Yeah, I have some canna's that I need to clean up too.... just haven't gotten to it! If I don't hurry they will be sending up new shoots! Everything seems so far ahead of schedule. My tulip magnolias are blooming but only on the shorter branches or trunks.... The main part of the tree is probably about 7 - 8 ft tall and it appears that all the tall portion of both trees is dead ??? Anyone have any experience with this? All my blooms are within three feet of the ground!
March, 2012!! Spring has sprung (or is springing-maybe).
Crissy that is a great idea maybe I'll try that - I can't stand to see them go to waste and if I sell some then I can buy more plants:)
Did you want some or you were just being nice asking if I need help? If you want some let me know but I sure don't expect you to come dig 'em up if you aren't wanting to take them with you. BTW I also found a snake in there - actually I found his head where I chopped him in half without ever seeing him. EWWWW I hate snakes
Genna out running my errands this afternoon I passed by a place called All the Rage. I've never been in but the window looks a like it has nothing but prom type dresses. It's in the Market Place shopping center on Rodney Parham on the same side as Franke's a out mid way down the center.
Oh yeah Charlotte..... we know EXACTLY where that is! And it's sister shop, Buffy's, in Sheridan.....
LOL.... Had hoped we could go check out a few places this weekend, but Jessi has a quiz bowl contest in Monticello. So, that is where we will be...................
Then, one last time, she will be in the Miss Harmony Grove Pageant Saturday evening. I HATE pageants - and she loves them. She hasn't done one since the Miss HG last year,and originally she wasn't going to be in it - but she has been in it every year since Kindergarten and she just thought she had to do it one last time! I sure wish it was at the end of March or first of April when they used to have it. She has lost 8 lbs in the last 3 weeks......and is trying hard. Oh well, it really won't matter. She will have fun (HOW I DO NOT KNOW!) and I will be miserable! :) She will be wearing the dress she wore to prom last Spring for the pageant I think.
No work at Alex's this Saturday............
You day lily people I need help!!! My day lilies just about all have something on them. It is real small gritty looking stuff/bug that feels sticky! Reminds me of mealy bug but is not white and is smaller. What do I need to spray on them!! I've never had this before!
I think I had whiteflies on mine one year, Charlotte. Maybe those? I can't remember what I did, but they went away...maybe on their own or with something I sprayed on them that was organic? Soap and water mixture maybe?
It does look kinda like whitefly. For now I've decided to use Bayer's all-in-one systemic. I always keep it on hand. I've checked all my beds and the only thing that it is on are the day lilies. I have day lilies in three different beds in the front and all the day lilies in all the beds have it! Now if I can just keep up with which ones I've poured it on and which ones I haven't! LOL
I am on a veggie and fruit only diet for the next week or two ...... anyone have any great meal suggestions or recipes that involve fruit and veggies ONLY....no bread, no white rice, no white potatoes, etc..... It is only the second night and I am already out of ideas!!! :(
Thanks!
Genna
Charlotte, it is thrips, I have them every spring and they don't do much damage
http://www.daylilies.org/ahs_dictionary/thrips.html
Genna I have been trying some new thing trying to feed Jerry's Mom, with her swelling problems and her high cholesterol and her being on a blod thinner, it is a tricky thing. She does not care that much for meat and can't chew it very well either. on my Pinterest Page there is a recipe for Beans and Greens, I made it for us with collards and it was very good, I did not add the cheese at the end on her portion, and hers was better than ours, so if I make it again, I will just mix the two together and not put it in the oven.
I thought about that banana cake recipe today, guess you don't want it right away now??
LOL.... No, don't need the banana cake recipe soon.... might attempt it again for Easter for my sister. I would appreciate you getting it for me when you can though. Tonight's supper was purple hull peas, turnip greens, corn on the cob and a sweet potato. I made it much better than I thought without the cornbread! I used to have lots of meals growing up with no meat - but Leigh thinks there is supposed to be some type of meat with every meal so I have gotten used to that. But they were all sure a lot better than the salad I had for lunch! :)
How is the arm Sandra?? I hope it is getting better every day!
