Whats going on in N. fl #7

See Linda ... It'l be a mini vacation... =D

Thank you both for the invite but I have to wait for Comcast in the am unfortunately--they have to re-run a line for me to the pole---there is interference on it now for some reason and the computer modem goes out alot!!! Then I lose computer AND phone line. I can come by Sunday am and if you and Brandy want to do a mini nursery run to Plant Ranch and other places we can do that or just visit.

Jeremy--I will get with you next week on the camera--will do some research and see if that would work.

Looks like a bad storm brewing here so will shut down computer for now--do not need a repeat of last week!!!

Linda

Brandy and I are back from our little trip. I was good. Get a few Blood liles and a Orange Justina.

Linda and Jeremy I get some for you also

Sandy

Thank You Sandy--see you in the am!!! That is pretty!!!

Got more seeds planted today and worked on the Victorian bench and got the Comcast situation resolved. The box for Comcast and the JEA Boxes are in the witch's yard--just my luck, huh???!!!

Hi everyone ... I was bad ...
Darla ... I got your blood lily for you ...
I spent my allowance for the month... there are still a few ginger I'd like to have.

Thank you Sandy for the road trip. =D It was really nice to get away from the madness ... lol

Yes it was and I enjoyed my self!!!!!!

morning all..........


we are ALL wilting here...it's been like 99 the last 3 days in a role...wish that could melt off pounds instead of plants!!!

dirtygirl......LOL! LOVE the name...and it would be synonymous with BLACK toe nail polish for certain!!

it hasn't been a good time to get the new musa's in....but we will give them a couple of days and see what happens. when someone like me has almost NO shade i had to make my own and these variegated musa i don't want them burning!!!

i see ya all with these gorgeous lilies!!! i had few rare ones i donated to the nj botanical gardens b4 we left thinking they'd never do well here!! was i wrong, these pictures are incredible...

now i know there are many cultivators but is like the one at the top of this tread the type that is continuous bloom?? hate a garden with just stella dora's..although saw fields of them as well as canna up in north carolina....what a beautiful site.




This message was edited Jun 13, 2010 9:07 AM

tobee amaryllis like it down here, so do the La iris and I have a heirloom Daff that does great, plus the Summer Snowflake.

Linda has come and gone, with a load of plants, now I am inside with my ankle propped(?) up

my amaryllis i have in clear pretty and interesting odd glass vases with stone and can see all their roots......i have them bloom in the house.....not outside....actually...i have a pic of one that just got finished blooming in the kitchen....i sorta covet them because i not use them just growing in the ground!! it will take some getting use to for me, i know!


the reblooming one's i have outside...i love the one at the top of the thread. i have to get me some of those!!

here are some of mine grown out side. Only a couple where slightly damaged by the freeze.

o those are lovely!! jacksonville is closer to the coast tho...we here had 12 days of freezing....it looked like a bomb hit the area...it was just terrible!

do they multiply in the ground???

Oh my yes, amaryllis do multiply outdoors and they are far hardier than you can imagine. Thispicture was taken in 9a but previously I had huge clumps in zone 7a.

Good Morning, all. A somewhat rough night last night - I was really tired and fell asleep without medication, a rare event, but I woke up about 5 AM and took pills then, so I'm in a netherworld of waking and sleeping and aching all over.

thanks, Sandy, for getting me some plants! This looks like what the Orange Justicia might be - Justicia spicigera http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/37344/ It's a good thing I didn't go because I'm sure I would have used up every available dollar and left us to eat peanut butter sandwiches for a month. LOL

I think tobee was asking about reblooming daylilies instead of Amaryllis? I don't have much experience with daylilies. I just tend to buy them when I come across them at very low prices and take what I can get. MollyMc may have more advice about the reblooming daylilies.

I'm still slaving away at clearing out the workshop/art studio between other demands on my time (like trying to get the old van running again yesterday). At least I've cleared enough floor space to get to the window A/C unit and turn it on so it is actually relatively cool and comfortable while working.

