Interesting, buyorsell888. I promise that my 'Morning Light' and those in other gardens around here quickly get wider than 10 or 12 inches. And when it comes to miscanthus in general, the variegated cultivars like 'Morning Light' are a bit less vigorous than the solid green forms, but I would hardly say that "none of them is a rapid grower for me," except perhaps for the lovely but timid new variety 'Gold Bar.' I think that our observations speak to the nature of miscanthus grasses as classic C4 plants, which grow fastest in hot weather. Our longer, hotter summers here in North Carolina are certainly a mixed blessing on the whole, but they evidently inspire much faster growth in miscanthuses. I would suppose that the conditions in miclino's garden in Michigan may be intermediate between you and I, and so the vigor of a miscanthus there may be intermediate, but I don't really know. Having said all of this, it may be academic anyway. This seemed to be one of those threads (of which there are many on GardenWeb) where those replying to it seem to have been more interested in it than the original poster. ;) C'est la vie!

Well, we live in town, although it's not a very large one, so I imagine Code Enforcement would be on me if I tried having a sawdust toilet. But I'm doing all I can to conserve. It's been very hot and dry here. Even though I haven't posted much lately, I do get on for a little while every couple of days to read and find out what the rest of you are doing. I'm so glad you all take time out of what are probably very busy days to post and I'm sorry I haven't been very good at it. In the house, we conserve several ways. I do run my dishwasher but there are always those pots and pans that don't fit, and I won't put certain other things in the dishwasher. So I'm doing a sink-full of dishes probably every day. I put soap and water in the largest of whatever is dirty and wash everything in it, kind of rinsing things over it until it gets full. I keep rinsed-out milk jugs at the sink for pouring extra sink water into, and that's where the water goes from that largest thing when I've washed it clean. I find I accumulate several gallons a day just cleaning up in the kitchen. We have a small pump, and we use that to pump bathwater, either into milk jugs (I saved them all winter), or sprayed directly on flowers and shrubs with a hose connected to the pump. DH and I, whichever takes a bath first, "save" our bathwater for whoever takes it last that day. DGS, though, tends to fill his tub too full in spite of my best efforts to remind him, "It's a BATHTUB, not a SWIMMING POOL". If you use bathwater to water things with, please only put it on flowers and shrubs, not on vegetables and herbs, as there's danger of e.Coli if you do. On days when I have enough wash for a load, we pump our bathwater into the washer and use it for the wash load, adding detergent, of course. This goes down the drain simply because we don't have a good way to do otherwise, and the washer uses new water for the rinse. DH and I do tend to wear our jeans two or three days instead of one. But our shirts and skivvies would be too stinky to put into service for a second day. With our toilet, we follow the motto that California is known for, adapted as such: "Welcome to Oklahoma, baked by the sun, Where we don't flush for Number One". Of course, at the end of the day I go around and make sure everything's flushed because I don't like it all sitting like that at night. I kinda don't like it much during the day, but it's just the three of us and two bathrooms so it doesn't get too bad. When we get rain, I collect the rainwater that pours off the roof into two sprayer tanks that I bought at Atwood's on sale. The first one that I got was mushroom shaped, capacity 210 gallons, and I really thought it didn't hold enough because a good hard rain would overflow it. Plus it's shape did not fit very well with where we placed it. So next Atwood's sale, we got another, this one shaped like a big barrel on it's side, capacity 300 gallons. It fits better where we had the mushroom shaped one, and we moved the mushroom one to the other side of the house. A good rain will fill them both up and then some. Both tanks have a 8" diameter round hole in the top that the drain pipe is dropped down into when rain is forecast. When the tank is full, we reconnect the drain pipe as for normal drainage and put the screw-lid on the hole to keep mosquitos from breeding and cats and small critters from falling in. When I'm ready to water, we lower our little pump in and connect it to the hose and water away. It seems to take about 100 gallons to water my garden each time. We completely emptied both tanks early last week and I've had to water with City water twice. Our water is pretty expensive because whatever we use also increases our sewage bill. We got a little rain yesterday morning and that gave us only about 5" of water in each tank. But it's better than nothing! I'm grateful for whatever, and also for the break in the heat. I was beginning to worry that I was going to lose my garden. I did lose my Nanking Cherry bushes, both of them. When I replace them, I guess I'll plant them where they will get partial shade, rather than full sun. I have been getting cardboard every chance I get. For some reason I'm unable to get it from my neighborhood furniture store any more, but I've found another furniture store that gets deliveries every day. DH goes right by there on the way home from his work-out at the hospital fitness center, so he's started stopping in and getting some on his way home. I really like the cardboard from recliners. It's heavy and just the right size to fit between my raised beds. Since it's in such big pieces, it doesn't blow around as much or have to be weighted down as much as the smaller pieces did. I got some old hay from a little old lady friend of mine who had it in her loafing shed and hasn't kept cattle for the last ten years, so it's that old. But it's good for mulch. I've also used up every single bag of leaves that I collected last fall. Some of you will remember probably that I went around my neighborhood looking for bags of leaves being left on the curb. I tried to go to the door and ask if I could have them, but most of the time no one was home, in which case I just threw them in the back of my pick-up, drove them to my back yard and threw the bags under my big back porch. We got really lucky and found a hardly used Troy Bilt chipper/shredder at a garage sale last weekend, for half what they sell for at Lowe's. We started it up and it only took one yank to get it going. It's overkill for leaves, I know, but it'll be nice for all those hollyhock and sunflower stalks and for next time we trim the privet hedge. I find that my raised beds are not such a good thing when the weather is dry, as they drain TOO well. But I am mulching heavily and hoping for the best. And I do agree with Dawn that it's wise to plant things that will take the heat and the dry. I have found that sunflowers, zinnias and hollyhocks will grow well in my conditions without much care at all. Sorry this is so long! --Ilene

