June 2011- Heat, Sunshine and Rain

New thread for June!!!

The heat is driving me nuts!! lol. Go back down to high 70s, maybe low 80s and stay out of the 90s for awhile!! lol

A view at Commanche's. Irises everywhere!!!

Thanks for starting the new thread for June, Pepper, Commanche's is colorful.
Yes, plenty hot, and tomorrow unfortunately, is gonna be in the low 90's they said on tv, sorry Pepper! They say the closer to central Missouri, it is HOT, in Sedalia it was 96° F they said! Happ just visited, I have a big, beautiful, dark Red Rose plant! My housemate really likes you're little car too! That color I think really stands out!
Heres my latest creation, presenting my "Mint, Coleus and Sweet Potato planter!", it's in the photo. I plan to carry it up to the front porch tomorrow, but I need another person, my housemate says she can help tomorrow, it is heavy. I carried it about 20 feet, I had to put it down, too heavy! When something is too heavy I put it down and get help, not breaking anything! After I watered it, I am sure it's too heavy for me now!

Thanks Pepper! I'll be glad to have them!
Will

Looks great Will!! Will look even better when it fills in.

Nice planter will. Want to borrow my wagon?

Thanks Pepper. I hope it fills in alot. It sure is fragrant, all those plants except 4 I think are Mints of some kind. Well, Basil and Blue Sage too, but they're very fragrant themselves. Unless they're Mints too, then my bad! lol But, I'm thinking, "I don't want that board to show", "theres too much space behind the Potato Plant", "I think I buried too much foliage". I tell you, it isn't easy being cheesy! No wonder nothing much ever gets done!
Thanks Crit. You got wagons and such down there to rent have you? Sure, I'll take one of those yard wagons with the inflatable tires you know?! Hehe!
Actually, there is 2 of those here, but I have this habit of leaving whatever I haul last staying on the cart for a while. One of the carts is all wobbly like one of those car creepers because I tried pulling it over the street curb with 150 lbs or so on it and it bent and broke I think 3 of the wheels. I think those carts tout like an 800 or 1,000 lb capacity but the wheels themselves fold up like a house of cards under about 1/4 of that weight under pressure. I think I'm gonna try carrying it and taking baby steps for about 20 more feet, it worked the first time!
Will


This message was edited Jun 3, 2011 6:32 PM

Well we celebrated the 5 year olds birthday, they had a blast. That was about the same decimal as the noise level. rofl.

Will, love the witchhazel! Need to make sure I put it somewhere I can see it late winter early spring..... Saw Wills little trailer, look perfect size to me, I could carry all the mulch, rocks, or whatever I would need in it and suitcases....hehe

I am not sure driving a car that stands out is a good thing. If you tick someone off (even if you didn't mean to) you can't hide in the crowd.... ;) When I first got it, people I work with would say, were you in Buckner last night, or Lenexa.....ahhhh no, those are day trips for me...rofl. It is nice in a parking lot as long as two huge trucks don't park on either side of you cause it glows in the dark...just kidding.

We don't have spring anymore. We go from 40 to 90.....with a ton of humidity. Oh well I would rather have the heat than the cold. Crit how are you guys down there? Are you getting rain? I know Texas is still having big problems with fires and dry.

I hope the Witchhazel works out good there, happ. Oh yeah, my little trailer! I forgot to show that to you, but we were standing right by it, the Rose plant was on it for a bit. I tell you thats a good trailer for a small car and it's easy to handle! - http://www.harborfreight.com/870-lb-capacity-40-inch-x-49-inch-heavy-duty-utility-trailer-with-8-inch-wheels-and-tires-42708.html The 20% off a single item coupon can be found in a lot of magazines and newspapers. I can get a coupon if you want one. Just a thought, its a neat trailer. It's generally pretty easy to assemble after you mull the instrux over for awhile. I was kinda disappointed in the instrux myself, but I didn't really expect much help from them on that! I'd be glad to offer any help if anybody wants one! Oh, and have you're metric tools ready! Be sure to buy at the store, the shipping would be too high by mail, theres a HarborFreight store on Noland Rd. in Indep., MO. Or, try to locate a store anywhere first. The shipping is prolly around a hundred dollars.
My friend here loves the Rose plant too, happ!
Heres that planter, I got it where I wanted it. I did some scrubbing on the porch while I was there. You can tell that's made out of privacy fence replacement boards, it's dog-eared on the end of the front, I should've cut that off. Oh well, it's treated, maybe it'll last awhile.
Hehe.. yes it would be easy to spot in a parking lot! Yes, heat rather than cold for me too.
Will



This message was edited Jun 3, 2011 8:15 PM

Will, you have 2 liguaria, 2 speedwell veronica, the one that looks like forget me nots, 2 soapwarts 1 marbled coral bell, 1 Cardinal Flower and a lavender. lol. I just took a cardboard tray and filled it up. All hardy. Now just have to get a box big enough and fill er up!! Oh and I am giving you my Nahno Blue butterfly bush later on too. Maybe my Black Knight also. I have no place for the blue and the spot where Black Knight and Peacock are is getting redone with hydrangas that I just got in last night. They will tolerate the shade there better I think.

