Plant Propagation part XXIX based on my own experience

I'd stick them in some sandy loam and keep them on the dry side of damp. Many palms are weeds around here as they are water hogs. After all your snow that should not be a problem.

kb

No Evelyn, Lol s*** happens. I never considered suing my surgeon. He did 4 replacements for me over the years. I had one other that was worse 'cause it kept dislocating. Two different hospitals in one weekend. One of the biggest hospitals in Seattle the head of the ER told me "Jeanette, we are going to have to quit meeting like this". The same hip dislocated 9 times. The surgeon never suggested to me to have physical therapy.

So, I went on my own. I worked so hard on it. 3 times a week and got the muscles in my hip strong enough I guess that they kept the hip in place. Now why didn't he tell me to do that?

You say why didn't I go to a different surgeon? Well that is because this is the only one that would do a replacement on me before I got to 80 years old. I wasn't even 40 yet. But, that was back when they were using glue and the glue wasn't holding very long.

I asked him why he would do a replacement on me at my age when none of the other surgeons would, and he, btw was an avid skier, says "what do they want you to do, sit in a wheel chair for 40 years?"

Sorry, I got carried away, but when I get questions, it seems one thing leads to another and then it comes out in bits and pieces and is very convoluted. So- - - --

Gosh Evelyn, I don't know how you go that long without power. I thought we were rural. Do you have old wires? Trees that blow down on the lines? Do you have a generator? LOL, we have a generator that just got a new $120 gas tank that is still in the box, but the generator doesn't seem to want to run with the gas tank in the box. Wonder why!! LOL, darned ignorant generator anyway.

It is cold and Spokane got more of the blizzard than we did I think. Altho it isn't done, but the storm came from the south so maybe it will be satisfied to mess up the traffic in Spokane.

Tomorrow is your trip Katie, do you stop somewhere for the night and make a 2 day trip each way? I would. Even a 400 mile trip to Seattle is more than enough for me.

Gotta run, and drive careful Katie.,

BTW JB, why wouldn't you soak those seeds?

Well, puter decided to blow up its video so I just got it back again. It is and has been snowing off and on for several days, and now at 5:30 it is 2 degrees. Supposed to be several more days of this c*&^%. Thanks Jeanette. Whatever you get seems to find its way over here to me, and I am NOT happy :) :(
JB, Montana Molly is back up and running (well not so much running as slowly walking) Sounds like all of us have Mr Sciatic in one way or another. And I can remember when you guys didn't know who he was. Back when I first found you. I have learned to live with him---not comfortably-- . He has been with me for almost as long as DH. So, believe me I know where from you all speak. DH has same problem, so at least he can understand when it gets just to bad to do anything.
Katie, drive carefully and keep in touch. Sharon, I want to be in your way when you do all the digging. Then they will all end up here in my yard. To all the rest of you, take care, keep well.
Lee

Bundle up and stay warm, Lee. That is way too cold! How is Stormy doing?

Katie ~ Have a safe trip and if you can, keep in touch.

Jeanette ~ I am sorry for all the trouble those hips have put you through...that is more than most people could even dream of!

Dave ~ Where were you thinking of buying more property?

I miss spoke yesterday. I took a picture on my cell so if you did not believe me, I could try to figure out how to download it. I got gas at BP, the cheap AM PM gas, for $3. 68, I think it was. My husband came home and said it jumped up $13 since the morning when he got gas. He said it was $3. 71 in the evening in our town, luckily I got it in a town with more competition.

The last time the gas was off the charts over the summer, it was $5 a gallon here, nobody could drive and nobody took any trips. It was a matter of time till the gulf thing hit us. They did not dare do it right off. The second Great Depression is luming. We need to bond while we can, we may not afford computers soon. We may be writing letters eventually. Wait till Obama care comes in. Just shoot me now.

Hi Everyone, Just thought I would check on ya. I have no hope of keeping up right now, but I do like to lurk a little.
Dave, I hope land is cheaper where you are than it is here. I have been doing some research in the area that my family first settled and found a piece of land that belonged in my family in the early 1800's. it is 28 acres and for sale right now for 1.4 million. It is in the outer limits and has nothing on it but pine trees and a swamp!

