ORVG Coffee House #177 - June is busting out all over!

I'm a sad, sad girl today.....

While working in the shade bed yesterday, I was dismayed to see what I thought was evidence of the HVX disease on my Sum and Substance hosta. I couldn't believe that it could be true, since I've had this hosta for over 6 years. So I went to Hallson's site and looked at Chris' list of hostas that are known to carry the HVX. Sure enough, S&S is on the list with a notation that it can take up to 7 years to show up. Talk about disappointed. The good news is, I've only shared this particular hosta with one person, and that's Bertie, so she'll have to s**tcan hers, too. I haven't touched this hosta at all this year, so those of you who are getting hostas from me at the RU, please don't worry, they won't be contaminated. Here is the picture I sent to Chris and he verified that indeed it is infected.

Joyce
Sad for you too...
I always worry about hvx too.
Afraid to give anyone any hostas.
Mabe I can bring you another one
Pauletta

sorry to hear the news Cookie. So sad. I know that one is a fav of yours too. sending Hosta Hugs to you.

We got maybe 20 drops total.
The veggie garden was damp for about 15 minutes.
82° (Heat Index 87°)

Great news Darius!

Joyce we just dug one up to move it.
We'll divide it for you.

Ric

It rained off an on all day, but not very much--more thunder and lightening than rain. Frankly, we may have gotten more dog drool than rain, with the storms.

ROTFL!

You all are too kind....and I will take you up on it...

Chris said to be sure NOT to plant a hosta where that one was, so guess I'll be rethinking that garden space......May have to do some shuffling!

Celene, that is a hoot!! How many dogs do you have to do the drooling?

We had some rain about 4 p.m., but as you say, more thunder than rain. We had 3/10 of an inch overnight. I am tired of the Weather Liars predicting dire things, and then never having it. I am sure they were right for somewhere, but not for here.

Joyce, I am sorry to hear of your hosta disease. Honestly, I wonder if I would know it if I saw it. From your picture, all I see is some different shadings of green. Will it go on and die? Is this something that remains in the soil? Maybe you should give the area a break by planting something else there, just to be on the safe side.

Gosh, I am so sorry for all the flooding that you northern folks are having.

Darius, losing 20 pounds, no matter the intent or the way it happened is always a good thing. Less stress on the heart, and the joints.

I spent the morning cleaning. I swept and mopped the areas where there is no carpet. 5 areas in total. DH used the vacuum, but half way through, the hose broke, so I have a house that is 3/4 of the way clean. Didn't do any dusting, so there is always something to do. I spent some time outside dead heading the peonies, the iris and my knock out roses. Should have been done last week, or in the case of the iris, 2 weeks ago. But it did get done.

This afernoon, I spent about 3 hours paying bills and balancing checkbooks. Yep, I still have some money left after doing that!!

I guess next week everybody will be busy getting plants ready for the RU.

I am off to bed, very very tired.

The HVX virus is so very contagious. You would be able to tell the difference, the mottling is very unique. You are right about the soil, Bonnie. Not only do you have to use gloves and then sterilize whatever you use to get the hosta out of the ground, but you can't plant a hosta there again for many, many years. Plus, you have to take out as much of the soil where it was planted that you can manage. Not looking forward to it. Bertie has been in KY this week and she's due home tomorrow, so I'll be waiting until she can see what it looks like before I dig it....so sad. I was just out there (I'ts sprinkling, by the way) trying to decide what I will move there to replace it. Think I have it figured out......

Just got a new battery charger for my camera so no pictures of the actual "rain" we had. This is one of a light sprinkle.

I added some "floating flower beds" last fall, some trees too. The whole floating bed idea was Ric's LOL. My aching back! I was sick when it was time to plant. My mom & sisters came to plant one day, our DG Julie the next, then my little sister came the third day. We got'er done! A few of the things planted are Viburnum, daylilies, coneflowers and lots of other stuff I'm too tired to remember now!

This message was edited Jun 6, 2010 3:27 PM

Another one.

This is part of the bare backyard BEFORE Ric gave me the bright idea LOL My back didn't hurt at all back then!

Thanks to all who suggested Montgomery Inn at the boatyard! The food was great and we really enjoyed it. I think SIL did too. He said he felt like he was being let out of jail on parole .LOL They are staying at the Millinium and walk over to the Duke center at 8am and walk back to their rooms at 5pm. Very tired from reading essays all day. I was amazed at how many graders were there. They were doing all subjects from all of the US. He said their barbecue sauce wasn't quite like down in Texas, but he thought it was very good. His large order of ribs disappeared quickly.LOL.

We were lucky and avoided the rain and had a nice day.

