March 2013 Marching into Spring while flying a kite!

I have a seven year old seed of a Belle Starr tomato sprouting first of the second dozen plantings to sprout Black Cherry has sprouted also . ""Plant Talk"" The lurk monster ..

juhur7 with the green thumb, that's amazing! : )

Will, I enjoyed the Easter egg hunt photo. Your mom has a lovely lawn.

edited for grammar

This message was edited Mar 17, 2013 4:36 PM

Thanks. Oh, she is proud of her lawn in the front yard, I'll tell her, she loves compliments on her lawn! See all those trees? That yard is nearly all shade. She puts grass seed on it about every two years! I bought (with her money) and planted that Dwarf Alberta Spruce in 2004. She has watered it regularly, it has been tremendously successful for a plant mostly in the shade.
Here it is shortly after I planted it in 2004. - This was about 2 days after I planted it in April, 2004. It has grown a lot since then! It was a $20 purchase from Walmart.
That niece has grown alot too, she is in that Easter Egg hunt photo up there, she's the little girl. Here is another photo of the DAS then. -

Had some snow this morning then sleet then it finally switched to rain. The tender plants at the store are all inside and the hardier ones will get covered tonight. And we have more snow coming on Thursday. I thought Spring was well on her way in til today. lol.

Pepper, it sounds like you're staying pretty busy at HD keeping up with changing weather. We some heavy rains with thunder & lightning right around nightfall here.

The last Monday of winter 2012/2013. Spring IS just around the corner. : )

Hi everyone......it has been awhile and I don't know why honestly.....

Hope everything is going good for everyone. I am like you all, waiting for spring. I heard on the news this year is suppose to be cooler and wetter in the midwest, but heck after last year that wouldn't take much....

I didn't read all the messages to catch up...rofl, but did look at alot of the pictures.

Shortleaf thanks for contacting me.

Well our MG group is getting ready for our plant sale. I am worried this year cause I don't know how much stuff made it from last year between the drought. Year before I had already planted up stuff from the fall, this year I don't have anything planted up. Everything was in such dire straights after the drought and since it didn't rain in the fall I sure didn't want to disturb them. Course I think I worry every year about it. This time instead of having it outdoors they have decided they will have it indoors at the Clinton County Youth Building. That has good points and bad points. One out of the weather, we have been lucky no bad weather, bad point we usually set up in the parking lot of the bank which is at the busiest corner of Plattsburg....rofl, you know busy is realitive, but the Youth Building always looks empty even when people are there because you can't see the parking lot. Good point I am not in charge..... YES...

Short of that not much going on with me, like many of you fighting mites waiting for spring to get this stuff out of the garden room and solar room.

Hi happ, it is nice hearing from you! Wetter is fine with me! There are alot of dead trees, bushes and plants around here, even in the backyard here. My mom's big Lilac Globe tree looks dead from last year's heat and drought. I'm glad to contact you, happ! You are a pleasant and knowledgeable sort. Also, I want you to beat greenbrain up for me! I'm just kidding again, Betty is a wonderful person! : )

Happ, maybe you can come by again sometime and we can swap plants and visit. I hope you weren't too bad upset with Blue Ridge Nursery closing, I know you liked that place, they had an awesome Hosta collection. I don't know the date when they're closing, I can't imagine they'd close before the Spring, which must be a good time for Hostas. There is probably discounts there, I don't know about that part though, the sign just said, "going out of business".

I hope your plant sale is successful!
Will

Thank you for the intro Will. I'm no stranger to DG. If you check my info., you'll see that I've been a subscriber since 2/4/2007. I attended the 2008 Spring Roundup. Life just got real complicated after that helping raise my gr-daughter who was diagnosed with type I diabetes at age 5; though I've been helping care for her since birth. Now that she's a big girl & doesn't need grandma as much, I have my life back -- and my computer. ; )

By the way Will, where were you back then? You seemed to drop out for a while during the time that I dropped in?

About the Mothman is real, my gr-d told me about some show she watched about Mothman sightings. I'm putting out some heavy duty mothballs! lol

Mothballs. I need to think of someone to mothball their car. lol. Yes, I come up with some crazy ideas sometimes. lol.

I hope you guys are ready for the snow. Snow tomorrow thru Friday they are saying. Most will melt but this is just crazy. lol.

I'm not sure I understand. The Central Midwest forum was just created in 2006, I voted for it's creation. - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/592029/
I've pretty much been a contributor here ever since. I went to a RU in Spring 2007, Fall 2008 and Fall 2009, we haven't had one since, there is photos of me at them if you'd like to see them for proof. Okay green, if your done busting my chops! : ) Oh really? They say in reviews on The Mothman Prophecies that Richard Gere was a poor choice and that he did a terrible job in that movie, but I didn't see anything wrong, they all kept me interested.

