I almost gave up trying to grow any late flowering asters, my light
free-draining soil leaving them suffering with drought and mildew even
with extra watering and occasional spraying with fungicide. But I've
found the frikartii types are mildew free and seem more able to cope
with drier soil, with A x f. 'Jungfrau' doing especially well in a
difficult spot.

She's amazed me by not only surviving but positively thriving in a bed
made that's backed by large shrubs and conifers next door, so shaded
at least half the day. It also used to be an area overhung by a now
thankfully ex sycamore and the soil is so depleted there, it's
practically nothing but stony dust with garden compost added, yet
Jungfrau has taken it all in her stride. I'm attempting to root a few
cuttings to try in another position.

A shorter one that's also doing well, flowering freely in a different
bed with sun only part of the afternoon is Aster peduncularis. That's a
similar shade of lavender blue but has broader foliage. It was
recommended to me by a local nurseryman as a good doer for dryish soil
and he seems to have been spot on; I've been pleased with that one as
well. Aster f. Monch is another I have that's planted in sunnier area.

I'd like to find others in different colours if possible, as these are
all pretty much the same lavender blue, so I was wondering if anyone
could suggest any varieties that would grow in a light soil that are a
red, pink or deeper purpley colour?

"Janet" wrote
I don't have names for any of mine; I've found the best way to get
strong reliable asters is to beg a slip from plants doing well round
about for gardening friends. As it's windy here, and I don't stake
anything, I only want short sturdy self supporting ones. But I agree
they seem to thrive on deprivation. We have a narrow dry roadside
verge which is gradually filling in with tough self-sown aster
seedlings. None of them get mildew, possibly because there's so much
salt in the rain
here.

Good idea. I shall have to do a tour of the neighbourhood and peer over
a few garden fences to see what I can beg, I can always offer a swap of
cuttings.

I'd certainly prefer shorter or middling range ones that don't need too
much staking, if I can find any. 'Jungfrau' seems reasonably upright and
sturdy - not as lax as 'Monch', I'd say.

"Sacha" wrote
"Sue" said:
[...]
I'd like to find others in different colours if possible, as these
are all pretty much the same lavender blue, so I was wondering if
anyone could suggest any varieties that would grow in a light soil
that are a red, pink or deeper purpley colour?

I really *hate* my new Trackpad - it's always doing something I don't
want, like sending emails and posts before I'm ready!! AIUI the Aster
novae-angliae Harrington Pink will stand light soils if a mulch is
applied to keep the soil moist. It's also said to be mildew resistant
like A.f. Monch.

I know what you mean about the Trackpad. I can't use my hubby's
laptop properly without it apparently doing it's own thing at
inappropriate times because of the touchpad control. I have enough
trouble with a mouse. Perhaps you can alter a setting to make it repond
less sensitively?

Thanks for the Aster suggestion. I'll look out for that; it's a tallish
one I see. I hadn't realised the angliaes were mildew resistant too and
I have plenty of compost I can dig in and mulch with.

Must admit, like Janet, I'd prefer plants that stand up for themselves
and don't need much in the way of support, mainly because I always mean
to do any staking early on but never seem to have the right shaped tuit
at a sensible time.
This might be a daft question (I'm full of 'em) but could tall Asters be
'Chelsea chopped' to make them flower a wee bit shorter? Of course then
I'd have to remember to get the tuit in time to do that too. There's
always a flaw in the plan...

In article op.v155r8owgkcl5l@home1, RG wrote:
On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:39:01 +0100, Sacha wrote:

I really *hate* my new Trackpad - it's always doing something I don't
want, like sending emails and posts before I'm ready!! AIUI the Aster
novae-angliae Harrington Pink will stand light soils if a mulch is
applied to keep the soil moist. It's also said to be mildew resistant
like A.f. Monch.

I don't know what make your PC is, but have a look into the trackpad/mouse
settings.
Some have an option for 'disable during typing' or 'hide pointer during
typing' that may overcome the problem.

Don't bet on it. I don't know what the cause is, but it's fairly
widespread, and generally has little to do with any settings except
"disable the bloody thing".

Otherwise you can do what Spider does - turn off the trackpad altogether
and use an external mouse or trackball.

And what I do.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:39:01 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2011-09-21 00:26:00 +0100, "Sue"
I really *hate* my new Trackpad - it's always doing something I don't
want, like sending emails and posts before I'm ready!! AIUI the Aster
novae-angliae Harrington Pink will stand light soils if a mulch is
applied to keep the soil moist. It's also said to be mildew resistant
like A.f. Monch.

Sacha,
I don't know what make your PC is, but have a look into the trackpad/mouse
settings.
Some have an option for 'disable during typing' or 'hide pointer during
typing' that may overcome the problem.
Otherwise you can do what Spider does - turn off the trackpad altogether
and use an external mouse or trackball.

