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  • From: Roy Morgan <k1lky AT earthlink.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Old Houses, old hedges
  • Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:40:30 -0400


On Jun 29, 2008, at 12:26 PM, WF Smith wrote:

...
trying to clean some things out and revive some others. There are azaleas
there older than I am, and they seem to be dying off.

One point of experience: Till recently I worked at NIST, formerly NBS (National Bureau Of Standards) in Gaithersburg, MD. The organization moved to it's current site in the early 60's. There had been a fellow at the old site near DC who was a renowned grower of azaleas, and had planted many of them around the site. Many of his prize varieties came from DC to the new site. By about 5 years ago, they were all gone, I presume because of old age. It's quite possible that they live only so long unless they get unusual care, and possibly are re- started from rootings of some sort.

.... I'll begin watering
them, check the soil pH and possibly feed them some and see what happens.

Hollytone is the/a recommended fertilizer, I understand. They need/ like a certain pH and can respond remarkably when it gets corrected.


My specific question for the gardeners is about boxwoods. There are a few
boxwood hedgerows I suspect to be over 100 yrs old,

This is the plant that the British have grown for many hundreds of years, is it not? And old well developed ones can be worth a LOT of money if you go out to buy them? Maybe 15 years ago now, I saw some at the officers quarters of a long-abandoned military training facility. They were overgrown, untended for decades, and looked like they would need a decade of care to become nice again.



but they are sickly and
stunted looking. We are in a drought which partially explains slow growth
and stress. Are there any supplements or anything that one can do to
invigorate a boxwood hedge or do they have a limited lifespan and limited
growth? They are a major element in the front landscape and because of their
history I hesitate to replace them if I can avoid doing so.

I have a website centered around the house and the lives of it's former
occupants that I will be updating more frequently as time allows. I'll
probably chronicle the renovations and other projects there as well.

The very first obstacle... was a dry well... We preferred a new well but at 12/ft
plus pump/tank/casing etc and a predicted depth of 750 ft or so, we had to
tap onto the "city water". When my ship comes in I may drill a new well,...
The taste of the water was never good- it was bitter and
Grandad always attributed that to the damned walnut trees sinking roots in
the aquifer).

Water showing up in a dug well or shallow drilled well can be very different from that from a deep drilled well.

Surface water has come through the upper layers of the ground and may carry the taste of whatever it's passed along the way. Deep water may be from hundreds of miles away or more, having been en route for a very long time. The well here is 200+ feet deep and has lots of iron/ rust in it. If we were staying, a purifier of some sort would be in order.

Roy


Roy Morgan
k1lky AT earthlink.net
Lovettsville, VA 20180







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