This is awesome! I hope to start one in our local mn city. I highly recommend making a Google sheets survey and collecting input on it. Specifically asking if anyone would like to be involved and another question if they would like to be on a committee for it. You'll find worker bees and and managers! Good luck and I look forward to your project
Hello Lisa, This video and YOU saved my daughter's life - literally! Just an FYI, My daughter is a P.A. in an E.R., Now, for the quicky story! About 3 days before I saw your video, I was in her Denver, Co. backyard wildflower garden (planted from seeds) over the past 4 years. It is a rocky area that does retain some moisture from heavy snow and rain. I was admiring all of her sprouting flowers when I saw this crazy huge and lacy plant. I told her I didn't think it was Queen Annes Lace and I wasn't familiar with Wild Carrot, but maybe that is what it was. Because there were easily 25+ big and small types of this plant that were shading out everything, I said she should get rid of the big ones until we could figure out what type of flowering plant it was. Fast forward to Friday night and I was loving watching your video until you got to min. 12:17. I was seriously scared because I knew that was the plant in her yard. Worse yet, I believe it came from one of the many wildflower mixes we had put in that area. Since I knew she had been on shift for the last two days and her shifts are very long, I was going to tell her the next morning to not touch that plant until we could figure out how to dispose of it. At about 4 in the morning on Sat. I got a text telling me that she was not going to be able to go into work that morning because she had some sort of awful stomach virus. At about 9am, I was talking to her, and she kept saying this was the worst stomach virus she had ever had due to the chronic vomiting, diarrhea and the weird burning sensation she had in her intestines. That's when I asked her if she had been in that rock bed at all since, we had talked about the "weird" looking plant. She said she had been out there prior to her shift on Friday and had lopped off the tops of all of the really big ones and threw them in the trash. She had been wearing gloves, but no eye protection and yes, was wearing her work scrubs. It was one of those "oh, I have an extra 15 minutes before work, let me do this" type of thing. When I told her about your video and that I had then started looking at oodles of poison Hemlock videos, I asked her if the stem had the purple striations and hollow center. She sent me a quick pic, and yes indeed, it in fact was poison Hemlock! I have been gardening for years and had never, ever heard of this plant. At the point that she and I had figured out this was the culprit, she was feeling somewhat better. We think she may have had some residue on her scrubs, as she did wash her hands thoroughly before she left her house. In addition to that, the wildflower patch is not far from her bedroom window, which was open all day and when she slept, and we are suspecting that maybe some vapors from the cut/open stems may have been airborne. What I wanted to say was, had I not seen your video, chances are she and I would have been out there together, lopping away at these deadly plants not ever knowing how sick or even deadly they could have been. Both of us, but her in particular. As I mentioned, she has been an ER P.A. for 10 years and had never heard of this plant. Believe me when I say, we were so covered in protective gear with googles, dishwashing gloves and eye protection while removing those plants, very early in the morning several days later, we looked like to hazmat workers. We covered each plant with a large garbage bag, pulled it out by its carrot like root, and moved onto to the next. We also reluctantly got an herbicide to help kill off any newbies that try and pop up, but also now know what protection is needed if we do have to pull them out. Oddly enough, a few days later, guess what pops up on our local news and news feeds..."invasive poison Hemlock in Denver". So, while I love your content overall and truly look forward to your videos, I wanted you to know how that single comment about poison hemlock may have truly saved her life and maybe mine. Who knew???? You did! Now we do! And more importantly, now as an ER provider, she will have that knowledge should someone come in with these very unusual and violent symptoms. She can ask, have you been gardening today? Thank you, thank you, thank you! Catherine🥰
Wow, Catherine that is amazing! I'm so sorry your daughter was sick and glad she is doing better! I didn't grow up learning about this plant, I think it has become more invasive in the past handful of years and I'm so glad to be able to help educate other people on this safety issue! There was a landscaper locally that had used a power tool to cut down a whole bunch of poison hemlock unknowingly and he got very sick. The power tool must have aerosolized the plant material and he got exposed through inhalation. Its so important that everyone knows how to protect themselves. Thank you so much for telling me this story and I'm grateful that you continued to learn about poison hemlock after hearing about it in the video. Keep staying safe in garden! ❤️❤️❤️🌱🌱🌱
I'm pretty sure that's a blackcurrant, gooseberries have thorns. The currants aren't ripe yet but when they turn black (dark purple) they are incredibly delicious and super nutritious. You have to try them!
