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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 14, 2020 21:39:44 GMT
One thing that I am surprised we do not get are the deer eating all of our hostas plants, we must have at least 2 dozen of them throughout our gardens and the deer have not found them, considering I realistically live in the forest, maybe just enough dogs around. You are extremely lucky, Mich! Deer and rabbits can make short work of gardens. What can work with moles etc are the little childrens windmills which one gets at the seaside. Oooo ~ that would be worth doing even without a critter problem. I love those things! Voles are cute in children's books. All creatures are cute in children's books, but do you really see yourself holding a badger on your lap, for instance?
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Post by bjd on Aug 15, 2020 5:38:30 GMT
Badgers are rarely part of the "cute" animals in kids books. But for voles I was thinking in particular about a book my grandchildren had from the library in Edinburgh about a little vole who had nobody to play with because he was so small. I didn't really know the term "vole" before, lumping them in with field mice.
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Post by casimira on Aug 15, 2020 12:06:11 GMT
I have never seen a vole and we don't have them here but across Lake Pontchartrain on the North Shore of the lake where I used to tend some gardens years ago. There were these areas of the gardens that one could feel soft spots that apparently were the tunnels where I was told the voles traversed. The damage to certain plants was clearly in evidence. It was as though they had an underground subway system. Next stop: HYDRANGEA ( )
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Post by Kimby on Aug 15, 2020 13:07:50 GMT
Interesting that badgers would be mentioned with voles. The subdivision our lake cottage is in is named Badger Bay.
Though I’ve not seen one, I see evidence of their digging, but our badgers seem more interested in digging out the gophers (ground squirrels) that leave unsightly (and ankle-busting) holes and dirt piles in the yard. The gophers don’t seem to feed on my garden plants, and they hibernate half the year, while voles are active under the snow year round, chewing paths in our lawn in town each winter. Voles are the food source for the Great Grey Owls we see each winter at the lake. And Pearl catches one now and then, but mainly as a plaything.
Between the owls and weasels, and maybe a fox or two, I’m hoping the vole population is on the decline. Gophers seem less abundant since I started noticing badger (or fox) diggings in our yard.
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Post by Kimby on Aug 15, 2020 13:52:08 GMT
I have never seen a vole and we don't have them here but across Lake Pontchartrain on the North Shore of the lake where I used to tend some gardens years ago. There were these areas of the gardens that one could feel soft spots that apparently were the tunnels where I was told the voles traversed. The damage to certain plants was clearly in evidence. It was as though they had an underground subway system. If you keep your yard mowed and clear of tall grass/weeds, they will choose to live elsewhere. But Louisiana (and all of America, practically) has voles. www.800critter.com/louisiana_voles.htmlWe CAN’T eliminate vole habitat without eliminating the wildflowers and native grasses that cover our 2 acre sloping yard at the cottage. One “perfect carpet of green” is enough for Mr. Kimby to keep up with.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 15, 2020 15:43:52 GMT
Badgers are rarely part of the "cute" animals in kids books. But voles are? Frances the Badger is famous.
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Post by casimira on Aug 15, 2020 16:53:58 GMT
Where they were/are in evidence here was/is outside of the city North of here so technically yes, Louisiana does have voles but no one I know of that does extensive gardening within the city has ever reported vole activity. And, I know many, many gardeners in the Metro NOLA area that "get down and dirty" in large community plots etc. Perhaps because NOLA is under sea level and sinking by the day they don't care for the conditions. Nutria, another rodent, now that's a whole other problem in the suburbs.
I LOVE this song.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 1, 2021 0:25:28 GMT
I lucked into a bagful of Iris divisions and am dreaming of clumps of pretty irises blooming in my rock garden at the lake next summer. Normally our local Iris Society holds an event and sells the divisions from dozens of varieties of bearded irises in their demonstration gardens. But because of the pandemic cancelling such “events”, they were just GIVING them away! They even provided paper bags to carry them away. I came away with a dozen and a half iris rhizomes, each with leaves trimmed and marked with a Sharpie on the leaves with the varietal name. I googled the 4 varieties I got (3-5 of each), and found photos of two-toned flowers in a rainbow of colors including “Celebration Song” (pink/apricot), “Willamette Mist” (lilac/white), “Pink Boogie” (pink/blue), and “Cimarron Trail” (yellow/rose). Plus a few unlabeled escapees that had been dug out between the designated varietal clumps. Such fanciful names, inducing visions of garden glory in the future. Hope springs eternal! After 10 years of perennial disappointment with my perennial garden, I was astonished to arrive at the lake after a 7 week absence to find that every single one of the irises are putting up healthy looking green blades. The cold and snow and voles didn’t daunt them. I’m so excited! Hope they can bloom before winter returns at 6400’ elevation...
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Post by Kimby on Jun 20, 2021 2:56:06 GMT
One did bloom already. A small purple and white one with orange “beard”. It was one of the un-labeled mystery rhizomes, so it shall remain nameless, though I sent a photo to the iris society to see if they could ID it by looks. One more bud on that stalk, but so far no other buds. I hope they are just busy building robust root systems for their long lives in my rock garden. I’m anticipating a more bounteous display next year.
