July 2015-Booms, Blooms and Heat

Brenda – my messages don't go zip, they flat disappear. I had just made a long post, responding to everyone. It's gone. I will try again later this evening.

Before I go, it is raining! We really need it.

No rain here thank goodness. WE have had enough for now. Looks great to see the river is really filling its banks. But not flooding. Today is a picture perfect day. The breeze and the sun temp is 76. So nice outside. I did move a couple hostas watered them really good. Went to the gym and now I am relaxing. I should be outside but.... To tired now. But I have enjoyed my day. Sleep really really helps also. lol. Have a wonderful evening all.

Was in Overland Park, KS today at Deanna Rose Farmstead. We had a blast and will definitely go there again. Kids are outside running around and burning energy. lol

For the first time ever I successfully rooted a rose, the dark red rose vine from happ!
That's it in the foreground.

That is a Great Success Will !!! Congratulations ,. !!!

Well Wishes to all the rest of you too !!! Not a lot to say from me , I am mostly back at beginners pot luck ! All is pretty well Though ^_^

Wow Will that rose LOVES you...lol I am so glad you got another start of it. I am still trying to find a bright red rose to put on my arbor.

What a beauty of a day! I am exhausted but happy exhausted. Not sure what I did all day, but went out the door at about 6:30 came in for a quick bite of late lunch and then came in at 8:30pm after putting the chickens to bed...lol I weeded, planted, and just had a good time.

First pic is my hardy hibiscus and a pot full of new baby plants! I never transplanted hardy hibiscus before. Must be 20 or more of them.

There was only one thing that was a little disturbing....
Look at the size of this little fellow, and does anyone know there skins?

GB, I'm so glad I can give you your morning laugh. ;-). Sorry you had people staring at you though. LOL I am also so glad that garbled nonsense wasn't worse. I would hate to get kicked out of dave's garden because of auto correct!

Joyce, Hibiscus babies, awesome! Congratulations to you! And thank you for taking the time to explain to me how detrimental excess water can be to plants. That hasn't been a problem here and I never thought about it. It must be very frustrating.

Will, congrats on your successful transplant too!

Waving to Juhur. Are you still building pots? I may be hitting you up for tips around the solstice. I decided to winter sow and have been busily ordering seed. I bought two large bags of potting mix today which are now in the basement.

Ronna, picture-perfect days are wonderful. We had torrential rains this afternoon for a little over an hour. I had fallen asleep and the thunder woke me up. Tucker and I went out on the front porch and sat and enjoyed the smell of rain in the air and the sound – I love the sound of rain. Moving hostas and going to the gym. You deserve to rest as you had a productive day.

Pepper, when I was a little girl (many years ago) my mom's mom had a red rose bush by her front porch. I was over there one day when she got out her shovel, dug a hole at the base of the bush and tossed a dead fish in that hole. I couldn't have been over four years old and I have never forgotten that. When I think of roses I think of fish. She scarred me for life! LOL
Is there a reason she did that - - - or was she composting? LOL

I am wondering if the people are going to come to dig the Ivy out tomorrow or if it's too wet. We have a good chance for rain tomorrow too. They are wrong as often as they are right though.

I found the metal edging to create a barrier. I went to the roofing section and got flashing. It will be perfect. I also brought home 12 bags of mulch. It is not nearly enough. There are times a truck would be wonderful.

I have my days and nights so turned around. Think I'll turn out the lights and go to bed. Maybe I can sleep? Nite all. Hmmmm, I feel like I'm forgetting something/someone. I hope not. I'll look back over everything tomorrow.
Patti

Tuckersmom , Sure I am still doing the pots , Only slowly moving along , Here is one , acouple photos and a milk carton for contrast .

I do not know much about giving advice about wintersowing , my last season effort flopped , very few a success ,, most important , water during spring , and good potting mix to plant seeds in ..
3 and 4 . a compost bin from a ten year old garbage can , probably should of turned this the other way , with the wide top down , it will work though
Easy plants from seed I can grow . more difficult types have gotten beyond me , things return after a while though ,

I might do a couple nicer molds for cement this winter when when I am sitting , instead of "Playing" outside , Maybe line decorations , frogs , or acorns ,, such things .

Lots of odds and ends Good morning all !^_^

Patti,
Yes. I'm Billy Porter. Named for a Mick Ronson song. I live in Iowa.
Laughing, when DH says Fall is his favorite season, all I can think about are the biting bugs and spider webs!! Give me Spring any day!
I'm so thankful that at 86, my Dad is in good health and still hoes his own garden and drives. Long life in his family too. I love it when men get to live a long life.
Smiling, my Dad lives 4 blocks straight down the road. I have to cross the highway, and the blocks in my end of town are a little longer than his.
I am so sorry for Tom. Lymes is a terrible thing to happen. Prayers he regains some strength.
I can see how the rain has pounded your dirt. The sprouts look good!
LET IT RAIN!!!