I really hate how the government always takes the cheapest option in dealing with anything. Preserving historical buildings is too costly, fixing roads with decent materials is too costly. Especially in good ol' Illinois. I'm in central IL, and it's the same here. I fought with the city last summer to kerp _my_ pollinator garden that's in _my_ yard. I wish you luck!
Thanks so much! It's a challenge, we'll see how it goes. This site has its challenges for sure, as there isn't any water on the site! Everything must be completely self sustaining. 😬
Whoever manages the bee hives might have an idea about people who maintained the garden. Or you might have local Wild Ones chapter, master gardner in your county or university extension that you can email about interest. I think there needs to be volunteer organizations that get high school kids or boy scouts to help. I volunteered as a kid in random orgs solely for college admission applications.
Great idea about the scouts. We know who managed it before, the organization has dissolved, and it will be up to us. The biggest problem as you probably know, is how to hand off stewardship- it often ends up being one person who does most of the work and that is always precarious. Hopefully we can set something up with multiple people taking ownership so there's automatic succession plans.
OMG this would stress me out! I would lose sleep over that beautiful garden that needs my help. I have rhubarb growing in my garden. I ate it as a child. You know only the stems are eatable, right? I suppose it is me that has changed, it doesn't taste as tart as it did 60 years ago. ;-) Grapes and fruit trees need to be pruned to be healthy, the grapes especially. There is a LOT of work that needs to be done there for sure. I hope you find energized people to keep that garden going.
Maybe, you could get some retired people involved. Post something at the senior center. The real problem is irrigation. Is there any way to hook up a sprinkler or drip system?
Thanks for noticing this! Yes there is no irrigation hook up, so everything has to be perennial and self sufficient. There is one catchment system with a rain barrel, that's all.
Incredible!! I wonder if you could reach out to local schools. It would be a great project for high school kids to take care of and creates so many learning opportunities
How about a post about deer and natives. Which are more likely to be lunch and which are the only if the cupboard is bare? I’m doing my best to keep these hungry beasts from devouring my natives
Was wondering if you could talk about aggressive native plants? I acquired a few, spiderwort, obedient, lanceleaf rudbeckia, you get the idea, and am remiss to plant them in my beds!
Ooh yeah, spiderwort is probably easy to manage but that obedient plant is hard to manage with other prairie plants. I have some next to queen of the prairie, red bee balm, and red twig dogwood, so it has to compete. Rudbeckia lacinata will form large stands and is better for a large yard with good moisture. Would love to make a video on aggressive native plants though, thanks for the idea! 🌱🌱🌱
That licorice mint is an interesting surprise. It's like, "Yay! You go plant!" (Picture Jeff Golfblum..."Life uhh...finds a way.") And "Boo! Climate change!" all at the same time.
LIIIIISA!! I found another sedge that is light green, less than 12 inches with little ball spike shaped flowers! I’m learnin! I love my yard! It was cool before I got here with violets and sedges galore. I’m so happy to see this amazing forest of food! Take it over, honey!
What an incredible area of edibles!!! Can you do an update later. Hope you get people in your area excited about it to help out
There will definitely be updates! 🌱🌱🌱
This is awesome! I hope to start one in our local mn city. I highly recommend making a Google sheets survey and collecting input on it. Specifically asking if anyone would like to be involved and another question if they would like to be on a committee for it. You'll find worker bees and and managers! Good luck and I look forward to your project
Wow! Whoever grew this garden did an amazing job.
