hey louise,good to have you back
TEA ROOM # 57
mornin all , very hot here this morning,didnt drop overnight.off to the market 4 some bargains,then home to cook a gourmet roast and a nice cold beer later[or 2]
Hi Charleen, Dianne, Jean and Anthony! Nice to see you all and I'm glad you like my little mini-garden. So far, Dianne, the pups love to run the loop around the garden, and I do have some wrought iron fence border there now to keep them in loop mode. LOL I have 3 beds in their play yard - all blocked off by lightweight fence sections. They really love chasing each other around obstacles, so they have not found the beds to be attractive to enter so far. I think with them the pivotal words are "so far"....
I'm sorry to hear you are having such heat and fire dangers, Jean. This has been a strange weather year here in the US. One day last week every state except Hawaii (including Florida) had snow and that is absolutely unheard of! We usually have 2 or 3 heavy rainstorms during our entire winter stay here, but this winter we've had almost weekly storms. I'm not complaining...I like the rain and I actually prefer the cool weather to the heat and humidity. That stapelia looks very pretty. I'm not familiar with stapelias. Something else pretty for me to research!
Anthony - thank you! It's nice to be reconnected!
Charleen - do you ever try to post on the Florida? I didn't subscribe, so I'll try that and see if I'm allowed in. I wish the changes at DG hadn't necessitated the spin-off, but I'm still reserving judgment for now.
I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!
Louise
Good morning all. After a very hot day and night, it was slightly cooler earlier but now very humid. The angels and broms like it but I don't.
I was up at 3am looking at my epi. The bud has got to the stage of almost there, but is still teasing me. I will have a few more late nights and early mornings I suppose. Only because this is my first night bloom otherwise it would not matter. I do want a photo of this though. Louise , those pups sound as if they are having a ball . I don't suppose they are spoilt at all ? ha ha. Gorgeous little faces, how could you resist ?
The stapelias are getting very big in my shadehouse. I now have 5 types and am waiting to see the large yellow flowered one get some buds. They are so easy to grow but the smell of the flowers is a drawback to a lot of people. You would not have one inside. . Outside it's not noticeable unless you are close to them on a warm day or want to stick your nose in the flower. The plants themselves are quite nice as with all the varieties there are so many different shapes.
I have been out spraying and watering pots. I had to fill up the swimming pools for the birds as they splashed all their water out yesterday. It does look funny seeing two or three magpies standing in a dish of water.
I nearly broke my watering can this morning. I picked it up and took it to the tap, put in some fertiliser, then turned on the tap. The biggest huntsman came running out and headed for my hand. I went one way and the can went the other. The spider ran off so fast he may be up in NSW by now. I don't mind spiders in the garden but not up close and personal, thank you.
Better go out and do a few more pots before it gets really hot again.
I hope you are all keeping cool and dry whereever you are.
Colleen, the cacti look great out with the others. Some of the other lot have babies and are looking great with the heat. Say hello to Brian..
Hello to everyone else. . Leisa, Shelly, Kat, Sue, Steve, Elaine and others lurking.
try something nice for the hot weather. Blueberry Trifle.
Jean
Hi Jean! Oh, no....these pups are not spoiled in the least!!! LOL!! Here's the new door/spotlight/ceiling fan with light into their newly fenced play yard. Spoiled??? The door still has to have the trim work and painting touch-up around it, but it is at least functional now and I am just thrilled not to have to manage them together on leashes! The walkway of pavers is next so the dirt will stay out in the yard instead of on the sunroom floor. Actually, they are pretty well behaved lately, especially with all the construction workers and some guests in the last couple of days. I think it helps a lot that most of their new teeth have now pushed through. They still love their game of chasing each other at top speed, but then, they are not even 6 months yet, so I get a lot of laughs watching them.
Jean, that spider encounter would have freaked me out! I had a similar surprise last summer in New Hampshire when I went to use my water can and found that a dead mouse was clogging it up. ugh. Live spiders are worse. Thanks for the explanation about your stapelias. They sound so interesting, and pretty. I have no sense of smell, so they wouldn't bother me. And I'm fascinated about your night-blooming epi. Is there any way you can get a shot of it when it opens? I'd love to see it.
Yes, I have for awhile but they are always so nice. I love your babies. I used to have poodles, you are loving them I'm sure. Love their new room. It is nice they lots of company, all dogs need to be socialized, I have a chihuahua and he is a Total Mess. Never been around anyone except me and hubby. Believe me when I have company all the little fella can do is barks, I guess he is scared of everyone.