JB, soak the palm seeds in hot water. Hotter than you would like to wash dishes in. I usually change the water every day for about 3 or 4 days. Then I fiill a quart sized baggie 1/3 full with my normal potting mix. Dump the seeds and the water they are soaking in, right into the baggie and seal it up. Palms like it hot so the warmest bottom heat spot you can find will work best. If the seeds are fresh, the will germinate in about 4 weeks. Sometimes it can take 3 months. They are tough though when they get started.

Dawn, 5.00/ gallon would hurt. last summer it was over 4.00 but it stayed right around 4. If it gets over 5 this summer, I am going to begin losing lots of weight............ walking everywhere. ( I drive a 10 year old suv so the gas mileage leaves a lot to be desired.)

Katie, I hope you have a good and safe trip to CA.

Evelyn, are you feeling better yet?
How about Lee and Jnette,?
I am not as whiny today. It was gorgeous outside ( sorry all of you in the arctic and subarctic regions) so I actually sat in the swing on my porch and dreamed of all the plants I am going to force others to plant for me............. LOL This may be my last chance to train my child to love plants.

Gotta run, hope everyone is warm, happy, well and knows you are loved.

Sea Ya

Dawn, you had better duck because I can see Jnette getting her gun. Inside joke.


Katie, where does your van leak. I bet I could figure out a way to fix it. Have you tried fiberglass repair? My brothers always bought old trucks or jeeps to take deer hunting and spent a long time getting them sealed better to cut down on the drafts because deer season is during very cold weather.

Lee, 2 degrees is an unbelievable temperature. Our temperature was 60 degrees here today and I worked sitting down the majority of the day separating and cleaning bulbs. OMG, I would not want to do this for a living.

We were going to dig some more bulbs today but ran into a big root problem and that took the majority of the day. My lead worker was home sick with a cold. He was sick the other day and I knew he would be sick. His replacement was totally unexceptionable. All I saw him do was supervise. Then about 10 I came out with some hot tea and he was not there. He was in his truck talking on the phone. I told the other worker, Israel, to go tell him to either get to work or leave. I guess the little old lady surprised. There boss also stopped by later to discuss a HOA project and I told him I never wanted this guy again. Well after a private Hispanic talk with his boss, the new guy actually went to work. But I still not want him again.

So, we are suppose to be getting a wind and rain storm this weekend. Going down to a high of 47 with high winds. So I told the crew I was not going to work in the landscape until Tuesday. Giving myself a rest and a chance to get the dug bulbs done.

I cannot believe every female gardener I know has or has had a sciatic problem. Probably all the heavy lifting we did when we were young. I stopped heavy lifting about 3 years ago. That is when I got old. LOL.

Dave, I am planting greens, turnips, beans, peas, peppers, herbs and tomatoes. I am going to plant next week. I am going to the greenhouses out of town on the morning (6am) of March 4th. I have to be at the landscape office at 6am. OMG, I will have to get up at 4am.

Evelyn, I am so sorry about your power outage and weather.

Jnette, I do not mind if you open up. Every once in a while I do the same. I feel we are all cheaper than a physiotherapist.

JB if you want some palms, I pull them up all the time. Here they self root by the seed falling to the ground and then a few weeks later, it is growing.

The attached photo is the root that caused the big problem. I had a problem developing in the front flower bed and suspected a root from the street scape tree. Well it was a monster. It had run under and then along side the sidewalk and then put out tendrils going everywhere. I will be back tomorrow. Going to make a post roast and stay inside. I am going to give the dogs a bsth and clean off the dining room table.

Love you all, Sharon.

Sorry Linda, Cross Post. I love the sound of the swing on the front porch. I have one out by our pool.

Pile of roots from invasion.