Jeremy

tobee we too had many days of freezing. Plus some of mine where here when we had that great freeze back in the 80's with lot of ice and they returned. they are very tough.

Sandy

I just noticed yesterday that some of the Amaryllis I bought around Christmastime have been eaten down to nubs by the dern lubber grasshoppers. GRRRRR! I've tried in the past to build wire mesh cages around the Amaryllis bulbs for the portion that is sticking out above ground, but the lubbers have defied me and found away to chew up the bulbs anyway. I think I will give up on Amaryllis until I can bring the lubber population under control. The lubbers were also attacking my Giant Crinum lily yesterday, but it is large enough at about 4 ft high and wide that the damage doesn't show so much there.

Jeremy

me either jeremy...daylilies is not something i have worked with a lot...i'm not a scaper just a garden bed and container designer...never used a lot of day lilies. but some of these are just lovely.

also...apparently they do not require tons of water which is great. i sure miss my nice cool fresh, un-chemical well water!

u all have enough critters here to deal with! i think i'll keep my amaryllis in the house...they look really nice anyway blooming all year round..cuz i just cut them down after they bloom and they just start all over. that way at least i enjoy the blooms more often...so far! i bloom different types of bulbs in nice glass containers all year in the house. better than buying flowers!

knock on wood I have never had any problems with the lubber grasshoppers

I made the mistake of being kind to the lubbers a few years ago, thinking there would be some critter to keep the balance in nature, and that led to the overwhelming population of them I have today. In the past few years, I've tried to spray them with insecticide when they are small and crush everyone I can find as they get larger, but it only takes one or two breeding pairs of lubbers to keep their lineage of a few hundred offspring coming back each year.

Jeremy

Good Morning all!!

Had a great visit with Sandy this am and we got a few seedlings re-potted. She sent me home with lots of goodies!!! Thank you Sandy!!! Did you find an ID of the plant I brought you? It is a vine actually. I do love the colors.

However, I did HAVE to go by Jones & Hall Nursery and found some plants I just simply could not live without!!!
I found a Eucalyptus tree that I had to have since the one at my son's house is too large to transplant after 10+ years. Also a hanging basket of the Tri-colored Ornamental sweet potato vine and a Yellow Double Datura...looks like beans and rice the rest of the month for me!!!

I have been buying Daylilies the past few years but do not have them tagged so have no idea what they are except they are beautiful!!! Many different varieties and several doubles. There are DL blooming everyday and I still am in awe of the colors and all

Tomorrow I plan on getting an early start and get alot more of the plants that survived the winter into the ground along with the ones I got today. Have not quite determined where I want to plant the Eucalyptus tree yet. Have several places in mind.

Jeremy--what is your schedule like next week? I could come over for a visit and pick up camera when it is convenient.

Going to brave the heat and work on painting some more on the Victorian Bench and the Hummingbird Bench--alot left to do on both.

Linda

Linda I have not looked, tried grooming the brat again and the shoulder and ankle both are not happy with me.

Sandy

i have an extremely simple saying.....

"you eat my plants...you die"....no excuses....no environmental balance argument....no pleading or begging....

ardesia, those are beautiful!! I wish my amaryllis would start blooming...I haven't had blooms for at least 3 years.

really dirty...(cracks me up)...pull them out...fill a nice glass container with nice stone.....a tiny water and just put the bulb on the top...it will grow...put it inside not in direct light.

can't hurt...it will bloom, it just takes a few!

Tobee is right in a way, amaryllis must be planted with at least a third of the bulb above ground. If planted to deep they will not bloom.

maybe thats the problem. they could be too deep...thanks..I'll have to go out tonight and replant them.

Every couple of years you will have to dig them up, and replant as they sink into the grounds.

ok.... I think ya'll figured out my problem, cause they've been in the ground for at least 2 years..and no blooms on any, so yes, I'll be diggin' them tonight.