No happ ..... no rain here. Just upper 90* temps. Will have to do my gardening early or in short spurts. May go ride my horse in the morning instead, then work on gardens later.

Would love to get some witch hazel. I've seen pics of it and is really pretty.

Wow, Pepper, thats alot of stuff! I'm glad to have whatever you can spare! I dug up 2 Hydrangeas last year that were in full shade with the Hostas, they were dying.
Heres a bigger view of the new planter. I think I'll turn that around so the dog-eared part don't show in the front.

shortleaf,

thanks for leaving the light on for us.

Jan

ps love the ramp, the best I've seen.

Mine won't be in full shade, but in bright light. It gets southern exposure.

I got all except the bushes at work today. You are helping me get rid of them. LOL

You're welcome, meadow! That light is always on! It's supposed to be a "dusk to dawn" light. It's a good thing CFL's last a long time! I installed that light about a year and a half ago. Haha! Thats prolly why it don't work right! I should've adjusted the sensitivity then. I had no idea that it was gonna be on all the time.

Haha! A neighbor says that ramp is so steep he couldn't even drive his car up it! He said its a Dukes of Hazzard ramp! My housemate's Mother here is the dis-abled one. That ramp is pretty steep, when my friend and her Mom go down it they go "wee!"! Actually, it isn't up to ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) specification standards, but it doesn't have to be, they were just limited on front yard space and finances. The materials used on that surface were pretty much top of the line tho, the ramp and that entire porch is a very strong, durable plastic.

I got my Witchhazels from the state's nursery program, they are cheap there, a bundle of 25 of them were $8, there is about $6 more (per order I think), for taxes or shipping and handling or something. They only sell them from Nov. 15 - the end of April every year though. - http://extra.mdc.mo.gov/cgi-bin/mdcdevpub/apps/seedlings/search.cgi?record=all Its MO. residents only, if anybody wants, I'd gladly have them sent here.

Glad I could help, Pepper! The back yard here is the one with all the sun, the front yard is in nearly full shade because of 2 great big Pin Oak trees.
Will

Love where you put the planter, That is about perfect. My nephew was in a wheel chair but most houses are limited on space and what you can do. Since I was aware of the limitations when we built this house I planned for it. During Christmas if it had snowed it was a mess if my nephew came rolling in with snow or mud on his tires (he always felt so bad), so I made sure he could come in the garage and in thru the laundry room into the living area. It keeps me from tracking this in now and you can never tell when I might be rolling around and have those same issues. Made the bathroom doors wider for the same reason.

Heavens it is hot out there. We went to a car show for about 2 hours and about melted. Course no shade. Think I will go work in the shade gardens, cause I sure can't work on the west side! How come we don't have a spring anymore?

I know what you mean happ. From 70's to 90's !!! My car showed 98* on my way home from town. Had to get some more big clay pots. Still have things I need to clean up and pot that we had in the house for the winter. My whiskey barrells are falling apart and DH said we just needed to pitch them, instead of fixing them. I just HATE to throw them away. May try and figure something to do with the wood slats. So anyway, they were over $50 when I saw some last year, and haven't even seen any this year. So I bought some of the large decorative tough plastic planters.

Crit, I know what you mean about throwing that wood away, just always seems like I should be able to do something with it...rofl. Some of those plastic pots are amazing looking any more, you can't tell them from the huge heavy ones. Costco always has a good variety of reasonable priced pots like that. It is aqua lung time here, you can't hardly take a breath it is so thick with humidity. DH got me 1/2 of whiskey barrel a few years back and it smelled liked it...rofl. There is a distillery here or was, come to think of it I haven't seen the signs lately. I fill it with water and make a small water garden out of it. Dogs love to drink from it (hummm suppose they have a drinking problem..rofl) and I stick plants there before planting. Course I have to watch Sam the lab he will sometimes decide the plants and pump shouldn't be in there and he takes them out! One year I finally unpluged the pump cause I was afraid he was going to hurt himself!