Anyone heard from Marilyn? Haven't seen her post in several days...... haven't been on FB much so didn't know if everything was ok.
Sandra I'm glad to hear that because I have them on every day lily!! I did get some Bayer's systemic on a lot of them before it got too dark. May not work for strip but it won't hurt them. Yeah for daylight savings time next week.
Jeff's dad is going down more. He is starting to lose some kidney function and they ordered oxygen for him today. Poor jeff is staying right there with him. He sleeps on a cot right next to him.
Genna lots of ways to fix veggies and fruit. Cut up carrots, squash, onion, bell pepper, asparagus put on a cookie sheet and spray with olive oil spray. Sprinkle some natures seasoning, etc and roast at 425 for about an hour. Some veggies may not need as long and can be added latter. Make vegetable soup using tomato juice as a base. Stir fry a mixture of what ever vegetables you like. Use a little bit of butter and sauté sliced apples in it. Make a big green salad and put strawberries on it and a few toasted nuts. Pineapple is also good on salad greens.
I'm kinda weird! I love veggies and fruit and eat lots of them. I love salads - could eat them almost every meal. What you have to watch is the dressing that goes on it. If you are not careful, you can use as many calories as a big cheeseburger. I could also live on stir fry. Just sir fry a little bit of chicken breast then add carrots, squash, etc. with a little seasoning.
Charlotte, sorry Jeff is having to go through this with his Dad, buthe will be glad he did when it is all over.
I have those thrips every spring, they don't hurt the plant , but I have heard people say that some of those mis formed blooms are the result of thrip damage.
Yes my arm is getting better every day, the surgeon released me yesterday, and also released me from any more PT. The therapist send him a letter with all my measurements from beginning to end. I have about 70% use of my arm now. He still wants me to wear the brace most of the time for the next 4 weeks, but assured me it was healed enough that just normal day to day actitivy would not hurt it now.
I will get up now and go find that recipe!
This is exactly how Virginia wrote it for me
Banana Cake
1 stick of margarine
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
4Tablespoons of Evaporated milk
2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Nuts and dates if desired
Bake 30 minutes at 350
Banana Icing
1 stick of oleo
2 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
3 bananas ( I mash mine)
Cook oleo, sugar, milk and vanilla until it starts to boil while stirring
Remove from heat and add bananas
Sept 26th 1997
Virginia Hillis
Virginia has sold coconut and banana cakes at every fund raiser and always got lots of money for the fund.
I do know that when she makes her coconut cake she cooks the layers in an iron skillet like cornbread, but not sure if she did the banana cake like that. I was surprised to see the cake has no bananas at all, but the icing flavors it.
Sandra that is wonderful news that your surgery is over and so successful!!! After all you have been thought, 6 weeks will be no time!!! Of course, you may learn to like having people help you. Has anyone volunteered yet? Around here it's me and Mary. Jim is back on the road with the tornados hitting. But he is actually headed to Montana right now. Then he circles to a holding area near Dallas and picks up supplies for the tornado people.
Charlotte you have raised an exceptional son for him to take such good care of your ex husband. I hope that they are able to close out his remaining time with a miracle of peace and good communion between them, so that he will cherish this time afterwards.
Mary & I went to my other niece Erin's mom's funeral. She had 2 major stokes in Nov. and a heart attack last Fri. Her sugar shot up to over 500 and her kidney's failed. She was 66 and attended a lot of our family gatherings and will be missed.
Took Ashley for counseling and came home to my freezer going out. I just went shopping Sunday and lost a lot. Ashley & I just transported everything that was still frozen across the parking lot to the office freezer. I'm whooped!!!!!
Sandra, glad to hear that the arm is doing well! I know you will be glad to get rid of that brace - but so thankful they finally got the issue resolved!
