FEELING BETTER BACK FOR AWHILE AT LEAST

Hi 'ya all. I got serious. Lost thirty pounds since December 2012. Am feeling better at 189 and counting down to 175 at a pound a week. Also gave some medicine back to the doctor which may be part of the feeling better. LOL Continue three hours gym work three days a week.

I'm still working patio and indoor plantings, mowing lawn and supervising two young men who do my bull labor. Continued being able to work with the camera.

Will enjoy at least some time in this garden again. The attachment is a Red Ibis given to me by member Giti some years ago at a swap. This is it's first bloom. It measures about six inches in diameter.

Welcome back Doc, I missed Ya'. You know me from a swap at our house, Holly finally told me to get my own log in. LOL Ric

Yes Rick I do remember. Did the Christmas Cactus survive the rigors of modern life? I certainly enjoyed the hosted event at your lovely home.

Hi Doc, So very good to hear from you. I had the CC till last year. I passed a few on to other gardeners and then somehow lost the ones I kept for myself. But I still have those lovely AVs that I got from you.
Sounds like you are taking good care of yourself.

Doc---

We both have had the pleasure of seeing this amazing Epi bloom.

You called it a "Red Ibis"------is that the official name of this Epi?
I have always wanted to know....
How big is yours? I am sure, with all your soils concoctions, yours is
a phenomenal size.

I got my original cutting from "kachinagirl" (in CA) in 2005.
She sent two Red Epis and a Ric Rac cactus--they all came at the same time.

The Ric Rac has only bloomed once (2006).
One of the Epis--the Ackermanii--has bloomed well since 2009.
The red Epi (as above)--just started blooming in 20010--blew me away!

As I wrote you in our D-mail--it is now HUGE and very lopsided.
It is becoming unmanageable...
Of course--thinking ahead--I have replacements for all three already
in Hanging Baskets...growing away.

Here are pictures:
1--The ONLY bloom I have had on My Ric-Rac--2006.
2--The red Epi--Ackermanii in bloom
3 & 4 & 5--My old, lopsided other red Epi--with the fantabulous bloom.
You can see the cruddiness of the fronds...ALL the undersides are
perfectly green and flawless...Go figure!

Woe be me!!! By the way--Orchidman (my Guru-to-go-to with Epi
problems) says that all that gray calloused look and the cracked
fronds is perfectly normal for an Epi.

PS---For all the rest of you--pleas excuse me for focusing on this again--
but Doc and I talked about all this just now on our D-mails.
Can't post but ONE picture per Post there---so I am doing them all here...

Gita

Glad to see you again. Sounds like you are doing better. Woohoo!!

Hi there! I'm a relative "newbie" since you were last here, so I wanted to give you a big warm soil-covered HELLO!! =) **tips her hat** It sure does sound like you've been serious about taking good care of yourself, YAAYY FOR YOU!!!!

I'm really glad to see you're back into the gardening swing of things, and it's very nice to "meet" you. =)

Giti............my Red Ipis is so called because someone gave me the change from Red Ipi which is what you had labeled it. I do not do much research. PRETTY RED FLOWER is often good enough for me. My plant looks about like yours. I have it in a large wire basket with a choir double liner. We now keep it inside because it is to much for me to handle. I have it on a pulley and rope rig to ease the trimming missions that are forever needed to keep it reasonably in bounds. It bloomed the first bloom in the spring of 2013. My growing medium is ProMix with micronize. I treat it to trace minerals in the spring and various light teas for the first two months of spring and nothing but water weekly the rest of the year. I am of the opinion that bloom comes from stress management. That is about how I treat the Night Blooming Cereus too. They get about two hours of mid-day sun from the South Eastern exposure. I need to build a semi-shade rack beefy enough to handle three plants similar outside. My major blooms have been outside with almost nothing but natural rain being the care.

Speediebean .... I am ninety nine percent organic inside and outside too. The other one percent I lie about.

doc--

You say you trim your Epi (short for Epiphylum).
How and where on the fronds, do you trim it?

"orchidman" (you can find him on the Orchid Cactus Forum)
tols me that if I trim my Epi--it is best to cut the frond all the way
down to the base. He said if i just cut it half way--or cut the tips off--
that is where the new growth will come from and make the plant look
unbalanced. That is about what mine looks like....

Also--what product contains "trace minerals"? I know about your "teas'...

Here is what all three of my Epis looked like in Aug. 2005 when I first
got them from CA. can't believe the size they have grown in less than
ten years....
Any of you growing these from such cuttings----brace yourselves!!!

Gita

Doc: So nice to have you posting!

Doc,

We've never met either but welcome back. Glad to hear you're doing well, kudos to the weight loss. I'm trying to get back on that track. Cheers.

Gita..........AZOMITE has been my choice trace mineral product for years. I'm still working from a huge bag purchased when I was growing giant pumpkins. Amazon.com has two pound bags listed. I'm sure google would show you pages of trace mineral data. That's enough for pot gardeners. I put a big pinch in every pot over four inches when I pot or up-size re-pot. There are none in any commercial potting soil that I am aware of. Azomite has all known sixty seven trace minerals. Trace minerals do not noticeably change the PH of any soil. Earthworms move them throughout the soil but they can not distribute what is not in any given soil.

On trimming the Ipys and Cereus I do both. I feel the wild mess is part of the plants attraction. I trim only to keep them in line somewhat. My Cereus has about a three cupic foot space occupied.

I weighed in today getting rid of a minor vacation weight gain back down to 189lbs. Need to lose a bit more than a pound by next Monday. I want to lose 14 more pounds by the end of my calendar year in December. I am active in TOPS. Check Google for TOPS data.

