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It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!

So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?

What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?

Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)

Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?

Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?

What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?

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cw - I agree - that seems a little weird
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Cwillie, some people are just not very smart.

He may even be sitting there thinking that you will be happy he cut them down. Thinking he did you a favor
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I think it's just weird that he would chat with me several times over the last couple of weeks about some stuff he was planting and then do that without even mentioning that my shrub was annoying him. I would have pruned it myself if he'd asked, and I wouldn't have left an ugly naked branch behind
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On another note, we are very saddened that the property owners of the condo complex are cutting down all the trees that were left from the original farm. We saw a large healthy mature poplar get felled this morning and heard the equipment munching up other trees yesterday. It hurts my heart that this was done.

R has talked about making a presentation to town council about the planned development on our side. Permissions would have been given over 20 years ago when there may not have been as much concern for keeping trees.
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cw - back at the house, I gave my neighbours to the west blanket permission to trim anything that grows over the property line - and they have. We haven't discussed any of the instances, and we do get along well. She is watering my house plants since I moved down here.
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Cwillie, Oh man, elderberrys around here are pretty much gone, there was some when I was little but they seem to of all died off. I wouldnt be happy about that either.

In the spring I grow all these flowers, and I think to myself how sad it will be when the Frost hits and they die.
Now it's almost October and I'm still watering, and very tired of it and looking forward to them dieing off.
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I was cutting the grass and discovered my sometimes problematic neighbour has cut back part of my black lace elderberry bush, leaving a big dead branch. WTF? I do understand you can prune something that is encroaching onto your property (and maybe it was by 6") but who does that without saying something?
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Re: felling trees. Behold our tremendous skill! (or incredible luck) My avatar photo shows a dead tree my hubby cut Sunday, in the midst of a stand of saplings and seedlings. Bet that caged butternut panicked. When it's a tree close to the house we hire a pro. One with skill. And insurance. Just in case.
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Daughter, it's about the money, and honestly the people that higher the landscapers are more interested in what looks better than the neighbors,

That's the kind of people that higher landscapers and where the money is
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CWillie, my hubby and I are continually amazed, not in a good way, at the many local landscaping businesses around our area. They shouldn’t use the word landscaping at all. At best, they mow, haphazardly trim shrubs either too little or into oblivion with awful power tools, and plant things entirely unsuited to the environment or location. We see lots of loropetulums which quickly grow to 10-12 feet placed right next to house foundations, then they get ridiculously butchered for growing, and look awful and never bloom. That’s one example from many of having no knowledge of what they’re actually doing. There’s no actual interest in plants or gardening, just get it done quickly, and leave. Many people are happy to pay for this. I fully get gardening isn’t for everyone, but if you’re paying for a landscaper shouldn’t they have some clue? Okay, just my bafflement…
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Sends I think anger all over the world is just out of control. It's sad.

Are neighbor was cutting a tree down, a few years ago. Oops they missed and it fell on are car.

Accidents happen, and there homeowners insurance paid for it. Really wasn't a big deal at all. I actually thought it was a tad funny.

Oh my 107 , ugh. How does anything grow?
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I'm often seeing posts on r/gardening from people who have had a landscaping company annihilate their gardens either by mowing them to the ground, spraying herbicide or pruning trees and shrubs to bare twigs. I can't help but wonder how people in the business can be so wilfully ignorant and I have no doubt that confrontations can arise over it.
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GARDENING COULD BE DANGEROUS.....
Tree trimming incidents between neighbors could be increasing.
It's common to have disputes-one wants the trees to grow, the other objects to the overgrowth onto their property.

The tree company cut a nearby tree, and I heard yelling. Went to see, and the tree owner was yelling not at the tree trimmers, but the neighbors. Content was actually a hate incident (not a hate crime). Used profanity, told them to go back to where they came from.

Another person down the street was angry they cut her fruit tree on her own property.
Others with fruit trees were not cut.

So, in the news, a person was killed over a tree incident. First ever I have heard of this. Maybe the anger is out of hand, out of control.
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New Bromeliad plant is indoors. Easy care.
We are about to get pups! (Something the plant does to reproduce itself).

Something is terribly wrong when you buy something beautiful you might like, bring it home, and find that you want to give it away to neighbors. It's been that way for awhile now.

My own garden is neglected in 107 degree heat.
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We have had a beautiful, productive monsoon season and the prickly pear tuna harvest is bountiful. Yay!!!!!

2 gallons put up yesterday and planning one more excursion to have some to share. I process everything and give frozen canning jars of fresh tuna juice. I may be doing it all wrong when I read about all the gifts of fresh produce that the recipient has to process. :-/ oh well! I am happy when I get my jars back.

We are heading into our planting season and I am looking forward to the harvest. Hopefully it is as bountiful as what I have been reading here.
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Ana, I figured you were in Ontario. Rondeau Provincial Park must have been awesome. I have not been there but when mother lived in Windsor we visited Point Pelee and did a board walk in the area. That part of Ontario has a great growing climate.