RG

On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:18:53 +0100, wrote:

In article op.v155r8owgkcl5l@home1, RG wrote:
On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:39:01 +0100, Sacha wrote:

I really *hate* my new Trackpad - it's always doing something I don't
want, like sending emails and posts before I'm ready!! AIUI the Aster
novae-angliae Harrington Pink will stand light soils if a mulch is
applied to keep the soil moist. It's also said to be mildew resistant
like A.f. Monch.

I don't know what make your PC is, but have a look into the
trackpad/mouse
settings.
Some have an option for 'disable during typing' or 'hide pointer during
typing' that may overcome the problem.

Don't bet on it. I don't know what the cause is, but it's fairly
widespread, and generally has little to do with any settings except
"disable the bloody thing".

The cause is very simple. Fingers or palm brushing the trackpad while
typing.
It's worse on some laptops depending upon the position and height of the
trackpad relative to the keys.

Otherwise you can do what Spider does - turn off the trackpad altogether
and use an external mouse or trackball.

And what I do.

Or you can invest in a decent laptop that has a trackpoint instead of a
trackpad.

In article ,
Jake Nospam@invalid wrote:

Many (I say "many" but haven't actually seen one that isn't) trackpads
are actually moulded into the keyboard cover so resting the palm on
either of the co-called rest areas on either side of the pad as you
type results in the pad being pressed - you don't actually have to
touch the pad itself. In this case, reducing the pad sensitivity will
help unless you're a heavy "rester", in which case you also need to
disable the various options (depending on the PC) where you can tap
the pad instead of tapping one of the adjacent mouse buttons.

I wish :-( Neither my fliptop nor its software support such an
option, and yet it happened often enough for me to disable the
damn thing! Since you say that this is a 'feature' on at least
some of the devices, a possibility is that it is in the hardware
but supposedly disabled.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:01:26 +0100, RG wrote:

On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:18:53 +0100, wrote:

In article op.v155r8owgkcl5l@home1, RG wrote:
On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:39:01 +0100, Sacha wrote:

I really *hate* my new Trackpad - it's always doing something I don't
want, like sending emails and posts before I'm ready!! AIUI the Aster
novae-angliae Harrington Pink will stand light soils if a mulch is
applied to keep the soil moist. It's also said to be mildew resistant
like A.f. Monch.

I don't know what make your PC is, but have a look into the
trackpad/mouse
settings.
Some have an option for 'disable during typing' or 'hide pointer during
typing' that may overcome the problem.

Don't bet on it. I don't know what the cause is, but it's fairly
widespread, and generally has little to do with any settings except
"disable the bloody thing".

The cause is very simple. Fingers or palm brushing the trackpad while
typing.
It's worse on some laptops depending upon the position and height of the
trackpad relative to the keys.

Otherwise you can do what Spider does - turn off the trackpad altogether
and use an external mouse or trackball.

And what I do.

Or you can invest in a decent laptop that has a trackpoint instead of a
trackpad.

Many (I say "many" but haven't actually seen one that isn't) trackpads
are actually moulded into the keyboard cover so resting the palm on
either of the co-called rest areas on either side of the pad as you
type results in the pad being pressed - you don't actually have to
touch the pad itself. In this case, reducing the pad sensitivity will
help unless you're a heavy "rester", in which case you also need to
disable the various options (depending on the PC) where you can tap
the pad instead of tapping one of the adjacent mouse buttons.

Sometimes a technician can slightly lower the sensors under the
trackpad and I've known cases where problems have been solved by
replacing the keyboard cover.

Cheers, Jake
================================================== =====
URGling from the less wet end of Swansea Bay in between
ploughing through books and catalogues for alternatives
to impatiens.

www.rivendell.org.uk

In article , wrote:
RG wrote:
Or you can invest in a decent laptop that has a trackpoint instead of a
trackpad.

I *heart* my touchpad*. Nick disables his on his laptop and uses the silly
nipple thing in the keyboard. I can't move the cursor around on his laptop
at all. :-(

Don't be silly! I use a proper mouse. Or is it your Nick? :-)

On the AT&T 3B1, I initially thought that the mouse didn't work,
until I found that you had to stroke it very, very gently to get
it to move at all. A truly ghastly machine.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

RG wrote:
Or you can invest in a decent laptop that has a trackpoint instead of a
trackpad.

