Practical Matters for Physically Challenged Gardeners

Yeah, something like the 'Heart of Jesus' caladium or ones like that. It is "the guys garden" and my GS considers himself one of the guys. His current favorite color is fuchsia pink. (He hasn't started school and gotten brain-washed about gender and colors yet.) The ladies are taking unfair advantage of his innocence. They keep giving him plants with pink flowers to put in HIS garden. LOL. I could also snatch some of that 'Only the Lonely' Nocotiana from Kay's fragrant bed. The foliage is a nice bright green that would perk things up. (That should get a rise out of her. LOL.)
The Granny Goons (see "Compassion...." Accessible thread.) might consider makeing the bottled skunk scent their secret weapon for tough cases. LOL. (Jim)

You stay away from my nocotiana!!!

Boys and girls! Play nice!

The boys have Kay watching that kid's show with the big, purple dinosaur. 3-year-old D. is teaching her the "Caring is Sharing" song. Maybe, that will help. LOL. (Jim)

When it comes to spouses and flowers, The all is fair in love and war kicks in!
Carrie, I remember my first meeting with Skunk Cabbage up your way. Skunk cabbage juice would make good stuff for Granny Goons.

Carrie, here are some seeds of information I stumbled across last week that might grow into an article in your fertile mind. Your mind has the perfect growing medium for these particular seeds. They are all music/plant connections.
Arundo donax (seacane) came originally from the Mediterranean region and was the source for pan pipes. It is still the source for reeds in woodwind instruments. No suitable alternative has been found. (So I guess Arundo isn’t ALL bad.)
The seeds of Canna indica are considered necessary for making hosho, a traditional African musical instrument. A rattle. The hardness and viability of the seeds is considered one of the ways to tell the difference between Canna indica and Canna x generalis.
David had us discussing the human-created vs. just-a-natural-cycle theories of climate change at Amargia. This conversation led to talking about “the little ice age.” Someone mentioned the reason Stradivarius violins are considered superior and unrepeatable is they were made from wood with particular and un-reproducible qualities because the trees used grew during the little ice age.
Just thought all these were interesting plant/music connections and thought I would share.
Vickie, I planted Jim his very own nicotiana so he has no excuse for bothering my plants. Little Dillon also taught me the words to a song off “Lambchops”. (Can you remember when Shari Lewis’s Lambchops were considered entertainment suited only for adults? She toned down the act and made Lambchops suitable for kids.) The song is called “this is the Song That Doesn’t End.” It is highly effective in driving Grandpa Jim up the wall. LOL. Kay*

Kay, sort of like 99 bottles of beer on the wall!

Oh, how I do not miss those kids programs. When my DS was very little, he had a love affair with Barney, and I was ready to strangle that purple dragon!!

It's WORSE, Bonnie.
All together now:
This is the song that does not end
It just goes on and on, my friend
Somebody started singing it, not knowing what it was
Now, they will be singing it forever just because
This is the song that does not end..........
Argh!!! (Grump-Pa Jim)

LOL! 99 bottles of beer on the wall. On a band bus trip once everyone took up a penny collection to get me to stop singing that song.
When the girls were little, we were in the army and traveled alot.We sang those silly songs. Remember "There's a log in a hole in the bottom of the sea." "When Johnny comes marcing home again.""She'll be comming around the mountain." Which reminds me...Does anyone read Mother Goose to their little ones anymore? I've heard that don't happen in todays world.

Well think i'll go sit in a corner and put my thumb in a pie.LOL
Vickie

My daughter (now nearly twenty) has a version of that song for her step-father, my DH, about "the lecture that won't end."

Kay those are very plant-music tidbits, thank you VERY MUCH! I have an idea in the works called the music lovers garden but hat's just plants named after music things. This is MUCH better.

OK, so I invite DHin for a chat about the woodwind reeds and he gets his big, oafish FOOT wrapped aeound my power cord and dashes the laptop to the floor! Diagnostics reveal that the HARD DRIVE is disconnected. He thinks he knows somebody who can fix it, just not today.