It is now 9 o'clock and -3 degrees and falling.
See Sharon, it is survivable. Like I said, wish I were there to follow you around. My yard would be so full of plants, I would really be crying about Mr. S. :) :)
See you all in the morning. Hopefully puter will still be with me and not blow something else.
Lee

It is 6:40 in AM and -21. Anyone want to come and visit???? We might be able to use an ice pick to plant something, don't know what, maybe an icecycle to grow a crop of them. Would be a banner year for it!!!!!!!!!!!!
HELP FREEZING HERE!!!
Lee

mornmin:
You know I understand why jeanette did not sue the dr over the mis installed hip. Its the same reason I didn't sue mine when his installation failed. he was apologetic and jumped right on it to get me in asap. I have good doctors here and don't want to run any of them off. if I started sueing them they would all wonder if they were going to be next.

JB - Linda is correct about the soak. you might try a small drill also just to give the water a way in through the hard outer coat. There are littlerally thousands of different palms so its anyones guess as to which one it is. I do know its not in the phonix family as they are small pea shaped and grow inbunch's of 100 or so and usually brightly colored.
we used to soak seeds for about a week and then put them in comunity flats under the bench in the tropical house. usually one day I would walk in to look around and there they would be all sprouted.

well we finally did it its suposed to be 3.09 a gallon here.kim was rambleing on about how out of controll the cost of groceries has gotten. so much so that she is considering doing a deal with a family member where we buy the cow and food and they take care of it on their land and we split the meat at butchering time. she said we shopuld be able to bet a baby steer for about $300.00 and piglets for under $100.00 each.

Land: Its still a pipe dream untill I get the funds to buy it but I am thinking the out skirts of town. I hope to be able to get it it for about 5k an acre but I might have to pay more for a better location. I wont really worry about it for a couple of yearsuntill I have the $$$ to buy it with. I haven't talked to kim about it yet as it will just push her over the edge of stuff to worry about and untill I can aford to buy it there is no reason to upset her.
I will check out the tax sale this june though. I did quite well in 2000 buying up tax delinquent land and reselling it. Its all above board as the state sends out certified mail to give the owner of record plenty of time to bring it all curent. then just before the sale they post an ad in the newspaper for several weeks listing all the land for sale.
The only down side is that it costs about 3k to clean up the title/deed Kim knows I always have some little thing cookin ro turn into money and with the way the economy is going it might not be such a bad idea to have 5 acresto run to. I would not want to do the alternative.
the alternative would be to move down with her family in the "commune". I call it that because its where most of her family lives. One brother has 5 acres and a home on it and the other brother has like 10 acres. the one with 10 acres is retired airforce master sargent. and the BIL that we just got rid of is living there. everyone is in everyone elses business NO THANKS!!!!! did I say no???? well no not just no but %^$# no (ummmm I'm tellin dave had a bad thought)

ok all you veggie growers. how do you keep the squish bug larvae from attacking the zuccini and yellow squash? its why I failed to have squash last year? I know if you wait untill july they are done for the year but i want squish before then.... Whats the trick???? milky spores or neamatodes maybe????
Kim and my niece are suposed to get out and turn the soil this weekend so that ought to help grow the plants better. Did I tell you how my BIL that I refered to earlier installed the beds???? he filled them up about 6" then compacted the soil then put in 6" more and compacted it. I swear he thought if he could get rid of the pile of dirt we would quit the project. it was so bad the onions failed to make bulbs. the carrots looked funny like 3" of normal carrot on a 8" root. Kim saw that and told me the problem.
Yea I know I can grow just about any flower on the planet but with veggies I am totally lost. I have some seed left over from a gift mailer that I deeply apreciate. all I managed to grow was lettuce and a few tomatoe's
here is a pic of the beds after i managed to get the top loosened and started to plant.

well i have rattled on enough for now. its another gray rainy day so i am headed back under the covers in hopes of tomorrow being a lot better.
Dave

Hi Lee you sweet thing. I swear, if it ever got that cold here they would have to call out the National Guard to get me out of the house. I would never move again if I ever got that cold.

Dave I know how you feel about growing veggies. I can grow almost anything too, but I can not start seeds. You know how frustrating that is? I want so much to be able to grow my own plants from seeds instead of buying flats of them and I just can not. If I leave quickly it is because their is a severe thunderstorm warning for a storm moving at 50mph in our direction with 70 mph winds. I hate storms like that. The geese are going crazy and the dogs are both acting weird. My flock of tropicals birds are all very quiet. Funny how animals know something is wrong.

