GMG Green Thumb Club

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yes, but they worked all day and are still not done.

How toasty did it get while they were working outside? 

PD

[DavidW]

How toasty did it get while they were working outside? 

PD

In the 90s with high humidity.  I would hate to have a job where I worked outside in the Deep South.

[Irons]

I'm having a lot of work done to my yards today.  I have about 50 bushes, all finally receiving the pruning they require.  I had 10 trees, but it was down to 9 after needing a diseased one removed last summer.  I've decided to plant a new one so I'll be back at 10!  I'm also having gerbera daisies planted... I used to have them but they died off.  Finally for the expensive part... fresh pine straw for the flower beds.

Which type of tree are you planting?

[DavidW]

Which type of tree are you planting?

A field maple.  Most of my trees are field maples.

[Irons]

A field maple.  Most of my trees are field maples.

Thanks. Native of the UK too. The only maple to be so - I looked it up.

[Mandryka]

Thanks. Native of the UK too. The only maple to be so - I looked it up.

I thought of you today because I passed an enormous banana leaf in someone's garden between Norbiton and New Maldon.

[Irons]

I thought of you today because I passed an enormous banana leaf in someone's garden between Norbiton and New Maldon.

They do get big. I cannot locate my original post but the plant has grown and multiplied since then.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Spent yesterday afternoon trimming a "wedding cake" Viburnum - so called because it grows circular and flattish on top, and in May is covered with white blossom:



To give an idea of scale, that hedge trimmer is 11 feet long.

I would think that it would be hard/awkward to use a tool which is that long?

What a pretty plant!

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ftsa&q=wedding+cake+viburnum&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature-and-garden.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F4%2F2022%2F02%2Fviburnum-mariesii.jpg

PD

[DavidW]

Here are the maples I was talking about.  Full grown on the smaller pic and the new on the larger pic.  Dog for scale!

[Irons]

Here are the maples I was talking about.  Full grown on the smaller pic and the new on the larger pic.  Dog for scale!

Impressive garden.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Indeed so.  The weight of the cutting head (5lb) puts the balance at the wrong end from where you have to hold it, down by the motor, even on the standard (8ft) tool.  Insert a 3ft extension and you're waving around a kind of cantilever with all the strain going down through your shoulders and abdominal muscles.  It's particularly unwieldy when working at height, not least because there are low-slung power cables overhead, so one slip and it's Goodnight Vienna.

Oh it's pretty when in flower right enough.  It also grows about 3ft a year - I suppose if I let it go it would stop eventually - but who knows how big it would be by then? 

I have a very nice one, but it's really meant for someone 6+ ft!  My arms ache for several days after using it. 

Re:  cables.  I once had a smallish dump truck deliver some compost to my yard.  It ended up knocking off one of the cables--right above where I was standing.  Not knowing what it was for, I dove for the ground to avoid getting hit by it.  Luckily, it was just my t.v. cable!

PD

[Mandryka]

I suppose if I let it go it would stop eventually

A botanist once said to me that this isn't true. Apparently plants grow every year of their lives. If you think about it, it's not paradoxical really.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I dunno.  I have some trees that seem to have reached their maximum height - there's one at the left of my photo (above), a purple acer that I planted at least 20 years ago and hasn't really got any bigger since.  Leaves come and go every year, and their aspect changes as the branches get thicker - where once they were shrouded in foliage, now it's in layers with spaces between - but overall height & spread doesn't seem to change.

OTOH I have another acer that was sold to me as "forming a neat shrub 8 feet high maximum" and is already a spreading tree more than twice that and no sign of stopping - not to mention a "dwarf" rhododendron up to 12 feet so far and still going - so you may be right. 

Some shrubs you can cut way back and get new growth...you might want to check into the ones that you have.  Note:  they won't look particularly pretty for the first few years.

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Eight months after fires tore through the historic town of Lahaina, there's new hope in the recovery of the iconic banyan tree.

Experts said while the 150-year-old tree still faces challenges, it continues to show signs of growth...."

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/04/10/good-sign-new-leaves-aerial-roots-sprout-lahaina-banyan-tree-8-months-after-wildfires/

PD

[Irons]

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Eight months after fires tore through the historic town of Lahaina, there's new hope in the recovery of the iconic banyan tree.

Experts said while the 150-year-old tree still faces challenges, it continues to show signs of growth...."

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/04/10/good-sign-new-leaves-aerial-roots-sprout-lahaina-banyan-tree-8-months-after-wildfires/

PD

Nature's ability for recovery never ceases to astonish. Reading your link I could not help to think of Sycamore Gap. The one big difference of course is the tree lost in Hawaii was a natural disaster.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-66994729

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Nature's ability for recovery never ceases to astonish. Reading your link I could not help to think of Sycamore Gap. The one big difference of course is the tree lost in Hawaii was a natural disaster.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-66994729

I read about that old and beautiful tree being cut down back when it was first in the news.  What a horrible thing to have done!  I'm glad that it's still alive--though not in its old magnificence.

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I loved this story...allotment complete with a bar and cookouts!  And created on a former landfill site. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqj250132eo

PD

[Irons]

I loved this story...allotment complete with a bar and cookouts!  And created on a former landfill site. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqj250132eo

PD

Many thanks for link, PD. I am putting it out on our whatsapp group. Discussions at a committee meeting just last Monday problems raised with nine empty plots. The land is worth millions and not good to give Council excuse to sell for development.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Many thanks for link, PD. I am putting it out on our whatsapp group. Discussions at a committee meeting just last Monday problems raised with nine empty plots. The land is worth millions and not good to give Council excuse to sell for development.

Sign me up for one!  Any modest-sized houses nearby for sale [One with a good living room for listening to music is a MUST though]?

PD

p.s.  Though how far away from me would my friend Lol be? 

Edit:  @Irons How many allotments are there total?   It sounds like (perhaps) that nine might be a lot?

[Irons]

Sign me up for one!  Any modest-sized houses nearby for sale [One with a good living room for listening to music is a MUST though]?

PD

p.s.  Though how far away from me would my friend Lol be? 

Edit:  @Irons How many allotments are there total?   It sounds like (perhaps) that nine might be a lot?

Over 150 PD. It is a lot and figures of empty plots heading in the wrong direction. Not so long ago a healthy waiting list. We see it time and time again when a new arrival in a burst of enthusiasm appears for a couple of weekends and then we don't see them for weeks or in some cases months. Your link does highlight faults in the way we operate though. Not enough emphasis in the social side of things.