Will, if I don't forget I will bring you over some of the "water iris", trust me they don't need to be in water to grow. A damp spot will work and they do spread, not horribly but they get bigger. If you put them in a pond now they will take over the edges but for a wet spot and a stream that comes and goes they work great.

Well, I let you all know that I won't be here cause of expire on the 10th this month so I will be happy if you want be in Facebook... If you want to get my Facebook and I will be happy to d-mail me for private....

Take care,
Anna, Rusty and JuJu is taller than Rusty's height...

Thanks happ. I was hoping it looked okay there for awhile. I am thinking that terracotta pedestal that it's on is better with a big round pot maybe. I wanted to have the rectangular planter suspended like that so those viney shoot things can hang and grow, not just laying flat on the porch or somewhere. I painted that pedestal black before I found out it was terracotta, if I had known that I guess I woulda left it pink, but it was burning a hole in my brain! Now, I'm just letting the black spray paint wear off so I don't have to live in shame! lol

I'd love to have some of that water iris, happ. I wonder if thats Yellow Flag Iris? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_pseudacorus . Does it look like that, happ?
You know, I thought it was pronounced Eye ris, this one site said it's ee ris! "Pronounced: ee-ris sood-a-ko-rus" - http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/node/205
That Iris sounds very tough, like it might survive anything. I need at least one plant that will be okay in a waterpond that isn't entirely still. If I don't have a little pump going it's going to be full of mosquitoes!
I wonder if that's the Yellow Iris that is all around the lake at Powell Gardens, maybe Pepper would know?
Speaking of Powell Gardens, here is my one and only Swamp White Oak tree I grew from an acorn that I got from Powell Gardens in September 2005.
Okay Rusty, take care, come back if you can, I'm sure in Joplin you guys have you're hands full unfortunately. Juju has grown alot.
Will

Wow, I got a bit behind so I didn't comment on everything from the previous thread, but I read it all.

Pepper, thanks for the new thread. The iris are gorgeous! I'd have a hard time leaving the place!

Will, cool on beating Grandpa! Nice little hauling cart.

Yayyy, you have a rose! The box made a nice planter. I hear you on heavy and setting it down! The potato plant will fill in nicely!

Happ, the B'day party sounds like it was so much fun :o)

You now have to post a picture of your car, LOL!

Will, the planter looks just fine! Foliage will cover anything you don't like :o)

Pepper, I love all the plants you got for Will. It will be beautiful when they're all planted!

Crit, riding your horse sounds like fun! Do you have a picture of him/her?

Will, the new view is much better. I like the way the porch wrapped around to allow for it. Turning the box will make the height of the plants follow the slope :o)

Meadowyck, giggling over the light. How did I miss that?

Will, giggling again. Maybe the old woman needs some ''wheee'' in her life :o)

Happ, you're a good Aunt, and yes, we never know when we'll need a wheelchair.

Rusty, see you on Facebook, if I ever get back over there. I seem to have no time these days. I will miss you here.

Will, nice tree!

The driveway guy made it yesterday and stayed an hour. There was a lot of detail to go over. His brother will take out the rock and railroad ties for $80.00 an hour. Dad, who lives just in the other end of town will take the rock. That will cut down on hauling costs.

My astilbe are throwing up shoots and I really wanted to at least, weed around them. I worked for two days and got the whole 80' X 16' bed done!! Now with the rain, I'm skirting the outer edges of the rest of the beds.

Gee Rusy, hate to see you go, you'll be missed.

Yes billy, here is a picture of Babe. We have 5 horses and 2 Siberian burros, but Babe is my baby.

Hot again here today and I have a migraine. Took my medicine to keep it from at least getting any worse. I really wanted to work outside more today. Maybe in a while.

Everyone have a blessed day.

Babe is gorgeous!! I can't wait til the day I am able to move out and get a place with room for horses.

Yeah, the heat and humidity are horrible!! I've pretty much quit deadheading the plants at work and am just watering twice a day til the heat drops a bit. I do a little bit at a time til I can't stand it. Then I go back inside and work. With the heat coming off the asphalt, it's just too hot.