Jeri, sorry to hear about your family member. 66 is young - diabetes is such a killer! How is Ashley doing? Is she still getting sick? I hope that she is doing better! Didn't know if they ever actually found anything wrong...... Sorry about your freezer! So glad you caught it when you did and were able to save some of it. That is always a big shock - and usually found way too late to salvage! Mine has an alarm on it that lets you know if it gets too hot, BUT, the alarm goes off on a regular basis because there is a battery on it that needs to be changed. The battery is located on the end and it is so close a fit in the area where we have it that we can not change the battery.........so, I guess I will not pay any attention to the alarm if it ever gets too warm! Not good, but I think they could have planned a little better access to that battery! And with the freezer almost full, moving it around is not really an option! Guess in my spare time, I should clean it out and defrost it and change the battery while I have it empty..... but that might be a while!
Charlotte, I love veggies too - but not good at just eating them by themselves I guess. But I appreciate the ideas. I love grilled veggies too so I will get thru it. I have been looking for some decent strawberries - but none in this area. Hopefully I can get some when I make a trip back to LR. I also have some frozen sliced strawberries that I put in the freezer with no sugar, so I have pulled out a container of them to snack on as well.
Thanks for the recipe Sandra. I guess that probably won't be the right cake either since it doesn't have bananas in it...... I need to do some more browsing thru the cookbooks - but it is hard for me to look a recipe and tell how it is going to turn out....and right now, I do NOT need to be browsing cookbooks! :)
Sandra I just checked the Bayer Advanced label and it is also for thrip. So hopefully it will get rid of them.
Well I typed a long post and Internet Exployer lost it when Daves didn't respond. I was just trying IE again / main reason I do not use it. Anyway thinking of everyone and hope all is well. We are supposed to get 4 inche of rain between now and Sun. We do not need more rain.
Took a few pictures with my phone while I was working today. The Iris has bloomed off and on all winter.
second one is Giant Squill. I think I called it scilla before. the rest are daffs
Genna, if you need a quick and easy one for work...Ziplock has new steam bags that my DD turned me on to. She works at the hospital and doesn't like to go to the cafeteria for a meal when she's on night shift. She buys frozen shrimp (already deveined and tails off), puts 3-6 in the bag with some frozen mixed veggies of your choosing, adds a little seasoning (we like Jane's Crazy Mixed-Up Salt or Emeril's), and then you can heat a little rice with it. Microwave for 3-4 minutes and you have a hot meal in the bag for lunch or dinner. It's delicious and quick. You can also use the pre-cooked frozen chicken if you don't like shrimp.
Roasted veggies (tossed with a little olive oil like someone suggested) is one of my favorites. If I don't have time to roast in the oven, I just saute with a little olive oil and a tsp of butter for flavor and the seasoning I mentioned above and it's done. I also like rosemary roasted potatoes. Yummy! Just a bit of butter on the veggies adds the flavor you crave.
Kim, gorgeous pictures!! Love the scilla! The same thing has been happening to me...just when I get a nice long post written, I have to re-write. I try to remember to copy before I hit 'send', but I don't always remember.
Elaine if you use Modzilla Firefox it will not lose your post. Dave told us to use Modzilla. You can always go back and your post will still be there, not so with IE. He also said Modzilla was safer because less people use it. I'm not sure that is the case anymore because it is a big browser now. I was just trying to use IE Bing last night same old thing If Daves doesn't repond your post goes poof. You can't go back to retrieve it.
Cindy when I was told that I started using Firefox and decided I like it so well I never use IE any more.
me too Charlotte I haven't used it for 6 years but I heard on a program how fast it was so I went over there to see. As I said first time trying to use it and my post went poof and it was a long one. I hate to type in the first place and it really hurt my hands after pulling weeds all day so I was POed a bit.
Love that Giant Squill...... never heard of it, but it is really pretty! Love the others too. I just love all the daffodils blooming and the iris are about to start. I told Jess to run out and pick a bunch out front if she had time this morning because they are calling for really heavy rains here too and I figured they would just get beat down! Wish I had thought I would have done it last night................. but maybe she can grab some of them. She LOVES picking daffodils so i figured that permission was all she needed to go grab an armload!
Cindy, how deep do you try to put your pine straw?? Just curious.................... it sure looks nice in those pictures!!!
