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Post by izitmidnight on Apr 23, 2015 12:33:16 GMT -5
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Post by stratcat on Aug 30, 2015 11:01:27 GMT -5
From August 29, 2015 on a dreary day... From across the street. The view they would get if their blinds weren't drawn virtually all the time. Color! Petunias are pretty. Red Salvia are really popping. Cabbages with some Coral Bells in the center. Extra Salvias to brighten up the joint. Really bright on a dull day. The Spike has really grown. This year it's 5'9", taller than me! It's coming in for the winter again. In the lawn, a Coneflower in bloom with more Salvia. Out in front of the walk, a couple Gloriosa Daisy volunteers, including a crossed Cherry Brandy on the right. Already saved seeds. Volunteer Elephant Head Amaranth saluting my neighbors.
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Post by september on Aug 30, 2015 11:11:10 GMT -5
What a cheery view to your garden and the street! I'll bet you get all kinds of compliments from people in your neighborhood that get to share looking at the flowers. Great use of the boulevard strip.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Aug 30, 2015 13:36:20 GMT -5
Your flowers are lovely, Strat! And I see you grew one special amaranth just for your neighbor again.
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Post by stratcat on Sept 5, 2015 10:09:20 GMT -5
What a cheery view to your garden and the street! I'll bet you get all kinds of compliments from people in your neighborhood that get to share looking at the flowers. Great use of the boulevard strip. Thanks for your kind words, September! Actually, the neighbors declared war on me in 2OO1. They recruited with the line "You don't like John's flowers, do you?" Enough ganged up on me this year that the third city manager stuck it to me. I fought and compromised. I had to dig out the tall perennials; over 3O Coneflowers, that Wild Bergamot puffball and lots of others. So much extra work... A look back at last year. Notice the blue nitrile gloves here-and-there saluting the haters-
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Post by stratcat on Sept 5, 2015 10:18:45 GMT -5
Your flowers are lovely, Strat! And I see you grew one special amaranth just for your neighbor again. Thanks a bunch, Laura! After all the trouble I've had since 1 May, that Amaranth planted itself there. Perfect! A better heartfelt salute from two days ago. Notice last year's dead flowers in the bird bath. Keep those blinds drawn; I'm hideous.
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Post by stratcat on Sept 5, 2015 10:34:19 GMT -5
OK, I annotated the first batch of pictures. Look upthread. Couple more piccies from 3 September. My butterfly square out back. I started white Coneflowers from seed years ago and got mostly purple ones; it all worked out. The Mountain Ash tree is loaded with berries. Good thing, because I had a Robin's nest by my back door that hatched three babies. Notice a new row of replanted Coneflowers on the left. I hired a good neighbor young man to help me dig, etc. We planted them in landscape fabric. We also replanted many 'Goldsturm' Black-eyed Susans that the picture doesn't show.
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Post by september on Sept 5, 2015 17:12:37 GMT -5
What a cheery view to your garden and the street! I'll bet you get all kinds of compliments from people in your neighborhood that get to share looking at the flowers. Great use of the boulevard strip. Thanks for your kind words, September! Actually, the neighbors declared war on me in 2OO1. They recruited with the line "You don't like John's flowers, do you?" Enough ganged up on me this year that the third city manager stuck it to me. I fought and compromised. I had to dig out the tall perennials; over 3O Coneflowers, that Wild Bergamot puffball and lots of others. So much extra work... What the ?? I really don't understand people who would complain about someone's nicely planted yard. Do they try to enforce uniform mowed green lawns for everyone? Unless you buy into a Planned Unit Development or gated community where they have up front covenants you know about before you buy, I can't imagine people having the gall to tell someone else what they can grow in their own yard. Maybe it's a suburbs thing? The small city I live near has many people who have gardens in their front yard, in fact there is a large well maintained tomato/vegetable/flower garden on the busy main drag, across from one of the major churches in town. I would be a bit leery of gardening there because of possible vandalism by foot traffic, but they've been doing it for the last 40 years, so it must not be a problem. One of the businesses a few blocks down on that same street (dentist?) had a wild flower front yard - which does look kind of messy when the flowers are not in bloom, but there was a decorative sign on it explaining what it was, and as far as I know they were left alone.
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Post by stratcat on Sept 11, 2015 7:51:35 GMT -5
Hi, september. Sorry I'm answering late. Lots of trash moved into town over the years. We do NOT live in a Home Owner's Association where gardening is outlawed. These lowlifes should have moved to the golf course with their rigid rules. The city only enforces the length of lawns. I have neighbors that mowed/whacked/blew six times in 18 days the other year. I don't know where they get that gall... They have such a hard time minding their own business. Here is an abandoned house next door with pieces falling off. Some rodent has chewed itself indoors. So the city manager goes after the "eyesore" of flowers instead of the deteriorating neighborhood. A shot of a volunteer Morning Glory at the curb that's cheerful. I'm not sure who coined the phrase "Small town, small minds" but it applies here and I use it freely.
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Post by september on Sept 11, 2015 9:59:42 GMT -5
I'm sorry they are causing problems for you and don't have the sense to enjoy you as a neighbor. Is there any kind of a garden club in town? I don't belong, but the local garden club is very active in helping to beautify our aging small town downtown business store fronts, doing floral plantings in cement beds along the sidewalks etc. They have an annual tour of selected private gardens and I think give a prize for the best. At least they get a lot of publicity in the local paper. I don't pay that much attention, but a couple of years in a row they have had some national organization come to inspect their efforts, and give them suggestions and some kind of rating system in getting all the residents of the city to beautify their yards with interesting plantings. Maybe if you got some kind of public conservation recognition write up, (green space, bird habitat etc) they might leave you alone?
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Post by stratcat on Sept 19, 2015 0:40:15 GMT -5
Hi there, september. Our town is small. A garden club would be too progressive. I had to drive 36 miles away into the next county to take a Master Gardener course and volunteer. A friend of mine, in a bigger city, won the contest twice. He also gardens out in his Hellstrip. They do have those private garden tours. Four years ago, there was a write up in the local paper about my tomatoes/gardens. Even had a picture of me. That was a big help, but we got another city manager. Don't know why he has an axe to grind against me... Thanks for your ideas and encouragement!
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Post by september on Sept 19, 2015 10:23:45 GMT -5
Hmm. Did you save the newspaper article? Maybe you could make a copy to drop off on his desk? You could say your gardening style was tacitly approved and "grandfathered in" by his predecessor four years ago and unless specific ordinances have already existed against what you are doing, his interference is just arbitrary without any legal guidelines and thus harassment. I don't envy you, I hate confrontation, luckily my neighbors are nice and not too close although they can see into our property after the leaves fall. One year, before I put up an electric deer fence, I tried to keep the deer away by stringing a clothesline and putting up a line of old sheets and showers curtains to flap in the wind. The neighbor lady later told me that her husband had wondered why I didn't take my laundry down for so many weeks, and we all laughed about it. At that time there were heavy bushes along the driveway, so they really had to peek through small openings to see anything. Good luck with your fight for gardening freedom. Wish I could be of more help.
PS - I had to chuckle when you said - Not progressive enough for a garden club!
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Post by stratcat on Nov 27, 2015 18:48:35 GMT -5
Here's a Petunia from today. Had some pretty good rain. I haven't covered it and it still is alive. I have another basket hanging that also has a couple flowers. Weird! Tonight should be the end. The Ornamental Cabbages out front are still going.
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