Ronna,
We haven't had to water either and I hope I never have to go thru watering everything so nothing dies. We had to do that a few years back. That's when we bought an electric pump and put it on the pitcher pump. It was impossible to hand pump enough to save all my flower beds. DH did save them and the garden.
We had the same nice day yesterday.

Pepper,
ROTFL over crabby nephew!!

Happ,
Poor plants!
If you could grow Cardinal Flower in the standing water, awesome!! Blue Lobelia too.
Pretty daylily combo. I love the Turks Cap!

~ to Betty! Have a good check-up!

I rarely lose a post. I put a notepad on the right hand side and make it about an inch wide. Then I put my page up and move the right side to the left till it is right beside my notepad. I answer each person as I read. I already have the notepad saved to the desktop so I just call both up in the morning. I also keep a notepad on my desktop named Garden frieds. If I can't remember real names, I write them down. I kept getting Betty's name wrong till she said Betty Boop. Never forgot it again :o)

Pepper,
That sounds like a great day!

Will!
That is so awesome!! Now you have one!

Ju,
Beginners luck is better than no luck.

Happ,
It's been a while since I've spent the entire day outside. I used to when DH still worked. Now I have dinner to fix before I start my day out there :o)
WOW on the hibiscus! Will they all be white I wonder? What a hedgerow you could have!
I'd have to guess bull snake.

Ju,
Are those cement or the other stuff? Will they drain water? They look nice!
Love the blooms, and the butterfly

Still weeding, but we got two more beds worked on.

I took out the gaillardia that are going to seed. A person with little room can have way too many, altho the bees like them.

I love my rose yarrow, but I never see anything on them. The pastels I started from seed always have bees or insects.

I have a lot of close ups of blooms, but they are still on the camera. I'll get them off someday and see what I got :o)

Have a great day!!

Thanks you guys for congratulating me. Actually, the big rose vine or parent of my cutting is unfortunately the victim of some recent storms. It had a big limb (from a neighbor's tree, no less) fall on it and mess it all up. I don't know if I'll be able to salvage it or even ideally dig it up. My friend's new husband has had some made-up illusions about me and threatens to call the police on me now, if I show up anymore. I feel kinda bad because I wanted to dig it up a long time ago but I knew my friend liked it and wanted to keep it, even though it was mine, (Joyce gave it to me).
Now, I'm not real sure what will become of it but I have this rooted cutting but it's much smaller.
I think that rose does love me, it could be all that's left of the parent plant.
Will

I found this photo of that rose plant after the storm. This was the last time I was over there. It was the day after my hernia surgery. They took me for my surgery then shortly afterward the guy had a meltdown.

Here it was in better days. - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=10074952&extraimg=3

Will, I couldn't get your "better days" link to open. It could be my tablet though.

I looked around in the garage the other day and realized it is time to clean it again. It has turned into a garden center workshop. LOL bags of mulch and potting soil, empty pots, empty milk jugs, lawn tools, planting tools. I am running out of room for my car.

Ju – I like that rectangular pot. Good job! Do you think the winter sowing issues were a result of the wacky weather last winter? ( try saying that fast three times)

Sally, you have a great set up when replying to posts. My tablet won't let me do that. Maybe if I download the latest upgrade it would. It is cooler here today, but we haven't had any rain yet. This storm headed our way fell apart. It wouldn't hurt to get a little more water in here before it heats up again.

I know that Will counsels patience. However, if I were a kid, I'd be having a temper tantrum. I want the obelisk in my yard, not moms'...and I want it now! LOL I don't know if Tom and I together are strong enough to lift it and get it in my van. It probably looks heavier than it is. My yard is so small, I may end up taking the two pieces and separating them. I could use the top in the side yard and the bottom as a trellis for MGs or clematis. It's hard for me to visualize the obelisk in one piece in the back.

The phone just rang. The Ivy project has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning. They forgot about me. It's a little bit muddy out there anyway.

I think the poor Daisies I got on sale just might make it. I pulled dead leaves off, snipped off blossoms to weak to even open and cut off a number of roots, prior to planting. The rain yesterday really made a difference too. I wonder if plants can feel grateful. LOL
Patti

Edited to add a period at the end of a sentence.