Let's go Zinnias!
Will

I throw my zinna seeds out in May and they start growing and blooming in June. I love the fact I can just toss them wherever and they will grow.

Eeeek, more snow?! I just sent 4 striped Wondering Jew cuttings to juhur today. I hope it doesn't get below their hardiness in temperature, they say it's +20 degrees. - http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/596/ It might be close, closer maybe in Indiana.

That's what I shoulda done with my Zinnia seeds, mine still haven't sprouted.

Our highs will be in the low to mid 30s. It's a monster sized storm. You should look up images of clouds off of California.

That explains it Will. I was at the only roundup you missed. Aren't you glad now that you couldn't make it! lol 8>D

Pepper, I didn't know that about zinnias. I always painstakingly sow mine. I'll have to give it a try.

This is embarrassing, but I have to confess that I still haven't started my peppers and eggplants. I don't know why I keep procrastinating. I'm going to do it right now! (I'm just a few weeks late.)

By the way, I noticed today that the nanking cherry bushes which sprouted last year have blooms. I'm getting a whole new generation from the 2 that died. Just like the crab apple tree that came back from a sucker after a storm knocked it down. I only wish you all were closer because I have so many volunteer plants that I could share. I need to start potting them up & giving them away to friends, family, co-workers, & neighbors.

I have crocus blooming in my backyard after I thought that the squirrels carried them all away. They must have returned some of them.

One more thing before I sow those seeds, I'm being optimistic that Easter weekend will be great weather.
"It ain't gonna snow, it ain't gonna snow, it ain't gonna snow no more...."

I hope that storm coming from California's way doesn't bring much, (though it probably will..lol), I am ready for nice weather!

I know pepper has been to alot of RoundUps, if not all of them. She was at all of the RU's I went to, her Grandmother hosted the one I went to in Fall 2008.
Pepper has been great to organize RoundUps and communicate with people in the region, she has been invaluable to this forum.

Of course I'm not glad that I couldn't make it in Spring 2008, green, I bet your a super neat person!

Hey, cuttings will fit in a regular envelope if you want somebody to mail some Nanking cuttings to, green! I'd need 2, they aren't self-fruiting they say. - http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Nanking_Cherry:_Prunus_tomentosa/

I hope it ain't either!

Will, all you need are the nanking cherry seeds. That's how mine are spreading. Let's hope I'm able to save a few. I mostly catch robins and squirrels eating the cherries. If not this year, maybe next when the bushes are bigger. They grow pretty quickly. About my personality. I'm pretty silly at times. Children really like me.

My little gr-d really attached herself to pepper and still remembers her. Her grandma & I got along real well. They came to St. Louis and we met at Mobot. That could be why Chloe remembers them so well. I missed leaflady too because she had pneumonia that Spring. I met Rusty the german shepherd & his owner. Chloe brought the doggy a toy. I also remember the couple from KS with the camper & dogs "slowtornado". A really nice group of people, I agree. Equilibrium couldn't make it to the Roundup, but met us at Mobot. I can't believe that it's been 5 years already. What Chloe remembers most is riding the trolley at Powell Gardens.

I've got to get to work & I'm tired from staying up late repotting plants & sowing the pepper & eggplant seeds. Gotta hurry. Yikes, look at the time! Winters almost gone. : )

I'd love to have some seeds! I read that the Nankings grown from cuttings aren't as good, this is what they say - "If you don't mind the plants not breeding true, seeds are easiest (and will grow a long, drought-resistant taproot, absent in plants grown from cuttings.) Remove the seeds from the pulp, air dry slightly, then stratify for three months. Seedlings bear by the third year."
And they only get 9 - 15 feet tall and wide, which is good, I bet the birds love them. My friend here, the homeowner, is all about wildlife food.

I haven't talked to leaflady in a long time, she came to Independence for some health-care at Centerpoint hospital here in Jan., 2011. I visited her at the hospital once and then we lost contact.
She is a wonderful lady too, I've met her several times. It was her that spear-headed creating a forum for this region in April, 2006. I took a screen-shot of the dmail, it was the second dmail I ever got, this mass one from her on getting support for this forum, - this forum is her baby. I know there are others that supported this forum and participated in Central Midwest long ago. Alot of them are non-subscribers but they come back every now and then, and they can still be reached in dmail, they may even be lurkers here under a different name.

