Gee royce, I thought that was my idea. I have been doing that for awhile and like it much better. I posted a couple of pics. Maybe I stole the idea from Brooke. No matter, she will forgive me.. I sprayed some RU too. hope nothing gets damaged. ( nothing important, I mean. )...Ellie

I just need to get out and LABEL stuff. The PVC thing is a good idea (whoever thought of it!), and if I bang them into the ground so that they only stick up a few inches, they won't be obvious at a casual glance. I need to label my peonies, irises, and daylilies (I have a large bunch of each, and I like to know their names). I planted quite a few daylilies last year, 9 peonies, and ten or so historic TB historic irises, and made a map of what I planted. Now I just need to find my MAP. . . . (With apologies to Tolkien, my garden records are like Butterbur's memory: "Thing wanted always buried.") And, I just ordered some MORE goodies from Marietta's that I will need to label, along with this year's things from several other places that I haven't labeled yet either. (By the way, the clump sale from Sunshine Hollow was VERY good, and the plants were VERY nice.)

I desperately need to mow my yard, but it's rained off and on, a lot, for the past week. The grass is VERY lush and tall, and soaking wet. If I mowed right now, the yard would look like it was covered with lumps of cooked spinach, and the mulching mower would have a coronary.

My husband is getting ready to wage war on the creeping Charlie in the yard. I garden organically, but I've found nothing organic that will resolve the problem of a severe established infestation of ground ivy. My DH would be happy to nuke the lawn with Scott's, but I'm against the idea, so we're at an impasse. (He's talked about digging up the entire front lawn and starting over. He can do that if he wants to, but I'm underwhelmed by the thought of the labor involved in that solution. I haven't recovered from the rock walls and the gravel patio/walkway yet.) I've got to call a local organic lawn care company and see if they have any great ideas. My DH gets aggravated every time he looks at the lawn. I tell him that if it's green and gets mowed, it's lawn to me; he doesn't agree.

I have to get going - I need to bake biscotti for a graduation party for a friend later today.

Laurel

Ellie, I guess this is another case where great minds think alike, with both you and Brooke using the T's. I stole the idea from Brooke, but perhaps you also shared it. Then again, perhaps you did not share the idea and just let me muddle along, while Brooke helped out old Mud. Guess I traded my Basagran experience for her T idea.

Mud

Here is a link that might be useful: T idea

Laurel nothing organic will kill Creeping Charlie - it grows under paving stones, newspaper, cement blocks, buildings. Nasty stuff.

See Mud, I am nicer than Ellie - she probably thought of the pvc T's years ago amd kept that idea to herself. Not me, I blab what I know.

I wish I could take credit for the T idea but it came from my hubby who stole it from the Daylily Society of L'ville - goodness knows where they stole the idea. It could have been Mizellie! The DSL has a display garden at the Falls of Ohio (on the Ohio river) and they use the pvc T markers for it. I LOVE being able to stand up, without my glasses, and read the crosses.

Royce you didn't answer the RIBBONS AND THINGS question on the regular forum. I found three crosses in the field with RAT as the pollen parent - one I can't remember, one is S. STARBURST and the other is LIVING IN LUXURY. Have you bloomed anything from the RAT.

Scapes are popping like crazy in the field and the yard is springing to life. I found my first bagel scapes yesterday on SHEER EXCITEMENT. It is listed as an EE and obviously is. The only other non spuf with scapes is GENTLEMAN OF VERONA. He too, has scapes in the field on some spuf crosses.

I'm done - I'm going to go outside and piddle. I have some name tags to put with a few plants and I'm sure I can kill another hour doing nothing.

Brooke

Does anyone have a photo of the T idea? I'd like to see it, whoever is the inventer :)

Yesterday I dug out a bunch of malva moschata whose roots go down a foot or so. The ground was wet and I really shouldn't have been mucking about in it, but the soft ground makes it much easier to pull out the darn things. They self seed so much. The bees love the flowers, but I can't keep up with deadheading them. And I need room to plant the DLs I bought this spring! Anyway, I pulled a back muscle so I'm going to go sit with a heating pad in a little while and relax in front of the TV.

It's been cool and windy here. Lots of rain. Everything is green, compared to just a few weeks ago when all I had blooming were daffs. Iris are blooming now. Here is a photo that includes part of the new bed my husband is building for me. The blocks go below for the sidewalk.
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Darn it, I cleaned out the pictures of the seedlings with the T markers to make room for different pictures. The markers for the seedlings are REALLY ugly because they are so tall they scream at you. It's OK in the field and so easy to read. These are 18" pipe with about 6" driven into the ground.