Someone told me on the hibiscus forum that they would be true. So they will all be white with red center. I am going to try and transplant them as soon as we have another rain, which may not be long. If we have a fall ru I will bring some. I don't need that many. I am going to pot them up and then plant them in the pot in the soil and see if I can overwinter them. Open to any suggestions on doing this because I have never tried it before.

Beautiful day today if you stayed in the breeze. I am trying like you Patti to clean out not the garage but the storage shed....what a mess. I got one side done, the easy side with the hanging tools etc. Now the shelves, holey moley what a bunch of stupid stuff I keep. I haven't parked in a garage since I married my DH! lol.

Will that little rose is a tuffy and she should be just fine. Not easy to start roses from cuttings. Great job. That rose did bloom and did alot of blooming.

Pepper did the kids wear you out? My DGD loves to go to that farm. It is really a nice place. My avatar is my DGD when she was very young. She is at my house planting the same plant about 20 times...lol

Happ Hi Ya ! Small Hibiscus are or can be difficult to move , Move as ) deep clump (long tap root ) or when dormant ..
More water on them than you would think potting them up , first few weeks anyway ,
I have a red one potted up and about five seedlings of the same

About 90% color true from seed most Hibiscus are .

Today I'm plum tired from the kids and from work. lol. Fell asleep in the recliner while trying to read This Old House. At least I didn't miss Airplane Repo. LOL

It's a beautiful morning out there right now. Of course, it's going to heat up. LOL

Patience is key here. The person who was to dig my Ivy out this morning came to the door with her arm in a sling. She and someone else will be out next Tuesday morning to get this job done. She is a master gardener so I picked her brain in the few minutes she was here. So many plants that like full sun don't really like our Kansas sun on a full-time basis. The north side of the house will satisfy the summer acquirements, but will supply shelter in the afternoon.

I went on a seed buying spree yesterday. More Gaura, hollyhocks, Beebalm, firecracker vine, Zinnias, cosmos, Larkspur, globe thistle, and the list goes on. I have an overall vision, but I am a bit concerned, thinking the garden beds are going to be a hodgepodge next year. I guess that's why you take notes, take pictures and plan on doing a lot of transplanting. LOL

Tuckersmom I think the winter sowing was lack of "see to" and my earth potting mix was wrong ,
That is my flowers , the Hodgepodge garden , lol


billyp Most are sakrete , some cement one is a paper Tuffa combination , some have paper and I use microfiber in the mix to make them a little lighter ,
i end up wasting some of my funds using the 50 pd bags as 80 pd are heavy to me , after lots of Hernias , like the pots a big difference in fiber at 18 to 25 pds and sakrete if real thick, 35 to 45 pds , which to me is way to heavy for a pot ,
The above is about 18 pds and the size approx of three milk cartons ,

Weeds , I still have to too ,

JU – I bought the miracle grow potting mix with moisture control. I posted to the WS forum, asking if it was OK, but have yet to receive a response.

From what you said in your post earlier about be sure to water them in the spring, I may know what went wrong. ;-).

Thanks to the dog, I go outside daily anyway. Scoop the doo is the first thing on my morning to – do list. Hmmm, I just said every morning starts out crappy. ROTFL

I'm in a weird mood. Sorry!

Debra and I swapped Dmails yesterday. I am to call her early next week and we are going to try to get together for lunch. I am really looking forward to it.

That's all I know for now.
Patti

Tuckersmom My moods do that frequently ,I am going to do half a dozen of the tray pots , use them for herbs .
Yesterday I was talking about plant virus , treating them ,, and said , it works good as long your plants don't sneeze ,, if they do , your work has "all gone to pot " ^_^ like a cold , and so on ,,

I am saving paper towel rolls for things with long tap roots. I'm also saving the containers Cascade dishwasher detergent comes in. Those are fine little boxes.

In keeping with wanting butterflies, I am going to try my hand at Dill. Some will be in the tubes and the rest of the package I will direct sow in the raised bed. At the rate I'm going I'm going to need another raised bed.

Oh, I misunderstood. Please keep any plant colds up there! Being a newbie, my plants will be challenged enough. LOL

I talked to my brother while ago and we are going to meet at moms tomorrow and tackle the obelisk. I don't know how I'm going to get it out of the van, once I get home, but I will figure it out. Where there is a will there is a way.

Patti

I thought I posted a pic of my baby hibiscus, so here they are. Couldn't possible have too big a tap root yet. rofl I have transplanted several old ones because DH kept mowing them down and made me mad so now they are all around the pergola and doing great.

Went to Loose Park and Kaufman Gardens with a gardening group. Loose Park rose garden has gotten hit with rose rosette disease. They seem to think there is a bad case of it going around because of the knock out roses. The theory is growers with not good reputation are not checking the knock out roses and they are being grown with the disease. Great tours and we had great speakers to tell us what all was going on. There were 16 of us.