Genna can't help you with the diet. While I love fruits and veggies, after I get through with them, there is nothing diet about them. They do taste good through!!!! LOL!!!
Ashley threw up Tues. night, but felt good enough to go the funeral. Last night was terrible. She threw up quite a bit but every 15 minutes she would raise up and say my stomach hurts!!!!! We went for counseling again yesterday and the counselor said that she seems fine but wants to continue for the rest of the month before she appraises her.
Cindy pretty pictures!!! Love that Iris!!! Which ground orchid did you decide on and how many do you want? The Bletilla? I'm going over the weekend to pick them up.
Sandra I'm hoping today is even better for you!!!!
Charlotte I also hope that things go well with Jeff and his dad today.
Me, it's Thur. I gotta get busy cleaning. Terrie will be over tonight and I want to go ahead and get started now so I can visit some with her while she is here. I potted up 18 hibiscus cuttings I got come a coop and put together a succulent wreath but still haven't made it back to the yard since last Fri.
Hope everyone has a great day and gets to spend some time in the garden.
Genna, that is the thing about the banana cake, if you use bananas in the cake then it turns out more like bread. If you want the texture of cake don't put the bananas in.
Cindy your pictures are very pretty, love that iris. I have some daffs blooming and a couple of verbena blooms and that is about it here. I worked in the kitchen window bed yesterday, which is where I fell in Sept. I just told God how thankful I was to Be able to be back there and to enjoy the sun and not be in constant pain. Sure have some sore spots today, I am not as determined as you to get things done, I am just happy to get outside for a while. I would love all the beds to be clean and pretty, but if I get them, fine and if not, fine too, some things just have to be accepted. Spring break is next week for Charity and Faith, so they are going to be here, maybe I can get them back on that rake!
Karen I might want some, need to find a place to put them, think I'm going to expand my iris bed. Hhhhmmmmmmm LOL EEWWW snakes !!!!
The professioniiials say that Iris should be separated between June and August.
I need to get out and do my canna's too, I think I'm about done with canna's, they're not giving me the look that I want now. I have red, yellow, and yellow/orange hybrid if anyone wants some.
Mozilla Firefox is the best web browser out there, in my opinion. I never use Explorer anymore.
Sandra so glad you've been released and you're healing fine. WooHoooo
Charlotte I'm so sorry Jeff has to go through all of this. Being an only child myself it is difficult yet and my time with it hasn't begun. You did raise him well!
Genna from what I know about baking, I never know how a recipe is going to turn out until I try it. If it sounds good and it's something I would like to eat, I bake it! If it turns out crappy I give it away lol
Cindy I love the look of your beds with the pine straw!! I'm like you - that's my favorite look.
I had to make a quick trip to Hot Springs today. Left early so I could get back early. It was just cloudy on the way over but just as I was leaving the bottom fell out. Bad drive home. But it's really dry here and we need the rain.
Genna like Sandra said any recipe with bananas in the batter is going to be heavy. They make banana flavoring. You could use that instead of vanilla in the recipe Sandra posted.
Made my daily trip to the grocery store on the way home. I'm marinating chicken breasts tonight. Having acorn squash and rice with it. I feel like Jeff is back in high school with all the cooking I'm doing! LOL His dad had a bad night last night. Hope things have been a little better for him during the day. We usually communicate by email since it's hard for Jeff to talk in front of his dad and he gets upset if he goes outside to talk. He will be over here at 5:30 to pick up dinner and I'll find out more.
Yes Crissy I KNOW that the experts recommend July * August but my fat butt doesn't want to get out there in that awful heat so I'm determined to do it this spring:) I have put it off for a lot longer than I should have and I am determined to get the 3 beds I am digging up and turning into lawn cleared out before it is too hot for me to do it.
Let me know if you want some - I'm going to post some of these on craigslist but after it finishes raining I'll be back out there to dig up the rest of them.
Karen didn't realize you were completely eliminating your iris beds..... thought you were just cleaning them up. Wish I was closer, I would swing by and help you dig some. I surely wouldn't want hundreds, but I like Iris.... of course, I really like most flowers! isn't that the problem?? ^_^
Have a good day everyone!