I use the markers for hosta seedlings that are shorter - they are probably 12" length of pipe with 6" in the ground. Those are not ugly and still easy to read and very unobtrusive. They are also very stable in the ground - critters don't move them, tip them over. Please note these are inserted into clay - don't know how they will work in sandy soil. This years crop of hosta seedlings will probably be a couple of inches shorter.

Brooke

Here are pic's of the t markers. one is written with a Painter pen and one is dymo ( el cheapo ) labeling tape. i figured the cost of my labels at about 27 cents each. Lowes sells the t in packages of 10...saves a good bit of money.. I probably stole this idea somewhere too !! The Pvc pipe is really cheap for 10' piece. 1/2 " size. makes 10 labels for me. It's really nice that you don't have to move the pipe if you are changing dl places. Just swap the t..
Ellie

pic. one

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pic 2
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sorry for not sharing with you Mud. But brooke keeps you abreast of things. she usually beats me to the punch...

Brooke, I did not see the question re: RIBBONS AND THINGS. I now read all posts on the conversation side and skip and pick on the discussion side. I just bought RAT last summer and set pods on it this year. Please show pictures of your seedlings when they bloom.

I am now probably getting about 20 blooms a day. Still nothing exciting. In fact, it has been so poor that I now eat breakfast before going out for a stroll.

Ellie, thanks for mentioning the pack of 10 T's. I have seen those and forgotten it. Last time I bought the singles. Have to buy some more soon, because I think I will plant some seeds in a couple of weeks. It is now hot and very dry here. I am a little surprised at how dry it is. I had a blueberry plant in a pot and it almost died from drought before I realized it.

Nice picture Marcia. I still have a few irises (4?) from an earlier time. All the nice pictures are making me think perhaps I should give them a little better care.

My dishwasher is torn up. I won't be home tomorrow, but the repairman said he will probably be able to come out Wednesday (today is Monday, isn't it?). If he can repair it Wednesday, that will be ok. I have enough dishes to last until then. If it isn't repaired Wednesday, I will have to go to another plan. Seems I recall when I was growing up, that one could just put the dishes in the sink with sudsy water and wash them by hand. I have some Dawn Ultra from daylily growing, so guess that will work. Also, have a couple of things I have been using for pot holders, which, I think, are actually dish cloths. I also have a sponge. So, guess I should be able to manage. Thought about eating out, but too far and too expensive to eat out every meal. Will do it tomorrow though. Another disadvantage to being retired. If I worked in town, I could eat all meals away from home until it is repaired.

Hey MUD!!! Hello!!!! paper plates and disposeable forks works for us. I don't have a dishwasher because I have well water and need to be careful with the water since I have dls. to water. PAPER PLATES!! That's the ticket...Ellie

Got most of my pot ghetto moved to back field. One more weekend should do the trick! Been pulling off all the dead foilage and had to water today.
Need to mow but my baby sis' dog was staying here a while and he chewed the cord of the mower! He also chewed off the bottoms of the doors on my outdoor shed! ARRRGHH!

Paper plates and picnic supplies are a lifesaver in our family! Course I only have two lil' ones left to get grown. Now when all four were in the home the dishwasher was used everyday!
Nancy

Boy the tips you can pick up in the conversation area about daylilies. PVC plant markers, disposable eating utensils, DAWN for DISHES - who woulda thunk it! I thought Dawn was a sticker/spreader/rust killer/aphid killer.

I see Marcia is using paver stones as a walkway. Those are my new favorite bed edger and it was actually my idea, pooh pooh'd by my husband last year.

Remember my story of my husband using the tiller during the drought to lay out the edge for a new bed where I thought tilling through super dry clay was going to launch him into space? I used these pavers, two horizontal and then one vertical, to edge the bed. My husband gave me a dozen reasons why this wouldn't work but for once I persisted. He wanted to use that tacky, tacky rubber edging, again, and I HATE that stuff. Since he is the lugger, toter, installer of all things heavy, I have several areas where the rubber things rule. He wants to be able to mow right up next to the edge. We have several beds that are rock bordered, landscape timbers and RR ties and yes, he hates to weedeat around those structures. I should also point out, he picked out those borders, not me.

Finally, I had an idea that worked and it worked so well, he actually wanted a new area with the same border. He now whizzes around the edge on his tractor and eliminated the need for additional work. The pavers were actually cheaper than buying the rubber tacky things - did I mention I hate those rubber edges. My next project is to get him to agree to replace all those rubber edges with the pavers. Wish me luck.

Brooke