Chit-Chat, everyone welcome #170

I have 2 cats, and one sits under the bird feeder -then jumps - in slow motion!!! they are quite old now and haven't the speed to catch anything but the occasional lizard - then that escapes when then paws :-) for thought!

Many years ago I have Siamese cats, the mother one day jumped up and caught a bird, the bird screamed-I do not know who was scared the most the cat or the bird. She never really tried to catch any more birds. LOL

Sandy and Andre

Yes, cats kill millions of songbirds every year.

Thankfully none of mine ever did. My dog keeps the stray cats out of the yard. I takes only one chase and they never come into the yard again. The boy can really move. You should have seen the smile on his face when on tried to force his way through the chain link fence and the time he chased one up the pecan tree. Andre is just playing, will not hurt one, just loves to chase.

Sandy

Good morning, all. Boy it sure has been breezy out there all night. One advantage: most of the ugly dead leaves have been blown off by now.

Good morning the rain came through last night

Sandy

It's expected here in the next couple of hours.....

just finished here-had tornado warning for a while-very breezy
supposed to be 72 today

Seems that I am so far behind on every thing going on here!!!! Finally, five cups of coffe later---I'm caught up!
Been real busy, both at work & home, so not much time for the computer.

First:
Jeremy,
I bought four boxes of the bulbs from Food Lion before they went on sale, but never got around to putting them in the ground, had planned on going ahead & trying them, just to see what happens. Will probably be a year now before I know if they worked or not.

Reall sorry to hear about Dave!!!! Haven't checked into the site you guys have posted yet, but will before I get off of here.
This is the best gardening site I have ever seen & sure hope it doesn't change!!!!
I got into Dave's right after my father, my friend, & my gardening buddy died & all of you guys have filled the void that his passing left in my life!

I have been seeing most of our birds comming back again too! Guess that means spring is getting closer, I Hope!

Much as I hate to say it---this winter hitting my yard may have been a mixed blessing/disaster.
Have been working on building my 'rooms' in the yard & have to revamp quite a few of my gardens.
The newest one is my Oreintal Garden. Have lots of tropicals that can stay, but many of the other plants will have to be moved to other parts of the yard. Will probably have lots of them to give away if anyone wants them. Will let you guys know.

On the subject of plants---I can-not remember the name of these plants to save my life---Can some-one help me????
They are a type of lilly, grow in very large clumps, & resemble a cross between an amaryliss & a day lilly. Mine are a very pale shade of pink & usually bloom early in the spring. I used to know the name of them but seem to have contracted a bad case of CRS. LOL!
These are few of the plants to be moved & will have to be devided as they have been in the same place for 11 years.

there is great news about the new company-they want him to stay-the mix up was because of the old company that told the new company that Dave was not interested in staying, that has be cleared up.

Any way to make it clear than I can explain here is the web site. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1071571/

Sandy

spent the night here in Plant City near Tampa and I see the devestation among the palms around the pool. We stayed at a place called the Red Rose Inn and Suites - mostly because we couldn't find the Days Inn in the dark. It was a fantastic find.

Now off to see if our coach is done with body repairs not far from here and then off we go back to Naples.

fred
PS I'm barefoot in sandals. My feet are happy again. :-)

Ya know, this happens to me every year, and every year I can't find any way to make it any different--for the months of Jan.&Feb., and sometimes most of the way through March, I sit around looking at all the crap thats happened to the yard because of the cold weather, and become so anxious for the spring, that I feel like I'm going to explode! I spend most of my time outside, but when its cold, I don't like to go out-I hate the cold- so I'm caged-up in the house. Then you get some kind of flu or cold, and cough and blow your nose until you think you're going to pass out, and I just wish I could go to sleep and wake up in the spring.....................

If I had the money, I'd have a greenhouse built-on the side of the house that was as big as the house, and tall enough to grow palm trees in, a waterfall, fish pond,---it was always 85 degrees inside, and sun lamps that stayed on 24/7,--and to heck with the outside!!!!
Oh, did I mention it would also have the pool, hot-tub and beach area at one end, and a really cool mini-nature trail.Yep, thats what I'd do......

Dave, where is NPR in all this? If they sold it, who got the money? Is it another NPR contribution?