We got home and hadn't had any rain here either. There had been storm warning out all day and we didn't get a drop of rain. Lurker Lou

PS I found the half slates and they are not good enough to bring to trade. Sorry.

well festival went well
truck goes in tomorrow
watching a movie
feel tired
sunny but windy
planted some mini gardens in 3 gal containers.
2 - eggplant , strawberry spinach combo
1- tomato, basil and oregano combo
1- swiss chard , kale combo with dill
and a Black Hungarian pepper with cilantro combo
and 1 swiss chard with herbs combo
these are for me but hey if someone asks ... everything has a price.... yes even my kids ..... ok no not really .. maybe T is up for the right price ?
bbl

If T comes with the tractor. I will start the bid at 20.00! hehe

Do you have any children who enjoy weeding and dog bathing, with a little light dusting and vacuuming?

Depending on the container and plant size, I'd expect $15-$25.

My show went well. Everyone was all about candles, lotion, and cuticle cream, sold less soap than usual.

Well, I have had a busy day, with church, and then a lunch. Some friends stopped by, and by the time I turned around twice the day was over.

Annie, I am sure that you did not intend those beds to be floating beds, but they sure are pretty. With all those rocks, I am certain that your back was aching. I say it was worth it.

Celene, if you find any extra kids who like to do those jobs, please refer them to me. I could use a couple. DGD will be here sometime this week, and I am hoping that she will still be interested in cleaning for me. I am even offering pay!!

This next week looks like I can at last stay home and get some work done!! I have a small flower bed that has many weeds in it and I am hoping that I can get to that early in the morning. Then I need to go to the post office and the bank.

Good night.

Annie I'm VERY happy to say I stole the bed idea from Clara and Charlie.
Who I'm sure stole it from somewhere else....lol!

It will be fun to see the yard evolve.
Imagine how you back would feel if you tried to do the whole yard at once!
Getting the bones in IS backbreaking.
But now you get the fun of filling in the blank spaces!!!!!!

BBL
Ric

Annie, your gardens are gorgeous! So perfect and neat, I wanna be like you when I grow up, LOL.

Good morning everyone! It's so good to be home!!! LOL!
That 3 day weekend of parties was a killer! But we had a great time, so all was not lost!
Now on to the roundup!!! Still have plants to dig, but that won't take long.
We came home last evening around 6:30 pm...and then went to the grocery! I wanted to get it over so I didn't have to go anywhere today!!! I was soooo tired, but today I am glad we did it!
Annie, so sorry about all the flooding. What a mess that must be. Your gardens are gorgeous!! A lot of hard work!
I guess they had a tornado warning in Richmond last night while we were in Greenville, so we knew nothing about it! And the good part is, it didn't materialize!
Some of my classmates really didn't understand "gardening"! At least, for flowers. One said to me, "How can you go out there everyday and work in the dirt?" Ah well..to each his own, I think is how the saying goes.
Well...I need to update my list for the round up, and I need to go outside and work "in the dirt" too! So better get moving here. Hope you all have a wonderful day! The sun is shining here, and very cool, but warming up fast! Yayyyy!!!

Marcy i don't get people who don't garden ? LOL how can you not go out everyday and play in the dirt ! its fun ! Glad you are home safe and you can get some rest.
ok bidding starts at 20.00 with tractor :) do i hear 25 ??? 25.... ? who will give me 25.
my dd does like to help dust Bonnie and Celene i m sure dd would love to wash dogs ! LOL she is a go getter that little one of mine.
got my Japanese Maples potted up and my burning bushes.
Feed chickens.
i got two new Welsummers. They are brown. ? try and get pics.
Annie you got dmail
so i ate lunch
taking a break
got no truck today :( stranded . i hate that feeling.
bbl

Got a little done this weekend. Got a few daylilies planted and some okra and beans in the ground.

We hired a couple 15 year olds to help out this summer. Only problem is they know NOTHING. I sent them across the garden to weed the squash and they started on the potatoes instead. They didn't know what squash looked like and had no idea how to pull weeds. And here I thought it didn't take skill to pull weeds... I sure hope they know how to push a lawnmower because next week that's what I'm going to have them do.

Have to go to the grocery this afternoon. I made 64 batches of bread last week and looks to be another week just like it so we'll go through another 75 lbs. of sugar, 60 lbs. flour and about 20 doz. eggs. They hate to see me coming at the check out lines...

Janet

Janet to funny on the 15 yr olds LOLLLLL that is a lot of bread !
GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS !! ??? ......... come on and guess.............. no not that .........nor that either..........oh get your head out of the naughty pot for heavens sake Ric...... just guess..............
ITS BLACK RASPBERRY PICKING STARTING JUNE 16 ... weeeeee. so excited. whew. i m tired

Picked a gallon of red on Saturday. I need to get them frozen for jam tonight. Guess I need to spread some soaker hoses on them cause it's not raining here...

Neal I don't want to grow up so you'll have to look else where! LOL

The weeds seem to thrive even though I used preen. My hands are sore from pulling them all the time. This daylily is called Longstocking, it's huge!