Snapdragons and 'Heart Attack' dianthus

Thanks, I'm catching up pretty good on my Grandpa at Chess. I feel bad about some of the moves he makes, I'll warn him most times that a valuable piece is in jeopardy, but unfortunately, sometimes he'll just lose a key piece because of forgetting it's in jeopardy. 20 years ago, I very likely wouldn't have won a game against him. He really enjoys playing and usually plays very well, believe me!
Yes happ, please post a picture of that car!
I never thought about that, thats a good reason to turn the planter around too, so the plants can follow the slope of the ramp, thanks billyp!
Beautiful Babe the horse there, Crit. I'm on Facebook too Rusty, you can friend me from Sally's (billyp) page if you wish. I am Will Jones on there, thats not my real last name, I don't use it on Facebook hopefully to keep down the spam.
Maybe you can take before and after photos of you're driveway, billyp?!
Oh I think she's fine with things the way they are. The only whee she wants is to be able to curse people! She called me a "lying son-of-a-biscuit eater" just yesterday! She's not too big on me, but we co-exist okay most of the time. In case anybody is wondering she called me that because she was having some delusions about me skulking around her room at 4 in the morning when I was asleep! She gets confused most days (and nights). She is blind and has Parkinson's Disease. I think she has Schizophrenia myself, but I'm not a doctor and they say she doesn't have that now, they used to.
She still says I'm drilling big holes in the house, sawing thru the iron girder that supports the house and just randomly destroying the house in general, and filling her bedroom up with raw sewage, somehow, and killing her 2 cats, Skeeter and Scooter. There is 7 cats here and one (Bo) died of natural causes last week and she said I killed it by not giving it food and water! That was her cat years ago and she was not happy when it died!
We have 2 bathrooms and the one NOT in her room was clogged up. So, we have to go thru her room to get to the other working bathroom. A couple days ago, she told me to go to the bathroom outside! I couldn't help but scoff, I couldn't hold it in! I told her, "I can't go to the bathroom outside at 3 in the afternoon"! I try hard not to laugh at her, because she is serious, but this time I couldn't help letting out a quick HA! I called my housemate at work, I told her, "you're Mom just told me to go to the bathroom outside"! Luckily for me, I plunged the other bathroom here for like 20 minutes today and got it freed up for my use!
Has anybody ever seen a vine go up an Iris blade (in the photo) like this? I just pulled that vine off that Iris the day before! Imames gave me that Iris at the Fall RU 09'.
It's growing good, I have 2 pots of it that I got from her. I'll probably plant them this year. Does anybody know if thats a good, pesky vine?
Will

Will, I'm sorry but I could not help but rofl at your 'story'. You 'son-of-a-biscuit-eater'. ^_^

I know that vine but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it! We have a lot of that around here. I pull it out.

Have a great day everyone!

Crit, Babe is beautiful! I used to lurk on the Horse Forum, but can't remember who all posted.

Sorry about your migrane. I've never had one and hope your's went away.

Pepper, asphalt heat is the worst!!

The dianthus is gorgeous! I love the color combinations!

Will, I'll bet you beating him just makes him smile :o)

I have the before, just waiting for the after :o)

What can you do but throw up your hands, LOL! She come's up with some pretty good delusions. It's sure a shame her life is like this tho.

Laughing over the bathroom, but in a nice way :o)

Yes, I have a vine that got away from the trellis and hugs everything. It's weak so it won't pull down or kill anything. I need to dig a few sprouts while it's young to set under the Harry Lauder Walking Stick. It will look pretty there. It has shell ping blooms.

Well, speaking of cats, I have a sick one who won't eat. He goes to the vet today. I hope they can get him in early.

Petey just the other day.

Isn't that vine a morning glory, that spreads like wild fire? Not saying they aren't beautiful some are just amazing, but they reseed alot.

I am sure I have a photo of my bright yellow car.....I was looking for a cheap, fuel efficient car, we stopped at the dealers and dh said we don't care what color it is as long as it isn't that neon yellow car on the hill.....well price beats color...rofl.........

Crit, your babe is beautiful! Have you had her a long time?

Billy hope kitty is doing ok....I only have one cat left, Hairy showed up by our mail box one raining fall night as a tiny kitten just soaked to the bone....who can do this to animals! At least drop them at a shelter!

Pepper, I think alot of people overlook dianthius and I think they are great plants, they seem to bloom forever, I have about 3 or 4 varieties of them.

I went out early this morning and watered. Glad I did, it is a tad warm and windy...

Will, the iris from the florida place looks like the one in the pond. They have mosquito dunks that you can put in water to keep them blood suckers out without a pump. Only other problem still water will grow algae faster than moving water and still water may go sour on you.....

Will, I will get your box out to you on Weds.

Well, I got to work this morning and apparently no one watered at work yesterday. So I had to spend almost 3 hours watering because the plants were bone dry. Thankfully we had wind today!!! That made it a bit more bearable. lol. Tomorrow is gonna be even worse. UGH!!! I'm not even deadheading much, just watering. It's too hot to take the time for it. I will hopefully be able to get them good later this week when it cools a bit.