Sandy - please do let the Kumquat go to your friend that wants it. I am so overwhelmed with too many activities now that it may be weeks before I can carve out a day to come transplant more citrus --- and I think I already got a Kumquat from you in the two trees I moved already, so no need for me to be greedy (though when it comes to me and plants, as all of you know, more is NEVER enough!) LOL

Camillia - your bulbs from Food Lion will probably bloom this first year if you get them into the ground now. They are pre-chilled for the ones that require chilling hours (like tulips and daffodils) so they are ready to bloom and can even be forced in pots to grow indoors, then plant them out in the garden. Any tulips you may have bought will most likely be one time annuals (except possibly the wild Tulips - Tulipa sylvestris - it will be interesting to see if those have survived from the ones I planted last year). If the heat and humidity don't get the Tulip bulbs, the termites will. I had hundreds of Tulip bulbs in pots from the Lowe's mother lode of plant bargains a few years ago and the termites came from miles around, or so it seemed, to feast on the Tulip bulbs and turn them into a foul-smelling mush. Daffodils will take about 3 - 5 years to acclimate to our warm climate before they flower again. They will send up leaves every year, but usually won't bloom again until they get over the jet lag from the move from Holland to Florida. I'm hoping some of the oddities like the Mediterranean Bells (Allium -- Nectaroscordum siculum http://www.vanbloem.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=PLANTS.plantDetail&plant_id=228) will return. I've already seen the leaves of the Drumsticks (Allium sphaerocephalon http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1899/ ) popping up so I think they will prove to be a reliable perennial. The 'Mount Hood' white daffodil that I got in the Food Lion bulbs last year is sending up leaves, but as expected, no flowers this year. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/66037/ I also planted Wood Hyacinths (Hyacinthoides hispanica http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/763/ ), but there is no sign of them returning yet.

I bought two 'blue girl' roses from Big Lots about a month ago and can't find them anywhere. They were the kind of rose bushes in cylindrical plastic bags with waxed stems to keep them hydrated. I recall that I put them someplace safe, and it turns out to be such a safe place that even I can't find it. LOL The 'blue girl' and 'blue boy' roses are some of the most fragrant roses I've ever grew. I had some previously here but killed them in an attempt to transplant them to a new spot which turned out to be too shady. The Big Lots store I went to had hundreds of the bagged roses at about $3.99 each, but I really had to dig through them to find the two 'blue girl' cultivars. I can only hope that I dropped them in some warm spot where they are already leafing out and ready to flower. LOL

Thanks for popping in, Dave, and I am VERY glad that there seems to be a smooth transition occurring for the move to the new DG owners! It would have been difficult for me to stay on at DG if we had lost the patriarch and namesake of our happy garden family.

Jeremy

GG
Why not get some simple pvc shelves with some lights and start some seed sowing indoors during the down time. You can keep busy and have plants ready for outside in the spring. I'm always starting something inside.

I got an old waterbed wooden frame on Craig's List last year (no mattress included - I just wanted the lumber for other projects). It included the heating pad for the waterbed. Has anyone ever used one of those pads to add warmth to seedling trays? It may get too hot, but I may be able to set it at the lowest setting and see how it works.

Now, if I can only find that big manilla envelope where I stuck all my recent seed purchases, I will be ready to proceed with my seed-starting! LOL

Jeremy

That's an interesting idea to give some heat to seedlings. Very creative idea. I tossed the manila envelope for seed packs and went with labeling small boxes. It saves a little bit of time when you're hunting for something specific. The first thing I do when getting seed packs is to write the year, they're intended for, right on the front of the package. That way you can quickly see if they're fresh, without having to remove them and look for the dates somewhere on the seed pack.

Goodgreen- I want to be outdoors,too. I really really wish it was summer all year. I don't want to wish my days away but still...Your greenhouse sounds perfect.I especially like the sunlamps 24/7.!

budgie- I just got my Park's catalog yesterday, and was just looking through it--now that you mention the seed thing.
They have coleus seed also. Just might try that.--Its sure cheap enough!!
I grew some tomatoes in the back fla. room one year and they turned out the best I ever grew.-No bugs and not too much rain(like last year).

Jere- the water bed heating pad gets pretty hot-but it just might work on low setting. If you have one of those instant-read-digital thermometers like we use for roasts and such in the oven, you could put a pot of soil on it for a day or so and then take a reading. I believe I read somewhere that most plants like the soil around 70 degrees for starting seed.

rosebeau-I guess I'm just stressing. A few months from now and I won't have to worry about heating the greenhouse , in fact I won't even need sides on it for the next 9 months! Then I'll be complaining about the heat!!

I just get a book in the mail, I do not know if it will help me choose and grow better plants but it will help me lose weight. I swear that the book is around 50 pounds

It is "the American Horticultural Society A-Z encyclopedia of Garden Plants.

I am setting out here on the carport enjoying the weather and the birds. Andre is on "bad bird" patrol
The bad birds are so Rock doves.