Went into town this morning to get groceries, etc. and I got three bags of groceries for $105.
I got no meat but chicken and some veggies. I can not believe how prices have tripled in the past few months. I think maybe we will grow some veggies this year too.

Dave, we used to raise beef cattle and veal calves and when you purchase a entire steer, you have alot of waste. You will get more ground beef (which has lots of fat in it) than you will actually want to consume. It may be better to see if you could not purchase already cut meat in bulk rather than buy all that extra fatty meat. It depends on your diet and what you like also. Some people like to make sausage, baloney and of course they are very fatty.

Gotta go, storm is here.

I swear I just saw JB on the weather channel. They were showing the storm moving over her area, and I swear I saw her on her broom swearing like a Marine and shaking her fist. I cannot believe the weather she is having. I never paid attention because I did not know anyone in the area.

Lee, if we got that cold, everything in my garden would be dead.

Our big storm so far has dipped under us and moved into Phoenix. Suppose to be 47, now predicting 60.

We are going to the State Girl's Basketball tournament at 3pm. So I just checked in and I probably will not be back before tomorrow. Sharon.

I will be brief. The power has been out since 4:25AM and the snow is blowing like crazy. Lots of little twigs and branches hitting the roof and then during the night it changed to pelting rain for while and then snow again. Now the snow is coming down seriously though it is only 30°, so not that cold compared to others.

I will go now. I hope everyone has a wonderful day. I will busy myself with seed-sowing.

TTYL,

Evelyn

No JB, Storm is HERE in my back yard!!!!!!!!! It has warmed up to -1 and the sun is shinning. I am sooooo cold. They say "this too will pass" Well sure wish it would. I am so tired of it. I am going in to living room and cuddle up in my blankie, Later all, Lee

Well, that was not too bad, the temp has dropped about 20 deg. and is expected to go down to below freezing again tonight. The storms are still playing around but it seems most of them are out to sea. Hopefully. Now the winds are blowing. Never a dull moment. All must be o.k. because the parrots are noisy and that is a good sign.

I put the palm seeds in really hot water and will wait and see what happens. Knowing my luck they will not grow but I will attempt anything once. LOL

During the storm I balanced my checkbooks and did some research with the banks. It is just sickening the amount of interest my investments are getting now. I told the guy at the bank if this keeps up I will have to die just to be sure the kids get something. I used to live on my interest and now that would not keep me in wine.............well, maybe, but not for long. LOL

Barney has decided it is time to turn up the heat in the greenhouse so I must be going. Thank God I feel good today. Yesterday was a bad day , I spent most of the day in the bathroom and late afternoon I decided to take a Xanax and in no time, my intestines settled down and I was back to normal. I then realized that the last time this happened it was two days after I was at the doctor. Same thing this time, 2 days after I was at the doctor, my nerves catch up with me and I get a colon cleansing thanks to my anxiety. LOL Off to the GH. That is information you really needed to know. Sorry. Keep warm and safe from this wild weather. Hugs. JB

jb - what are you doing to start seeds? what media are you using? do you have any reference books for veggie seeds?
I generally plant somewhere between 5 and 10 seeds per cell and then thin them as needed. basically I split the heavier cells up to put into the 3.5" sheet pots. The 3 keys to seeds are light (or dark), moisture (humidity), temperature. freshness of the seed also plays a big role in if they will start. I have my greenhouse misters set to water 5 min every 3 hours in the spring and all the way to late fall. It ups the humidity and keeps the seeds moist.
Don't feel too bad because my seed carthas germinated a big 4 cells so far. If the seed wasn't so expensive i would give up on the ones in the cart and wait for spring.but It is what it is...
seeds have a built in suply of food to get them to germinate. sometimes you have to break the outer coating to get them to germinate. some seeds actually have a chemical of sorts that will delay sprouting to insure viability.
My niece is using one of the seed starter pkg from parks to grow some tomato seeds. I got it as a bonus last year when I ordered something (I forget what). here is the link

http://www.parkseed.com/gardening/PD/6456/

Just think its only 6 weeks till frost free.....well fo me anyway. do we all know when our frost free date is???