I am hot tired and sleepy, time for a nap.

See that line of light green, those are all baby hibiscus

Happ who is the sweetie as your avatar?? Adorable for sure. Yes, i habiscus all over my yard i pull them out and throw them away. Sorry. But i do not have any desire to pot them. Rotfl. Got to laugh sometime thats for sure.

Yuck what a hot day. An awful day at work too. I just need to be around the plants they do more to help than some employees.

Happ, I know one of the gardeners at Kauffman. Her name is Tracy and is super nice.

Well kiddos are gone until tomorrow night. We can recover from a certain one's crankiness. Next time I may just be the mean aunt and make him ride in the bed of the truck and eat dust. That'll solve his mood. LOL!!

My picture is my DGD a few years ago. This is my favorite photo. That day she replanted one plant about 10 times...lol

lol on the obelisk, DH says if it is heavy I love it... One time I went to a garage sale at one of the very old victorian houses and there was this old big concrete birdbath. I assumed it came apart, boy was I wrong. I got it for 20.00, I was so excited. So went home got DH and went back only to realize we couldn't budge it. DH went home drove the tractor into town and picked it up...
I understand what you are doing...lol Good luck on the ivy and the tree, those are big projects.
Glad you are meeting up with Debra. When I use to travel for work we met up a couple of times in Wichita. She has beautiful plants!!!

Pepper we had the main guy giving us a tour of the gardens. I must say I am a little disappointed I thought the gardens were bigger, but they were really nice. Beautiful plants tho. He was great explaining everything. There were 16 of us the group is Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri, Inc., is a member of National Garden Clubs, Inc. First time I have every been involved with the group.

Yeah, it's not very big at all. lol. I remember thinking the same thing when I went there. Too small for us country gals!! But it is pretty that's for sure. Discovery Center is down the road a bit. I've heard a lot of good things about it but haven't been there yet.

wow I have missed a lot here! ya all have been busy, and your gardens are awesome. Love the standing cypress, mine finally came up and bloomed this year.
Everyone seems so full of ideas and fun. I am just work work working. I did manage to make my first batch of salsa tonight.
moving the youngest up to KC this weekend..
moving the other daughter from a building in the middle to a building on the end, both of them are up 3 and 4 flights of stairs, glad I am not doing any of the lifting.
We have been seeing 180 cars a day! I am exhausted and I only work 45 hours a week, the young crew is working 55 to 60 hours with this recall going on. A year and a half.. can't wait!

Glad you all have been busy posting. Gives me some good reading on the bus. I am back to riding the bus for now. Spending my evenings picking veggies and putting some up.

On the bus now. Ending this post to switch to free Wifi. Happy Friday!

Morning Betti, Have the best day you can at work today. Myself going to the dentist....yuck. I go to the dental college so every appointment is about 3 hours long....but the price is almost affordable....lol Dark clouds coming in from the west looks like rain, oh yeah rain in the am and 97 degrees in the afternoon, humidity will be a little tough.

No veggies here one day I will plant some again.

Debra didn't think about all the recalls giving you all so much trouble....wow. I wondered where you had been. Your daughter is moving up here....we will get to see more of you. Selfish aren't I ?

Hopefully I will get a few more things planted this afternoon when I get home, have a good one everybody.

Hot day for sure today!! I was out in it most of the day at work on the forklift or doing other things. Came home and quickly watered potted stuff and my maters. Left rest of the stuff in the ground alone. Need to weed the veggies but been hard to get in there this week with the kids being here. My niece goes home tomorrow morning so hopefully I can get some of the peppers weeded and the rest watered.

Debra, your flowers are gorgeous. It's got to be tough working so hard on your job with so much gardening chores. I hope that you're finding time to relax and smell the roses.

Joyce, I seem to spend more time and money at the dentist too. I'll be going back again soon.

Hello to everyone else. The girls want to sit outside around the fire pit tonight and make s'mores. I'm ready for a nap. I hope to put up some kosher dill spears tomorrow.

It's already hot out there. I just woke up and haven't been out to water yet, so this will be short.

Joyce, I have a mental picture of your husband driving a tractor through town, hauling a birdbath. LOL – what a good man!

Tom and I did manage to get the obelisk yesterday. He was grumbling, saying it doesn't come apart, it's welded. I was laughing at him, telling him to put on his glasses, it was just rusty. It came apart easily once we laid it down. LOL And yes, it's made from rebar. While at moms, I also found a metal base to something. Looks like wrought iron but it's not that heavy – or maybe it is. It's still in the car, as is the obelisk and two big bags of miracle grow.

