GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

03-04-2003, 03:32 PM

In article ,
says...

lms wrote:

In article ,
says...

So how are your larkspur?

season befo last they practically vanished, don't have a clue why.

Yeah, strangest thing is that mine all but vanished at the same time.

weird, really weird.

she's
hacked all the remaining pink roses of her road-lining hedge to a foot or
less,
almost fell outa the truck.
I know she meant well.

Well hang on, you might be surprised at the result. Cass has this urban
renewal thing happening and I'm playing with the idea. You know how
some people live where it's reeely cold and their plants die back every
year? The strength is in the roots.

It's this consideration that keeps me from considering this hacker as an
enemy of the state, but it's still a shock every time I look at them. every
day. 4 times.

Simplicity, there you go.

Thanks, I'll go order some rightaway.

'some'. hahahaha

yesterday I was spacing on the evolution of things, the pre-pecan glory of
this
one area? Have a few of those taller, the better to reach the sun units
there. If I hacked em back, it would be sayonara, I know it.

With the one or two cane wonders, yeah I figure that it would be the
last step toward their demise. My first Queen Elizabeth is still alive;

QE is still a 15 footer but is thinning out and I don't think I need a
crystal ball. It'll still be awhile. That one not being there would take
some getting used to

I seriously don't know why. JFK and Lady X already lost their battles
with the trees and croaked. First Prize got eaten by a juniper.

If anybody has anything to say about the reverse gravity they suffer from,
I can tell them plenty, or maybe even shut UP. I'm content enough with
their
continued but measured output and am at peace with their inevitable fate.

Harry, Shreveport, Calico, Caramel Creme, Eclipse, Royal William, and two
most
amazing minis, Scarlet Moss and Jean Kenneally

Oooh, you're not going to let Scarlet Moss die are ya?

no, of course not. heheh. never.

--gosh I could tell anyone they
could have been so lucky as to have watched these roses for fifteen years.
I know the word 'cuttings' but have never been so inclined.

And you with the greenhouse. I'm shocked. I need a mist bed if I'm
ever going to get cuttings to survive in this desert.

the greenhouse has no electricity or water. has new plastic though and
beefed up infrastructure, and I still have visions of what I could do wit it.
Anything's possible still. hahahaha

So, what will I hack today?

ok now Dainty Bess seems to really want to build size. And the Betty
Prior next to it is a monster. I never can get to pruning it all - 5 to
6 feet tall and wider. I just couldn't hack Bessie, looked so healthy.

I got another Remington electric, the biggest I can hold in one hand,

how about a climbing harness?

these things are widely regarded as a nuisance out at the VLA. OSHA doesn't
make the rounds here in socorro much though. I think I've gone about as
high as I dare, I'm serious. Like I've looked up the local tree trimmers
number--realize my limitations.

You keeping your chipper busy? I got everything sharpened this spring,
and boy what a difference.

haven't fired it up lately, burned the last bunch. heheh.
it too much rattles the peace of the valley, rings in my ear for a week.

Uh, you do have hearing protection, right? I'll stick my arm in the
chute, but I will no longer run the chipper without stuff over my ears.
I even sent away for the higher decibel jobbies.

ear plugs, yeah. I still have a huge mound of the perfect sized material,
I keep thinking I'm going to do the right thing with it.

Huey as I come
in, Wedded Bliss Weeded Bliss as I cross the ditch and Mme. Caroline on
further
out,

What kind of bloom period do you get with the Mme?

all at once, twice basically. have grown to really respect this rose,
can see why it survives in the wild. It has no neighbors, after I put it
where, I realized this wasn't one of my brighter ideas. in front of a shed
door and next to the path. held on to some very pink buds that wouldn't
open til the middle of December.

that just about covers it. I can't hack their best canes,

Yeah, I hear that. Graham Thomas had a stout main cane split down the
middle by the extreme winds in December. Part of the growth was held
tightly, laced into other branches, with the wind taking the rest in the
opposite direction. Right clean down the middle, a twelve inch split.
I couldn't bring myself to remove the half that still looks perfectly
healthy, so I'm leaving it til after the spring bloom. I got GT really
cleaned out for the first time in years.

I did that to the raz patch, was painful for a week. was astounded to
find a couple of minis I hadn't seen in several years, no kidding. Looked
pretty much still happy, they'd already been erased from the map.
Between the raz patch and R. arkansana is noman's land, I've avoided all
contact for several years.

Started on number two today.

so I just let
them have their way with me-- I just don't need much more of the same.

It's at times like these that I appreciate the HTs. They are so simple
to prune.
Whack, whack, whack, get outta here.

heard that one before.

m