Thanks Pepper, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, the Dianthus is some pretty flowers.
Hehe.. she does the genuine curse words, she's a peach!
Bradenton FL.! The Motel 6 light should be on at you're house, meadow! Thats like vacation paradise! You got nice weather and everything. I think you might even have the Emerald Coast! Or is that further North, I dunno, I've never been to Florida.
I hope they make you're Petey the Cat better, Sally! A few years ago when I lived with my Grandmother, a man came down our dead-end street and opened the side door of his van and a dog came out! The van zoomed up the street with the dog running after it, the man had dumped his dog out. It took a couple days but my Grandmother coaxed him out of a neighbor's shed and kept him for about 14 more years. That happens all too often when you live on the end of a dead-end street.
I got 4 trickle to big trickle cheap pumps, I better put them to use I suppose. My housemate here is big on not having standing water anywhere for mosquitoes. I've came home and found my watering cans and other pots emptied out because she thinks mosquitoes will get in them.
A Morning Glory vine eh? I wonder how it got here? I don't remember ever seeing any in the yard, birds musta carried it in. But, it sounds like a neat vine, I might keep it.
I still plan to put this $9.99 Harbor Freight pump in this coffee can and put panty hose over the front!
Will

I found a better photo that shows how I aim to put the hose over the blue can!

Thank you billy, will & happ. I've had Babe for about a year. She was pretty skiddish when I got her a year ago, but now she is my baby and has turned into a real nice horse!

I use a dab of pool alge control in my fountains to keep them from being mosquito magnets or get icky from not running constantly. I have them on a timer.

Will the cotton batting found in pillows is a great filter also. I use it on my pump and if for some reason I get a big alge bloom I will open the end of a pillow and let the water from the water fall filter thru it. Cleans everything up in a jiffy. On the pump side I keep the regular filter attached, then make a bonnet sort of with netting filled with cotton batting from the pillow and tie it over the pump filter. They have little fish that will eat those little larve in the water.

I started up my whiskey barrel water garden last night and got it all going. I will see how long the lab will let me keep it. Hopefully this year he will leave it along, except for drinking out of it.

We are suppose to get a break in the weather.....yeah!

Will, the plants will go out tomorrow I might have to do 2 boxes unless I can bring out my packing genius. lol

I can't wait for the break in the weather!!!

Nicotiana and catmint. Love this combo!!

Thanks Crit and happ! Okay Pepper, send as many boxes as you need to! : )
Will

2 boxes went out today!! I decided I didn't want to damage the plants to save money. lol. You should have them in a day or 2.

Thanks Pepper! 2 boxes sounds great, good thinking. I'll get the postage back to you soon.

Got a lot done yesterday, hope for the same success today.

Here is a pic of my yellow car.......

I remember your car. lol. Once you see it you don't forget it.

Varigated sedum and catmint

Yep, that's the Yellow car! Thats a neat place to sit there too, happ.
The 2 packages arrived today, Pepper, thanks! I've taken them out and unfurled the leaves and watered them all.
There was no damage to them, even though a tight squeeze.
Good thinking on the priority mail. It's best they come thru the mail fast in this heat. I have the postage in the mailbox tonite.
That is 9 neat plants, I can't wait to pot them up!
Will

LOL. I just went thru and picked what I liked and filled up a box for you. You have similar tastes to me so it was easy. I just wish the Cardinal flower will grow for me!! Hope you have much better luck than I do.

I just got some great news today. The squadron that my younger sister is in had their names put on some cargo planes here recently. She is currently serving in Afganistan. I have a cousin who works on cargo planes also so I told him to keep an eye out for the one with her name on it. Pretty neat!! I wish I could see it in person but pics are the next best thing.

How cool that is pepper, having her name on the plane. Would really be funny if he sees it.

Yes, the car is yellow...rofl. There is one problem with the glider, once you sit in it you can't get out! ;) It just sucks you in, the best spot in the world to curl up with a book. I built that all myself a long time ago. I know DH thought I would never get it done. I started on 4th July and finished on the first snow fly...but it got done.

I got the east gardens completely done....now after coming back from town I figured out the first garden you see is the north garden so I will tackle it tomorrow. We have 5 minutes of rain, and that raised the humidity up 1000 percent! OMG it was awful. Glad the wind was blowing or I couldn't have done it.

Sounds like pepper sent you some great plants.....you now have lots of work ahead....the hardest thing is finding the perfect spot for them, takes me forever to figure out where to put them.....

Billy hope all the bad weather passed you by tonight.

We got about 5 mins of rain also and the super high humidity!! What happened to mid 80s and decent weather???? Tomorrow is supposedly only gonna be in the low 80s. We'll see.

Don Juan bloom with catmint