Well Genna they will hold forever ya know so if you want some just holler.This bed was just a hot mess. I put it there long ago probably one of the first beds I ever planted and I use the term bed loosely since it was more of a place in the yard where there were iris planted. There was no edging and the soil there was worse than bad nothing but rocks and weeds and now it has grown up so much that they hardly bloom. I did move a few (maybe 10) into another bed but if I decide I'm going to plant any more iris I want to order some special ones. I still have tons of iris here in a million different places but that bed just made the yard look super messy in the summer and that upset my husbands OCD about his 'yard'. Understand he doesn't have OCD about the brush piles from last spring in the yard but these three beds make him crazy. Go FIGURE!!
Anyway I dug the rest of them this afternoon - 370 more rhizomes for a total of like 640 or something like that UGGGHHH I am about to hit the whirlpool tub but I am super excited because I finished that bed and Wayne mowed over where it had been so it really looks like I accomplished something out there.
I'm actually eliminating 3 beds this spring and I got another one about 3/4 dug up so only 1 1/4 left to go. That bed has mostly daylilys and a few trumpet lily. The biggest thing in that one was moving my dad's peony that his mother planted at his house - she died when my dad was 14 so this plant means a lot to him. He killed the other one of hers so I sure hope I didn't kill mine:)
Plus I scooped out the pond today - you would think that just ONE day of cleaning leaves out of that would be enough to remind me to put the darn leaf cover on it in the fall but NO I just act like I can't remember how gross all those leaves are in there and then every spring there I am scooping out nasty disgusting leaves. But I can sorta see the fish in there now - well I saw one anyway so making some progress there. I still need to finish that project I expanded the pond last spring but I want to do some more stuff to it - add some gravel to the shelf around the edge so I can eliminate the pots that can be seen and finish the waterfall and plant some things around it. I'm planning to cut down a huge althea that grows right on the edge of it because I HATE HATE HATE digging the five millions blooms out of the pond all summer long. Ohhhh the list just goes on and on doesn't it?
I am proud of myself this spring because I have really concentrated on moving the things that need moving so far and that has helped my tendency to jump around from bed to bed and seems like I get more done when I am out there. If I can get out of bed tomorrow I am going to be forced by the rain to do some laundry and housework:( I'd really rather sit on the porch and watch it rain even than clean and do laundry!
Genna you asked about how deep I put the pinestraw. I don't remove any of the old straw or leaves and I put down a couple inches of new. I can't afford to do six inches like the books recommend. I probably end up with 3 to 4 inches of mulch. Well we got a lot done around here today too.I got 2 more beds cleaned out but no straw. Jimbo helped me winch out a large old wisteria that never bloomed. I will still have to dig up roots but glad to get rid of the trunk. He helped me winch the good wisteria back upright. It had completely pulled the old fence down. We temporally put metal supports around it till we can figure what else to do around it. Last year the gate to the fenced in area fell under the weight of vines. Actually all the post are rotting so the old fence is falling down. He winched the gate off and I cleared up all the old vines. I moved an old tarp I had laying out in the that pen that I had weeds I had pulled on top of and it had 3 pigmy rattlers under it.
Got 2 of the grandsons tonight and I am beat. I hope you all had a nice day today. Our ground was very wet so we just worked around where we could.
I don't seem to be making a lot of progress!!! I did finally get all the debris out of the biggest bed in front and raked up and bagged. This I'm throwing away rather than composting as a lot of weeds are mixed in. Plan to put some pine needles down tomorrow after I get a few more weeds out.
I went to Sam's today and found a 6 x 8 pop up greenhouse that I bought. I'm going to clean out the area behind my doors that screen junk. Maybe this will force me to finally get it done!. Sam's also had some fairly large pots at good prices. Then I stopped by Tuesday Morning and found a really interesting thing for vines to grow on. Can't remember what those things are called - yall know what I'm talking about. I'm gong to be put it in a pot and probably grow clematis on it. Also found another pot there. They have some mexican pots real cheap. The one I got was 14.95 and is coated inside with the black tar looking stuff. I've had good luck with those outside. I have some on the deck that are probably 15 years old. I only buy dark brown looking pots. I know I'm boring - but I've found that pots that color just blend in the background and they don't look like a sea of pots! I would like to have about 3 big really stunning colored pots. One of these days I may break down and get some!