They really did. 🌱🌱🌱
Hello Lisa,
This video and YOU saved my daughter's life - literally! Just an FYI, My daughter is a P.A. in an E.R., Now, for the quicky story!
About 3 days before I saw your video, I was in her Denver, Co. backyard wildflower garden (planted from seeds) over the past 4 years. It is a rocky area that does retain some moisture from heavy snow and rain. I was admiring all of her sprouting flowers when I saw this crazy huge and lacy plant. I told her I didn't think it was Queen Annes Lace and I wasn't familiar with Wild Carrot, but maybe that is what it was. Because there were easily 25+ big and small types of this plant that were shading out everything, I said she should get rid of the big ones until we could figure out what type of flowering plant it was. Fast forward to Friday night and I was loving watching your video until you got to min. 12:17. I was seriously scared because I knew that was the plant in her yard. Worse yet, I believe it came from one of the many wildflower mixes we had put in that area. Since I knew she had been on shift for the last two days and her shifts are very long, I was going to tell her the next morning to not touch that plant until we could figure out how to dispose of it. At about 4 in the morning on Sat. I got a text telling me that she was not going to be able to go into work that morning because she had some sort of awful stomach virus. At about 9am, I was talking to her, and she kept saying this was the worst stomach virus she had ever had due to the chronic vomiting, diarrhea and the weird burning sensation she had in her intestines. That's when I asked her if she had been in that rock bed at all since, we had talked about the "weird" looking plant. She said she had been out there prior to her shift on Friday and had lopped off the tops of all of the really big ones and threw them in the trash. She had been wearing gloves, but no eye protection and yes, was wearing her work scrubs. It was one of those "oh, I have an extra 15 minutes before work, let me do this" type of thing. When I told her about your video and that I had then started looking at oodles of poison Hemlock videos, I asked her if the stem had the purple striations and hollow center.
She sent me a quick pic, and yes indeed, it in fact was poison Hemlock! I have been gardening for years and had never, ever heard of this plant. At the point that she and I had figured out this was the culprit, she was feeling somewhat better. We think she may have had some residue on her scrubs, as she did wash her hands thoroughly before she left her house. In addition to that, the wildflower patch is not far from her bedroom window, which was open all day and when she slept, and we are suspecting that maybe some vapors from the cut/open stems may have been airborne. What I wanted to say was, had I not seen your video, chances are she and I would have been out there together, lopping away at these deadly plants not ever knowing how sick or even deadly they could have been. Both of us, but her in particular. As I mentioned, she has been an ER P.A. for 10 years and had never heard of this plant. Believe me when I say, we were so covered in protective gear with googles, dishwashing gloves and eye protection while removing those plants, very early in the morning several days later, we looked like to hazmat workers. We covered each plant with a large garbage bag, pulled it out by its carrot like root, and moved onto to the next. We also reluctantly got an herbicide to help kill off any newbies that try and pop up, but also now know what protection is needed if we do have to pull them out. Oddly enough, a few days later, guess what pops up on our local news and news feeds..."invasive poison Hemlock in Denver". So, while I love your content overall and truly look forward to your videos, I wanted you to know how that single comment about poison hemlock may have truly saved her life and maybe mine. Who knew???? You did! Now we do! And more importantly, now as an ER provider, she will have that knowledge should someone come in with these very unusual and violent symptoms. She can ask, have you been gardening today?
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Catherine🥰
Wow, Catherine that is amazing! I'm so sorry your daughter was sick and glad she is doing better! I didn't grow up learning about this plant, I think it has become more invasive in the past handful of years and I'm so glad to be able to help educate other people on this safety issue!
There was a landscaper locally that had used a power tool to cut down a whole bunch of poison hemlock unknowingly and he got very sick. The power tool must have aerosolized the plant material and he got exposed through inhalation. Its so important that everyone knows how to protect themselves. Thank you so much for telling me this story and I'm grateful that you continued to learn about poison hemlock after hearing about it in the video. Keep staying safe in garden! ❤️❤️❤️🌱🌱🌱
I'm pretty sure that's a blackcurrant, gooseberries have thorns. The currants aren't ripe yet but when they turn black (dark purple) they are incredibly delicious and super nutritious. You have to try them!