I have a feeling more people will be growing gardens when they figuire out whats happeningwith the cost of everything.I will pass along the words of wisdome to kim as I don't know all that much about cows and farm animals thats her area.

well its time for the ole nap
Have a great evening
Dave

yea I think that is JB on the weather chanel.... wow look at that broom....lol

You are all going to get that broom where it hurts if you keep pestering me. I am very tired and worn out from balancing my checkbooks. That was so depressing and now I am grumpy. So there.
Dave , trust me, I have tried all the teeny weeny ways and the easy do it yourself ways, and the front ways and the back ways and I still can not grow seeds. Now just send me plants and shut up about the seeds. I can not grow seeds. I am still trying. Maybe I should put those palm seeds in the microwave. That would help them along. No??????
Where is my girl Jen, she has been too quiet. I hope she is not still sick. That cyber flu is nasty. But most of it is on the western part of the USA. Our Eastcoast cyber space is clean and healthy.
Time to eat, drink and go to beddy bye. It is blowing, my broom is broken and my checkbook is balanced. So, I am going to say good night and hope you all have a wonderful evening. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~waving as I fly by. JB oooops hit a bird.

The snow has stopped for now and it looks a bit brighter. Oh, yeah, and the power is back on! More snow is due to arrive but we will take it as it comes. What else can we do? It is 30° now and the porch is filled with snow so I will work inside today.

Last year I sowed lupines outside (wintersowed), but in peat pots. They became moldy and then I transferred them to cell packs and they did fine until I knocked them off the balcony. I rescued the ones that did not have broken radicles (seedlings) and put them back into cell packs. In early summer I transplanted them into the garden. I had about a dozen left. Late in the season, gophers came by and half of them were decimated. So I still have 6 left.

This year I will sow some indoors and also wintersow some outdoors (once I get the snow off the porch). I have different kinds of lupine - tree lupine (really a shrub) and some from the one I have growing on my clay hill....also several garden varieties. I want to test to see which is the best method. Now you may ask, why am I sowing lupine right now?? The reason is the media. I know that they can take a moist soil environment, as long as it is not too soggy. I want to test this growing media from Hydrofarm as they look to me like Jiffy pellets, of which I did not have good results. Also the seeds are large. I don't want to sow any fine seed in something like this. I would rather have a freer draining mix and to see what I am doing as well. When the little ones get up to size I will put them in their cells, or plant them in hunks if applicable like lobelia or alyssum. I like to put petunias, abutilon and impatiens to start on a heat mat. I wonder if it it is safe to start them now or if we will be getting more power busting storms...???I would like to get going on the indoor seeding and most of them would like a warm start.

What are you starting from seed these days? Has anyone had experience with Hydrofarm seed-starting pellets? I may have to rescue the lupine from them, but time will tell.

Whoops! JB - We cross-posted. Sorry about your palm seeds. I never grew any since they don't grow here. Maybe go to the tropicals forum.

The only tropicals I grow are summer annuals to brighten things up. Usually they are put in the color bowls by the windows out of the deer's reach, and also inside the fenced garden. I did grow petunias last season but they take a very long time from start to finish. I wish I could help you with the palm seeds. I think Dave has grown them..?? I will check around.

I am glad it wasn't you flying around the weather map. Now that would put anyone in a foul mood...

Yes I have grow several different palms from seed and they did well. I swear theone thing I like the most is when you can put the trays under a bench and forget about them and then all of a sudden there they are.of course that is under a bench that get regular waterings.
last post for the night folks
ttfn
I give up the ole back wins...it hurts way too bad to keep pounding awayon the net.
sorry everyone I surender
Dave

I only have one thing to say about that Dawn. When you have to go to the ER with no insurance you just remember that it is my insurance that is paying for it. Sharon, I did go to the hospital that had so many people in there. And, I will bet you dollars to donuts that 90% of them didn't have insurance. BUT, that does not mean that they are the only ones in there. It seems anytime I get something, it is on the weekend and I have insurance up the gazoo. But, that is the only place you can get help on the weekend.