I still don't have my caladium order from Caladium's 4 Less but I did get out the ones I stored this winter and they look pretty good. I have rounded up some pots and my potting mix and I'm ready to get that done tomorrow.
So what happened to the rattlers, Cindy? charity and Faith are here with me for most of the week, they are on spring break
Goodness Cindy you didn't tell us what happened to the rattlers!!!
Jimbo killed them for me.
I'm glad I just have my little garter snakes!!! I have an agreement with them - they don't bother me and I don't bother them!
Last year I did not see any here, but Pat had several in her yard last year. I hope we don't have any this year. I would think you would have plenty living on the river, Cindy. I hope the armadilloes stay away from here this year!
I killed two copperheads out of the iris bed - the first one I actually cut his head off before I saw him. Just noticed something flopping around. The second one I saw when I was raking back the leaves - apparently he was either hurt already or still in hibernation because I had to walk all the way to the porch to get a shovel to kill him with and he was still just laying there when I got back. This is the story of my life I hike all the way out to the bed to rake and shovel iris and my shovel is still on the porch:) I hope I NEVER see a rattler in my beds or I may have to give up gardening!!
Some computer information I thought I would pass on. Some of you may already know this but I didn't! I had an old desk top that I have not disposed of as I didn't know how to get rid of my information on it. Jeff just took the hard drive out. He told me I could go to a local computer repair place (not a big box store) and they should have a cover for it if there was anything on it that I wanted. He said the cover should not cost more than 50.00 and it will come with a power cord and also a cable to hook it to your computer. He said you can run it as an external drive. I guess that's how computer geeks get information off your hard drive when your computer crashes.
Woooo! I am waaaaaay behind. Too much happening here for me to comment on everything but I did manage to catch a glimpse of a question from Genna about the Hot Lips. I did not cut mine back. The whole bush will look like it is dead all winter but then they will start coming out from the bottom. Then last years stems will start producing leaves, too, and before you know it the whole bush will have leaves on it. The parts that don't produce new--like at the very tips--I would just cut off after I was certain that section was not going to be putting out new leaves. After about 3 years, you might want to trim it back in the fall to keep it from getting too big. and in case I haven't already answered this--yes, the hellebores are shade plants but can take some sun. You may not have enough shade for them, though.
I had two Hot Lips bushes--Sandra gave me a start of one and I bought a larger one at Rita's in 2008. The bush that Sandra rooted for me was just little==about 3 inches tall when I got it which is why I went ahead and bought the larger one at Rita's. Well, lo and behold, the little bush that Sandra gave me outgrew the one I bought! It must have been because of the love that Sandra put into it. :o)
All of the photos are very pretty--love all the spring flowers! Karen, your twin DGD's I received a bag of daffodil bulbs as part of my door prize at the RU at Jim's in October. I did not get those bulbs planted until after Christmas and everyone of them is blooming! Hooray! I would take a picture but it is raining today. These daffodils are in addition to the 100 plus bulbs I dug up from our back yard and also re-planted.
Karen, I couldn't help but laugh when you said you "just noticed something flopping around"! The good Lord was looking after you, girl! You killed that thing and didn't even know it was there!
ROFL (or maybe it was your guardian angel that was guiding your rake)
Sandra, have fun with Faith and Charity this week! I'm going down to my "other daughter Michelle's" house in Benton, AR on the 17th and be there a week. Her aunt is in renal failure and she will be flying up north to see her aunt while she still has time. I told her I would stay with her kids while she is gone. Her son, Connor, is 13 and her two step-children also live with them. The girl, Samantha, is 14 and the younger boy, Walker, is 9. They are all like my own grand-children and they all call me "Ma Susie" just like my biological grandchildren do. :o)