Expat Welshman, educated (somewhat) in UK, left before it became fashionable to do so. Now a U.S. Citizen, and recent widower, playing with retirement and house remodeling, living in Delaware and rural Maryland (weekends).
View all posts by Low Wattage
5 thoughts on “Growing Short”
Thanks for the reminder, LW, I’ve just added one to the thread.
Fancy having kalmia as a native shrub! How lovely.
Looks like you are about the same as we are for progress in your own garden but the cornfield is higher.
Amazing, the native asparagus, have seen it like that in parts of Cornwall and the boy reported it in the ‘stans too. (In the moister bits)
It all looks a bit dry? No rain? or is that the natural look for you there?
Thank you Ara.
Hello CO: Kalmia is that learned name for Mountain Laurel? Strange stuff, grows all over but only where it chooses, try to move it and it’s dead. There must be at least two kinds, not all the bushes flower every year. Even two side by side will bloom alternate years. It seems to want to grow in the most unlikely places, rocky bits and steep slopes in full sun. After about ten years it starts to get straggly, the best solution seems to be to cut about half the green off the top ( I use the hedge clippers) then it fights back with vigour blooming profusely every second year for another ten. Wish I had more of it but it does not thrive under the trees and removing trees requires an act of Congress around here.
The asparagus grows on the edge of farmland that was once planted with it, most farms are now corn or soy, but this was a major asparagus growing area in the past, easy to pick a meal in the spring if you know where to look, it seems to favor the telephone poles, not so much mowing there. The stuff in the picture is about seven feet tall.
Very dry and mild winter and super dry spring, only recently had enough rain to consider a garden.
Kalmia is notoriously difficult, unless it likes the location which doesn’t appear to have a lot of rhyme or reason. I have tried to establish it several times but the only place it seemed to like was Cilycwm in upper Carms! I think it has to be exceptionally sensitive to ph, it really likes it fairly acidic, 5 ish.. If you are trying to establish it you might well check the ph of the site. A cheap and effective way of dropping ph for plants is to dig in flowers of sulphur, much longer lasting than chelated iron. I don’t think they like being dry either, So add peat or leaf mould which is acidic.
both these I think are more important than sun, they should take light dappled shade for at least part of the day.
But lucky you, a lovely bush to have wild.
Interesting about the asparagus, now it is imported from S America. I note that the local Washington asparagus is going great guns and is in all the shops now. I haven’t bought it having trouble keeping up with my own! Spousal unit complains its a hell of a job but someone has to do it! Along with eating the rhubarb and strawberry pies. I needed to cull the rhubarb as it was falling all over my runner bean patch.
I wonder why it was in the ‘stans, presumably a native plant there, bloody odd place considering it likes a middling amount of water, maybe it is one of those plants that appear everywhere, there are some!
It has to be widespread in the UK because there are various references in literature back to the 1400s of the sparrowgrass season and hawkers flogging bunches of it in the streets.
Ref the bit about telegraph poles, you are quite right about them preserving species for the mechanical flails. I was horrified at Cwmdu where I found some extremely rare wild plants in the hedges to find the council hacked them down just as they were about to flower every year!!! So I had a couple of fence posts inserted and put up label when they were due, not to mow. I took it down the rest of the year so they weren’t nicked! The only council I ever knew who got it right were Pembs. They must have some manic environmentalists on their staff, they never cut the wild flowers before July when all had flowered. Near Neyland there is a mile or so of glorious pyramidal orchids along a road, a wonderful sight. There are still cowslips in quantity and wonderful flowers on the artillery ranges. In season they stop the bombing so people can walk amongst them on the cliffs. (The flowers that is not the unexploded ordinance!)
Boadicea's Chariot 
Thanks for the reminder, LW, I’ve just added one to the thread.
Fancy having kalmia as a native shrub! How lovely.
Looks like you are about the same as we are for progress in your own garden but the cornfield is higher.
Amazing, the native asparagus, have seen it like that in parts of Cornwall and the boy reported it in the ‘stans too. (In the moister bits)
It all looks a bit dry? No rain? or is that the natural look for you there?
Thank you Ara.
Hello CO: Kalmia is that learned name for Mountain Laurel? Strange stuff, grows all over but only where it chooses, try to move it and it’s dead. There must be at least two kinds, not all the bushes flower every year. Even two side by side will bloom alternate years. It seems to want to grow in the most unlikely places, rocky bits and steep slopes in full sun. After about ten years it starts to get straggly, the best solution seems to be to cut about half the green off the top ( I use the hedge clippers) then it fights back with vigour blooming profusely every second year for another ten. Wish I had more of it but it does not thrive under the trees and removing trees requires an act of Congress around here.
The asparagus grows on the edge of farmland that was once planted with it, most farms are now corn or soy, but this was a major asparagus growing area in the past, easy to pick a meal in the spring if you know where to look, it seems to favor the telephone poles, not so much mowing there. The stuff in the picture is about seven feet tall.
Very dry and mild winter and super dry spring, only recently had enough rain to consider a garden.
Kalmia is notoriously difficult, unless it likes the location which doesn’t appear to have a lot of rhyme or reason. I have tried to establish it several times but the only place it seemed to like was Cilycwm in upper Carms! I think it has to be exceptionally sensitive to ph, it really likes it fairly acidic, 5 ish.. If you are trying to establish it you might well check the ph of the site. A cheap and effective way of dropping ph for plants is to dig in flowers of sulphur, much longer lasting than chelated iron. I don’t think they like being dry either, So add peat or leaf mould which is acidic.
both these I think are more important than sun, they should take light dappled shade for at least part of the day.
But lucky you, a lovely bush to have wild.
Interesting about the asparagus, now it is imported from S America. I note that the local Washington asparagus is going great guns and is in all the shops now. I haven’t bought it having trouble keeping up with my own! Spousal unit complains its a hell of a job but someone has to do it! Along with eating the rhubarb and strawberry pies. I needed to cull the rhubarb as it was falling all over my runner bean patch.
I wonder why it was in the ‘stans, presumably a native plant there, bloody odd place considering it likes a middling amount of water, maybe it is one of those plants that appear everywhere, there are some!
It has to be widespread in the UK because there are various references in literature back to the 1400s of the sparrowgrass season and hawkers flogging bunches of it in the streets.
Ref the bit about telegraph poles, you are quite right about them preserving species for the mechanical flails. I was horrified at Cwmdu where I found some extremely rare wild plants in the hedges to find the council hacked them down just as they were about to flower every year!!! So I had a couple of fence posts inserted and put up label when they were due, not to mow. I took it down the rest of the year so they weren’t nicked! The only council I ever knew who got it right were Pembs. They must have some manic environmentalists on their staff, they never cut the wild flowers before July when all had flowered. Near Neyland there is a mile or so of glorious pyramidal orchids along a road, a wonderful sight. There are still cowslips in quantity and wonderful flowers on the artillery ranges. In season they stop the bombing so people can walk amongst them on the cliffs. (The flowers that is not the unexploded ordinance!)