TEA ROOM # 94

I love shopping to Elaine, but I don't like it if I haven't any money. My sister goes window shopping all the time, but I like to have money in my purse just in case. Sometimes I don't buy anything at all but most times I'll find something for the boys to do craft with. The cheap shops are great for pipe cleaners, bright pompoms, pop sticks, etc Cameren is looking for some pipe cleaners in the craft drawers at the moment to make an ant. I had better give him a hand. Colleen

Colleen if your out of pipe cleaners do you have any twist tie wire sure thate would do the job for legs. elaine

o/k ive got the photos cooking,.,.problem was with the camera[ operater],..,.,from last weekend,.,. my floral art entry 'cris cross'

mollys entry in novice'blue on blue'- you can see who taught her well

can i show you 2 of the smallest daffodils in the world,.,.'ferdie'

some old turkey won 'club champion'

Whoohoo Anthony. good on you. Colleen

Dratted ol turkey. You sure have some beauties there Anthony.
Beautiful Elaine...

Anthony, I've never seen those tiny daffodils before. Exquisite! Do you grow all those flowers? For some reason, I associate you with liliums only. Silly me.

Marlene, your floral entries are stunning. I love the first one.

Elaine, I never get tired of seeing your craft work.

Good morning world. Beautiful here, if a bit cool early in the morning.

This is about as many flowers I will get on my Pink Snowflake at any one time. I should be pleased then that the flowering will last longer. My other epis are coming along slowly slowly.

Karen

Good morning everyone. Very dull here this morning but hubby says the forecast is for warmer weather. We may even get into the 20s by next weekend. I'll believe that when it arrives.

Anthony, you clever man. ( sorry, clever old turkey)
Congrats on the awards, especially the Club Champion award.
Its nice to know your hobby can bring such pleasure.
I bet Molly was very happy too. Her entry is great. Love the color.
I do like that daff with the elongated narrow trumpet.
I have never seen one like it before. Which is it ?

Hello Elaine. You had a few great buys there. Its fun to look for the cut price things .

Hello Colleen. Beautiful flowers. Is that your yellow clivia ? Mine isnt right out yet.

Hello Charleen. Nice to hear that you are getting some better weather. Hugs for Charley.

Hello to everyone else. I am hoping for some sunshine here later, so I can get outside for a while.
Have some of these Lemon Bars with your morning cuppa. .
Hope you all had a great weekend.

Happy day
Jean.

Good morning everyone. Karen that epi is really pretty. I was given a piece of a pink one last year, I don't know if it's the same but I hope so. I have lots of buds on my epis this year. There should be a beautiful display later. A couple of pieces that I was given last year, a tropical colour and an irridecent? one have buds on this year. "Clown" has grown well Jean but no buds as yet. That will be something to see I think. It's 1C here this morning but the sun is shining so should be a nice day. I was supposed to go for a blood test this morning but have 2 little boys , 1 who had gastro all weekend and still not feeling the best and 1 who started vomiting last night at bed time and is still feeling queasy. I have a DR's app. at 12 00 so will still try to keep that if I can get someone to watch the boys. I only need repeats for my meds but they may not give them to me unless I have the blood tests. catch 22. Elaine it's great to see that your garden is rewarding you. You spend so much energy out there, it's great. I hope everyone is well and I'll be back later. Sorry to bump into you Jean. Let's have a cuppa together before we go. Yes that's my yellow Clivia. I have a couple of nice size pups in that pot too, will let them stay with Mum and maybe I'll get more than one or two sprays of flowers. Colleen

This message was edited Sep 12, 2011 7:49 AM

Hi Colleen. Lovely geranium. German Empress is another lovely pink epi with a small flower (by comparison to other epis), so which ever pink one you have, it will be beautiful. Marlene gave me a cutting of German Empress some time ago, but the plant isn't big enough to flower yet. Maybe next year. My Clown did start to get buds but they didn't develop. They are still sitting there but I think they should have done something by now if they were going to. Again, maybe next year. Clown is a stunner!

Hope you can get your meds OK, and that the boys recover quickly.

Karen




This message was edited Sep 11, 2011 3:54 PM

Sam Stosur, you beauty...what a great game she played....cleaning up Serena Williams is no mean feat..
Morning all, had to watch the tennis.....great result.
Thanks for the pics Anthony, so glad that you had success with them this year...and Carlton too, sob...

Colleen, the Clivia and Velthemias are lovely...hope the boys get better quickly, there's nothing worse than a tummy upset.

Karen, I think Clown is a beauty too...

Back later..

Belated Happy Birthday Anthony! I hope it was a great day!

Jeanne

Colleen, I hope the boys are better soon. Nothing worse than tummy upsets in kids.

I still have hubby in bed with his back for most of the day. He does get up but unless I push him to go back to bed, he will start doing something in his shed and then feel even worse.

