CA's & SW Gardener's, Let's Introduce Ourselves2

I hope no one is offended that I took it upon myself to start us a new thread, especially since the last one was becoming hard for dial up folks to access.
Here is where we came from:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/866951/
I do hope everyone does keep in touch, and continues to extend the circle of friendship we've begun here. (It never ends, you know.) : - )
Walk In Beauty~
SingingWolf

Hey everyone I goofed up, and mislabeled this page. My apologies. It should have been # 3 not another #2. OOPS!
I am so sorry. I don't know how to fix it, so we'll try to make it right next time.
How about a pretty photo to help make up for it.
I love my "Painted Lady" hibiscus. They love our climate. : - )
WIB,
SW

Thank you, SingingWolf! That other thread was a bit long! =)

Love your hibiscus! Beautiful! I've been considering maybe trying one! =)

Hey Jules!
Hi Sharon! (I've met Sharon in person, she's a very sweet person and lives very close to me.)
Jules, contact admin and ask them to change the name of this thread. Make sure you include the link to this one and they'll be happy to do it. I didn't call you last week, I'm sorry. I am so sorry to hear of all your troubles there.
The heat is on here! Going to try to get some work done in the garden tomorrow early and hope I can last a few hours. Going to start early.
I'll try to post more often!

Hi Louise!

The heat is seriously on! Today was bad. And we were without our air conditioner for a little while (it's a window unit, and we had to replace the outlet it was plugged into) today too. Yuck! Don't overdo it out there tomorrow. =)

Oh yea, the heat is on. They say hotter tomorrow, then hotter the next day and hottest on Monday!! Dearie! Sure appreciated those lower electric bills for awhile.

SW, So sorry I have not been able to help with your dress, but since DH's car accident I have hardly been home at all in the daytime. As chauffeur for doctor appts and all it is tiresome. I was so excited one day last week to be home all day and I got to try out my new Solar Oven! Very cool, and keeps the house from over heating even more.

I have been unplugging our Direct TV boxes when we go to bed because I read they use an enormous amount of energy, even when off. Cable boxes are the same. It only takes about 4 minutes to reboot. I will let you know what happens to the power bill.

I think if I used a solar oven today, everything would have burnt to a crisp.

Jules, when you called me when I was in Washington, if I did not make sense, it was because I had a big fall and was in a lot of pain. I used to stumble and fall, now I just go down. One second I am up and the next second I am on the ground.

I was on a hike with my son and his 1 1/2 year old, Luke. Luke actually did better than me. I am getting a cane but I want it the size of a vacuum cleaner extension. About 2 inches in diameter and heavy. Can you tell I have been using one in the garden. I was using a cross country ski pole but could not find it and used an old vacuum extension instead. Worked much better.

I might have to have one made.

Quilty, I did not know your DH had a car accident.

Take care everyone. Dry heat or not, it is HOT. But I will never complain again about the weather after all the horrible things that have happened to so many individuals in so many countries and our own USA. Especially the tornadoes and floods. Love to you all from Las Vegas .

Photo is Duranta. It is in a very large pot and I baby it in the 3rd car garage during the winter. 3rd year. It is by the driveway under muted shade of a mimosa tree.

We just have to keep in our minds, like a mantra, all the cold and frost we had this winter and even in spring!!!!

Interesting about the cable box, with 3 here, that would, feasibly, make quite a difference. They say we should unplug most things when not using them - computers, printers, TV, coffee maker, charge cords. I think with those powers strips if you have all your, for instance, office stuff plugged into one of those you could have just one thing to unplug. Tedious doing all that plugging and unplugging, especially considering they are not always easily accessible. M'sJester, DG'r, in Kingman lives in her house 'off the grid', on a generator, along with her neighbors, and they unplug their refridgerators at night.

Ah, falling. I think it is genetic in our family. My girlfriend likes to tell folks about how I fall wherever we travel - in the icy street in Big Bear, while walking down the street in Albuquerque and in Reno. Same thing, Sharon. She says she is talking to me and next thing she looks over and I am no longer eye to eye. It was funny in Reno, years ago. We were walking by some bus stop when I fell and some jerk commented about 'hope you didn't break the sidewalk'. Her retort was that she had left enough money in Reno, that she OWNS that piece of sidewalk!