That is the only thing I am going to say that even resembles politics so you might as well lay off Sharon. You too Dawn. If you want to discuss politics I suggest that you go to a forum, and I am sure there are plenty, that is established just for that.

JB, seeds are fun. Just to watch those plants grow from those little things you put in the ground is exciting. But then what to do with them all!! I always plant too many seeds. And, I won't start that until probably sometime in April. I don't plant a lot of veggies, which BTW JB, nobody can afford to be a vegetarian any more they are so expensive, but I do plant tomatoes an peppers. If I had a place for raised beds I would plant more I think. But it takes sun also which I don't get a whole lot of.

The palm seeds sound fun the way Linda described. Can you put them on a heat pad, or even a hot water tank?

Gotta run, still researching TVs. Not looking for a real big one. About the size of the one Dave has in his bedroom. LOL

Jnette, I have been pulling your chain for months. Took you long enough. I do not discuss politics or religion.

We did not go to the game because of high winds and rain storm coming in late.

The majority of seeds I sow, they are sown directly in to the soil. Next Friday we are going to be in the 70s.

I am going to wash the dogs and get that out of my way. Have a great evening.

Sharon.

jeanette you sound very industrioud. I got my metal plant stakes in toaday and I hope to lable the stock garden as well as the DL's

I got the short ones

Morning Everyone..........I am hanging from a tree about three miles from my house and I am hoping none of the geese decide to cleanse their colons on me. The darn wind is still blowing but not as much, now If I can figure out how to get my old ass out of this tree I will be o.k. Clunk! Bump! OUCH!
* * * * * **********************************************************************************************
Wow, that is better, good to be on the ground again. I am going to take a walk and hopefully not blow away again, and then I have to fertilize the GH, put plants aside that are sold and then
begin a project for the one little Brownie troop my daughter is speaking to in a few weeks. She is going to take a miniature horse and they are going to learn about the parts of the horse etc. Also she is going to give out horse shoes decorated for Mother's Day for their Moms. Yes, I am doing the horse shoes.......so I need to go hunt up some ribbon and see if I need any more supplies before I begin. My SIL is painting them this morning, my daughter is at the Horse Park running a Dressage School Show today. So, there is no rest for the weary around here.
The weather seems to be warming up and that means as soon as the night temps are above freezing for a few days, I will begin shipping orders. I have several already and I do not want them to stack up too much. The Jasmine are the big sellers and Lord knows, I am not sure I will have enough. I gave so many cutting away last year I am hoping the girls have some to sell at the Farmers Market so they do not need any. They are not opening until April 1st this year.
They too are going to plant plenty of veggie seeds. A ha, I will get plants from them and not deal with those nasty little seeds that never grow for me. later, doggie time. Hugs. JB

Well our high winds did not show up. That is good news., Right now we re getting a misting of snow. But nothing is sticking and it is warming up so that will be the end of that.

Vern will be watching college basketball all day so I am going to finally de-clutter everything I have stacked on the dining room table., Mostly magazines and
DVDs I need to go through. If I find anything interesting Dave, I will send them to you.

So glad you got out of the tree JB. You have a great sense of humor.

I will return sometime. No, that is not a threat. Sharon.

I am really a "nut case"! The Winter season brings out the worse in me. But,. I love to laugh and be crazy and have fun even if it is pretend. There are about eight of us, men and women on a list and we do this all the time. Make up crazy stuff and you can just picture it when we do it. We were all bird breeders and came together at least 15 years ago. We are still together and have been through hell and high water during those years. But, we never lost our sense of humor and we all agree that is what keeps us gong and together.

We got together sharing our experience in breeding and raising parrots. We are located in Canada, NY, NJ, NC, Georgia and Florida. We have it set up as a group so when one writes something we all see it. We wake up in the morning together and go to bed together. Have not missed a day in all those years.

We laugh at each other constantly and make fun and tease and when one cries, we all cry. That is what you call real friendships. I am blessed with so many wonderful people in my life. Many I have never met.

Sorry, just wanted to share some happy thoughts today. We can all use a smile and a hug.
JB

Sharon ~ I am glad that you will return! You keep us on our toes and motivated! Yes, the trick is to de-clutter frequently, as if we are clutterers, that is what we need to do. It is harder just not to clutter, but easier as well. "Old habits die hard", they say...I have not conquered it yet either!