I could use a little TOPS too Doc. I can't seem to convince my metabolism that I don't need as many calories as when I worked a 50 hour week. Since Holly found out she had sugar I've been eating better foods, just not less.

Doc, so good to see you!!!!

glad to have you around , doc! I often think of your advice when trying to help the newbies in Soil and Composting. And pursuing my own organic goals.

DOC!!!

So happy to have you back in MAG! Glad you've been getting around in your garden areas some again... looking forward to more of your amazing photos when you have a few moments to upload them!

*BIG HUGS*

Hi Doc, So happy that you are feeling better. You gave me such a lovely Christmas Cactus when you were out my house for a swap. This plant's cuttings have become part of all my family members. I remember how thrilled I felt when you commented that my rose garden was impressive. Your words carry lots of weight around here. Looking forward to more of your wise words. Teri

Teri..........I am still importing any Christmas Cactus that looks like it is different than those that I have.

CRITTER...........you more or less grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the DG wagon. I will be here on occasion now not likely on any regular basis.

The image is a critter that stops by here at least once a week. It rarely poses like this so don't expect me to duplicate such doings. It is a Cooper's with a touch of Photoshop CS4.

Nice shot!

Gorgeous

Great shot! Among the raptors, I only see a few red-tailed hawks around here.

Wow Doc what a great shot. Thanks so much for sharing.

Doc--

Just wanted to let you know tha, yesterday, I took my 3 huge Hanging baskets of the
two Epis and the big Ric Rac to Cylburn Arboretum for them to do as they wish.
They may cut them up to propagate them--or just keep them as iss and grow them on.

This place--as well as their "sister" place (Rawlings Conservatory) are both under
the Baltimore City dept. of Parks and Rec. Both are wonderful places....

Cylburn got my HUGE Maya Brug about 4 years ago--and they are still propagating
and selling it.
Not to worry! I have back-ups of all three already well under way.

Here are pictures of the three on the day before they got taken to Cylburn.

Gita

It's going to be a NIGHT BLOOMING CEREUS year 2013 at the Gipe household. This huge plant was left hanging inside of an East facing picture window simply because it is a beast to move. Early this week it gave us the first bud totally grown and formed inside. This is what it looks like now a few days from the discovery. Stand by I will post at least one more pre-bloom bud as it gets ready to open.

This message was edited Sep 1, 2013 3:13 PM

Oh Doc, Looking forward to seeing the pictures of the bloom stages.

Development stages are fun to study. This knowledge is needed or how could one invite and stage a wine and cheese night opening party? If you have a sixteen inch screen this early stage is close to full size. An earlier image would have been one or more that look like this but not larger than an inch and growing fast. Earlier in this week a small one on the floor is what tipped us off. Loss of most small developing buds is fairly common.

The bud will eventually open the curve radius. A day or two later you can see the plump bud becoming translucent at the tips. The next evening it opens. The following morning it closes and that bud is then all in and done. It's a one night affair or could we say it's a one night stand. Haa. The bloom is beautiful and worthy of the wine and cheese party honoring it's beauty. Two years ago a person traveled ninety miles to attend our grand opening of a bud like this one.

Me too, those things are really cool. Don't forget to share as many pics as you can, please? :)

Woweee, really?? That's just amazing!! I guess there will be loads of people attending with cameras in hand. Gosh, now I really can't wait to see more pictures! =)

Good going, Doc!
I am happy for the pleasure you get from this plant...

I will cherish it along with all the other DG'ers and your friends...
Yes! Lots of pictures, please!..

Gita

Some many not know that Gita got me suckered into growing this plant by giving me a pot of rooted cuttings. That was five or six years ago. It has become one of the easy plants to keep and possibly the most interesting to watch.

...:o)---I am good at suckering people when it comes to plants....

Doc--YOU did all the magic--I just gave you a start of a plant I grew from a cutting.
I am good at that too.....

Time for bed---Gita

I did not know that Doc, but I'm not surprised. Like she said, she is good at suckering people into plants! < =D Goodness, you should see the seeds she's sent me!! And it's impossible to resist her. She gives thorough information/instructions. She is honest. She is passionately enthusiastic, which is contagious. And she's as adorable as anyone could possibly be!! =)

Looking forward to seeing the pics, Doc. I hope your party was as wonderful an evening as I'm imagining it was!!

Doc, Love the wine and cheese party idea. You are so right a blooming of this type needs some celebration.

Blush............

If you all would take some time to Google up Night Blooming Cereus and snoop about a bit you will discover whole Southern USA villages going into celebration when their favorite flower (weed) goes into bloom. Some have developed a complete festival setting to honor the bloom with prizes and the whole ball of community interaction in full motion.

Our one bloom bud grew a good bit last twenty four. The bloom bud has lightened up a little moving towards opening. The circle radius has opened a little. This is a healthy bloom that will open in a few days. My next image posted will show the circle radius relaxing and opening. That happens as the bud moves from light green to a very light green with a translucent quality. We only invite locals or those able to realize that I can still be a day short on my opening evening. That happened last year. A few phone calls put the modest celebration here on hold for one more day.

Wow...........must have something to do with being inside. Here is the bud showing the circle radius opening. This began to happen while the light green is also turning to a translucent cream. Everything is happening faster than we observed when the plant was outside.

Just in case the bloom appears tonight I shall set up the camera. If it happens tonight there will not be a party this year. Haa. I do believe it will open tomorrow after sun down....in which case we shall have a few friends here to celebrate the occasion.

Beautiful pic Doc, you are really a master.

This is a wonderful journey that is very exciting to be part of!! We will have our own small celebration here with some neighbors. I have been waiting to celebrate something with the champagne that I have in my fridge.

How cool is that!!