I have been right out around the back of the orchard in places where no man has gone before, for along time anyway.
I found 3' milk thistles and large spiky ones too. I usually dont go that way as it means pushing through the shrubs and there is nothing except the natives growing out there .
Looks like i will have to get in with the Roundup. I do it once a year then forget about it.
The darn weeds know this so they tend to get quite large.

Just planted 2 more clivia seeds. These are from 2 tone orange crytanthiflora x yellow. which have unusual hanging flowers. Very pretty.
Better get back to it.
Jean.

Jean, my Summer Hill Abutilon seeds have arrived......I ordered yellow, pink and salmon and they sent red, as a gift......
I will wait until the summer to sow, I think...it says 72 -76 degrees on the pack..
Your's probably won't be long now....

Jeanne, how have you been coping with the terrible weather in Texas....not too much damage to your garden I hope....

Couldn't resist this pic of Ray and the cats.....the minute he is in the kitchen...they are right there..

Seachanger.....by staying inside! haha! It's supposed to be 99 deg F for the next two days again! No rain in site! If I go out it's usually later in the eveing. It's hard to believe it's almost the middle of Sept. It usually starts to cool down by now. Well, actually it has......we did have three digit temps for 24 days in a row. We have lost 5 azalea plants, several majesty palms, some ferns, some baby sagos, and may lose one of our young magnolia trees out front. My front yard is dead. It will have to be reseeded in the fall.

I have managed to water the back and most of my houseplants, plumies, and banana trees are OK. I did get my little rock garden waterfall put in just off of the patio when it got down to 89 a week or two ago.

This is the hottest summer on record I believe. It is unreal.

This is my little rock garden waterfall........

Another view of the rock garden waterfall

Hello Jeanne that is a lovely little place you have created there, I am very glad you are ok after seeing what Texas is going through. I sure hope you get some relief soon.

You too Charleen ...and all of our American gardeners and friends, our lovely Canadian gardeners must be getting cooler weather by now I guess.
Dianne and Jean looks like it is going to be the year of the Lanterns and Salvias ...it will be very interesting following their progress. Good luck with your seeds.
Yes good on Sam ...unfortunately I missed it ...nurse day is always very busy then afterwards trying to get some stuff done outside. I hope they replay it. Leyton won the year the Towers were destroyed.One day we were thrilled and the next we were heartbroken.

Elaine as usual you have been such a creative lady ...looking good !

Anthony good on you ...well done and it runs in the family.

Hope everything went ok at the docs Colleen.

Karen I hope your Clown blooms for you soon.

Today while I had my head down outside ...I heard a loud noise, my hubby has been using an angle grinder on and off all weekend but this was a different loud sound, as I stood up my eyes could not believe what I could see, just a few feet above my head was a black buzzing cloud of bees swarming right over the top of me and it was about twenty foot wide and went on for a few minutes. Well my heart hammered and I forced myself to remain still. It was just like you see in the Movies (killers bees attack so and so) since I am allergic to bee stings for a few minutes I thought maybe my number may be up.
Needless to say I am still here and for that I am most grateful. Whew !!!!

A big wave to every one. Enjoy your evening.
Oops edited to say how much I have been enjoying the pictures and Teresa there is no doubt you have beautiful cool climate plants over there in NZ ...I hope you are settling into your new job and feel good about it.


This message was edited Sep 12, 2011 6:15 PM

Jeanne, that really is an oasis in your garden and a pretty one too....don't those Frangipanis love the heat......they just soak it up....

Chrissy those bees would have been very scary....especially when you are alergic to them...

Those new Clivia seeds sound interesting, Jean....good luck with those.

Karen, i do grow daffs,and mini daffs[and i associate with the 'king of daffodils''- at glenbrook bulb farm]- email yor address and i'll stick you on his daffy catalogue list..as jean and dianne are!!!Jean,that elongated[shrivelled] one is 'charity may'[too long in the fridge, and croaked, not long after judging]-i'll have 2-3 bulbs this year,.Dianne i won the work footy tipping, with 3 right and 23 margin,.,.marleanne- c'mon, fill us in on your show results!!!

happy Birthday, Anthony and everyone else I've missed.
My clivia had a seed pod on it. Wonder if the seeds are good????
Gout plant has a seed on it too. This is bloom it has. Got to look up Latin name.
I do good to remember "gout plant"

Good morning everyone. Lovely to see so many faces in for a cuppa.
I am waiting to see how warm it gets at the end of the week and I think my garden is looking for a bit more sun too.
Showery overnight after a cold day yesterday.
Its interesting to see what the weather is in each of our areas .

Jeanne, I hope you get some real Fall weather soon. It is no picnic having so much heat .
Love the little waterfall.

Charleen, thats an unusual flower. I looked it up and its also called Buddha Belly because of the swollen trunk it forms.
Apparently the right name is jatropha podagrica. A real mouthful of a name.