JB ~ I am glad you are not in the tree any more. It is better to be on the ground with your dog. (How is Barney feeling these days?) Did you ever get those palm seeds started? I think some things just take a while to germinate. It is hard to be patient sometimes as it seems as though you are putting a lot of effort and they take their time coming up, but many things just do not germinate right away. I suppose the thing is to learn their requirements, and yes, I know, even learning these things does not guarantee success. But it is a start, and if you have the seeds, why not try to do something with them? Sometimes we fail but the seeds might be too old or other factors may have come into play.

Dave ~ I am glad that you have been feeling well enough to get some work done in the greenhouse. At least you are getting better weather now.

Katie ~ Are you in CA yet? I hope that you visit to the doc goes well.

Lee ~ Is it still below freezing?

Jeanette ~ You too?

Well, yesterday I did sow loads of lupine seeds...different kinds. Annuals, shrubs, perennials. I will look for baptisia to put in this flat. I will sow the thermopsis too. All the different plants that are lupine-like. It is wierd when you go to research something and one source gives a plant as a tender perennial and another one will say it is a hardy shrub. Well, if they germinate, I will find out for myself. I do have Hortus III for the "last word", but I have not really opened that book on them. I will if I need to.

What have you got going on your winter projects?

Last night it was 20° and yesterday we had a high of 32°. I think it will be a tad warmer today, well I hope anyway....the icicles are melting...

This message was edited Feb 26, 2011 12:05 PM

Hi Everyone - I am in California safe and semi-sound. Lots of rain the last couple of hours and TJ was flooded so roads were closed and no detours were marked, it being Mexico. But I made it here and I have a tarp for over my van if it starts to rain again. Lots of packages to open, pack away and dispose of the wrappings and hope I have room for whatever comes next week,

I'm tired and twitchy but OK.

Larry's closing so so I'm off. Probably back Monday after whatever medical tests I need to have done.

Glad to hear that I'm not the only opne who has trouble starting seeds. If all three of my arhat plants and a few of the goldenberries make it I'll be happy.

hugs, katie

howdy:
Jeanette : earlier you were a bit miffed about dawn not having insurance. there are a lot of reasons why one has no insurance. I have been in Dawn's situation. I am sorry but when I have to choose between insurance and food ...food will win. I have delt with the night mare of going to the E.R. on the weekend and its a tough one to do. I remember not too long ago I ended up sitting in the er and it was 5 hours before they even looked at kim and then another 8 till they finally figuired out that ....wait for it ..... THEY HAD NO CLUE WHAT WAS WRONG. it ended up beinga gallstone. now the issue they had was she had her gallbladder removed years ago.finally on monday she went to her dr and he told her what it was and removed it.
OK enough soapbox .....
I agree age of the seed is a major source of why seeds fail to germinate.

Evelyn: you might try looking at hazzards for your alpine seeds. They have a huge list of what they have available. I am still finding new plants I did not know I wanted to grow.
http://www.hazzardsgreenhouse.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=Hazwho

Because we are chatting about seeds I also want to recomend Parks .... "Success with seeds" as a reference for seed info

As a rule of thumb seeds that need to be covered they are to be covered by 1 to 2 times the width of the seed....
Once I started double checking the cover vs.uncovered and started making sure the seeds were in contact with the soil most of my issues went away. Look at the columnbine I was saying I never get it to germinate. now I think i will end up with 100 or so of them.

JB did the fall break the broom????lol
well its cold out but I did poke my head inside the GH to make sure I did not need to water in there. everything looks grate.

Dave

BOHEKA.........DAVE!

Our rain never did show up. But I got a lot done inside. I have been watching animal hoarders and then just hoarders while I cleaned off the dining room table. I sent Vern to his "man cave" so I could have something to watch while I separated mostly paperwork.

One lady had 82 cats. One couple had 80+ dogs. It is unbelievable.