This is the top of a fountain. The basin was broken and the nursery finally decided to sell this part. I put three coats of cement sealer on it.

I can never remember the name of this plant! It seems to like this spot in the driveway.

We dug out a tree from this area, it had gotten too big. After agonizing for months about what to plant there I decided a vining annual would work so I'd never have to worry about roots growing into the house foundation. This is the same plant that is in the driveway but it has no blooms yet. The Stella's have planty and the other daylilies should be blooming soon.

I love my chickens~! They're so tame and sweet.

Annie LOL i love that picture !! ... "its time for my close up Mr.Deville " . what cute chickens. I have two that look like the ones in the back.
I got two new Welsumers on monday and they are fitting in nicely. My other hen Ms.Shirely is broody but no egg ??? what is up with that hen of mine ? i hope its not stuck ? eewww. sure wish i had the stupid rooster i gave away two months ago duh.
got busy
went to Farmer Scott's today and got pea's and lettuce ! tomorrow i m giving him some help weeding. I will get more lettuce and peas.
got straw for the coop's , the chickens love it .
well off to bed for me
oh wait i have to watch The Big Bang Theory my fav show.
good night

LOL! Attack Chicken!

I'd say that's a Mandevilla Annie.
Bet guess, if it's fairly new, 'Sun Parasol Dark Red'.
Get an arbor or climbing tree at least 6' taller.
It will need it. Ours hit 8' by last Fall.

Time to tighten up the Confirmed Food and Trade lists....

This shot will FIRE Joyce up..... lol!
Ric

I give up Ric, what am I seeing?

Annie, I too think it is a Mandevilla, really pretty, but it won't fit there long!!

Well, I had a busy day, went to the bank and post office early, came back and weeded that flower bed that had all the weeds, Oops, forgot to put the preen down, will do that tomorrow.

Dug out a burning bush that died. Fine one week and the next dead. So I put a clematis in that spot and hope that it will like it's new home. Used Miracle grow on all my potted plants, and hanging baskets, and deck flower boxes. Gave everything a good watering.Took my walk someplace in there. Pulled weeds in the daylilies late this afternoon. Had to take DH to get his truck from the repair shop Then went to DBIL's for supper. Had fish and the trimmings, but I will confess here, he has a long way to go to top my fish dinners!!

Sure hope that my guardian angel is watching over me. When we got to the DBIL's house, his daugher and great granddaughter were there, and they had a stomach virus, fevers, vomiting diarrhea, the works. I ate as fast as I could so we could get out of there. I wish that he had called to tell me before I walked in on it. Now need you all to send good t & p's for me, so that I don't get it, just in time for the RU.

Bear's breeches. Mine bit the dust. :(

That Breeches is Acanthus spinosus.
It's the more hardy of the two grown around here.
Chele I'm guessig you had A mollis.
The Acanthus mollis is very touchie.
It's supposed to be very marginally hardy here.
We're having luck w/ a mature transplant and Claire has had one for 6 or 7 years.
But ......

I don't know. I got one from someone at the RU two years ago and it didn't make it. I didn't go to the RU last year.

The spinosus has a very sharply pointed leaf.
The mollis more rounded and softer looking.

Seems like every garden we visited yesterday had spinosus flowering.
They appear to spread fairly rapidly once established too.

I am just too far north for bear's breeches to be hardy. I tried. I babied, I mulched, I sited on a warm south wall, but alas, nope. It's an annual here.

Fired up, yes.....I thought for sure when I planted that spinosus that the mollis would start blooming, but so far, neither one is giving me any satisfaction. However, the spinosus is just a baby, so I'll give it a while. I was going to ask you if that was Clara's house, cause I know she has some beauties!

Got almost two yards of red mulch yesterday and it wasn't enough to even finish the main pathes let alone the shade garden. The place where I get it is almost out, so I'm going to have to get back there in a hurry or the reds won't match!

The lilies in the pond are doing their thing. It's time for them to be fertilized again, but I don't have any tabs. Think I'll go ahead and get them from Texas Water Lilies even if they are only 50 for $10.00. If Bertie and I share shipping, it will still be cheaper than $5.99 for 25 which is what Bern's is selling them for...anyone interested?

Mandella, yes, that's it!

Janet I also tried hiring teen boys to help with yard work, bless their hearts, it seems they know nothing about yard or gardening. But they did work hard!

That is so sad about the HVX on the hosta!! S&S are so beautiful. Does it eventually kill it or just infect other hostas? Wish there was a treatment for it, what a shame to lose such a beautiful plant, sorry!

On playing in the dirt -- sheesh, it's what keeps people sane, and it's cheap therapy LOL I would be terribly cranky if I couldn't go out and dig in the dirt and play.

I can't believe the RU will be here SOON!!! EXCITED I can't wait to meet everyone!!

Annie