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#1
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How long for bee balm, etc. to recover from a mowing?
'Newly retired' hubby almost just became 'recently deceased newly retired' hubby.
We have a problem with daisies. The last people here let them get out of control and they're extremely invasive. Every spring I go out into the gardens and dig out the daisies, but the ones in the lawn we control just by mowing. Today I showed hubby some patches of daisies in the lawn that needed to be mowed and set him to work. Being a helpful sort, after he was done with the lawn he decided to help out in the garden. He mowed my well garden cuz he saw daisies in it. So now I can't dig out the daisies because I can't see what is daisy and what used to be my pretty plants. He mowed down my bee balm, the hoary vervain, and the whorled milkweed. The bee balm has bloomed in the past, but this would have been the third (and first blooming) year for the vervain and the milkweed. So my question is, does anyone know if bee balm, hoary vervain, and whorled milkweed will come back after being mowed down? If they do, will I have to wait another 3 years to see blooms?
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"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#2
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He did what ? Got an extra cot you can set up in the kennel ?
I bet he felt real bad about it, poor guy, so 1 week banishment ought to be enough . Wish I could answer your questions but, I only have experience with regular milkweed and it did bloom again mid to late summer after I took the weed whacker to it (accidentally of course ).
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"Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance." -Will Durant |
#3
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I tried to find some info and apparently Bee Balm can be pruned to about 2 inches from the ground. This is best done in late fall after the first hard frost, so your very helpful hubby was either very late or very early depending on how you look at it.
Haven't found any info on the others.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "The animals share with us the privilege of having a soul." -Pythagoras "The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different." -Hippocrates "Let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world." -Jack Layton "Be the change you want to see in the world" -Gandhi Kitties: Punky (17), and Sassy (13), Twinky (10), SweetMickey 1991 to May 24, 2009 |
#4
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I believe they will all come back normally by next year as they all have fairly strong root reserves. If not, hubby's next chore should be a trip to a greenhouse. However, I would not encourage multiple mowings (i.e., store the mower in a locked shed from now on).
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#5
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I'm going to institute a punch card system--he has to punch in with me before he mows anywhere near the gardens or I'm gonna punch him out Thank dawg he only managed one swath and was using the push mower, not the tractor!
2 inches, eh? Hmmm...the biggest stem I could find was down to about an inch. Oooops. The vervain is a prairie plant, and so should be fairly resistant to hervivores grazing it down, don't you think? The milkweed was just a wee little thing last year, so I'm not sure if it's gonna make it. SIA, I'm hoping the bee balm's roots were pretty strong--this was it's 4th year--but the other two were just planted last year as second year plants. Not sure if their roots had a chance to get very strong. The plants were both a bit stunted from transplant shock but I had high hopes for them this summer
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"We are--each of us--dying; it's how we live in the meantime that makes the difference." "It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived!" "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." |
#6
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That must have been so disappointing, but to look on the good side, he owes you now. LOL. Fingers crossed that it's all okay.
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