Need to get out there and water. I'll check in later. I hope everyone has a great day!

Hello all you gardening friends. I have been busy in the yard also. I really want to move things around but it just to hot. I can see a plan in my head. But just need some cooler weather. I think I will move all my day lilies to the front yard and the hostas where the daylilies are currently. Big thoughts but a lot of work. Well maybe soon. I have decided that would look better. lol. I am never satisfied with any of my work. Some one else says it looks beautiful. All I see is jungle. do you know what I mean? haha. Going to see my sweetheart of a daughter and granddaughter real soon. My daughter got a new job. Sounds like my son got a job. So happy for both of them. Mu son may be working at a box company. It is located in Bowling Green, Ky. He has been looking really hard bless his heart. Now my other daughter needs to find a better job and all children will be doing better. be back soon. Ronna

Ronna, I hope you had a wonderful time with your daughter and granddaughter. The love you have for your family shines through in your posts. It does my heart good to see that.

Isn't it funny how your mind can take off and mentally rearrange all the stuff? This should go here and that should go there. Then reality kicks in – oh my body has to do this. Ugh

I have noticed how many of us stay out in this heat for hours. I managed to get the two pieces of obelisk, two 64 dry quart size bags of miracle grow and the metal base out of the van and put in the garage. As I was cutting the grass in the yard behind the garage, (sweat was dripping in my eyes by the time that was over!) I decided my next brilliant move should be to kill off all the Bermuda grass in that area. As much as I hate to say this, Roundup, will be required. OK, see what you started, Ronna? I'm doing my own version of this goes here and that goes there. Lol

Anyway, back to working to hard for to long. I think we are maybe stronger than we think we are. I'm not sure that it's just about strength only. For me, it's that chance to be creative out in nature. I have been a bookworm all of my life. I'm finding that gardening has begun to give me a real sense of connectedness. Isn't that strange? Putzing in the yard is almost like a walking meditation; I lose all sense of time. When I walk in the door hot, sweaty and tired, it's a great feeling! I want to get up the next day and do it all over again.

The other aspect of this is the opportunity to make friends here. In a short amount of time, I feel very comfortable in this forum. Ronna is not the only person whose love for family, and for others, shines through. I have all of you to thank for that. You all are very special.

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.
Patti

I read the first posts where everyone answered me. Now I'm out of time.

It's been busy again.

We had a pop up rain last night. It started in the town 7 miles north of us. The thunder NEVER quit! Not even after it gave us a short burst, and later, it really came down. NO tornadoes, but it never quit. It was awesome! We never saw one lightning strike either.

Today we will pay for yesterdays fairly nice weather.

We headed to West Liberty earlier to take Hwy 6 to Moscow. We were going to buy a watermelon. Got to WL and there went a bunch of Ragbrai riders. We turned around. No way were we getting in the middle of that!

Stay safe from the weather today!

Yes, haha. Love to get the brains of gardening friends going.
A few pics from our family gathering. First is my daugher and avery. Second my daughter amamda with avery, of course another one of avery in the pool floaty, then my gr nephew 7 mos old. My gr niece leah.

Ronna,
Fabulous pictures!! Beautiful daughters and kids! Boy would I love to be in the pool!

BillyP I watched your lightening from a far. There was a tremendous electrical storm somewhere north of us, just light jumping from one cloud to another. I haven't seen or maybe been awake to see an electrical storm for a long time. It was beautiful from here. We got another 1inch of rain. I am taking advantage of it and not watering today. Hope I am not being foolish.

Not doing much today, I had to run errands, you know that stuff like chicken food, dog food, and last but not least people food!!!

Patti you are such a sweetie! We are lucky to have you on here. Course everyone on here is a sweetie from what I can see. The great things about moving plants is most of them are sooo forgiving and don't mind and alot of times appreciate being moved. While your moving the plants don't forget if they are big enough you can split them and have more plants. I saw the obelisk on the other forum and it is too cool!!

GL what a pretty family you have. Everyone seems to be having fun. We are starting on our Greats on my side of the family. I have one great nephew, and 3 great nieces.

Pepper don't envy you working in this weather, gardening is one thing, work is entirely different!

Oh GB I can identify with the nap idea..... I haven't had a smore since girl scout camp...lol

Boy it irritates me when the pics turn side ways when I send them from my phone. Sorry about that. I just noticed I guess I can not send pics from my laptop??? I wonder why? It does not have a place to click on to upload the photos. Can anyone else? I mean the wording there but I can not click on it.