Saw some Cedar Waxwings earlier.

Sandy

Home again but now I can really see the frost damage. It seems that it did not matter if I covered and item or not. I can see it's all about location. My giant beaugainvillas are bare of leaves but they'll come back, I know. I'll take some pictures tomorrow for my memory banks.

fred

Welcome back Fred.

Jeremy, mats providing bottom heat for seedlings and cuttings give a wonderful boost to the rooting mechanisms. I've started seedlings with and without the mat and the difference is amazing. If you use a mat you will really need to monitor the humidity of the soil though... it can dry out quickly and seedlings don't often recover from being too dry. The seedling heat mat is a godsend.
Fred, welcome back.
GG, love the dream greenhouse plans! ;)

Barb

Good Morning Everyone! Another cold spell headed this way! GRRRR! Where is Spring?

Linda there are signs out there that it is coming. The maples are putting out their seeds, the Canadian geese are pairing up, a wren is building a nest on my carport and the my daffodils are blooming.

Sandy

Good Morning All!

I'm beginning to think spring isn't going to get here!

I'm so sick over my yard that I want to wear horse blinders just to walk out to my truck! LOL!!!

Goodgreen,

Love your idea on the greenhouse. I keep telling hubby that I want to build a Bio Dome over our entire yard---bet that would work! Might get some pretty strange looks though!

GM all.

Just put the heat back on. Urgggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Good morning, all.
I'm off to work.

You're late!

Camillia- I've thought of that idea myself! Just dome the whole place in!! I guess if you've got the money for that, you've got the money for heating and cooling...also!!

After my first winter here, I had the same kinds of dream visions. Build up a tropical micro dome, languish in the warmth and sun while watching the rest of the world go cold, dormant and brown. Then reality returns.

When I fell asleep last evening, the a/c was set at 74 and the ceiling fan over my bed was on. Woke up this morning and it was freezing. Got up to flip the heat on and still trying to get warm again. It's 38 outside.

But we still have that wonderful Florida sunshine.

It was always the overcast glooms in the Michigan winter months that set depression in. The dominant days of sunshine keeps that away.

That's why I live in Florida.

Molly

My wife is from the New York/Buffalo/Niagra Falls area. She said the suicide rate up there was unbelievable. When its cold and gloomy 6 months out of the year, I can understand why...

I fully agree; it wasn't the cold, it was the GREY that got to me.

Yup, GG.

I'm from Rochester and it is brutal.

Hap

Boy do I hear that. My first experience with cold and the winter was moving to lousiville. It was october, I had to go the whole winter with no leaves on the trees and grey grey grey, It was absolutley horrible and no money on earth would keep me in that horrible situation for half of every year of my life. The reason they are so big on the derby is becuase the sun is finally out.
It didnt even snow...it was just grey/

I did the same thing Molly, had my beside fan turned up to high and I had changed out the flannel sheets for the regular one. Brr...willl change that back for the rest of the week. But oo is that sun out.

maybe I'm a little bit strange, but I just don't like wearing that many clothes. My ideal dress code is a straw hat, cut-off jeans, and my yard shoes.

That wouldn't do for me, GG. I would be arrested.

Nancy

Hap- LOL--

The neighbor ladies here don't mind..................:~))
anyway--back to regular gardening.....................

This message was edited Jan 26, 2010 12:27 PM

Hi, All. My day is interrupted again by a doctor appointment. I always hate that because it is hard for me to wrap the rest of the day around the time when I have to get dressed, go to the appointment return and by then it seems like the day is shot and I don't get much done. But the dern UTI is back again -- not as bad as before, but annoying. It was nice, though, having several months of relief by taking daily antibiotics.

Chris just got home and is thrilled with her midterm grade for this semester in her insurance/medical billing & coding course -- up from a B+ to an A! She's really enjoying the school and is studying hard daily.

From what I've heard, Seattle has the highest suicide rate in the country, for the reasons mentioned above -- barely ever a sunny day. But I just found this Business Week magazine report that provides several rankings for cities. http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/02/0226_miserable_cities/1.htm You can click on the photos at the bottom of the page to see if your city is in the Top 50 for the misery index. LOL Jacksonville is sure up there:

Jacksonville, Fla.

Overall rank: 6
Depression rank: 2
Suicide rank: 9
Crime (property and violent) rank: 23
Divorce rate rank: 7
Cloudy days: 144
Unemployment rate (December 2008): 7.6%

This study ranked Los Vegas as number 1 for suicide rate. It gives a whole new meaning to "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" for all eternity. LOL

Jeremy