EVERYONE’S COME HOME FOR THE WINTER and there isn’t much navigating space in some rooms here–sound familiar? If there were a few more tender plants to accommodate, I’d need to build an addition, to overwinter them all. Until Andre the doodler pointed out the parallel with this weekly doodle, I didn’t know about the show “Hoarders,” oh my oh my. Any hoarding going on at your place, or are we all within an inch of sanity still?
THE LECTURE that he’s been giving for a number of years is not-so-subtly called “Kill Your Lawn.” Ecological horticulturist Dan Jaffe Wilder knows that starting over and creating an entire native habitat instead of a lawn isn’t for everyone. But Dan just wants to grab our attention and get us to start to make some changes at least in the way we care for the turfgrass we do want in our landscapes. And maybe give up a little square footage of it to some other kind of more diverse planting, too, like the wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana, inset). Alternative, more eco-focused styles of lawn care, along with some lawn alternatives is what he and I talked about on the podcast. Dan is Director of Applied Ecology at Norcross Wildlife Foundation in Wales, Massachusetts, and its 8,000-acre sanctuary. He’s also co-author with Mark Richardson of the book “Native Plants for New England Gardens.”
(Stream it below, read the illustrated transcript or subscribe free.)
That show is definitely mind-bending; I’ve never been able to make it through to the end of an episode. Fortunately I don’t most of my container plants are annuals so not much has to be brought in out of the weather. However, this year I adopted two boxwoods who guard my front door. Should they be brought in, do you think? I wouldn’t think so normally, but since they’re in planters, I’m not sure what would be best for them.
PS: I meant: fortunately most of my container plants are annuals….
(my fingers got ahead of my brain this morning!)
@Wendy: The answer to your boxwood question is no, they don’t want to come in…unless the pot is too small to provide good root insulation or the pot is not weatherproof. What zone are you in? Your zone, the pot size and the pot material are the factors (and even if they had to come “inside” it would just be inside an unheated building).
Frost warnings this weekend … and … no room left in the inn :(
I personally think you can never have too many sheds.
It might be considered crazy that I’m keeping a pineapple sage, which grew enormous and is basically useless, in my living room. My one vigorous mini watermelon vine is definitely a weird but fun experiment presently taking up half the plant space in my kitchen. Its blossoms are just getting ready to pop, so I couldn’t let it die. It’ll look less hoard-y in my place once the bags and bags (and bags) of drying herbs are put away. :)
The famous New York hoarders, the Collyer brothers, died as a result of their compulsion (crushed under mounds of rubbish after tripping a home made booby trap). I doubt plant hoarders, I mean collectors, could suffer the same fate…unless they try really hard.
only within an inch
I suspect we can get a group rate on a padded (sun)room or else go inquire about all those sheds Andre is alluding to. :)
How do you winter over your Hawaiian snow bush? Have you tried rooting cuttings? Do you put it in a sunny window, do you store it in the basement?
Margaret,
I’m in zone 5 (on lake erie). The pot’s (concrete) might be a bit small for them now at the end of the season, so I might bring them into the garage.
I believe that those who wish to save those little babies from the cracks in our sidewalks should be praised. Hoarders, I don’t think so. Avid collectors, savers, securers of future generations, slightly on the psychotic side but hoarders, NEVER!!
Wendy, if you have space make a couple of holes in the garden and put your shrubs in the ground for the winter. In the spring pop them back into the planters. Unless your pot is large and well insulated they will not survive the winter outside.
Welcome, Marg. Agree completely about the shrubs and overwintering; I plunge many hardy things for winter (in the empty vegetable garden usually) that are in pots all summer long. And yes, avid collector sounds better than hoarder. :)
@Melanie: I have not taken cuttings of the Breynia. I bring them inside into the mudroom (55ish degrees but bright light) and though they defoliate gradually, they perk right back up when warm weather and sunshine arrives again. I water weekly at most, so not dry but not damp, either. I am experimenting, but I have had them survive and get better each year for several years.
That is so me, except I can’t see the TV behind the Boston fern. We’re into the twenties this weekend, so the house is bursting with plant in from the cold. My weakness is begonias, my partner’s is succulents. I take over the north and east windows and he had the south and west. The middle is disputed territory.
Margaret,
Thank you so much for the info. I will try putting it in a cool room in front of a window.