Landscaping

[dancerjodi]

We had some friends over yesterday for a cookout who are quite knowledgeable about plants and things like that. Its the first time they had been out in our yard, and boy did they have fun poking at it. Our yard is so bad that their bored 7 year old son spent some of his time at the house weeding our front yard. Heh. I wish I could have a nice looking yard without doing anything to it, but I know that's not realistic.

The 'Dagoba' tree (seriously; Vader lives there http://www.diabolis.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=232 )in the back is some kind of Ash. Unfortunately there's some poison ivy growing up behind it too. Its funny, because I'm usually sensitive to poison ivy and yet I've weeded the little sprigs with no issue. The tree needs a serious pruning.

We've kept the Japanese Knotweed at bay (what we were calling bamboo) but I really want it gone. The space it grows is odd in that its a tiny patch of land between two paved areas (with a chain-link fence in the middle). I'm wondering now if I should just try and strip all of the vegetation out of there.

Something was eating our newer rose bush http://www.marmontianderson.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=19&pos=15 . The older rose bush (a climbing one) is kind of out of control but its super dead on the bottom. I have a trellis for it, but it sits almost a foot in front of the bush given all of the old dead stuff in the ground at the base of the plant. http://www.marmontianderson.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=19&pos=13

The vinca is the bane of my existance http://www.marmontianderson.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=19&pos=14. G said that the only thing to kill it is the chemicals, putting some on each shoot. That should be fun, seeing how its creeping up in the grass all over our entire yard. On the other hand, the vinca minor that I planted in our front yard didn't take over as I hoped http://www.marmontianderson.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=19&pos=22. It actually got kind of fried from the hours of hot direct sun (despite watering). I'm considering now trying to plant veggies out there next year. Its kind of odd, but it would be a good use of the sun.

The large tree that our swing hangs on is apparently an invasive Norway Maple http://www.marmontianderson.com/photos/displayimage.php?album=19&pos=18. All parties suggested that we cut it down, since it tries to spread like crazy and ends up shading out so much that nothing else can grow. I'm not sure if we'll be jumping to do that anytime soon, but we do need to prune it - its attacking the 2nd floor windows of the house next-door.

There's always something. I say each year that we'll focus less on the inside and more on the outside. I think we're finally at a point now though that we can actually do that. I don't want to do gardening or housework or that kind of thing to the detriment of other fun things, which is a good deal the reason why our yard looks like it looks. :)

Comments

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

Japanese Knotweed is on the invasive species list and it is REALLY invasive and hard to kill. It'll come up through pavement--there was even a case in the UK where it came up in someones house, through the floorboards. It should be about to flower where you are, so keep cutting it back to prevent it from setting seed. Don't put any clippings in your compost (if you have one) as it will likely root. Probably best to put it in the trash, instead of with yardwaste even. Google will give you more information and control methods. You can dig it out but you've got to make sure you get all the roots and rhizomes. glyphosate (roundup) will help, but may take several applications. if you do the glyphosate now and it comes back before oct/nov, reapply before it goes dormant and it's less likely to come back in the spring. If you can't spray the Knotweed without killing everything else in the area, use this tong method (good for poison ivy too):

buy a cheap pair of kitchen tongs and a regular sponge. cut the sponge in half and rubber band each half on the inside of each tong end. dip the tong/sponge combo in glyphosate (or spray it onto the sponge) until it is saturated, then clamp the sponge/tong onto specific leaves. this really helps avoid over-spray.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

believe it or not GRASS will push out the knotweed. we had it in our back yard along a fence back home. it would push up thorough the asphalt and cracks in the cement. even when he dug it up it came back. finally my dad noticed it did not come up through the grassy areas. he dug it up again and then rolled out fresh sod. no more knotweed!

[dawntreader]

holy Dagoba tree! that's awesome looking! in a ... completely Dagoba sort of way. *g* you should get dressed up and take your pictures there.

anyway, i heard somewhere that Poison Ivy is even stronger and more potent due to global warming. things like Poison Oak and Poison Ivy will become even worse in years to come as there is something about the poison that reacts even stronger to more carbon dioxide. fun, huh? :/