Yes, on 6/6 DH totalled our Taurus about 2 blocks from home. He was hit as he was turning left. STILL no Sheriff report to see who they determined was at fault. Sis in Tx says there it make no difference if a car is 20 miles over the speed limit when he hits a left turning vehicle. The one turning left is at fault. DH broke his breastbone and is a LOT of pain. His second trip to the ER after accident had them finally doing a CAT scan with contrast to find that. They also found, unrelated to the accident, an aneurysm on his aorta (although they say it is minor) and a mass on his bladder. That they want looked at right away. He has to go to a Urologist at USC, due to previous prostate surgeries and getting in there is difficult. First visit there down. One or two more with anethesia coming up. He has also had 4 left eye surgeries since 12/3 and can still not see clearly - a possible factor in the accident - so between that and the pain meds, he REALLY needs not to drive. We are also going all over looking for a new, replacement, vehicle. I was THAT close to picking one up in FL and driving it back here. Not now, so will not get to meet up with some of those great southern DG'rs.

Sounds to me that God made him turn left and get in the way of that car. If no accident, they would not have found the bladder or aorta problem.

My brother tripped and fell in a ditch during a public utilities construction job. Then he started having blood in his urine. He had kidney cancer and tells everyone God pushed him in the hole. He has also had bladder cancer twice. They keep a real close eye on him.

But we did get up early every time they set off an above ground atomic bomb. Thank goodness we had a mountain between us.

Oh yea, DH has been a cancer survivor. He had squamas cell skin cancer on this leg in 1991, before I met him. Then in 1993 it matasticized (SP?) into 6 lymph nodes in his groin and abdomen. Surgery, chemo and radiation. In 1995 he had a temporary colostomy due to diverticulitis. Because of lymph glan removal he is supposed to use this lymphatic leg pump daily and from `1998 to 200 he got off that wagon. He leg was so inflamed and he had a 104 temp for days and he was hospitalized for over a week. They were this shy of removing his leg before they found the reason was lack of pumping. In 2008 and 2009 he had He had a urinary sphincter but in, it got infected, they removed it and redid it several months later. That is the reason he has to go to the specialist at USC as there are few Urologists doing that procedure.

Speaking of Atomic testing, DH grew up in Las Cruces, NM, not too terribly far from Los Alamos..... When we met and friends found out where he was from, they asked if he glowed at night. How about you, Sharon?

Yes, sometimes God has a funny way of slapping us into finding out what was wrong or correcting something in our lives. My mom would not even consider quitting smoking or drinking, but after a fall in the powder room, where the paramedics had to remove the door to get to her, she ended up at a nursing facility for many months, came home fell again and was back there. Well, you can't do those things in the nursing home, so she is not smoke and alcohol free.!!

Thanks for the suggestion Weegy, although I think admin is a bit tired of me and my oopsies. : - )
We'll make it work right?
Gosh you all make me feel so much better. See what I posted on the Thought for the Day thread today. Too tired to type it all again, but I get the feeling everyone can relate to my quote of the day. : - )
Skeptic Sharon, we'd been meaning to start a new thread for a long time, but life kept getting in the way. : - ) I'm glad you are a forgiving soul. : - ) Hibiscus should grow in your area too. You might have to cover them in the winter or do what I do and bring them right up next to the house in the winter time. Mine are all planted in pots, which makes caring for them easier for me. They'd get much bigger if planted in the ground.
It's been hot and dry here. Except yesterday afternoon we almost had a Tstorm. Did you and SSharon get wet yesterday, Weegy? I heard lots of boomers, and saw the lightning over the Cucamonga peaks and around Mt. San Gorgonio, but they didn't say on the news.
DH said he was driving in the upper desert and he got rained on.
Sharon in LV, no worries, I understood you just fine. I am sorry that you had another fall. Do you all think we could get together sometime and have a synchronized fall? I mean since we all seem to be so good at falling down these days? : - )
LOL, I can just envision us all falling down, but let's make sure we have something nice and soft to land on. Like an inflatable jump thingy. : - )
QG, sweetie, I didn't really expect you to be able to help with the dress, although if I ever get to the point where it's time to hem it I will probably need some help, but in the mean time I got my Ruby. She's a dress manequin I bought a few years back. All kinds of adjustments, but since I shrunk I can't get her that small. Good thing I'm making the dress a bit bigger than me. Still working on it too. Okay if you sew, don't laugh at the pun. I was having a lot of trouble with the tension. Read all the way through the owners manual, then noticed this #'d knob on the top of my machine, which wasn't listed in the manual, and turned it one #, and voila, the tension worked. Which was good cause I was really stressed out at the time. : - )
Hope your DH gets some relief from the pain, QG. It sounds like he is having even less fun than I am. Let me know if I can do anything for you GF. Even if it's to loan an ear, which is about all I'm good for at the moment.
I'll be keeping you all in my heart and in my prayers.
Thanks for keeping me in yours. : - )
Walk in Beauty~
SingingWolf

