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Iris bed created last spring...

Iris bed today... i let mother nature take over because i didn't want to pull the CA poppies and sunflowers growing from seed i put out for birds and squirrels. result is i can't see the iris any more. oh, they are there. i just have to find them.

I like the look of a wild bed such as yours. Those iris blooms will show in the spring before the other plants get very tall. The sunflowers are annuals and will need replanting anyhow.

you'd love my garden, lucky. it has always had the tendency to take on a wild look. i do plan to tame that iris bed today. thing is once i get going its usually all or nothing. its hard for me to do selective weeding!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bana,

I know the challenge well, how to take out the weeds but not pull out the perennials. I still try to do it since I have some weeds that would literally choke out some of my perennials. I don't always succeed in getting every bed, every year so I do have some that are out of control, oh well.

Bana, I too love that wild look........and before you get out there weeding, consider that you have a little piece of nature. The perfect habitat for birds, butterflies, toads and insects. Since you already have a water feature, the native look is perfect.


Your patio/deck area looks amazing.

ve

gee whiz... will y'all twist my arm a little more to NOT go out to weed? i'm really trying to talk myself into doing it! and here's the sunflower picture.. ve made me do it.

another view of the IRIS sunflower garden...

Thanks Bana - and I do love sunflowers and sunflower pictures. That deck/patio is so inviting. Say, are those apples on that little tree? I think I'll sit in that comfy looking red chair and munch on an apple. Got any sweet iced tea?

ve

yes they are apples.. granny smiths. and no i don't have sweet tea ~ but i'll google how to make some, so come on by.

Can Identify with the wild garden look! LOL So much to cut back & with my bad leg right now its just going to have to wait! Just do one or two things at a time if I can. sigh So many yellow leave from lack of water are making things look bad too! Love the little garden room complete with sunflowers!

I like your wild look too! But I have this addiction....it's pulling weeds & unwanted grasses! I've been known to forget to do what I went to do cause I got side tracked pulling stuff! ((eye roll))

bana, You can come to my house and tell me not to weed, too. Plenty of places overgrown that I tell my self I'll do tomorrow. LOL You're in good company. Love Vera telling you it's a good place for birds, butterflies and insects....I totally agree.

Bana,
Don't you dare touch those sunflowers!!! :angry:
I love sunflowers and your 'weeds' are nicer than the ones I plant. Irises have a short shelf life, they only bloom once usually. Sunflowers are out on display "representing Summertime" for months. I wish my sunflowers seeds for the birds went to flowers like that! I'd love having mystery flowers that are pretty. Those aren't weeds, wanna see real weeds come on over!
(you can pull the poppies if you are growing "tarred" of them, but leave the pretty sunflowers!!!)

WAVEE.. do not fret your pretty little head. i have absolutely no intention of pulling out the sunflowers!!!!! if i had a favorite flower, it would most likely be sunflowers and i love that the bird seed gives me this cheerful gift. they are growing in the darnedest places and i don't have the heart to pull them.

by weeds, i mean the wild grasses and crabby grass looking weeds that are in that bed. poppies? love them initially but they get ungainly with age and eventually need pulling. so IF i go to weed, trust me that i will leave the sunflowers alone. i promise.

as for iris, hope you meant one bloom per year. i'm counting on them coming back next year and plan to put other things in with them because their bloom season is so short. my vision is a country cottage garden look. haha. we'll see what mother nature does with that plan!

I thinks it looks pretty. I have artillery plants popping up all over the front courtyard. It literally sprouts in the tiny cracks in the wall. I don't mind the way it looks. Some I pull and some I leave. Looks kinda neat.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bana:
by weeds, i mean the wild grasses and crabby grass looking weeds that are in that bed.

SORRY!!!! I thought you were referring to the 'volunteer flowers' that the birds planted as weeds! Glad to see you like sunflowers too and yours are beauties.
Why would you even ask if you should go and pull out all the ugly, unwanted REAL weeds? I would think if you felt up to it, and it wasn't too hot, you would "just do it"! That's why I didn't understand your question and you kept posting pictures of that cute sunflower and I thought you were referring to it as 'the weed'! Sorry, and yes, I meant that Irises bloom once per year! That's still not enough for me. I wanna see flowers that bloom all summer long. I don't like the type of flowers where you blink and they're gone......

wavee.. don't be sorry. i realize not everything i say comes across in the manner i'm visualizing it in my mind. too bad we can't hear voice inflections in writing to know when someone is serious or not. your humor often comes thru.. and i love it when that happens.

i'm really not asking permission to weed.. just thinking out loud.. and chatting with you all. i never go into the garden to do anything unless the spirit moves me. and i think its going to move me today. will post the 'after' picture when i'm done.

i have to be in the mood to water, dig, weed, or move things around. and am always rearranging the things that are not tied down or planted.

example of latest tchatzkie (knick-knack) -photo attached-

I came in here to find tips for WEEDS. They are taking over and I hate them. Mine don't bloom like your pretty sunflowers. Most of my weeds are grasses. I did but a herbicide last year for GRASS but you have to spray it when the grass is short. Guess what I will be doing this weekend? Weeding, watering, weeding, more weeding, then a hot bath. :-)

I like your flower garden also...love the sunflowers and I do love iris. That said, I have trouble with my iris plants blooming if I don't pull/cut/dig out the grass/weeds around them. It seems the plants/roots need air or something. I let grass grow in and around one of my iris beds and only a few bloomed.

I think your bed is great and agree your place looks like a neat place to rest!! tfs.

quote:

I came in here to find tips for WEEDS

(testing!)

Funny, how everyone interprets some posts differently!!! I guess I'm not the only one!
Thank you for telling me 'my humor often comes through on here'. I had no idea! I'm not trying to be funny, I'm asking de@dly serious questions most of the time....
(Actually, I do have a sense of humor, but didn't know it was apparent here at all). My co-workers love me and think I'm really funny for some unknown reason! (I'm a real giggler, laugh a lot!!!)

Nice pics and nice flowers but I dont like the beds.

you could visit us on http://NMLandscaping.com/

quote:

Originally posted by http://NMLandscaping.com:
Nice pics and nice flowers but I dont like the beds.

you could visit us on http://NMLandscaping.com/

good morning, http. this is the first time i've seen you here, so let me say 'welcome to the board.'

it sounds like your comment is coming from a professional landscaper and your critique is duly noted. as far as i know, no one here is a professional gardener. we are just a bunch of friends visiting back 'n forth with one another.. sharing what we love.. and having fun together.

i am the first to say that my gardening attempts do not hold a candle to all the beautiful gardens i see posted here. but this is my little corner of paradise, and i dearly love every inch of it.

you know, http, there are gentler and kinder ways to say you don't like something... ways that do not alienate a potential new friend and/or customer. i have absolutely no problem with someone not liking my garden. however, a creative suggestion for improvement from your professional perspective would have been so much more welcome.

i wish you well with your advertising here, http. but needless to say, i am one that will not be visiting your website.

well said Bana.........diplomatic, yet to the point. I agree with you.

ve

thanks, ve. i wonder if he'll even be back to see my response. he may just be a drive-by advertiser and is on to other sites by now.