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Post by Kimby on Aug 30, 2021 15:30:08 GMT
Oh no!!!! Woke up this morning to see lots of deer tracks coming up from the lake, right toward my rock garden. Looked out the window and NO IRISES were visible. Those bastards! After a summer of growing nice green sword blades of foliage, my "deer proof" iris garden is decimated!
But wait. All is not lost. On closer inspection, they are only sheared to near ground-level, and all the bulbs (rhizomes) are accounted for, though I did have to tuck two back into the ground. I hope they all survive till next summer...when I will apply deer repellent in the late summer to discourage foraging deer.
Still a discouraging setback.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 6, 2021 9:34:39 GMT
Irises must be delicious.
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Post by fumobici on Sept 6, 2021 22:20:31 GMT
Irises must be delicious. The Italian porcupines that feast on mine certainly think so.
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Post by Kimby on Oct 10, 2021 3:46:54 GMT
The irises are trying valiantly to replace their lost foliage before winter. So I watered them well, sprayed some blood/rotten egg scented deer repellent on them, and tucked them in with a fresh layer of mulch for the winter. Hoping for some more blooms next summer.
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Post by Kimby on Mar 28, 2022 21:00:24 GMT
The snow is receding and the irises appear to have survived their second winter, despite plenty of evidence that rodents had bedded down for the winter under the snow amongst them.
Dare I hope for a display of blooms this year? Last season produced only one, but they hadn’t had a chance to establish themselves yet,
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Post by casimira on Mar 29, 2022 17:38:51 GMT
Despite the bulldozing and grading of the lot we were greeted by a lone Siberian iris in bloom yesterday evening. It was a delightful surprise.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 29, 2022 17:42:06 GMT
Ohhhh! It's a promise of the future!
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Post by Kimby on Jun 4, 2022 21:56:41 GMT
The irises that the deer ate last August are thrusting green foliage toward the sky again. At least 15 survived the assault. Dare I aspire to some bounteous blooms this summer?
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Post by Kimby on Jul 4, 2023 17:51:40 GMT
I realized I forgot to post the results of last years iris crop: ONE stalk out of 18 corms planted. And a different one than the first summer’s bloomer. Its name is “Pink Boogie”!
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Post by Kimby on Jul 4, 2023 17:57:13 GMT
My aspiration for the rock garden this year is that this lone stalk will bloom before the deer find it! It’s called “Celebration Song” and is supposed to be apricot and pink when it blooms. (Unless I botched my record keeping!)
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Post by bjd on Jul 4, 2023 18:58:04 GMT
You are made of tough stuff, Kimby. I think I would be disheartened if I got only one flower a year.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 4, 2023 19:18:21 GMT
I’m bummed that it looks like they might need dividing already, and most haven’t ever bloomed. What am I doing wrong?
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Post by Kimby on Jul 4, 2023 19:21:11 GMT
You are made of tough stuff, Kimby. I think I would be disheartened if I got only one flower a year. Well, Pink Boogie did have 9 blooms on that one stem, lasting over a week. And Celebration Song has at least 4 buds. And they all have lush green blades to look at.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 8, 2023 5:00:32 GMT
New iris ALMOST bloomed before we left the cottage for a few days. I hope one or two of the buds wait for my return. “Celebration Song”
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 8, 2023 5:12:50 GMT
Astoundingly beautiful iris, Kimby!
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Post by Kimby on Jul 8, 2023 16:41:03 GMT
Can you imagine how gorgeous my rock garden would be if ALL 18 corms had produced stems like this? I have 6 clumps with 4 known varieties, all prize-winners, plus a clump of miscellaneous unknown varieties.
I sure need to figure out why 17 of 18 take the year off every year. My neighbor’s irises did fantastically well, so I know it can work if I get the details right.
I amended the soil, mulched, and fertilized, and keep them watered but not overwatered. Someone tell me what else I can do, please!
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Post by bjd on Jul 8, 2023 16:55:15 GMT
Given that most of my irises seemed to get sick this year, all I can offer is that perhaps you shouldn't have amended and mulched. Years ago in Toulouse, I bought some fancy irises. At the garden centre, the clerk told me to be sure to use good soil. They didn't grow, didn't bloom. One day a passing neighbour said that irises like lousy soil and grow beside bits of concrete. Their corms should not be covered if you want them to bloom. I then moved them along broken bits of the driveway and they developed and bloomed really well.
I have planted irises here but they don't do as well. They don't like well-drained soil apparently.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 8, 2023 19:16:55 GMT
And yet my next door neighbor’s irises did great in the same dirt on the same slope.
Until the new owners of the house let their contractors bulldoze the rock gardens as part of a remodeling project…,
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Post by Kimby on Jul 8, 2023 19:18:13 GMT
Thanks for the tips bjd. Do you know how to tell when they need dividing?
And maybe I should pull the mulch back in spring. But at 6400’ elevation with 5 months of winter, I think they need mulching in the snowy windy months.
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Post by bjd on Jul 9, 2023 5:29:15 GMT
I suggest you look at a few gardening videos about irises, Kimby. As for division, I believe it's about every 4 years or so, but I guess it's when they start crowding each other too much.
Or ask your neighbour how they get their irises to do well.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 9, 2023 16:16:28 GMT
Sadly, that neighbor sold and moved away, and the new owners bulldozed her gardens without offering the opportunity to transplant anything. ☹️
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