SingingWolf - I'm very familiar with life getting in the way of lots of things, so no worries.

I didn't get any rain here in Ontario. It was muggy and humid though! The other night, as the sun was going down, I was looking at the beautiful sky and could see where rain was falling in other areas. That was amazingly beautiful. Loved it.

Right now, I have just about everything in pots. Definitely makes everything easier to care for, and I can move things around to find the areas they like the best. I shall have to try a hibiscus in a pot too. I think there are some big hibiscus bushes down the street from me. I was thinking about whether they would make a good privacy screen if I put them in the ground along my back fence. I just don't want to see those inconsiderate people anymore or yard. I have the hardest time making decisions about what to do on that back fence. =)

I'll have to go find the Thought of the Day thread and see what you wrote. =)

I guess there are different, non-tropical hibiscus as I was surprised to see one in the ground at a DG friend's place in the middle of OH.

Oh, how crazy! That would definitely seem too cold for hibiscus!

This is a photo from yesterday, Hardy Hibiscus Moi Grande. OK down to -20 degrees.

This is one of two tropical hibiscus. They are growing in pots and they spend the winter in the garage garden area.

Those are gorgeous, Sharon! =)

This is another Hardy hibiscus blooming today.

Another Hardy Hibiscus. I think Pink Elephant.

This is my first Hardy Hibiscus. My father gave it to me over 20 years ago.

I moved a section when we moved 10 years ago. They loved to be deep mulched and love water. I have them new the green areas, dicondra, and they get the irrigation over spray.

This is a canna leaf. Have you ever seen this?

You can see the top part of the leaf was removed using this method. Only on a few leaves in one area. Had the same thing last year in a different area of the landscape. They were also on a canna leaf.

Sharon,
Loved all your Hibbies. : - )
Where's the photo of the canna?
I've had plants longer than my oldest kid, and he's 22 now. LOL! Hard to kill rubber plants. : - )
SSharon, thanks for your comments. Took some pressure off. I'd plant vines if it's a chain link fence. I love my honeysuckle vines, which are cold hardy, the tops might freeze back but the stuff underneath is protected and grows back. I have two different kinds here. The one that is older than my kids is the kind with yellow and white flowers. The Cape Honeysuckle (red flowers) hasn't been in the ground as long and frankly I'm surprised it's still alive since it didn't get any water for a while. Now I'm putting them on drip and they should grow quickly and cover the fence, with a little bit of help from me.
The third vine is a new one to me, just planted it last summer, it is called the Sky Blue Vine. Looks like a member of the morning glory family and acts like it, but when we had that hard winter freeze, only the tops froze and the rest is growing again.
Let me see if I have a photo. Nope, I couldn't find one. I'll take one tomorrow in the morning to show you.
Mom had her surgery on the 13th. Now I've got some respiratory thing I picked up when visiting her. It's always something.
Before I forget, HI EVERYONE!
WIB,
SW

SW - get well! You can't afford to get sick again.

I have a Cape Honeysuckle that wad foundering a year ago New Years when I went into the hospital for 10 days. It was unusually warm and no rain during that time and when I got home the plant had thrived on being ignored, including lots of flowers. Fast forward to this last rainy freezing winter and it died all the way back (one the horses did NOT eat). It has grown back now big time!