if you want to be rid of the vines .. not sure based on how you said it ... I'm honestly kind of on the fence about the vines. I've been working for a few years on the poison ivy, but it originates from beyond the fence and it's been some work trying to find the source. Worse, as I've gotten older I've become a LOT more allergic to it! I swear, as a kid I would roll around in it and never have a problem... now I can look at it and get a rash :-/ I spent a lot of last year I was working on it wearing pants, boots, a sweatshirt, leather gloves that go to my elbows, a face shield, and had a large trash bag covering all of it... I sweated like crazy and lost some weight, but I STILL ended up with it on my arms, legs, and chest!! It doesn't help that I have fire ants in the woods past the fence, too, and in the last few years I've become super allergic to THEM, too! A few years ago I got bit/stung by one, and ended up in the hospital with my eyes swollen shut! Long story short... it's a process. I don't want the wild muscadine vines, either. They take over and haven't produced any fruit, so they're really just in the way. I've been trying to pull them out by hand. But I DO kind of want to keep some of the Ann Marie ivy! Right now it has taken over that one tree so I need to figure out how to clean that up, but I liked it when there was a whole lot less of it. It adds color and texture to the otherwise bare tree sections. Thanks to all of you for the suggestions! I'm going to compile a list and send it to the local nursery this weekend :-) I'm not sure if it's too late to plant things now, but I'm not in a major hurry or anything... the process is the fun part!

Ok I just moved the 3 into that spot. Forgot there was also a white pine in that vicinity too. Interestingly enough, I encountered no roots at all when digging and soil was still moist. Btw…. I read some horror stories in rouge21s thread https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5433354/thalictrum-splendide-in-its-new-location Many people saying rochebrunianum dying on them or not coming back up in spring especially seed grown ones. Are these plants actually that hard to grow? I’ve planted a nursery purchased one in 2019 and that one is still nice and alive so must be seed grown ones that are more challenging?