Oh Carrie! That's a bummer! It seems like just when I am getting comfortable with a piece of equipment or a program something happens or they decide to "ENHANCE?" it. (mumble/grumble)
Jim tells me now there is to be no singing on the trip to AR. No singing and only 200 lbs. of rocks? Rules. Rules. Rules. That's okay. I'll bring lots of audio books. Lots and lots of Danielle Steel novels and the other "chick" books. Jim loves so much. LOL.
Who is for making a certain Mississippi congressman drink his "chocolate milk"? Or, maybe, just swim in it? Sorry, I know we really aren't supposed to get political. But, I was living in Galveston in the mid-80's so I have personal experience with oil slicks. That one got to me a little. Kay*

Kay, Can't see oil slicks are political. Just totally destructive.Saw a picture of a poor brown pelican today.(after she'd been halfway cleaned up.) We'd better not talk about this much. scraps will be down there wiping up the oil with an oilwell person. Boy oh boy this might be a good job for the granny goons.We can go after the president of the oil company.After we get hold of him we'll have to make him lower gas prices too.I vote for 25 cents a gal and no added taxes.
The sad fact is i remember when gas WAS 25 cents a gal.
Never fear about the singing and rocks. We'll sing when you get here and use MY scales to weigh the rocks.Kay. do you know where High Island is down around there? We use to go down there some in the mid 80,s Or am i lost? Galveston is south of Houston? Or is it in the Valley?
Carrie i am sorry about your computer. Does'nt your DH work for the AIRLINES. He does'nt fly a plane does he? LOL
I hear you about upgrades. Everytime MSN2 does one it's unusable for a month.

Yes he works for jetBlue that's why he was in sucha hurry to get to woerk so he could order people arund. He doesn't fly planes but he is in charge ofthe operation of jetBlue in Boston. It used to be 20 flights a day but now it's 80 and he is Very Important and always rushing around, never mind if hisfoot is twined arounf my power cord!

I say, sing all you want, kay! Singing is up there with freedom of expression!

Today I practiced walking (with braces and walker and physical therapist) in the dress I'm planning to wear when we renew our vows in August. It was good that I practiced - it turns out I don't do so well when I can't see my feet. Next move: get the dressHEMMED about 2 inches in front, at least!

Carrie wish i could see your dress.My imaginnation alwas goes into overtime. I can see you in A silky light blue dress. Now describe the real dress.
I just went outside where everyone has congragated. GS arguing with GF. SIL butting in making things worse.DD making ugly comments. Everyone drinking. If my DH were here he'd run them all off.Me? They just make fun of.
I hate drinking. I hate conflict.I want to tell them all to pack up and move out.I will feel better tomorrow.Half of them will be going back to Texas. Thank Heavens.

Galveston Island is about an hour south of Houston. If I’m remembering right High Island is on the eastern side of Galveston Bay. I remember Hurricane Ike did a lot of damage there. It was a favorite destination for birders.
The Congressman just saw the slick from the air. I guess it doesn’t look so bad from that vantage point. But, I can remember walking the beach in the mid-80’s after an oil spill came ashore on Galveston Island. . I happened to be wearing a wind-breaker with the Decca Survey logo (an off-shore oil surveying company that several of my family members worked for) I thought the bird people I encountered were going to drown me in the oily water or something. It was bad, especially for the sea birds. The Texas barrier islands are nesting sites for many such birds. Decca didn’t have anything to do with that slick, but all the birders saw was an oil person. They were MAD. I think the Congressman may be in for a hard time for trying to minimize the ecological damage in people’s minds.
I've gotten used to work boots and my "gator" garden shoes (like very utilitarian jellys. Remember those?) It is like I have to re-learn walking everytime I put on heels. Is the dress really blue? I'm curious too.
LOL. I can remember my father pitching a fit when gas went up to 30 cents a gallon. Kay*

http://www.jcrew.com/browse/popup_single_product_detail.jsp?jproduct=63050&imgSrc=http://images.jcrew.com/erez4/erez?src=images/onFigure/63/63050/63050_NA6434_m.tif&tmp=prdDtIm&isFeatureColor=true

This exact dress only in pale pale pink, a discontinued color which is how I managed to score one on eBay.