See what benign neglect and little water can do? LOL! I can't believe the horses didn't eat it though. LOL! : - )
WIB,
SW

Too brown and mushy from frost.

Too funny, QG.
WIB,
SW

Hi!! Jessica here! I live in victorville, ca in the high desert. So I guess you could say im on the cusp of southwest/ california gardening. I'm a young stay at home mom of 2 little girls. This is my first year gardening.. ever! So far I have planted 3 types of tomatoes, 2 types of peppers, okra, and squash. I also inherited 4 peach trees an apricot tree and a cherry tree when I bought my house :) Despite my lack of knowledge and or know how my garden has seemed to thrive pretty good. So thats about me in a nutshell, I cant wait to get to know and learn from my fellow DG folks!!

Good Gardening to ya :D

Hi Jessica,
A lot of people think that the upper Desert can be a desolate place, but I've seen such beauty there. I have to admit, I'm a bit jealous that because of your higher elevation, you can grow some fruit trees here that I can't grow. It doesn't get cold enough for long enough for either the cherries or apples. Rats!
Welcome to DG, post a new thread if you have a specific question. Or or you are welcome to dmail me. I probably won't know the answer, but I will know who to ask. : - )
Hope you enjoy DG, as much as I do.
Walk In Beauty~
SingingWolf

Hi Jessica and welcome to DG.
My real name is Sylvia and I live in Hemet. I've been a member here for @ 2yrs. You will meet some of the most wonderful, kind, giving people here. Explore the Forums to gets lots of info and great ideas. Its wonderful!

Again a very warm welcome to you!
Sylvia aka dillansnana

Singing Wolf,
Thanks for the welcome! I actually joined DG in March and have been lurking this and the southwest gardening forums more then anything. This is the best site ever! Its funny you mention elevation. I was just talking about that in another thread. I wasnt aware that elevation had anything to do with growing fruit trees. I would even assume you live where they would thrive, that stinks! I've been looking into pre-ordering some apple trees (possibly heirloom) got any suggests on which I should look into? I will agree with you about beauty up here. Its nice to be able to look around and see desert/land and not a whole mess of houses, and I hate to admit this but even half the weeds here are pretty haha!

Sylvia,
I have to agree with you too! I have come across so many kind people on this site! Its amazing that people will take time to help research something or pass on some of their well earned knowledge. I love this site!! Thanks for the welcome :) I'm sure you will see lots of me. I am quite the over analyzer or worry wort as my husband calls me, and constantly wanting to learn new things!

Jessica

Welcome Jessica, I met you in another forum!

Nothing wrong with wanting to learn new things. I'm 67 and still learning , since I retired 2 years ago and have gotten into "serious" gardening. So very, very much to learn. You go girl. The sooner, the better.
Sylvia

Welcome Jessica
My real name is Lynda and I live not far from Sylvia and Singing Wolf. My DH used to live up that way in Silverlake about 20 years ago. My neighbor grows some apples and I believe they are called Anna apples developed in Israel for hot days and they do not need as many chill hours. Not as tasty as those WA state apples though!

G4G,
Try Granny Smith apples. They keep for a long time and if you like to bake they are wonderful for that. If you can buy a different kind of eating apple. Look and see what your neighbors have or ask at the local nurseries, what grows well in your area.
DH would love to grow cherries. Especially them white ones. He loves them white ones best.
We can grow fruit trees down here, I have citrus, a sad apple, peaches and apricots. In my gh I've got a banana (4 bunches growing right now, anyone interested?), a pineapple that was just transplanted and probably won't fruit this year. Strawberries, and Passion fruit. I've also got blue berries (not a good crop this year), raspberries, and blackberries. I also hope to have some fuchsia berries. Yummy! My tomatoes are kicking butt on DH's. I've harvested at least half of the 18 and it's still going nuts. Although, something is eating one of my green tomatoes. Don't know what, but suspect a bird. Oh well, he's free to share in the crop.
Soon the crows will be here to announce the annual walnut harvest.
I hope to collect as many as I can. Mom likes having something to do with her hands, and I don't mind picking them up. Want to save some skins too for their nat'l dye (brown).
I should warn you though I am a Zone pusher, big time, and I am lucky enough to have a green house. But if ever I can help you, I'd be pleased. : - )
Hey Everyone! I've missed you! : - )
WIB~
SW