I have been to the Florida forum and they are very nice. If I go anywhere and feel unwelcome, I usually don't go back unless there is something I really want to know about it. No Problem here, I love these folks. They have all been nice to me.
Charleen
Hi Charleen. I found the Florida people on DG to be very nice and friendly. I figured out how to join the Florida group, so I'll keep an eye there too when I have the time. Sorry to hear about your little Total Mess. LOL I have adopted several dogs as rescues, and it took them awhile to get over their fears. Eventually they did. I give a lot of credit to the family that had the litter our girls came from. These puppies are well balanced and had lots of love where they came from. They are joyful and love life and everyone and everything. They are also amazingly kind to each other.
When you go over , look for me. i got a couple and you are welcome to them anytime.
but i love to come back over here and visit too. I can see it, they are Beautiful poodle children. Now I got Radar , the chihuahua, Lucky Brutus, Boston Terrier, Missy, Germ/lab mix and the baby is Lucas, whom DH calls Dufuss, Lucas is Basset/weiner dog mix. so i have a strange jumble but i sure do love them all.
Louise, your house really looks pretty...you must be very pleased now that the door is in...
What a difference it must make to the room with all the extra light...
Did the pups push their teeth thru, on the construction workers' ankles? lol
I am glad for you that it has all turned out so well.
Jean, I am a bit like that with spiders...they can live in their house but not in mine...
I must be getting feeble minded, I just realized that I fed my African Violets and Phalaenopsis last month,
with Hydrangea blueing mix...I went to feed them again and realized what I was using.
The box it came in got wet and I threw it out...thinking that I would remember what it was..oh yeah
I will have to check the NPK, the violets are flowering very well anyhow...the orchids haven't noticed.
Notes, notes and more notes, that's how it is now.
Dianne
This message was edited Feb 21, 2010 7:12 PM
Dianne, what a surprise if you orchids turned blue . Ha ha.
Notes....Tell me about it.. I have long been known for leaving notes everywhere. Hubby used to laugh but now I see him with the odd note now and then. I write notes for everything even though I mostly remember things.
There must be a fortune made by the inventors of the sticky notes. I love them. bright colors on the fridge, wall , counter and anywhere else I need one. Great for sticking in books too.
I bet all my kids who used to laugh are now using them too.
I must ask.
Louise , your door looks great and I'm sure the pups absolutely love their play area. I am going down the back each night to try and catch my epi in flower. Apparently they like to bloom around midnight.
Charleen, saw you over there and it is nice to call in on two places.
Jean.
Hi all. Lawn mowing weekend is over. 1.5 hours yesterday and 1.0 today. That's more than enough exercise for now.
The gardens are looking very lush after all the rain. My one and only Brug has doubled in size in the past 12 months. The weed battle is about to take a nasty turn with the onion weed beginning to appear. At least there is a lot less than when we bought the place. I am a very lucky man! My yard is full of naked ladies!
Back later.
Steve
......and Tiger Lilies.
good morning everyone. Brian is back home and wading through the threads catching up. Jean get the cream puffs ready. We've had some strange weather here. Quite warm, but very humid. A thunderstorm went through yesterday afternoon but no rain with it. We had a few spots of rain last night, still overcast and lovely and cool this morning. Jean I'm glad that your cactus look good and are happy. They dont take a lot to keep them happy and the flowers are so rewarding. I'll be back later. Colleen
Good morning everyone.
Steve, naked ladies indeed...they had better watch out for those tigers..
I also still have a few naked ladies running around the garden. Mine have nearly all gone in to get dressed though, having been running around for weeks . I have a lot more of that white flowered bulb I posted in the gardening in feb thread. It certainly looks like an amaryllis , and i must check on the name Anthony gave .
Lovely and cool here this morning. Yesterday wasn't too bad with a lighter wind that the day before. With these lovely mornings and cool nights, I would say autumn has definitely arrived. I see my nerines starting to poke heads up too.
I can now start all the cleaning up of dead foliage and old plants . I didn't want to do it in the hot weather as any new shoots encouraged would have burnt off.
I will have some fun getting the garden back to looking tidy again. Looking at the desert it is now , it is odd to think that in a few months, I will be fighting weeds again. The cycle never ends.
Hello to all out there . I hope you are all busy doing productive things in the garden.
Louise, Chrissy, Sue, Leisa, Kat, Mya, Teresa, Colleen.
Have some lovely Cream Sponge Cake. ( Colleen, you had better take a slice to Brian )
Jean
Good morning all, it will take me a while to catch up on all that has gone on while I have been away, I have no time today, I will try through the week.
