Weekend TeaDays 11/13-14/10 Garden of Influence?

[JBaymore]

I do some gardening......... although I'd not call myself a "gardener".

I have a small Japanese garden that is in front of the Japanese room in the house and the entrance to my studio. It is probably 15 years or more old now...... although a part got destroyed in some construction work and is being rebuilt (very slowly).

best,

..............john

[rhondabee]

I enjoy gardening, but am a lazy gardener. I get very excited about picking out the plants and planting them, but I'm pretty lax on maintenance/weeding. I mostly grow roses, but I also enjoy growing day lilys, and other perennial flowers. I like herbs a lot too, especially the scented mints and thymes. My oldest cat loves to lay in my lemon thyme patch along with the lavender and yarrow. I try to grow a tomato plant every year, but I always plant it too late & get fruit in October, which never ripens or if they do ripen, the squirrels steal them (as Laura said).

[entropyembrace]

Chip is a master at pruning and keeps our maples looking very 'Bonsaish/Asiatic'. Although sometimes I still cringe when he gets out the lopers, his vision for the tree is always years ahead of mine, and of course he is always right!

I am clueless about pruning, and one of my maples died last year.

This year another maple had a leading stem on which the leaves died on the topmosdt forks and the stem changed to a lighter colour in June, in July this seemed to have spread down the stem to a double sized portion, by August it had spread even further down.

Now all other leaves have fallen off but the withered leaves on the affected area remain. The lightened coloration of bark is now down to about 2cm from the MAIN stem.

Should I chop this off now, lest this problem spreads to the whole tree?

I´d say yes chop it off...and to be safe disinfect what you used to prune that branch afterwards, and trash the branch rather than letting it sit somewhere in your garden.

I don´t know much about maples but it sounds a lot like a bacterial infection my gfs rose bushes had last year and that was really the only way to deal with it.

[Proinsias]

Another lazy gardener reporting in.

Got a decent herb patch, couple of raised beds, greenhouse, coldframe, 2 long beds, some small fruit trees and a selection of berries. There's a few wild bramble patches at the bottom of the garden.

We keep quite a lot of guinea pigs, foster guinea pigs and have two rabbits so quite a bit of the produce doesn't make it to my plate.

The whole set up is rather messy though, very slowly but surely trying to make it productive but low maintenance.



Some of Master Luo's long jing today, top notch.

[AdamMY]

mmm Chives!!!

[Chip]

Chip is a master at pruning and keeps our maples looking very 'Bonsaish/Asiatic'. Although sometimes I still cringe when he gets out the lopers, his vision for the tree is always years ahead of mine, and of course he is always right!

I am clueless about pruning, and one of my maples died last year.

This year another maple had a leading stem on which the leaves died on the topmosdt forks and the stem changed to a lighter colour in June, in July this seemed to have spread down the stem to a double sized portion, by August it had spread even further down.

Now all other leaves have fallen off but the withered leaves on the affected area remain. The lightened coloration of bark is now down to about 2cm from the MAIN stem.

Should I chop this off now, lest this problem spreads to the whole tree?

We are USDA Zone 6 here ... so extra care must be taken when to prune and more importantly when not to prune. Fall is a no no in these parts for Japanese Maples. I do the most major pruning in very early Spring before the juices are flowing! The next best is at least several weeks after leafing out.

The question is whether it is a systemic/disease problem or environmental. Perhaps if it is a systemic/disease problem, surgery now might be the way to go.

If a Japanese Maple is happy where you planted it, it will tend to grow robustly and respond very well to even drastic pruning.

If you are experiencing die back, there is something wrong obviously. As I drive, I notice Japanese Maples all the time, and sometimes I follow a tree's decline for several years til ... *sob* ... it dies. Then I see ones close by that are thriving.

This is something I need to learn! I have one maple that is growing out of control, and I am terrified to prune it.

If it is thriving, don't be afraid of it.

When I prune Japanese Maples, I really get into it. Complete and total focus ... and I envision the tree years down the road. Very ... therapeutic!

[Chip]

Fantatic photos everyone! *LOVES fresh figs!!!*

Yeah, I do more than grow and prune Japanese Maples! We have Black Walnuts around here that are hundreds of years old. Unfortunately many things I would love to grow, simply will not grow around them, Azaleas and tomatoes really hate them.

But still like Asian influenced gardening, herbs, dwarf(ing) trees, and succulents would top my list.

Great TD, Yutaka Midori Supreme to start the TD followed by Kame Jirushi Gyokuro with the Mrs. ...

[Skippyandjif]

Everyone's plant photos are so lovely! I'm more of a garden observer myself, because I grew up in NYC and my mom's current house has no gardening space, so I can't grow anything when I'm visiting in the summer. Oh well...

I do have a green thumb, although the only plant life I have in my dorm right now is an orchid my friend got me before I had oral surgery in September.

Pu-erh from my pu brick all day and all night today. Yum!!!

[RaynBeatle]

I haven't planted anything since I was little....well no...I did start growing tomatoes about a year ago...maybe 2 years ago...but I got the plants online...and they died...so they sooo don't count lol

[gargoylekitty]

I only have room for indoor gardening via two of these in my window for herbs...

I hope to have something more impressive one day.

[Proinsias]

How does that work Gargoylekitty?

I've been staring at it for a few minutes and I'm confused.

[gargoylekitty]

Youtube explains: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT4gVNl94gs (this one shows a little more step-by-step: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smyzus2gsLY)
They say other things than herbs can be grown with it, but I haven't tried.

[Proinsias]

Cheers for that, neat idea.

Some Aoki green today. Nice Japanese green from a UK vendor, yay!

[jazz88]

I have had quite a large garden in the past. Now I live in a very dark apartment in Manhattan and a few of my house plants have not survived that I would love to have a small garden, in fact any small outdoor space would be great. Maybe some day ...
Just had a cup of Yunnan Jig.

[nickE]

90s small Yellow Label Shengpu today. Very relaxing cuppa!