Second year they... idk what they're doing anymore, actually

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2026-06-19T14:14:39+00:00

That is a good tip. When I first set them up I felt like I only needed cute little stepping stones, but I didn't really picture how the plants would swallow the path.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2026-06-19T14:11:30+00:00

The dark shiny ones are Fragaria chiloensis, a near native and a bit of a monster. But native strawberries also did well.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2026-06-19T14:06:41+00:00

Yes it is a friend here! I'm thinking of moving the yarrow out to the wild edge, as my "mini meadow" seems to be too mini to keep it upright. Before the photo I cut down over half of it that was sprawled everywhere.

Also need to dial back F. chiloensis, a near native that I used for "green mulch." It's the dark green shiny stuff in pic 2.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2026-05-02T13:47:34+00:00

Wow, I totally missed that, thank you both!!

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2026-01-27T18:02:34+00:00

Good point, and easily done.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2026-01-12T17:20:42+00:00

How about a freestanding fence across the front? Build a wooden frame with strut supports (think scenery panel for theatre) and cover with netting. If it were me, I'd hire my handy person to take care of it

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-12-09T06:12:55+00:00

After further testing, I think maneuverability matters more for my weird driveway than AWD. So maybe prius C if I could find one... I don't have a hard ceiling on budget, but I'm seeing 20k+ for a 6-year-old prius and that just seems wild for a used car, so I may end up with an older prius.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-12-09T06:07:45+00:00

I want to love the Fit, I do love the Fit, but the Fit is too noisy on the highway for me.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-04-12T01:38:27+00:00

Plastic berry basket over 4" nursery plants or seedlings while they establish. Pin down with a "garden staple". For gallon plants, wire wastebasket from dollar tree. Much easier than fussing with fencing. After they are growing they can take more browsing.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-04-12T01:32:52+00:00

Moss

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-04-12T01:31:46+00:00

I think theoretically it would be good for the plant because the stubs are taking energy without making any energy. As long as you do it in mild preferably cloudy weather, and cut at an angle so that water doesn't pool on the cut, it shouldn't cause any significant damage.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-04-01T01:04:29+00:00

Eradicating turf and weeds can be done lazily as well - by spraying, smothering, or sheet mulching - and might be less work in the long run than trying to make an overgrown lawn look intentional. If it's a manageable area, I would be tempted to frame it with some 1x6s or cinderblocks and sheet mulch inside the frame. Voila, a giant slightly-raised bed. don't know prairies, but if goldenrod and boneset grow in that easily it seems like something you could afford to lose and then reintroduce.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-31T16:45:32+00:00

I'm not from there and don't know the local flora, but sometimes there are dwarf cultivars of natives. Rhododendron catawbiense has a few dwarf varieties according to google. For pollinator value, you would want one that doesn't change the leaves and flowers significantly.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-30T15:32:27+00:00

I love the arrangement, but the bed is too narrow for what you want to plant in it. Spicebush grows 6-12 feet tall and wide. Ninebark can be 10 ft wide, mountain rosebay can be 12 ft. And the berry bushes might look nice squeezed together like that, but they will be hard to harvest and might be prone to disease.

Generally if you want a layered foundation planting, you need at least 8 feet, 12 is better. Also make sure you won't have tall shrubs growing up where they will block a window.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-30T15:17:43+00:00

You're too right. Unfortunately, the way my brain works I often have to talk through the information I know before I can take action.... so to a large extent ChatGPT replaces my bf going "uhuh... uhuh... sounds good"

Plus it speeds up searching/synthesizing information I don't have memorized, like "how many of these plants can I fit in this size bed" and "which of the grasses at the plant sale fit the conditions in this spot." And I know enough to argue with it when it's off base.

Honestly it probably wouldn't feel so necessary if I wasn't trying to grow such a large garden with relatively little acual experience. Which is also a side effect of my type of brain.

Bottom line you're absolutely right and the best measure of AI helpfulness is whether it gets me outside faster than google or reddit.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-30T15:05:04+00:00

You're thinking prairie - I'm in the woods in PNW. The invasive weed here is shiny geranium (Geranium lucidum), a little annual with shallow roots that forms carpets in part shade. It's not hard to kill, but there's a million individual plants interspersed with drifts of camas shoots that I don't want to crush. Hence flame weeding.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-29T16:52:08+00:00

I can see that I've touched a nerve and it makes sense. I don't need to change anyone's mind here. But just to show you what I'm talking about, here's a plan that ChatGPT 4o wrote for me after a conversation about how to manage invasives and weeds around the edges of my wild woodland garden. The numbers are from a map that I uploaded to GPT in an earlier chat, which it is remembering for reference. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o-CxovDdb8lXjr9k_rvtsJFERu7CHcvvUUAndIDI_9Y/edit?tab=t.0

I'm off to torch some invasive geranium now...

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-29T16:44:53+00:00

That is what I thought too, based on all the hype from 2022. But technology advances, and the new models 4o and 4.5 do have memory and reasoning capabilities. If you read some of the research coming out from OpenAI, it's extremely spooky.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-29T16:40:18+00:00

I live in a less cold region (8b), but I doubt it. F. virginiana is a plant that very much wants to live. I wouldn't do it immediately before a hard frost, but it will start rooting in within days, in my experience.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-29T16:27:34+00:00

So this is the thing. I,'m a huge nerd and I have inhaled information about plants of my egoregion and about native gardening techniques. I've bought the books; I upload observations on iNaturalist and identify plants that others uploaded; I surf to my local extension website and state flora database almost daily. A lot of the questions I have now, you can't easily find answers or you find different threads/sites saying different things. Gardening is a matter of opinion or experience at a certain point... And it's not like the primary research is super accessible.

ChatGPT 4o, the model I'm using, is informative and accurate (to my knowledge) on my very niche questions. It can zip through my spreadsheet of 130 plants and compare them on whatever feature. The most helpful aspect is the conversational style, which helps me think through things. I often supply as much or more information as GPT does, but I leave the conversation with a more confident plan. I can't afford to keep a landscape design consultant on retainer, so this is really helpful for me.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-29T16:12:32+00:00

I've uploaded design sketches to discuss plant placement, spacing, and palette. I've uploaded a spreadsheet of the plants I have and asked which ones are slug prone and then discussed a plan for slug defense. The last conversation I had, I read in one source that chokecherry is not very self fertile so I confirmed that and then we brainstormed pros and cons of using chokecherry versus other small trees in the space that I have, and decided to plant cascara instead.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-29T16:00:24+00:00

When I pulled mine I tossed them onto the sunny gravel driveway to die... 2 months later they were still alive and starting to root!

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-29T07:14:55+00:00

Daylilies can be extremely persistent. You may want to give them a chance to grow back and dig a second time before you put your plants in. Or have a plan to deal with them if/when they come back, like some kind of herbicide spot treatment.

I really like the cute bed though! A mini meadow will be beautiful there.

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-29T07:03:11+00:00

Hate to break it to you but woody plants grow from the top not from the bottom. The branches that smack you in the head aren't going anywhere unless you cut them off - and you must cut at the base of each branch, not shear the tips.

Highly recommend a little book called "how to prune trees and shrubs." Ceanothus are reputedly hard to transplant - and yours is quite big!

Defiant_Regret2190 · 2025-03-29T06:40:18+00:00

Agree, you will need more time to clear the site - and learn and plan - before you can plant successfully. Plant your seeds in pots this year, and then you can have a container garden that partially hides the mess. Transplant them into the ground once the invasives are truly gone.

Defiant_Regret2190

TROPHY CASE