PBS Forum

Deer and rabbits don't eat daffodils, nor do horses. That's above ground. Haven't noticed underground consumption which I assume would be voles.

During the Hunger Winter of WWII the Dutch ate tulip bulbs but never daffodils.

Two different corpse flowers blooming in San Francisco, one now and the other two years ago. The older one is a more amusing article.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/05/corpse-flower-san-francisco-bloom-pungent-smell

and

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/19/corpse-flower-san-francisco-bay-area

Tastes change. At least that's what I suppose because this year Bambi (that's white tail deer for those of you not raise on Disney films) anyhow, Bambi is chowing down on cannas. Never in previous years. So I'm waltzing around like the queen of the May, flinging handfuls of Milorganite hither, thither, and yon.

Should I ever buy a lottery ticket and win some sizeable sum of money I will fund research not on deer repellents but on deer attractants. lLet them learn to dine on multiflora roses, Japanese honeysuckle. And poison ivy.

Not that I ever thought of hardiness zones as more than a stumbling attempt - based only on winter cold, nothing about duration, soil type, protection of reliable winter snow cover, etc. But . . .

Temperatures here in western New Jersey are somewhat moderate so far this summer while my daughter living outside Houston in Texas is enduring torrid temperatures to say the least.

Hardly any snow last winter, this summer has been dry until we were deluged with 2.5 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. And a recent nighttime thunderstorm with near constant lightening and thunder (some only 3 seconds apart = a half mile away) and rain drumming on the skylight. Power out but that's common.

So my question for those who like to speculate - are hardiness zones in need of a revision?

I used to over-plant with grape hyacinths. Their even earlier growth serves as an aide memoire when I go to plant new bulbs in early autumn.

Moderation in all things . . .

Looking for general info about Oxalis regnellii 'Purpurea' I found this on TopTropicals.com catalog: "As a spice or herb, it is used to flavor lemony dishes or to add a splash of vibrant pink or white hues to salads."

For multiflora roses, Robert, here's a suitable, targeted method.

Get a number of those florist's tubes that look like a plastic test tube with a perforated rubber cap. Carefully add herbicide to tube and recap. Cut off a portion of the current season's growth, shove remaining flexible stem through cap into tube while making sure that the cut end is into the herbicide. Best to use a flexible branch and try to angle it so tube points down to ground rather than up in air. Herbicide will be absorbed into plant and down to roots.

Of course A) you need several (dare I say "multiple"?) units per shrub and B) you then have a dead shrub to dig and dispose of. Not so useful for thin stems such as Japanese honeysuck.

Thank you for your research efforts, fierycloud, and comment, Robert. Not that I'm especially interested in eating this oxalis. Merely that there is an excess of it. I have used various garden plants and weeds as foraged ingredients: fiddlehead ferns, garlic mustard, Petasites, etc. Not geophytes - never had an excess of tulips and the so-called fairy spuds, Claytonia virginica, are both attractive and so tiny that I'd be digging for a long time for a single serving.

A delightful, fun to use - and I think qualifies as organic or at least non-chemical method of weed destruction especially useful in killing weeds in pavement, gravel, etc - is the Flaming Dragon torch. It is an igniter wand that fits on a small workshop propane gas tank.

Having brought the two large pots of dormant Oxalis regnellii 'Purpurea' up from the basement and repotted them I have a plethora of extra tubers. I have eaten wood sorrel leaves, also oca.

Does anyone know if any portions of the purple leaf oxalis are edible?

 

I'm jealous! You're all done potting / planting summer bulbs - sigh, I can only wish. I'm working my way through crates of cannas: CC. musaefolia, flaccida 'Purpurea', 'Bengal Tiger', 'Tropicana'. I need to harden my heart, next fall, and refuse to dig, clean, pack, and store ALL the canna tubers that multiply over the summer.

At least the potted crinum and xamarcrin are back outdoors, ditto the red spot banannas, and the hardy Musa basjoo are erupting skyward at their usually enthusiastic speed. Hippeastrum are in flower in the greenhouse, to be moved outdoors when I get the time.

My spirit is willing but my aging back has limitations.

Amorphophallus titanum is about to flower at the New York Botanical Garden.

"If you've never seen an Amorphophallus titanum, or the "corpse flower," now is the chance to visit The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) where one is on display in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory for the public to see, and eventually smell, when it blooms. The spectacular blooming flower gets its macabre nickname from the distinct odor, which some have described as similar to the smell of rotting meat, during its brief 24- to 36- hour bloom. Its smell serves a purpose, though, attracting pollinators that feed on dead animals. The final opening of the bloom is unpredictable but is expected to occur in the next week or two.

The full media alert is available here:
https://www.nybg.org/content/uploads/2023/03/Media-Alert-Corpse-Flower-Bloom-2023-ADA.pdf

Please consider sharing this news with your audience.
Thank you,
The NYBG Communications Team:"

Here's a link to the entry on my BelleWood Garden's web site from July 2016:
https://www.bellewood-gardens.com/2016/NYBG%20-%20Corpse%20Flower_2016-07.html

Lately there is mass insanity wherein schools are eagerly granting parents "more say in their children's education." This seems to express itself in book banning. Primarily seems to demand that children are too innocent to read about sex (haven't seen anything about banning books with a focus on violence) Yank the books off the shelves. Don't even have to read the book to demand it be banned, someone else has already screamed for banning and they just agree.

Someone has now demanded that the bible be banned - all that rape, incest, etc Oh the humanity . . .

It must have been the heavy rain / flood we had back in 2020, I think it was. It must have been the flood which - having completely blocked the culvert under the road then flowed over it. 

Now there are suddenly clumps of galanthus and eranthis and leucojum in flower across the street. Some against the fence of the neighbors sheep pasture, others here and there in the adjacent property.

I absolutely know the neighbors never planted them.

I suppose I'll leave them be rather than try to dig them up and move them back. There are too many, and too much to do here at home.

Here's an image of some eranthis in the fallen leaves with the end of a metal guard rail showing.