Hello Anthony. I did love the little daffs ( Ferdie) you showed too. Very cute.
I have lots of those lilium seeds sprouting now.
There will be a large lilium area next year as all the little bulbs are popping up too. I have them in pots of 4 or 6 but will put them in individual pots next year.

Hello Chrissy, lovely to see you taking a bit of time for yourself. Hope all is well with your brother.
I am glad those bees ignored you. They usually will when swarming. I used to have them in one house I was renting and they swarmed every year.
I was careful too, as , like you, I am allergic to the stings.
I saw a European wasp her the other day. I hope we dont get too many around here. There are always some about each year looking for nest sites .
Luckily we dont have any nests in our area and never more than one or two of the females at a time. Hubby gets out and kills them. I have never seen an insect go down so quickly with just a whiff of insect spray.
I said to hubby , just showing them the tin should shock them to death.

Hello Dianne. I will be watching the mail today for my abutilon seeds. It has been way too long. I have had seeds ordered well after them from other places , that have arrived in just a week or so.
I am waiting on a couple of clivia seeds from China now.

Hello Colleen, Pam, Sue and Teresa.

The sun has just come out so I may get out and do a bit of spraying on those thistles I found lurking yesterday.

Have a happy day everyone and stay warm and safe. Maybe I should say stay cool and safe for our American friends.
Enjoy this Pumpkin Cheesecake.
Jean

Morning everyone. I have the bug now, so won't hang around. Be back when I feel better. Colleen

That is an interesting plant Charleen ...
http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/jatropha_podagrica.htm
I haven't ever seen it before.

That is a pretty daffy Anthony ...I guessed you were a bulb person ^_^

Dianne even though I don't usually worry too much about bees ...that was scary, one year they went into our brickwork and it was very scary, I felt awful but no one would come and remove them so I softened a cake of soap and went out and stopped up the hole between the bricks where they had gotten into the double brickwork. I waited until they had all gone out to forage then slammed the goo into the hole as fast as possible. It worked.Prior to that you could hear them buzzing in the walls.

Sorry to hear you got the bug Colleen ...hope you feel better soon.

Hello everyone,
Chrissy I am so glad that you are OK!!!!! I too am allergic to bees. I would have been terrified. I don't think standing still would have been one of my strategies.....heart failure maybe haha. That's why I tore down the yellow jasmine on the gazebo, and now it is back almost as strong. It was just loaded with bees.

It is supposed to be 102 tomorrow. The weatherman did say that the tropics are clear and should remain that way until the end of the month, so that is a major relief.

Have to go to Mom's (now my sister's) tomorrow for the termite inspection so maybe we can go thru some more things. We're almost done with the bedrooms and sewing room and living room and front closet. It just takes time.


I did manage to water the back today. I do it in shifts.

Hope everyone is OK. Thank you for your kind words about the rock garden. I am so glad that you like it. I just love it. It is so relaxing to sit out there. You can get lost in time out there. It's so peaceful.

Jeanne

Chrissy, in regard to bees in walls etc.
The house I mentioned above that had bee swarms, had bees in the walls for over 40 years. You could hear all the buzzing inside through the walls. I was always thinking if the thin ply on the walls broke, I would be inundated with bees. If you put your hand on the wall you could feel the movement.
The owners had not long bought the house so they wanted to get rid of the bees. People had been trying for a long time but the bees kept coming back.
A apiarist came to inspect them and said they would return because they could smell the honey residue.
He took the outside timber off and completely cleaned out the hive which reached from the ground to the roof. It took days to remove it all and he said the only way to keep them away was to thoroughly wash the whole area with lots of vinegar. We did that, then replaced the wall and the owner filled every little crevice with that expanding stuff used as insulation or something. The bees never came back all the time I was there.
Just a though for anyone worried with bees.
I have millions here in the garden , but no close hives. I am lucky they all seem to be friendly bees.
I have met some unfriendly ones.
A few years before I met hubby, I was helping a friend in her garden out on her farm. She had a beehive in the shed near the house. The bees were definitely not friendly as numerous people had been stung. I kept away from the area but one day we were weeding on the other side of the house. , a bee came straight for me and stung me on the arm. My friend was amazed as she said the bee came around the corner and went straight for me.
She had never seen a reaction to a sting like I get. Her son wanted to take me to a doctor, but I am used to doing what I need so didnt worry.
I saw a bee do the exact same thing a few weeks later but I got out of the way. I have never seen bees deliberately target anyone before.
No wonder so many people had been stung out there.
I talk to the bees in the garden, so perhaps they know I look after them with water etc.
Jean.

Anthony, just letting you know I sent you a Dmail. :)

Karen

Hi all, on the subject of bees a couple of years ago a Queen bee decided that my compost bin was the perfect place for a hive.....they had made about 6'' of honeycomb before I noticed what they were up to.

