Redbud woes.......
diggerdee zone 6 CT
16 days ago
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callirhoe123
16 days agoiochroma
16 days agoRelated Discussions
fothergilla woes
Comments (17)john, thank you so much for your input and help. yes, the drought here seemed to have done it in last year, despite my waterings. maybe i didn't water enough. i know i didn't water too much. it is 3 years old, maybe 4. i was mulched. actually, the dead leaves made me assume it was the sun and lack of rainfall. maybe it was something else. they were brown and crispy by last fall. ufortunately, my gardens were a bit neglected due to my work schedule last year. i haven't seen any girdled stems, but i will look closer. there was a rabbit on the other side of the chain link fence, but i rarely get them (cat, no headhunters please). i have actually never seen any new stems grow since i have planted it. it also doesn't seem to add any height. it was about 2 feet tall when i got it a few years ago, and still is. i shrugged it off as being the dwarf. i also was unable to get my hydrangeas covered and had some serious winter kill on those as well. they are slowly recovering. tinamcg, thanks for letting me know. mine never bloomed well either. although my soil is about a 7 pH, i am afraid neutral isn't good enough for this acid lover. maybe that is causing all my problems!...See MoreCold Damage So Far?
Comments (72)In my yard one large crepe mrytle (even though much smaller ones in pots closer to the house are fine) has not leafed out as well as a neem tree and all my vitex and lorapetalum. I lost a total of two salvia which surprised me since I planted many right before the frost and they were pushing my zone a bit. All the other perennials are leafing out again and looking lovely despite this cruel heat and not a drop of rain. It's always a challenge isn't it? Adele...See MoreWhat are your most disappointing plants?
Comments (110)Isn't it amazing how different people have problems with different plants? How can that be? I have to agree with whoever was having difficulty with marigolds. And I find that embarrassing! Those are supposed to be easy enough for small children to raise! No problems with gaura - which I adore - and my roses are amazingly stubborn in spite of a bit of neglect. My stokesia is utterly gorgeous and just divided it early this spring so I can have even more of it! Even my lamb's ear is doing o.k. Not as big and wooly as I'd like but it made it through a deadly summer and a winter so far and is actually growing. Black eyed susans have refused to thrive since we moved to this dry place in the country. They were EVERYWHERE in the bog we lived in before. Do they really need THAT much water? Oh...and my blueberries are acting sickly. What's up with THAT?...See MoreUpdate (of estimate/contractor woes)
Comments (10)Do you design a garden plan for someone who wants to do the work themselves or get other bids on the install from other mow and blow ''landscape companies'' that do not offer design work? Do you include the detailed sprinkler install and drip irrigation in your scope of work for them to bid out to other firms? Do you create detailed hardscape plans from excavation to permits to blueprints for the pergola? For someone else to do? How about the needed soil amending that the customer doesn't realize needs to occur? Do you routinely spell that out in your specifications? What about planting depth for the trees, or shrubs? Do you feel the need to call that out so that some ignorant slob can bid the job lower than you? How about alternate plant choices should the first choice be unavailable? With written explanations of the drawbacks of one choice over the other? What about the finishing touches of mulching and maintenence tips for the homeowner? Would you offer a bid on such a detailed scope of work that some other ''garden expert'' developed, but that you disagreed with the feasability of the plan to succeed? Like creating a bog garden in a hell strip? Or installing a full English garden when their budget is 1K? Would that change if the customer engaged a well known LA to develop the master plan, and then wanted to hire you to implement the physical labor on the job? Would the fact that some other design professional took responsibility for the plan leave you not making an alternate suggestion about tree choice when you realize the original choice will mature at too tall of a height to be placed that close to the power lines? What if all of the local nurseries were sold out of the Forest Pansy redbud that was to be THE feature tree that anchors the small side yard patio area? How would you approach a substitution? How would the mow and blow guys who don't know jack about real gardening approach that same situation? It wouldn't be from the same position of skill and knowledge, for sure! How would you need to be compensated for all of that design work that you wouldn't get the contract on? Would you even take on such a project with no guarantee of compensation for the design work? Just, ''If we like your ideas, we might pick you to do the work that you're planning.'' Or do you get a design retainer before you do any work? How healthy would that design fee be if you knew you were designing for someone who might not even be able to tell which end of a bare root rose went intothe dirt and probably wouldn't even read the written specs for the job and only give a cursory look at the diagrams. You need to think about all of that. You're not familiar with the home remodeling process, so translate that world to one that you are experienced in navigating. Think about it from the other side of that fence. And translate your all over the map approach to your most trying customer that you've had. What customer are you being here?...See MoreKR KNuttle
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