I *heart* my touchpad*. Nick disables his on his laptop and uses the silly
nipple thing in the keyboard. I can't move the cursor around on his laptop
at all. :-(

*(except when I have greasy fingers)

wrote:
I *heart* my touchpad*. Nick disables his on his laptop and uses the silly
nipple thing in the keyboard. I can't move the cursor around on his laptop
at all. :-(
Don't be silly! I use a proper mouse. Or is it your Nick? :-)

The Nick in my house. :-P
Sorry, bad habit, it often slips my mind that there are multiple Nicks in
the world, there's an implicit "The Nick About Whom I Am Speaking" which
needs to be read into things.
I was doing some speech/communication disection recently, and it does seem
to be a particularly female thing to insert people into conversations
without any consideration that your audience has no idea who you are
speaking about. (And also to not bother asking for clarification)
It would appear, after nearly 38 years, I am finally turning into A Girl.

On the AT&T 3B1, I initially thought that the mouse didn't work,
until I found that you had to stroke it very, very gently to get
it to move at all. A truly ghastly machine.

In work I have a clapped out old 'proper' rolling mouse. My team assistant
tried to swap it for an optical mouse. I didn't even realise he'd done it
until about an hour of sitting 'missing' things on my screen!

I probably could have adjusted the settings, but I was quite fond of that
old mouse, and I've since retrieved it.

On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:17:03 +0100, wrote:

RG wrote:
Or you can invest in a decent laptop that has a trackpoint instead of a
trackpad.

I *heart* my touchpad*. Nick disables his on his laptop and uses the
silly
nipple thing in the keyboard. I can't move the cursor around on his
laptop
at all. :-(

*(except when I have greasy fingers)

I've been using that 'silly nipple thing' since IBM first introduced them
many years ago, and will not consider a laptop without them.
Of course it's not as much fun as the real thing...

On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:26:00 +0100, "Sue"
wrote:

I almost gave up trying to grow any late flowering asters, my light
free-draining soil leaving them suffering with drought and mildew even
with extra watering and occasional spraying with fungicide. But I've
found the frikartii types are mildew free and seem more able to cope
with drier soil, with A x f. 'Jungfrau' doing especially well in a
difficult spot.

She's amazed me by not only surviving but positively thriving in a bed
made that's backed by large shrubs and conifers next door, so shaded
at least half the day. It also used to be an area overhung by a now
thankfully ex sycamore and the soil is so depleted there, it's
practically nothing but stony dust with garden compost added, yet
Jungfrau has taken it all in her stride. I'm attempting to root a few
cuttings to try in another position.

A shorter one that's also doing well, flowering freely in a different
bed with sun only part of the afternoon is Aster peduncularis. That's a
similar shade of lavender blue but has broader foliage. It was
recommended to me by a local nurseryman as a good doer for dryish soil
and he seems to have been spot on; I've been pleased with that one as
well. Aster f. Monch is another I have that's planted in sunnier area.

I'd like to find others in different colours if possible, as these are
all pretty much the same lavender blue, so I was wondering if anyone
could suggest any varieties that would grow in a light soil that are a
red, pink or deeper purpley colour?

Sue, I have aster frikartii Monch and love the colour and the time of
flowering. I've not tried the others you mention but favour the
blues.
Do you order from any particular firm? I'd like to get some more for
next year, particularly Jungfrau.


Pam in Bristol

On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 22:54:39 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2011-09-21 18:34:46 +0100, RG said:

On Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:39:01 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2011-09-21 00:26:00 +0100, "Sue"
I really *hate* my new Trackpad - it's always doing something I don't
want, like sending emails and posts before I'm ready!! AIUI the
Aster novae-angliae Harrington Pink will stand light soils if a mulch
is applied to keep the soil moist. It's also said to be mildew
resistant like A.f. Monch.
Sacha,
I don't know what make your PC is, but have a look into the
trackpad/mouse settings.
Some have an option for 'disable during typing' or 'hide pointer during
typing' that may overcome the problem.
Otherwise you can do what Spider does - turn off the trackpad
altogether and use an external mouse or trackball.
RG

I use an iMac and the trackpad is new to me as my original mouse kept
throwing fits of temperament. As I use a desktop computer getting
another mouse would kind of double up on the trackpad and be overkill!


I think you would have been better off Sacha to have got a new mouse. The
modern cordless laser mouse is a very accurate and reliable device, far
more precise than any trackpad.

On Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:02:34 +0100, Sacha wrote:

I think you would have been better off Sacha to have got a new mouse.
The modern cordless laser mouse is a very accurate and reliable
device, far more precise than any trackpad.


You're probably going to be proved right! I'm so tired of this thing
and my daughter is dying to get her hands on it. I'm going to get a new
mouse and get shot of this - she's very welcome to it! I'm assuming
Apple sell what you're suggesting but I'll take a look. The trackpad is
probably great for young, nimble fingers or those used to laptops but
for me, it's a mess.

You can get an Apple branded mouse or one from a firm like Logitech who
make reasonable quality devices. Apple also have a new gadget called a
'magic mouse' but I haven't tried it. I'd strongly suggest that you try
before buying if you possibly can, because the feel is quite important.
Good luck!