I think Jnette and Bob are out buying a new TV. Anyway I hope that is where she is instead of being sick again. If they went to Spokane, it is cold. The granddaughters had a soccer game, on a snow filled field in 9 degree weather. They finally figured out they were no longer in Las Vegas.

I will return later. I am just taking a break from the table but I have had a good day. Got a lot of things accomplished. No gardening, just house things.

Workers are coming back on Tuesday. I am going to have them dig the holding garden first and get the pants in pots. Then they are going to double dig and add new soil at the same time. My holding garden has turned into a plant hoarding bed. If I order one plant, why not 10. I have taken co-ops off the list I keep in my head..

I stopped typing and took the dogs for a walk before the sun went down. Probably cross post comin.

Yes we have free Stars and Encore movies this weekend so we have been watching NetFlix and that so far but I still have 5 animal hoarders, Animal Cops and a couple others in our unheated (at the moment)Tivo. Plenty of useless enjoyment not gone to waste on watching the storm that never came. The Storm of the Century. Bah humbug. We did get a heavy rain last night though, so all was not in vein.

Lee your killing me, you can come over here. It is kind of cold at 37 an hour ago but it sounds like it is still improved on from your misery. Next weekend and the prevous 6 or so was in the 60-70's. Old Mother Nature forgot her lithium again.

Oh yes, Thanks DAVE. Got your seeds 10 minutes ago. Yippie!

Dave ~ Thanks! I do have Park's Success with Seeds, and you are right. It is a good reference tool. Did you think I was looking anywhere else than my seedbox for seeds? LOL!! (I have a lot of old seeds...) OK, I am curious, to which alpines were you referring? I must have missed something. I will probably have to pour boiling water on the thermopsis, but I will try to wintersow them all first, holding some seeds back. Then I will try a different tactic if that does not work.

Here is the list of seeds sown and then put outside on the freezing back porch until something pops up:

Lupinus 'Russell'
Lupinus 'Plummy Blue'
Lupinus 'Tutti Fruitti'
Lupinus 'Pink Fairy'
Lupinus luteus (Annual Yellow Lupine)
Lupinus arboreus (yellow) shrub lupine, sometimes called tree lupin
Lupinus arboreus 'Blue Form'
Lupinus arboreus 'White Form'
Lupinus 'Blue Bonnet' (should be sowed in ground)
Lupinus 'Gallery Mix'
Baptisia australis
Baptisia leucantha
Thermopsis villosa

Sorry, Sharon and Dawn ~ We cross-posted.

I am glad you did not get much of the storm. We only got a little snow this time, but it stayed cold and the snow has not yet melted. It is better to get less snow than the weather people predict instead of more. I am not complaining.

JB ~ Thanks for sharing about your bird-raising friends. That sounds like a wonderful experience!

Dave ~ Is your back feeling any better? I am sure this weather isn't helping, or is it warmer where you live now?

Katie ~ Glad that you are safe and in CA. TJ is awful, always. Juarez is no better. What is it with border towns? When I went to El Paso to bury my mom's ashes, we went over the border to Juarez. Not so nice, did not stay long. Still many parts of Mexico are absolutely beautiful.

Well, it is almost dinnertime, so I'll put my seeds away for the night and go downstairs. Have a nice evening everyone.

I am glad in retrospect that we did not get hit. My trees are budding.

I should get lupines going. they naturalize.

Dave, that is true, however you are not paying attention to the way her hated Obamacare is written or you wouldn't compare that. Say all you want, but that is my last statement on it.

No, we were going to go to Spokane today and get a TV, but then Bob reminded me he has an appt. for shots on Wednesday down there so no sense making 2 trips a few days apart. Even tho it is suppose to snow the rest of the week.

I told him this is the last winter we are going to be in this house. But, I have the same problem everyone else has, need the money from the house to buy another one. Competing with the foreclosures out there too. So, it is easier said than done.

Bob got a weeks worth of wood in today so he has the furnace cooking! He doesn't know when to stop tho. Gets it too hot in here. I still don't know how you do it Evelyn, having the power go out all the time. Why is it doing that? Are the trees blowing on it? Our power usually goes out when trees blow over on the lines. I wish they would put them underground. But, they won't do that. It is pretty expensive.