My little sister (40) had a major heart attack last sunday, in Longreach, they flew her to Brisbane and I went down to be with her for the week. She is good now, she has had her operation, (sunday pm) and they sent her home on Friday. She was skinny and as healthy as a horse, does not drink or smoke so the doctors are at a loss as to why it happened, it sucks my sister in law and my sister both have heart attackes within 3 weeks of each other. Both are ok now so that is all that matters, my sister has 6 weeks of rehab to look forward to, and she is already restless, she is not used to being so inactive. She will just have to learn to behave herself :-)
I had best get to work I have a mountain to catch up on.
Smile and stay safe
Shell
gosh shell it sweems to be in the stars or something ...the fellow in the bed next to my brother fell and broke his hip on the way to have an x ray.
My hubby's sister has a broken leg and ribs after a fall, not good at 80.
His brother's wife has had a bad fall and is in bed with back injuries at 83.
My sister is on bed rest after a piece of oyster shell poisoned her foot.
We know so many people who have been injured and now you tell us about heart trouble gosh and so young too.
Maybe we all had better stop rushing and worrying ...easier said than done.
I hope your little sister makes a full recovery, it's amazing what they can do these days.
Beautiful pics everyone, love the tiger lillies and naked ladies!
Hi brian ...guess what ! that Queen of Herbs seems to repel chewing critters ...I am planning to use it as a ground cover experiment under some Angels ...what I have found is that jean's seedlings are almost bug free. I have them together in one area and the queen of herbs has crept over the tops of the pots at the base of the seedlings. The biggest surprise is no grasshopper activity there. I think it is the strong smell that is perhaps the key. I note nothing eats the plant itself.
It would only protect the plants until they reach say three foot I think, but that is a great help.
dianne I think that stuff has a mild acidic action. I don't think it will harm your plants unless you put heaps on them.
Hi loise and charleen I bet you are counting the days until spring.
I think we are over Summer here ...it just gets too hot and steamy.
Ok hubby is asking about lunch so a big wave to everyone ...enjoy your day and stay safe and be happy.
Not anywhere near over summer here. Still hot and steamy. Send me an iceberg!
i wish I could send you some cooler weather. I know you are craveing the colder air.
It was beautiful yesterday, but still didn't get anything done. But that is the way it goes.
it is 50 degrees right now and we had a thunderstorm and rain early. Looks like it is going to be a nice day but colder at the end of the week. It is amazing this weather. Hope you all have a great day.
Charleen
we have been ahaving a cool grey summer but from Friday it has been sunny & hot...
5 days in a row is just wonderful ^_^
anyway today is my catch up in the garden day, I will try & get some seeds off the nemesia them give them all a good trim so i have flowers into winter.
The roses need dead heading & i better get out & spray the driveway while the air is still...
see everyone later
Hello everyone. Time to move so we have gone to here....
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1077510/
A chilly morning early but not as bad now. I had to wander down to see how my epi is doing. No flower yet. It's as bad as waiting for a baby to be born.
Shelly, I am so glad to hear your sister is much better. She has someone like you to care which makes the battle easier.
Chrissy, it sounds like you have a bad fairy up there with all that happening. I think I once had a plant that sounds like your queen of herbs. It was in WA so it grew well in the warm and spread very graciously around in a small circle.
Hello Kat, at least you are getting wet up there. If I find an iceberg I'll share half with you, I want to melt the rest on the garden.
Charleen, you are certainly having some very cold weather over there . You must be seeing lots of signs of spring now though. Give those longears a pat for me.
Teresa, while you are deadheading your roses, could you do mine too ?
I have left the poor things looking so untidy because of the dry. If I trimmed at all, the new shoots would have been toasted.
Those nemesia are very pretty aren't they ? I found one in a potplant I had bought and it has selfseeded around the garden .
Colleen, I have all the cacti safely potted but I must say , it was fun trying to hold the biggest piece in the pot while filling it.
One of my older cacti had to be repotted as it grew a tall piece on a little base piece and became unstable so fell over. Luckily , they are so easy to get going again.
Louise, hope your weather has improved for you now. Spring flowers should be coming up everywhere.
Hello to everyone looking in, I am off outside while its cool as we are forecast more hot weather later.
Have great day and enjoy your gardens.
Brian, heres a treat with lots of cream. Leave a bit for the others though. You know Shelly gets hungry at work.
Strawberry Cream Cake.
Jean.