I also own it in the vintage burgundy color - when we were first - well, when HE was first promoted we were given tickets to this charity ball, evening gown event. Actually most of the women wore short black sparkly puffy dresses but you're not gonna catch me in something like that. All the guys would have been looking up my skirt. So when I saw a new d/c one in the right size on eBay I jumped on it (also substantially less money, believe me).

This message was edited May 7, 2010 9:45 PM

Hello all!
Maine has no poisonous snakes. Given the beneficial elements of snakes, I think that makes Maine even more blessed than Ireland.
I'm game for immediate healthcare for all as Sec. of HEW. Who's in charge ofthe environment?You have a spill to clean up in aisle 2.

Sheri! Clean up in isle #2. No, never mind, I guess you're just in charge of washing off the poor birds. Who is in charge of the EPA here? I'll go down there and clean it up if I have to, but I want Sheri as a body guard. Those bird loving folk can get scary when they're mad! Kay*

Nice dress, Carrie! Think it comes in my size? My parent’s 60th wedding anniversary is coming up. They want to know if “Vana” is going to be there to turn the letters. LOL. Seriously, I’ve always thought soft pinks look good on dark hared women. I’ve even started liking the contrast of pink flowers in the Guys Garden. It makes dark foliage plants look even more dramatic and there is something about seeing a delicate pink bloom against a backdrop of gray granite.
The Ligustrums (wax leaf and variegated privets) are adding their musky scent to the rose/honeysuckle mix. Some people say it smells like lilac. Kay asked me if that is so. This fragrance isn't one I remember before coming here but I don't have a good memory for scent.. Kay has never smelled lilac flowers. Not “true” lilacs anyway. Too hot for them here. Some people like the fragrance of Ligustrum. Others loathe it as too heavy. I don’t remember anyone hating the scent of lilac. Are any of you familiar with the scents of both?
I don't suppose they'll be sending in the military to clean up this mess so I'll go back to playing Dungeons and Dragons online. (Jim)

I suppose since I am Ministry of Youth and Children, I can declare a school emergency, proclaim the school year over, and unleash all of them on the southern coast!! I would bet if given the chance of time on a sandy beach, no matter the work that was involved, most would jump at the chance.

Nice dress Carrie. I forgot the ocassion, but no matter, you will look lovely in it.

Jim, I am very familiar with the scent of lilac, I have 3 in my yard, the old fashioned kind, not the new and better hybrids that have huge blooms but no aroma, but not the Ligustrum, so cannot give my opinion on the difference in smell. Kay, if you have never smelled lilac, go somewhere where they sell cheap perfume, and I mean the cheap stuff, and I am sure that you will find a lilac fragrance, and it very much like that. Ask why I know this, I encountered a lady recently who was wearing the cheap lilac stuff!!

Happy Mother's Day to all you ladies. I am off to nursing home to see mine. Have a great Day.

Hello to you too Jim and any other gents on here. scraps

Thanks, i am wearing the dress when we restate our vows on our tenth wedding anniversary. I've never been married for ten years (to the same person) before!

my mother is allergic to the scent of lilacs - she finds it way too strong. Which is a shame, because they grow beautifully up here. And ..... today is Lilac Sunday!

