Hello everyone,

Well I'm pretty new at this whole gardening thing, and was pretty
excited at the prospect of learning all about different flowers,
shrubs, and so on. So this morning I bring in the tip of a "plant"
growing in my garden only to find out from my boss that they are
lupins! I could cry...

Obviously they were permitted to grow like crazy, as they are growing
everywhere in the garden and you can see the remnants of last years
growth. One of the bunches has about a 1 foot radius.

The lady we bought the house from said that the garden was fully
developed. Of course, she also told us that the lawnmower and BBQ
they left worked and that there were no leaks in the house and that
she only left useful things in the garage...

So what I thought was a beautiful developed garden is actually a
weed-invested gravel pit. What am I supposed to do? I guess my
future holds a lot of intensive digging in order to get rid of them
and a lot of money spent on new plants to fill in the garden. It
would look pretty foolish if left bare...

A discouraged new gardener,
Katherine

Lunpins? Do you mean Lupine? People around here buy it to try and grow.
Beautiful flowers.

Laura B.

only to find out from my boss that they are
lupins! I could cry...

If they look pretty, what's the problem?

Charlie.

"KR" wrote in message
m...
Hello everyone,

Well I'm pretty new at this whole gardening thing, and was pretty
excited at the prospect of learning all about different flowers,
shrubs, and so on. So this morning I bring in the tip of a "plant"
growing in my garden only to find out from my boss that they are
lupins! I could cry...

Obviously they were permitted to grow like crazy, as they are growing
everywhere in the garden and you can see the remnants of last years
growth. One of the bunches has about a 1 foot radius.

The lady we bought the house from said that the garden was fully
developed. Of course, she also told us that the lawnmower and BBQ
they left worked and that there were no leaks in the house and that
she only left useful things in the garage...

So what I thought was a beautiful developed garden is actually a
weed-invested gravel pit. What am I supposed to do? I guess my
future holds a lot of intensive digging in order to get rid of them
and a lot of money spent on new plants to fill in the garden. It
would look pretty foolish if left bare...

A discouraged new gardener,
Katherine


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In article ,
(Thalocean2) wrote:

Lunpins? Do you mean Lupine? People around here buy it to try and grow.
Beautiful flowers.

Laura B.

only to find out from my boss that they are
lupins! I could cry...

They're poisonous to cattle, but gorgeous flowers.

Keep your milk cow away from them and enjoy the blooms : )

Jan

In article ,
(KR) wrote:

only to find out from my boss that they are
lupins!

Like the other posters, if you mean Lupines, they are coveted by many
gardeners (like me). I tried to get some started in my old garden but
never could get them to flourish.

If you can get yourself to wait until you see how things bloom this year
(and take pictures every week or two) it will give you a great
understanding of what you have and where you will want to make
changes/improvements. I know how hard it is to wait; this is our fourth
spring in this house and up to now we have only added/removed a very few
things since we got here. We now are quite familiar with what's in our
yard and we've been very happy that we waited because some of the things
in our yard only bloom every other year!

Aren't they also poisenous to children and animals?

(Jan Flora) wrote in message ...
In article ,
(Thalocean2) wrote:

Lunpins? Do you mean Lupine? People around here buy it to try and grow.
Beautiful flowers.

Laura B.

only to find out from my boss that they are
lupins! I could cry...

They're poisonous to cattle, but gorgeous flowers.

Keep your milk cow away from them and enjoy the blooms : )

Jan

Hey Katherine don't get too concerned just yet. I moved into a house with a
developed but neglected garden as well. What I did was allow what was there
to stay for the first year as it is sometimes difficult to tell a weed from
a beautiful flower/shrub from first growth. In fact particular flowers that
I thought were weeds have proven to be some of my prize treasures in my
garden.

I liked what Doug had to say as well. I have discovered that there is a big
difference between a gardener and a garden admirer. I am very much the
later but quickly learning that you need to be the former first.

So, relax and enjoy what's there. It might not look great this summer(but
it may) and plan for next summer. I did a lot of transplanting to get what
I wanted.

Good luck

Ed


"KR" wrote in message
m...
Hello everyone,

Well I'm pretty new at this whole gardening thing, and was pretty
excited at the prospect of learning all about different flowers,
shrubs, and so on. So this morning I bring in the tip of a "plant"
growing in my garden only to find out from my boss that they are
lupins! I could cry...

