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Thread: Two Households

  1. #91
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    If you've not set clear expectations before now with BIL, I don't think there's much you can do. If you'd set it up in advance ( not two days before you leave) that in exchange for lesser rent, these are some things I will expect of you : mow grass (sounds like that's covered), weed these beds, these flowers over here grow best when deadheaded (wave arms above beds), these require daily watering (point), during the season this plant will grow very tall - stakes or trellis are needed...Tie with this string. In other words, it's just too late. In all honesty, if you've not trained him it's just not going to be done because he has neither the education nor the desire to do it properly. Unfortunately, that may be true of outside help as well. Without clear direction and expectations laid out, I don't think anyone will meet your standard. Perhaps the best you can hope for is a notch above "abandoned homestead" upon your return.

  2. #92
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Thanks, IL and lmerullo. I feel better today. I spent a couple of hours weeding the front and pulling out saplings that have sprung up all over--oak, maple.. I would have come back to a forest! I laid down mulch around my perennials which really instilled a sense of order. I guess it's a good thing that the gooseneck loosestrife is a bit of a "thug" in the garden because it's not much work to maintain. Unfortunately it took over my echinacea a couple of years ago, but it's pretty and it's dense. So I'm cool with that for now. (Not sure if I want to bring it up to VT though).

    BIL is outside right now mowing the lawn. Saturday morning I'll tidy up the back and then just let it be.

    I'm ONLY sad because my peonies are about to bloom and I'm going to miss them this year, probably.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  3. #93
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Oh dear god, gooseneck loosestrife.
    You know loosestrife is on the invasive list of many states, right?

    I planted it some years ago against the advice of a couple of people. lived to regret that. Do not take it to Vermont.

    i had another kind of loosetrife, woody stemmed that ws beloved by Japanese beetles, but it was bery well behaved.

  4. #94
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    Oh dear god, gooseneck loosestrife.
    You know loosestrife is on the invasive list of many states, right?

    I planted it some years ago against the advice of a couple of people. lived to regret that. Do not take it to Vermont.

    i had another kind of loosetrife, woody stemmed that ws beloved by Japanese beetles, but it was bery well behaved.
    I've heard that purple loosestrife is the invasive one in our area. Gooseneck is borderline. According to my Master Gardener teacher:

    "...the gooseneck loosestrife, Lysimachia clethroides vs. the purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria.
    - SO this is where knowing the specific epithet comes in handy! It turns out that gooseneck loosestrife and purple loosestrife are in different families, purple loosestrife being in the loosestrife family and gooseneck being in the Ranunculus family. While not considered an invasive species, the gooseneck loosestrife is still aggressive and will naturalize/take over an area if grown in moist, hummusy soil as it spreads by rhizomes.
    http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.o...empercode=e100


    Ironically, I was given the loosestrife by a Master Gardener at an inn we stayed at in VT one year. He never warned me. His gardens were amazing. Just amazing.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  5. #95
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    I've heard that purple loosestrife is the invasive one in our area. Gooseneck is borderline. According to my Master Gardener teacher:

    "...the gooseneck loosestrife, Lysimachia clethroides vs. the purple loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria.
    - SO this is where knowing the specific epithet comes in handy! It turns out that gooseneck loosestrife and purple loosestrife are in different families, purple loosestrife being in the loosestrife family and gooseneck being in the Ranunculus family. While not considered an invasive species, the gooseneck loosestrife is still aggressive and will naturalize/take over an area if grown in moist, hummusy soil as it spreads by rhizomes.
    http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.o...empercode=e100


    Ironically, I was given the loosestrife by a Master Gardener at an inn we stayed at in VT one year. He never warned me. His gardens were amazing. Just amazing.
    I think you are right that purple woody-type loosestrife is the invasive kind, bit it was always very well behaved in my garden but for attracting those beetles. Now that I think about it, I dont see it offered in nurseries any more. .??? So maybe they got with the program. But like
    I said, it was always nice.

    I didnt know that Gooseneck and Lytheum are not related.
    Last edited by iris lilies; 5-11-18 at 8:55am.

  6. #96
    Senior Member herbgeek's Avatar
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    I learned the hard way that most of the plants for sale in high supply at local garden club sales are aggressive- that's why there are so many. Every spring for the last 6-7 years I'm ripping out gooseneck loosestrive. I obviously don't get it all because out keeps coming back.

  7. #97
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    I may resort to round up which I have used once in 45 years on a rental property on poison ivy...but for the gooseneck that is starting around the new AC unit. It has to go. Not sure if round up will do it.

  8. #98
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nswef View Post
    I may resort to round up which I have used once in 45 years on a rental property on poison ivy...but for the gooseneck that is starting around the new AC unit. It has to go. Not sure if round up will do it.
    Roundup will kill it eventually, but you may have to make several applications and at a strong strength. Gooseneck loosestrife reminds me if mint the way it pushes its roots underground.

    I have an ongoing invasion of mint in my community garden but am not “allowed” (social pressure) to use Roundup there. sadz.

    plants are funny. I moved a bunch of Iris when the weed situation was so bad in one bed I could no longer control it. That bed is full of Johnson grass, nasty nasty stuff.

    Anyway, I moved all of the iris then hit that bed with Round up then hit that bed with Round Up again and we have been mowing it. This spring, about a dozen Iris popped up in this decimated bed. Iris have a waxy coating on their leaves and they are mostly resistant to Round Up. That is good and bad I guess.

  9. #99
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    Catherine, is there anyone from your master gardener class you could ask to come in once a week and keep up with the garden? I would pay for a certain number of hours, and they would know what to do.

    I would look into that for my peace of mind, as I would not want to depend on BIL to do this.

    It's really hard to have two places, in some ways, even when you have someone staying there.

  10. #100
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    nswef, do you know anone who has a goat or two? they would love to eat all of that right down into the dirt. Problem solved, without dangerous herbicides.

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