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2353/

This message was edited May 9, 2010 4:07 PM

Jim, You are in charge of that oil spill and i know Kay will help you. Than all of us will have to come to Kays rescue When she's arrested and Jim says Kay? Kay who?
I've got lilacs too. If they were still blooming i'd press some for you to smell.
Carrie, You're dress is beautiful.
defoecat, What a great idea to get those kids out cleaning up that beach.Then let them have a week to injoy the beach.
Vickie

Vickie, now that you're mobile, we're expecting you! Thank you - it has wide straps (to cover the full coverage bra) and is long enough to conceal all the braces. Isn't Bonnie clever as ..... hmmm ..... whatever Cabinet position that puts her in charge of kids?

It probably could be Mental Health, but I think Jim called it something else. That is my mental health not theirs!!

My SIL grew an old-fashion lilac here. She fell in love with the scent while living in Virginia and brought one back with her. Evidently, no one told her it wouldn’t grow here and plants never read our gardening books. (Grin )
It is the Japanese Ligustrum that has such a strong scent. Waxleaf privet is something a little different. Although, I’ve heard even nursery people call Japanese Ligustrum Waxleaf privet. All that fragrance is coming from only two large plants. There are quite a few variegated Chinese privet s here, but the scent of that is not so overwhelming. I’ll check out the inexpensive perfumes and I just noticed a lilac essential oil in one of my craft catalogs. I’ll have to settle for those until I get a whiff of the real thing. Amargia has some micro-climates because of the way we are tucked into the rolling hills. I may snag one of those lilacs of yours. Vickie. See if I can get one to grow here too.
Jim says if Bonnie is going to put large numbers of teenagers on Gulf Coast beaches, the military better be on the scene!!! It will be like Spring Break on overdrive! LOL.
Jim showed me a timber bamboo shoot he swears was not there when he mowed a week ago. It is twelve feet tall. We had better start thinking about how we are going to use our bamboo as building material. Kay*

Kay, some lilacs don't know that they can't grow in southern climates. I have the old fashioned kind, and they usually send up some shoots during the summer. If you want to give it a try, I can probably furnish you some of those, via mail, and maybe you will get to smell the real thing, in a year of two. Just LMK.

Some of those teenagers could probably show the military a thing or two.

Some bamboo here is very unruly. Hope you don't have that kind to deal with. Most people here will sink an old wash tub, or something like that to plant the bamboo in, so that it will contain the underground runners. If not done that way, some can take over in record time, like kudzu.

Bonnie, the bamboo we have at Amargia is the running form. I talked Kay into it. I was stationed in Okinawa for a while and became interested in woodworking using bamboo. This is the true building bamboo, not an ornamental, although I do think it is pretty. It grows to over 70 feet tall. I have my fingers and toes crossed this does not turn out to be an experiment I regret. I would like to see bamboo used more in this country since it is such a renewable resource. It grows so much faster than most of our wood trees. Building lumber seems to be getting more expensive and of a lower quality.
I know I would like to try some old fashion lilac here. There is a small section on the eastern corner of the property that tends to stay noticeably cooler. I want to experiment with some plants there that are marginal as far as heat tolerance. I have grown some European plums from seeds I received in a trade with a DGer in the Netherlands. We have producing plum trees but they are the more heat tolerant Japanese plums. (‘Santa Rosa’ and ‘Friar’) I would like having a little place with plants that are more like the plants of my childhood if that is possible including a few European plums.
We spent the morning picking wild southern dewberries. A fact my back isn’t letting me forget. I wasn’t too impressed with them at first. But, J. taught me to put the fresh berries into a bowl of sweetened milk and just let it stand in the refrigerator for a few hours. They are excellent that way. I want to grow dewberries at the top of a retaining wall just outside our back door. It would be easy for me to pick them there and I can give them TLC that they wouldn’t receive growing wild. Kay is having a hard time wrapping her mind around the idea. Dewberries are a weed in her mind. A tasty weed, but still a weed. In the wild though, the best berries always seem to grow in the most inaccessible places. I don’t think we will be able to hunt the wild ones as we get older. I think I’ll eventually convince her. I know it worries her to see the children climbing on and walking atop that retaining wall. The briars would discourage the children from doing that. (Jim)

