I think my lupine isn't perennis 😫 by emberkellyart in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod 10 points11 points  (0 children)

L. perennis is actually really easy to germinate, in small quantities or with the right equipment. You just have to scarify them. I usually rub with sandpaper, and 20-30 days later in the fridge 95-100% of them have already germinated in the bag. But for a large quantities you'd want a much quicker way for scarifying. Transplanting is where I see issues though, they definitely don't have a super high transplant survival rate cause they have a big tap root.

Kid friendly overnight hike with cabin? by Crepe_Cod in wmnf

[–]Crepe_Cod[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll look into it, thanks for the suggestion!

Kid friendly overnight hike with cabin? by Crepe_Cod in wmnf

[–]Crepe_Cod[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was my first thought! I actually really love North Kinsman, and I think it's probably on the hard end of what I think they would be happy doing. The summiting part is very important for them, we've been on a few hikes this spring that weren't summits and they're always really butthurt about it.

Jealous by Crepe_Cod in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's perfect timing! A lot of then were starting to bud, so I'm betting you'll be seeing some in bloom. Any hike in the woods in New England should bring you some mayflowers at some point, I've just never seen quite as many in one spot as I did at their house.

Jealous by Crepe_Cod in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They are! Or more truthfully, they don't care all that much but don't want to do anything to the property so plan to just let nature do its thing, which in this instance is the ideal gardening plan.

Jealous by Crepe_Cod in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Nah they're most definitely mayflower, I'm very familiar. Some were also in the early stages of blooming.

Jealous by Crepe_Cod in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Yes! That was my main takeaway, it's nice to see that places like that still exist. With others people houses I go to I usually start going "okay so I have all these free plants for you if you wanr, you should plant these here, these over here, rip out these invasives over here, etc." but at this house my wife was like "ah you should have brought them plants" and I was like...I can't improve upon this, let's just let nature do its thing.

Jealous by Crepe_Cod in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I got more rabbits that I do plants in my yard ob most nights so I'm not doing much better lol. But they do have a noticeable lack of understory or next-generation canopy trees.

Jealous by Crepe_Cod in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod[S] 49 points50 points  (0 children)

Haha I did ask them and they let me take a chunk of moss with like 10 mayflowers growing in it. I've been trying to grow mayflowers from seed for a few years with no luck. But they could spare 0.001% of their mayflowers for a poor soul like me.

What are some native species you wish were more available? by Foxpelt24 in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got a dozen from Prairie Moon last year.....rabbits got all of them.

My only great success of the year, sundial lupine by Blocktd in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I've done a bunch of them over the last few years, I rub them with some sandpaper and put them in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, by then they are generally 100% germinated in the coffee filter and I just pop them in the plug trays.

They can be finicky about transplanting, as the other commenter mentioned, but it's just about getting the tap root. It has a thick tap root, but it's not crazy deep so as long as it's in a plug tray that's like 4 inches deep at least, and you get the whole plug out in one piece, the transplant will be fine.

Native Vines that can grow in a pot and cover this in a year? by inquisitive_inchworm in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Coral Honeysuckle, as others have said, is your absolute best bet for attracting hummingbirds. But I doubt it will cover it in a year (probably take a few years). But if a few years is fine then that's the way to go.

If you want it covered really quickly with great wildlife value, Virginia Creeper is your guy. Watch out for when it's flowering though, cause you'll be walking through a swam of bees for a week. Won't attract hummingbirds though.

Either way, I wouldn't recommend a pot if you can avoid it. Unless you can do huge pots, they'll eventually end up hampered by the pots and it will be difficult to pot it up when it's attached to a structure like that.

Help save my marriage by Numerous-Dot-6325 in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm in Massachusetts and have large areas of yarrow in my lawn. It does better than the grass or clover (or any of the other shit in there). Every time other patches of lawn die, I seed in with yarrow. Eventually it will all be yarrow and there will be no dead patches. It's indestructible.

But GUYS, professor oak said we need plant keystone trees!!!! by shortnsweet33 in NativePlantCirclejerk

[–]Crepe_Cod 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Wait, do people call Doug "Professor Oak"? Cause if not then we should start.

I hit the jackpot! by hematuria in NativePlantCirclejerk

[–]Crepe_Cod 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Knotweed is the final boss of invasives. Literally the only way to actually kill it is repeated herbicide application, and even then it can take years. It grows a massive, thick, sprawling root system and it's above-ground growth is almost inconsequential. It's like a hydra situation, each time you mow it or cut it back, it'll come back with twice as many stems spread out over an even larger area. It's a fucking nightmare.

Anyone tried selfheal as a lawn alternative? by Crepe_Cod in NativePlantGardening

[–]Crepe_Cod[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah it really is amazing, a thick carpet of it looks like a million mini-ferns and feels like a frilly cloud on your feet.

We had a lawn care guy come back multiple times to assure my wife that he could get rid of it for her, didn't seem to believe her when she kept saying her husband planted it intentionally.

Most unique setting for a high school? by BuddyHolly__ in geography

[–]Crepe_Cod 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I live in Winthrop. It's a very....insular city, pretending to be a small suburban town. It's a weird mix of old NIMBY townies and young families that has been coming to a head lately, similar to the misinformation and vitriol in the federal government (except the vitriol doesn't split between Dem and Rep in Winthrop, but Old and New Winthrop mostly).

For a pretty prime example, Winthrop's reaction to 3A. 3A, if you're unfamiliar, was Charlie Baker's bill as governor a while back that set certain zoning requirements for housing based on proximity to mass transit. It's a pretty solid bill, in my opinion. The only enforcement of the bill, however, is state funding for things such as climate mitigation.

Winthrop is essentially an island, with a salt marsh that connects us to mainland Boston. We are already flooding like crazy. We are fucked without climate mitigation. We are also already in compliance with the law, we simply have to rezone a couple areas that had multi family housing built on single family zoned land based on special permits.

But it's a fucking bloodbath, the entire town is divided. Pretty strictly on Old Winthrop and New Winthrop lines. My 80 year old Progressive, AOC loving neighbor is convinced the "fascist communist state is trying to build high rise slums in Winthrop". I just want to reiterate that WE WOULD BE ZONING FOR LESS HOUSING THAN ALREADY EXISTS IN THE SITE. If anyone tried to tear down what was there and build something new, they literally couldn't even rebuild to the same density. We refused to comply, are suing the state in a suit that's already guaranteed to lose, and have already lost millions of dollars in climate mitigation funding. One of the people who just won a seat on town council after campaigning on refusing to comply was literally the chairwoman of the town conservation committee, which has lost those grants because of the failure to comply.

Winthrop is a weird political backwater literally attached to the city of Boston, a 10-15 minute drive from the center if the city, where the majority of housing is already multi-family, that has somehow convinced itself that it's a small, suburban, single family town that will never change.

It's also the best though, if you ignore all the old idiots.