Obviously they were permitted to grow like crazy, as they are growing
everywhere in the garden and you can see the remnants of last years
growth. One of the bunches has about a 1 foot radius.

The lady we bought the house from said that the garden was fully
developed. Of course, she also told us that the lawnmower and BBQ
they left worked and that there were no leaks in the house and that
she only left useful things in the garage...

So what I thought was a beautiful developed garden is actually a
weed-invested gravel pit. What am I supposed to do? I guess my
future holds a lot of intensive digging in order to get rid of them
and a lot of money spent on new plants to fill in the garden. It
would look pretty foolish if left bare...

A discouraged new gardener,
Katherine

"KR" wrote in message
om...
Aren't they also poisenous to children and animals?


About 200 common garden plants will make people ill, or worse. As long as
she avoids Monkshood, she'll be fine. Even juniper berries, in large enough
amount, can be a problem. Meanwhile, trendy chefs use them often.

In one of his great books, garden writer Henry Mitchell comments that
tourists love to visit Versailles, and comment on what amazing gardens were
created by King Louis the whatever. They forget that except for the statues,
the beauty they're seeing is due only to one thing: The labor of the people
who cared for it yesterday, not hundreds of years ago.

Perhaps the previous owner let one season go by without doing the necessary
work, hoping it would care for itself. As another person here suggested,
limit yourself primarily to maintenance and observation this year. Take
pictures, make notes, walk around with catalogs & books and identify what's
there.

Have a couple of beers. Things could be worse. You could be one of the
unfortunate people who doesn't have a garden at all.

Thanks everyone for your advice, it has all been great!

I think I will sit back on the front porch and watch my gardens grow
while enjoying a tall glass of drink. I will definately take those
beers next summer, I am pregnant right now.

I realized yesterday that similar to the quote, "One man's trash is
another man's treasure," perhaps it is also true that one man's weed
is another man's rose!

Katherine

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message t.net...
In one of his great books, garden writer Henry Mitchell comments that
tourists love to visit Versailles, and comment on what amazing gardens were
created by King Louis the whatever. They forget that except for the statues,
the beauty they're seeing is due only to one thing: The labor of the people
who cared for it yesterday, not hundreds of years ago.

Perhaps the previous owner let one season go by without doing the necessary
work, hoping it would care for itself. As another person here suggested,
limit yourself primarily to maintenance and observation this year. Take
pictures, make notes, walk around with catalogs & books and identify what's
there.

Have a couple of beers. Things could be worse. You could be one of the
unfortunate people who doesn't have a garden at all.

With that quote, I am reminded of my mother's flower garden around the bay
that I started for her. She called me several times to tell me of the lovely
tall spiky plant that was growing beautifully in her perennial border and
that she couldn't wait for me to come out and tell her what it was so she
could label it so as not to forget where it was over the winter. When she
called in utter delight, that it was starting to bloom in pinkish purplish
flowers, I packed up the dogs and kiddies and drove around the bay to
investigate.

I arrived to find her carefully weeding chickweed from around her pride and
joy: a wonderfully healthy, fertilized, mulched, 4 foot tall, bushy and
profusely blooming FIREWEED!

Without saying a word, I leaned in to the back of the border , grabbed it by
its main stem and promptly pulled it straight up and out of its place of
honor. The resulting shrieks of horror from dear old Mom brought more than
one curious neighbors eye peering over the fence.

I don't think she ever really forgave me or indeed agreed with my selective
destruction. Given her druthers, I believe, she would still be cultivating a
little patch of fireweed in that border still.

"KR" wrote in message
om...
Thanks everyone for your advice, it has all been great!

I think I will sit back on the front porch and watch my gardens grow
while enjoying a tall glass of drink. I will definately take those
beers next summer, I am pregnant right now.

I realized yesterday that similar to the quote, "One man's trash is
another man's treasure," perhaps it is also true that one man's weed
is another man's rose!

Katherine

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
t.net...
In one of his great books, garden writer Henry Mitchell comments that
tourists love to visit Versailles, and comment on what amazing gardens
were
created by King Louis the whatever. They forget that except for the
statues,
the beauty they're seeing is due only to one thing: The labor of the
people
who cared for it yesterday, not hundreds of years ago.

Perhaps the previous owner let one season go by without doing the
necessary
work, hoping it would care for itself. As another person here suggested,
limit yourself primarily to maintenance and observation this year. Take
pictures, make notes, walk around with catalogs & books and identify
what's
there.