I miss lilacs, too. One of the fun things about going to visit Grandma as a kid was also getting to visit Uncle Albert and Aunt Minnie and wander around in the HUGE lilac (and snowball) bushes. There were a dozen or more between the front of the house and the driveway. Have seen some lilacs every so often on the back roads around the Dallas area; they were always on property with abandoned homesteads. In general, though, the old fashioned kind doesn't really like it here. :-) Planted a Miss Kim for my sister and, while small enough to fit her yard and smells good in flower, it isn't all that pretty to look at once the blooms fade. Hope you find one that will be content in the east corner...

My garage is detached and set at the back SE corner of the property line. Put in two climbers hoping to keep the neighborhood feral cats from using that section as a cut-through from the grass alley to the street. The roses are exceptionally healthy. In fact, they are in the process of taking over the whole corner. Didn't work on keeping out cats, but no person in their right mind would try to climb that fence!

I would love to see that bamboo. I think my old SIL brought me back from Mexico a bamboo rainmaker for music its about 6"in diameter and abt 5' long.It has gravel in it and when you turn it on end it sounds like rain falling.He carried it by himself on a bus halfway across Mexico. So it is to me a priceless treasure.
I love dewberrys. Mine are just blooming. Looks like we'll have plenty. I'm going to try to pick some. Did you say J is from NY? Thats the way we like berries too,also with short cake.or i'll make a cobbler. We used to pick both dewberrys and blackberrys and i'd can them for cobblers. One year right after Al got out of the army. I picked and canned 40 qts. It was a good thing. AL found work at a sawmill and did'nt work most of the winter. We had blackberry pies,syrup,cobblers etc for every meal. Al would'nt eat blackberrys for years but it did'nt take me long to love them again.We were lucky to have them.You know all and all those were good days.
I think dewberry vines will trail down abit and look pretty.

YAYAYAAAAAY! I have a new computer. We're not totally i-n l-o-v-e yet but I think that will come in time. It's more like an arranged marriage, ya know? The screen is differently proportioned, the keys are in different places, I have to make back-up disks and install all kinds of stuff but in general I think it will work out.

Yippee for you Carrielamont. Yep, a computer is like a new boyfriend, it takes time to get used to them, before you fall in love.

I have been to the cemetery to help with a volunteer clean up, in preparation for Memorial Day. Less and less people show up each year, and it is frustrating to know that there soon will not be many who care enough to keep it looking decent. Out of 12 Board members, only 3 showed up to work, and the wife of one board member came, so only 4 of us. I have been there since 7 this morning. Had to take a shower immediately, as I tangled with some poison ivy. Sure hope I don't suffer any after effects from that.

Ugh, yes, Bonnie, Fels Naptha and a good scrub! (I've never had P.I. and I'd like to keep it that way...)