In retrospect, I was a non-subscriber from Fall 2007 to Fall 08', in late 2008 I wanted to participate again. I had some life difficulties those years, my Dad died in June, 2007, an Aunt died April, 2008 and my Grandmother died Jan. of 2009. Those things happen to everyone, I'm no different. But on my earlier absence, alot of the time I wasn't interested in much of anything. I'd pull over on the side of the road and just sit there sometimes and remember, in 2007. I don't want to get all mushy but I feel like I needed to tell that. I'm over all that grief, everybody has grief at some time.
Will

I just wanted to edit this to say that I would never post a dmail that wasn't a mass delivered one.

This message was edited Mar 20, 2013 11:19 AM

From the lurkers under different names ^_^ lol

Yes, hi! Those striped Wondering Jews should be arriving at your house soon, ju, if not today, maybe tomorrow. If it was a bit too early to send them and they died from the temp., I can send you more, no big thing.

I forgot to say in my earlier post that if it weren't for the people now and even participants from the past, it would be much less interesting, really, thank you all for participating.

Pepper has done so much work for this forum, she is like leaflady's protege, pepper was here very shortly after this forum started. If anybody has heard from leaflady, it would be her.
Yes, pepper's Grandma is real nice, she has a beautiful home. I've met her Dad too, he is also nice, he was showing us the remodeling work in 2008 that he'd done in her Grandma's house, it was great work.

Well, the left Iceplant in my Liatris wooden box is green! - I'm working on those leaves..lol In the last 2 days, I've raked up 8 leaf sacks!

Will, I'm glad that we've connected now. I had a BUNCH of stuff going on then too that would bum everyone out just hearing about it, so I won't go there either. You're right. We all have to go thru stuff sometime. It's great to have this forum to hang out & share our passion for gardening. Dave had a great idea starting this online gardening community and thank you to all that started this forum and have kept it going. It was a great idea. : )

I love giving speeches. (big grin)

Will, I'm sending a flock of robins to poop in your yard that have eaten bush cherries from my yard. (Just kidding! lol)

Oh c'mon your seeds didn't sprout ,you can't tell which one us your talking with , so you just thought you would send us some dead baby jews ,, being aggravated by us ... oops,, that should read dead baby wondering jew plants . llol

Haha.. a flock of Robins to poop in my yard eh?! Actually, that wouldn't be so bad, I like Robins and the Bush Cherries! lol
I hear you about stuff going on, green. Back then, I didn't want to talk about my downward spiral.
You go ahead with your speeches, girl!
I am so glad that this forum brings enjoyment to gardener people in the Central Midwest, "leaflady, if your out there, you should be very proud!"! I'm sure she is, the forum she suggested seems to be popular.

Hehe.. that's the way a lot of couples do! One time I thought I was talking to my friend online and it was his wife! That wife still doesn't like my friend to hang around single guys like me! I gotta hear this one friend's voice to be sure..lol
Oh no, them Wondering Jews are quite alive unless it gets too cold in transit! If they turn brown after arrival, just let me know, I'll send you more just like them, no problem.

I'm really trying to get the raking done soon, I just can't hardly take seeing Crocuses and stuff trying to come up thru all the leaves! When I'm done there should be about 30 or 35 sacks of those lawn refuse sacks from Walmart.

I still email EvaMae every now and then. She's pretty busy taking care of her property, working and family and health issues. She doesn't travel anymore because she can't sit in a car for very long without her back hurting her really bad.

It's "wandering" with an "a" which means roaming around; not "wondering" with an "o" like wondering where we're going. lol

I have some great pics to share. Guess where these were taken?

Here's the plants that I bought at Mobot for $1.90 each. The tall plant was given to me by my mom. I'm training some pothos to grow up the trunk. One of the $1.90 plants is the same species. Also a pic of the rabbit cages in the basement next to the furnace in the laundry area where I have my growing area. My oldest daughter gave me this shelf unit that I lined with foil, attached fluorescent lights, & a removable screen over the front. This is the best setup that I've had yet. The top and bottom shelves are used to store supplies. I'm growing in styrofoam egg cartons, cottage cheese and yogurt containers. I punched a hole in the bottoms & set them on the lids. The bunnies are busy eating & pooping so that I'll have plenty of manure to fertilize the plants outside. The plant my mom gave me is on the next post. I couldn't fit it here.