I understand your "un-ease" at asking for catalpa pods. I don't find that sort of thing comfortable. R just walks up, rings the doorbell. has a good chat and gets what he wants - be it seeds or sometimes fruit.
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Yes Golden, I’m in Ontario. I spent a great deal of my childhood in Rondeau Provincial Park, a Carolinian forest.

We’re now northeast of there, in a cooler zone. We have a lot of black walnuts. We planted hundreds of conifers, then once they grew tall enough, infilled with deciduous trees. Hoping the conifers would hide the deciduous seedlings from hungry deer. We have gluttonous rabbits too.
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Ana - R got all his recent seeds from boulevards. He suggests contacting towns/cities to see if they have planted catalpas in parks or on boulevards. Then you are free to pick pods. Otherwise we could send you some.

cw - I'd never heard of a catalpa tree until we identified the pods. R took them from boulevard trees in Calgary. Tulip trees are lovely (I saw many in the UK) and the black walnut sounds amazing.
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Once I started noticing I was surprised at the number of catalpa trees there are near me, big ones that had to have been planted many decades ago. There is a tulip tree on my street too, and although it's not an unusual species here a massive black walnut that has to be centuries old. I've noticed a lot of interest from Ontario gardeners in planting pawpaw trees, that's something I've never come across. It grieves me that we've lost all the ash trees.
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Hi Ana - The owner shouldn't mind, I think. R took a number of pods and let them dry well. Then he split them open and took out the seeds and stored them in an envelope. A few weeks back, I trying germinating some seeds on damp paper towel in a baggie in a warm place, which I just realized from looking it up online, is not the recommended way to germinate them. But it worked. They didn't all germinate - about 1/2, I guess - so I planted them in potting soil and put the pot on the balcony. I have 5 very happy healthy seedlings growing there,

I think the plan is to keep them inside for the winter and plant them out at the lot next spring. I hope our climate isn't too harsh for Catalpa,

I suspect R wouldn't mind us sending you some seeds if you can't get any.

Good for you planting indigenous trees and those at risk, I love trees. Parts of Ontario, I gather where you are, have a great mild climate for growing.

We have a couple of different acorns from the Denver Co area (which has some cold weather) planted in pots. and will see what happens there.
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Hey Golden, we’d like to try growing catalpa trees too! I have eyed a tree in a nearby city. Just have to get up the nerve to approach the owners for pods. We have planted thousands of indigenous trees and including species at risk, such as Kentucky coffee trees and butternut (aka white walnut).
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nacy - an overabundance isn't a help really.
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My freezer looks like I'm ready to for an apocalypse. I'm done with corn and spinach!! Might move on too beans , or they are going to the critters
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send - What fun! A neighbourhood gopher called Howard that eats red ants. I like the "live and let live" as long as you remember that when you are parking.

Yes, we are growing seeds. I think I mentioned before that R in his travels collects seeds from any bush or tree that he likes and dares to try growing them in our climate. He came back from his trip with 3 kinds of acorns, 2 kinds of maple seed, sand plums and I'm not sure what else. I germinated some catalpa seeds he had collected earlier which are growing nicely in a pot and we are working on some acorns. We will try to grow them into trees on the lake lot. It's a good hobby for both of us - very manageable.
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Golden,
So...you are growing a Catalpa tree from seeds?

O wow!
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A gopher has taken up residence in the middle section of my driveway. 🐹
His name is Howard. He is light brown, digging his hole at noon.

We met face-to-face. My first thought, automatic, was to run water in all the holes to force him out. Recalling that my Dad, a tree surgeon used to stand there with a sharp pole to kill the gophers as they exited. Nah, that's not me.

This gopher will be protected under the "live and let live" standard. Even though he is a "rodent". I read that they eat insects. There are also piles of dirt made from red ants, and they are disappearing.

Nature is so fun to watch.
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send - I understand. They do make a pretty plant.

nacy - apparently they can be grown indoors in a deep pot with lots of light. I'm not sure it would be worth trying. I gather outdoors they need a warm climate.
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No one I know around me grows sweet potatoes, maybe they don't grow well here.
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🇺🇸
The Sweet potatoes did have nice leaves.
I donated the plants to a neighbor, without guilt.

This all started when a sweet potato sprouted and I let it grow, all by itself.
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nacy - zinnias are lovely colours. I hear you about too much produce.

cw -can you bring the plant indoors? Flowers mean fruit!

Rocky's new grass seeds germinate well so she is regularly munching on the new growth. I germinted some catalpa seeds R picked up in his travels. We
ll see if the tree grows here. Got an acorn planted too. I am growing a sweet potato in a pot. Not sure if I will just keep it for the leaves or try to get some tubers from it. That will need a much bigger pot.
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