I know I’m going to regret saying this, but that is a pretty rose, Debra. LOL. Pink is a bit of a joke here. There is a little garden area known as the “guy’s garden”, but the ladies here keep slipping in pink flowers. So, I’m always hesitant to admit I like pink flowers because the ladies will jump on it and the “guys’ garden” is going to end up as the ‘pink garden’.
I’m very well disposed toward roses at the moment. They helped me convince Kay to go with the dewberry/wall project. There was a dewberry bush that had escaped weeding by camouflaging itself in a rose bush. I just had to give Kay the fruit that bush produced. The size and taste of those berries was all it took to convince her that my idea had merit. Because they got a share of the fertilizer and water meant for the rose, they were exceptionally large and sweet. The only compromise I had to make is that ‘fruit roses’ be planted on the wall too. Roses like ‘Jubilee’ that produce extra large hips. I can live with that compromise. Kay tells me roses, dewberries and blackberries are all in the same family and have similar nutritional needs so it should work since we are organic. After the dewberries have done their thing the coloring up of the rose hips should keep things interesting the remainder of the season.
If you ever do find a way to successfully keep neighborhood cats out of your garden, PLEASE share. LOL. We even tried giving them their own space filled with catnip and other kitty goodies. But, one still thinks the hanging baskets on the porch are really kitty hammocks. LOL. Kay tried putting rose canes cut to size in the baskets to make lying in them uncomfortable. Didn’t faze the cat. We are going to have to resort to canes from the ‘Flying Dragon’ hardy orange. Let’s see him snooze atop those! Wicked, wicked thorns.
Vickie, the timber bamboo lines the other side of the road across from your Amargia garden so I do hope you can get along with your new neighbor. LOL. J. loves New York City and she would probably go back there ….in a New York minute (LOL) if it were not for the children. But, I think she came originally from Houston. Didn’t you live in that area for awhile too? If J.’s cooking is typical E. Texas cooking, I want to move to E. Texas. LOL. Last night it was chicken in a fresh cranberry/barbeque sauce. Sounds odd, but man was it good!
That sounds like it was a real job, Bonnie. Hope you don't break out. I'm not very sensitive to it myself. Has it given you grief in the past? Someone should start a trend using graveyards in this country the way they do in England. They treat them almost like parks. I was worried about my God-daughter, Nadine, because she liked strolling thru graveyards. But, then she taught me how you can see the history of a place in its graveyards. She loves history.
Way cool, Carrie. Is the new machine a laptop? (Jim) .

Jim, if it helps, the back climber is a butter-white, so it's not ALL pink. :-D

Here's one that was planted last Fall. Think it is going to be one of my favorites..

Debra

Pretty rose.

No Jim, I have not had a problem with the PI in the past, but I had on long sleeves, and gloves, and since I was better prepared to tackle it than others there, I was nominated. I cut it and carried it to the trash pile, which will be burned. I know that didn't get rid of it, only the actively growing vines. I will go back and use some Round up, and try to get it really really gone.

We have several Yucca there that somebody at one time thought was a good idea. We have tried everything to kill the danged stuff. Does anybody know what works on it? DH took a chain saw and cut some down, but dulled the chain, and he only got to cut about 3.

Strange as this sounds, I am not familiar with dewberry. I have lived in the country all my life, and I am supposing that it is something that does not grow here, or I would have, at some time tried it.

Night all.

Bonnie, The one thing that got rid of the yucca up here was 10 days of below o temps 2 years ago.
Dewberrys are like blackberrys except they grow on vines along the ground.I go check my dewberrys about every couple of days. I will get some this year. If the Turkeys don't beat me to them. I've seen one hen and i bet she's got a nest somewhere. Do you have wild wintergreen in KYN? Wish we did.

Caring for cemetarys is falling off. Our,s is still active tho. I don't go as i can't do much but i do take care of family graves. Have made a couple arraingements and will buy a couple of flags to put out. Already took up the old flowers but left the flags till i can replace them.

PI.....Am highly allergic and of course it is my best growing plant here.I saved my daylillys by putting them in pots and am slowly working on moving my iris. I've read that the PI acid is in smoke of PI plants so be careful.

Carrie, I'm so proud for you and your new computer.You're not computer illiterate, so you will have a big adventure.
Has it ever got warm up there yet? Where is David? Have we granny goons run him off? We want him back!!!!
I lived in NETEX. She was awfully close to cajun country.Maybe she picked up something from them. They had some fantastic cooking.Ask J if she was an Aggie fan.Texas A&M. I was.
I've known several people that looked to cemetarys for history facts and even made trace paper copys of some of the tombstones. I wish i had in Mena. The whole cemetary was destroyed by a tornado. My folks graves were saved because they were close to the ground. I would like to have cemetarys as parks.
Hope everyone sleeps good and dreams of pink roses and dewberrys.
Vickie

Make sure to dream about the dewberry FRUIT. If you dream about the vines it would be a nightmare. LOL.
I'm not looking forward to handling those brambles during transplanting. Kay*

Too True! LOL