Thank you so much, I definitely will!
Can’t wait to see you become a guerrilla gardener 😁
Same! 🌱🌱🌱
I really hate how the government always takes the cheapest option in dealing with anything. Preserving historical buildings is too costly, fixing roads with decent materials is too costly. Especially in good ol' Illinois. I'm in central IL, and it's the same here. I fought with the city last summer to kerp _my_ pollinator garden that's in _my_ yard. I wish you luck!
Thanks so much! It's a challenge, we'll see how it goes. This site has its challenges for sure, as there isn't any water on the site! Everything must be completely self sustaining. 😬
Whoever manages the bee hives might have an idea about people who maintained the garden. Or you might have local Wild Ones chapter, master gardner in your county or university extension that you can email about interest. I think there needs to be volunteer organizations that get high school kids or boy scouts to help. I volunteered as a kid in random orgs solely for college admission applications.
Great idea about the scouts. We know who managed it before, the organization has dissolved, and it will be up to us. The biggest problem as you probably know, is how to hand off stewardship- it often ends up being one person who does most of the work and that is always precarious. Hopefully we can set something up with multiple people taking ownership so there's automatic succession plans.
Good luck. Perhaps a local horticulture club or food to table organization would like to help tidy and harvest. It just needs leadership Lisa.
Great ideas! 🌱🌱🌱
Cool. If you occasionally work there, some of the original gardeners would probably show up.
OMG this would stress me out! I would lose sleep over that beautiful garden that needs my help. I have rhubarb growing in my garden. I ate it as a child. You know only the stems are eatable, right? I suppose it is me that has changed, it doesn't taste as tart as it did 60 years ago. ;-)
Grapes and fruit trees need to be pruned to be healthy, the grapes especially. There is a LOT of work that needs to be done there for sure. I hope you find energized people to keep that garden going.
Maybe, you could get some retired people involved. Post something at the senior center. The real problem is irrigation. Is there any way to hook up a sprinkler or drip system?
Thanks for noticing this! Yes there is no irrigation hook up, so everything has to be perennial and self sufficient. There is one catchment system with a rain barrel, that's all.
Incredible!! I wonder if you could reach out to local schools. It would be a great project for high school kids to take care of and creates so many learning opportunities
That's a cool idea! 🌱🌱🌱
Oh no! Where did you go? Come back!!
How about a post about deer and natives. Which are more likely to be lunch and which are the only if the cupboard is bare? I’m doing my best to keep these hungry beasts from devouring my natives
Great topic! 🌱🌱🌱
😍🤩
Was wondering if you could talk about aggressive native plants? I acquired a few, spiderwort, obedient, lanceleaf rudbeckia, you get the idea, and am remiss to plant them in my beds!
Ooh yeah, spiderwort is probably easy to manage but that obedient plant is hard to manage with other prairie plants. I have some next to queen of the prairie, red bee balm, and red twig dogwood, so it has to compete.
Rudbeckia lacinata will form large stands and is better for a large yard with good moisture.
Would love to make a video on aggressive native plants though, thanks for the idea! 🌱🌱🌱
That licorice mint is an interesting surprise. It's like, "Yay! You go plant!" (Picture Jeff Golfblum..."Life uhh...finds a way.") And "Boo! Climate change!" all at the same time.
A lotta mixed feelings for SURE
bees... BEES
So many busy bees! 🌱🌱🌱
Someone is looking after the bees. They must know something about the seeming abandonment of such an awesome project.
LIIIIISA!!
I found another sedge that is light green, less than 12 inches with little ball spike shaped flowers! I’m learnin!
I love my yard! It was cool before I got here with violets and sedges galore.
I’m so happy to see this amazing forest of food! Take it over, honey!
Happy you found another sedge! There's so much to explore. 🌱🌱🌱