There were gorgeous beds of agapanthus in all the common areas around my son's neighborhood (Julington Creek) earlier in the week. This morning when I drove by most of them were chewed to the ground, I did not see any grasshoppers while I was there so it must have been deer. So sad.

Hi, ardesia. My curiosity was piqued by your report of the Agapanthus slaughter. I found this tidbit of info online:

You may be right about the lubber's abilities but I'd have to respectfully disagree with TAMU's statement about agapanthus being deer resistant. The deer in my SC neighborhood relish them with gusto. I haven't had an agapanthus grow and bloom in years. When they finish the flower buds they start on the foliage. They are even eating the amaryllis foliage and flowers this year. They have munched on plumeria and I know the latex in those stems cannot be good for them but it doesn't stop them. They even eat the smelly salvias that are said to be deer resistant. IMO, a hungry deer will eat anything. Thankfully, we do not have those nasty lubber grasshoppers here - yet.

Very good info to know, ardesia. I guess it just goes to show that practical experience is often better than book learning. LOL

Jeremy

LOL, either that or my deer have developed a taste for exotic flowers and plants. I have a neighbor 2 doors down with a large and beautiful hedge of minature roses. The hedge is about 4' tall and about 40' long and there appears to be thousands of flowers this week. For some reason the deer never go to her home. She does not spray either. Go figure.

since were i moved from we had everything from deer to fox to bears....to any critter that would eat anything you have we found an interesting "organic" solution.....


USED KITTY liter!! now....of course it works on deer...some insects....and especially humans...LOL!!

my husband would go around asking people if they owned a cat...and of course cat people...(me being an ex one) as soon as someone would mention do you have a cat one would usually perk right up to begin speaking about their personal cat experience...while all the time my husband motive was to ask them for their USED kitty liter!!

it really does work..it's the urine theory. now grasshoppers..i'm going to have to research who eats them and go order another type of critter to incorporate into my garden since they are eating me alive as well.....

My only 3 defenses from grasshopers has been I've had found to work are #1 ... feeding the birds and getting them use to come into the yard and when the grasshopers start arriving to stop feeding the birds out of the feeders. #2 my foot & hubby's foot #3 - 2 pieces of wood or rocks

But #1 seems to work the best for us ... we have birds iving in the bird houses with babies ... that helps work with #1 ...

I have just started using a new brand of Kitty Litter - "World's Best" and it is made from corn! I did dump one load on the perimeter last week but that kitty had better get busy because I need a lot more.

What do you think about using Milorganite? People swear it works for keeping deer away but I have hesitated because my dog runs through the gardens and I am not sure about that stuff on pet feet.

This message was edited Jun 14, 2010 11:39 AM

bird feeders...since i have a few in the garage packed up that may be a good idea...i haven't even looked into our or the local ornithology diversity or density studies on whom or what lives around here...i do know we have cranes....that are bug eater but seem to eat from the ground and not from plants themselves...

most likely i moved into a place that one has to create the balance...LOL!!

milorganite?


LOL!! sludge from lake michigan?? i know it's made of treated biosoilds from the sewage stream running into the lake...it ....has some added iron and it's used to strip phosphorus from waste water that was flowing into the river...but as a deer deterrent.....i'm not certain that would really do it....and your r right...i'm NOT thinking i want my doggy dragging in poop and sludge into my house!! LOL!! i don't think it can hurt him...just if he licks his feet and you kiss him and you end up with Giardia or something sweet like that....(i had that...it was good to loss a few pounds..but you can die from it!)


it is a fertilizer....broken down from the sewage...i think it's more the urine smell...territorial thing that keeps them away...


how stinky is it??

LOL


This message was edited Jun 14, 2010 11:44 AM

tobee small oil sunflower seeds and they will come.

Brandy as you know I feed meal worms and the birds still take every other bug that they can find.

What i found this morning---and no I do not know what cactus it is.

beautiful bloom!!!


thanks...i will get the feeders out...either that or the shotguns!