Couldn't smoke them out so I decided to annoy them by flipping off the lid and hosing them from a safe distance...took a day or so...but they moved on...I still have the honeycomb/bees' wax....I was going to make a furniture polish, but as usual never got around to it.

Anthony, what is that gorgeous Daffy....is it Rod's....before I enlarged it, I thought that it was something artificial that you had made....all that I could read was un-named seedling.....what a ripper.!!!!!
Congrats on winning the tipping comp.......

Get better soon, Colleen you poor thing......

Jean, remember the Blue Bag remedy for stings...I wonder if it ever worked.
Dianne.

Cant remember if the blue bag worked or not now , Dianne. I do remember there always being one sitting on the window sill in the laundry and mum using it on wash days. Just like the long blocks of Velvet soap and the square blocks of sandsoap for washing dirty hands.
Phenyle for the old outdoor dunny too.
The sun has come out properly now that its way too late to do anything outside.
Maybe tomorrow.
I have a new daff coming out . I bought it on eBay quite a while ago . I will take a pic when it opens up. Very pretty one called Strawberry Ruffles.
Jean. .

Jean, I can smell the Phenyle and the Velvet and feel the sandsoap...if I really concentrate I can feel the steam from the copper.
The Blue bag always left a blue mark on the window sill....remember the copper stick that you poked the clothes with?
I wonder who made those sticks, no one ever had a new one..maybe they were cut down broom handles...

I like the sound of Strawberry Ruffles, I would like a white double next year.....
Dianne..

spot on the money with rods daff, Dianne

heres another

Good morning everyone. I am in a bit of a hurry this morning so will just put out some cake for you all and get on with what I have to do.
Here we are Caramel Crunch Cake.
Hello to all and I hope you are getting some nice weather. It looks like being a lovely day here so far.
See you all later.
Jean.

Good morning everyone. I'm feeling a bit better today but my body feels so weak. I had a little salad to eat for tea last night but that's all so might feel better if I can get some weetbix into me this morning. The boys are both going to school today but their appetites aren't the best. It's even an effort to think what to write so will leave it and come back later. Colleen

G'mornin to ya!

Hello all. I am back again. I had to do a few things for hubby as he is still not 100%. He is managing to get around slowly but things take longer to heal when you age.
It started out to be a lovely sunny day but has deteriorated to cloudy & cold with a shower or two likely.
I will tackle a few weeds later as there are a few growing around some bulbs.
Hello Charleen, hugs for Charley.

Hello Colleen, get better soon . Maybe you can find a sunny spot to sit outside if your weather is okay.

Hello Anthony . More little lilium seeds are coming up. They love it in the warm of the mini greenhouse.

Dianne this is my daff, Strawberry Ruffles.
Quite pretty , but more orange than strawberry.
I have some new tulips nearly out. I bought purple tulips but these are bright red.
I forget now if I did buy red as well.

Better go and get some lunch ready. I'll pop down to the mail box first and see if my abutilon seeds have arrived.
See you all alter. Enjoy the sun if you have any.
Jean.

guess it's almost afternoon rather than good morning.

The nurse had the learners here with her today ...so late start.

Hubby turns 74 today bless him. So lots to do ...everyone else is very busy too by the look of it ...likewise I will pop in later.
Hope everyone has a lovely day.

Happy Birthday to your husband, Chrissie...hope he has a nice day..

Jean, I hope that your husband is feeling better soon and Colleen is too....
Lovely Daffy, I have only ever had one that even slightly resembled a pink....most are very wishy washy.
Looking forward to your tulip pics....hope you bought both colours....

Charleen, I was just looking at some Morning Glory seeds and that pretty one was amongst them...
Unfortunately it's one of the banned ones here......there are so many lovely colours how many do you have?
I love them but I can understand why they are on the banned list.....

Anthony, they were very pretty those Daffs.....my little upsidedown Lilium, Duchatrei is growing the right way up this year...Henryii is up and growing and Cardiocrinum has sent up 2 shoots now at about 20'' apart...I am hoping that Nepalense is ok, it's in with some others about the same age....so I won't know until it grows......

Went to Bunnings this morning and bought 3 black plastic trays at $4 each...one I have put on the bottom of the plastic SH fits perfectly.....the others are on the BBQ table to hold the water when I give my Bat Plant and another nameless plant a drink.....also bought 2 plastic tubs in lime green, $5 ea.
They had them in lovely gelati colours...I don't know what I will do with them...but they were pretty and cheap...what more could I ask.

Have a look at how tall this Tulip is....It's Claudia the one that I posted last week...
Dianne.

I have several morning glories.
This one has varigated leaves, beautiful pink color.
Beautiful day here. Coolness in the air and Hopefully Rain tomarrow.
Love and mule nuzzles to all.