Have a couple of beers. Things could be worse. You could be one of the
unfortunate people who doesn't have a garden at all.

I see nothing wrong with wildflowers like fireweed, lupins and others. If
you control them in your garden they make lovely backdrops and are perfect
for the areas where nothing else will grow, or areas that are hard to get
at.

-Karen


"Barry C. Parsons" wrote in message
...
With that quote, I am reminded of my mother's flower garden around the bay
that I started for her. She called me several times to tell me of the
lovely
tall spiky plant that was growing beautifully in her perennial border and
that she couldn't wait for me to come out and tell her what it was so she
could label it so as not to forget where it was over the winter. When she
called in utter delight, that it was starting to bloom in pinkish purplish
flowers, I packed up the dogs and kiddies and drove around the bay to
investigate.

I arrived to find her carefully weeding chickweed from around her pride
and
joy: a wonderfully healthy, fertilized, mulched, 4 foot tall, bushy and
profusely blooming FIREWEED!

Without saying a word, I leaned in to the back of the border , grabbed it
by
its main stem and promptly pulled it straight up and out of its place of
honor. The resulting shrieks of horror from dear old Mom brought more than
one curious neighbors eye peering over the fence.

I don't think she ever really forgave me or indeed agreed with my
selective
destruction. Given her druthers, I believe, she would still be cultivating
a
little patch of fireweed in that border still.

"KR" wrote in message
om...
Thanks everyone for your advice, it has all been great!

I think I will sit back on the front porch and watch my gardens grow
while enjoying a tall glass of drink. I will definately take those
beers next summer, I am pregnant right now.

I realized yesterday that similar to the quote, "One man's trash is
another man's treasure," perhaps it is also true that one man's weed
is another man's rose!

Katherine

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
t.net...
In one of his great books, garden writer Henry Mitchell comments that
tourists love to visit Versailles, and comment on what amazing gardens
were
created by King Louis the whatever. They forget that except for the
statues,
the beauty they're seeing is due only to one thing: The labor of the
people
who cared for it yesterday, not hundreds of years ago.

Perhaps the previous owner let one season go by without doing the
necessary
work, hoping it would care for itself. As another person here
suggested,
limit yourself primarily to maintenance and observation this year.
Take
pictures, make notes, walk around with catalogs & books and identify
what's
there.

Have a couple of beers. Things could be worse. You could be one of the
unfortunate people who doesn't have a garden at all.

"Karen" wrote in message
...
I see nothing wrong with wildflowers like fireweed, lupins and others. If
you control them in your garden they make lovely backdrops and are perfect
for the areas where nothing else will grow, or areas that are hard to get
at.


Not only that, but (get ready for some really dumb logic): If they're happy
there, it's because they're happy there. Too many gardeners (myself
included) struggle with plants which are wrong for the larger climate (your
entire zone), or wrong for the mini-climates around the house. If you have
plants which are thriving and spreading, why mess with it, as long it you're
not talking about bindweed or horseradish.

Doug Kanter wrote:
"Karen" wrote in message
...

I see nothing wrong with wildflowers like fireweed, lupins and others. If
you control them in your garden they make lovely backdrops and are perfect
for the areas where nothing else will grow, or areas that are hard to get
at.



Not only that, but (get ready for some really dumb logic): If they're happy
there, it's because they're happy there. Too many gardeners (myself
included) struggle with plants which are wrong for the larger climate (your
entire zone), or wrong for the mini-climates around the house. If you have
plants which are thriving and spreading, why mess with it, as long it you're
not talking about bindweed or horseradish.



Last year I found wild grapes growing along a fence in the
back of my yard. My husband was ready to pull it out when I
said no leave it grow for the birds. He insisted wild grape
vines don't grow grapes - they just looked like grapevines.
Well, my wild grapevines are now loaded with beautiful
little grapes! I'm eager to see what birds they attract.

--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/

"Bonnie Espenshade" wrote in message
...

Last year I found wild grapes growing along a fence in the
back of my yard. My husband was ready to pull it out when I
said no leave it grow for the birds. He insisted wild grape
vines don't grow grapes - they just looked like grapevines.
Well, my wild grapevines are now loaded with beautiful
little grapes! I'm eager to see what birds they attract.


My wild grape vine attracted pteradactyls - huge ones. Unfortunately, they
had no appetite for any of the local dogs. :-)