are more drought tolerant.

Many bulb/rhizone plants do not like lots of water and you could have
flowering bulbs in spring, summer and fall and they can poke up through 
groundcover.  I forget...what's your zone?



[Original Message]
From: Johnson Cyndi D Civ 95 CG/SCSRT <cyndi.johnson@edwards.af.mil>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Date: 7/13/2007 1:33:39 PM
Subject: [CHAT] I'm considering...

I'm considering doing away with my cottage garden. The thought has
been flitting through my head for a few months now, I have been
resolutely pushing it away so far. I'm not good with big changes and I have been very happy watching things bloom, but I don't know, perhaps the time has come. Much of it looks terrible and I have to admit that 
I can no longer keep up with the amount of maintenance it takes, not
with us spending so much time on the horses now. Plus it sucks up a
lot of water and we are getting many dire warnings about rationing -
although I notice they keep issuing permits for new housing tracts.

Grrrrr.

Anyway  there's a lot of pros and cons. I cannot get rid of the
sycamores, those are three HUGE trees, and they will need water so
it's not like the area can be a xeriscape. I was thinking about what I 
would miss the most and it's the daffodils, there are hundreds, I
can't envisage throwing them out. The roses too but not as much, and
everything else I could mourn for and move on.
I will probably dither about this for months to come if not years. I
can't come up with what I could do given that the big trees have to
stay, and I surely do not want to go back to lawn. Maybe I should see 
if I can find a native landscape designer and get some ideas. Sigh.

Cyndi
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Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.1 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Sunset Zone 25
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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