The tall plant was given to me by my mom. I'm training some pothos to grow up the trunk. Here it is. I filled the bathroom sink with pothos cuttings from work that have rooted and are sending out runners with leaves. It's easy to water them. lol My family hasn't been able to use the sink, but they haven't complained. I need to repot the $1.90 plants and the pothos cuttings growing in the bathroom sink soon (or I could just add goldfish. lol)

I see, we are correcting people's grammar now are we?! Hehe.. actually, there is a reason for that, "Wandering Jew" sounds kinda bigoted, so I say "Wondering Jew"!
I don't think Jewish people would much like having a plant that sounds like, "Lost Jew"!

I'm sorry to hear about EvaMae's back, sounds painful.

Wow, nice plants there for $1.90 each, put them in nice pots and they look like they're worth more, that's what I do. I hear good things about rabbit manure!
Filling up the bathroom sink?! If I did that I'd be gone the next day! lol I bet the goldfish would like that!

That's a nice tropical houseplant from your Mom there.

Here is more 'Watermelon' Coleus cuttings, they are in the middle. - To the right of them and in the yellow pot is a Ponytail Palm and with it some Tradescantia zebrina (striped wOndering Jew!) cuttings (they never even drooped as cuttings) that are looking good about 3 weeks after I made that planter.
Will

This message was edited Mar 20, 2013 3:37 PM

So what am I growing in the photos?
Tomatoes: mortgage lifter, amish paste, & gardener's delight.
Peppers: Fedco Amish pimiento OG, hybrid Gurney's primo jalapeno, Burpee Big Dipper (bell)
Eggplant: Pinetree Garden Pingtung Long (just started last night in the egg carton).
Cat grass oats in the silver buckets for the kitties.

I still need to sow Portulaca Sundial Mix and Hollyhock Summer Carnival; both from Pinetree Garden.

I probably have used the Garden Watchdog more than any feature on this site. It's what brought me her when I googled a plant vendor and found what I needed know. With the limited # of searches, I just had to join. Where I learned about PT Garden & Fedco. I've been buying from Gurney since around 1980.

I forgot to comment on your seedlings, green. That looks like quite a setup, I like that. Let me guess, they were taken at your house?!

Yes, I'm a stickler about spelling & such, not that I don't make my fair share of mistakes! lol

One of my first houseplants was a wandering jew. I love the purplish/silver coloring. I didn't know that they're related to the spiderwort plant. Here's a few DG articles that I found interesting about houseplants. You probably saw these before. I read the articles quite often when I'm not in plantfiles or the Garden Watchdog.

Titled: Five Easy Houseplants and How to Grow Them
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3437/l

Titled: The Black and White Sheep of the Wandering Jew Family
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3023/

Oh my, it's time to go to bed now. Good night!

Ok, to answer your question first. Yep, the basement laundry area.

Hope that weather is Springlike for everyone tomorrow. Sweet dreams & God bless. : )

I have 'Summer Carnival' Hollyhock, mine is the pink flowered one, the others didn't come up! It flowered the first year that I planted it. -
That's quite a selection of tomatoes and Peppers there. I get frustrated with Garden Watchdog if I see too many negative posts, I just start thinking whatever it is is really a good company and that most if not all of the negatives are fake. If you look at a negative review in "Watchdog" 9 times out of 10 the review was made on the same day as the "member" signed up which screams fake! I have about half of those houseplants in your first link. Would you like some cuttings of the striped WOndering Jew, green? So, your a stickler for spelling and such huh?!
I love Plantfiles! Whenever I Bing search something and DG's Plantfiles come up that's the first thing I click on, DG's Plantfiles is indexed by search engines.
Good nite

Happy 1st day of Spring! Woohoo!!!! Now if I could just spring into action. lol

Yes, Happy first day of Spring! Although, it really don't feel too spring-like here. I just saw the weather forecast, a little snow maybe in 2 days and then a bigger storm with maybe a rain/snow mix Sat. into Sunday morning here, (maybe some accumulation of snow on grass and on decks but likely not the roads unless it gets cold when it snows they said). I believe whatever we get here goes eastward so maybe you better get your galoshes and slickers back out there, greenbrain!
Back out to rake leaves!

26 degrees here , not good for gardening , I get to have fun watching all of you do your garden chores!!!

Yeah, that's cold! I thought it was cold here! Hehe, galoshes and slickers for you too, juhur! Not many garden chores here but I can get a photo of some leaves in transit! It's only 39° here right now, there's a thermometer outside. I had to come in the house and warm up! I raked a big pile of leaves then ran in the house, ok, I walked fast! lol
I went next door and gave the young mexican guy a handshake and a hug. It will probably be the last time I see them, unless they come to visit. I gave him our number so maybe they'll keep in touch. Him and his wife were foreclosed on. But I don't really blame them for wanting to move. I won't go into some of the (legal) behavior of the neighbors but it's way less than ideal around here!