Weegy, I remember you.. you rock :P

Sylvia, I have found that since we bought our house I have been this crazy freak about plants and planting and green and trees and the list can go on for days!! Haha! Being a stay at home mom has made this girl rather bored. So needless to say gardening has been the perfect thing to occupy what free time I have. Hopefully by the time I am oh... 40 I can say that im a desert gardening pro :)

Lynda, we love Silverlake!! We were actually talking about going this weekend. I've never heard of Anna apples before. I'm going to have to google that when I get done here. Are they sweet? Do they cook with them, that you know of? Man, all this apple talk makes me super excited for apple season at Oak Glen!! Has anyone been?

SingingWolf, we bought a green house from harbor freight. Its nothing spectacular just 6X8. I plan on using it but not until this summer heat cools down. The cherry tree I have is a prunus virginiana. Or very close to that. I have had a whole 4 cherries off that tree, the birds love them!! Never had white cherries before. Definitely something I need to try! Your garden sounds similar to what I have in mind. I have a huge (I mean huge!) list of things I want to buy and start growing and all your fruits are on it haha! I never knew walnut skin had a natural dye in it! What do you use it for? Zone push all you want! I think if your plants survive, more power to you!! Smaller footprint on the earth and less chemicals in your body.

Random topic.. But does anyone grow the huge california strawberries that you buy in the grocery store? Is that possible? Or is one of those deals where only those farms grow them? My bff in tx is obsessed with them and was asking about them. From what I have found in stores and not looking to hard online, I haven't come across any.

Googlie, if you get down this way anytime soon, I have some strawberry plants that we are digging up and you are welcome to them if you'd like. I don't know if they are the huge ones you mention that are in the stores but some of them get to good size.
I've been to Oak Glen, their pies are to die for!

Googlie,
I think that the white cherries are only grown in Oregon. You might have to do a search to find bare root trees. Should like it in your neck of the woods, but do check how much freeze time they need to fruit.
Every year in the upper desert is different as far as climate goes.
If you make it down this way, and feel like digging some stuff up or prunning some of it, I'll be happy to share. I think those big strawberries, are given a special fertilizer and lots of TLC.
The berries should do fine, but forget about the banana's. You'd have to cover them during the frosts. I should think you'd be able to grow pineapples though. I've got mine in a pot, and it seems happy. If it has pups I hope to try planting them outside. I'll let ya know.
Well, I'd best get to some chores or nothing ever gets done.
Take care you all. : - )
WIB~
SW

Alas, my absence has only made me grow fonder of DG! I sure have missed you kind folks! Much has happened in the past few months but it comes down to 2 surgeries, an improved outlook on life, and a better quality of life.

Now I'm looking forward to the heat of summer diminishing and gardening a little more. My kids put in mulch and cleaned out the front beds, so it's just about pruning my damaged roses once the weather gives us a break. I've made the mistake before of pruining to soon so alas I'll have the kids help my at the end of the month or maybe Oct. just depends on Mother Nature.

Can't wait to catch up with you all.
LDblond

Hey, it is good to hear from you again. Although surgeries are a bear to deal with, when they are successful and give you that better quality of life, they are very worth it! Understand the process as DH has been hospitalized a lot recently, but is on the mend.

Better weather for gardening! YEAH. Other parts of the country do not understand how our summer is to their winter for dormancy.

Quiltygirl - I'm sorry to hear about your husband. I hope he is getting better each and everyday. How have you been?

My gardens have had it rough this summer and unfortunately I've lost a number of things due to the humidity and heat we've had. Even my roses have had a tough summer - my Jackson and Perkins are really having a tough time and I've lost several. Ironically, the "cheap store roses" are doing much better.
I cannot wait for it to be cool enough to clean up the baked and damaged plants and get seeds in for the fall! Alas, it's still 106 here today so probably another month before cooler temps.